Yellowjackets: Remember When Taissa Ate Dirt?

Taissa's strange midnight proclivities take a truly unsettling turn in the Season 1 finale of Showtime's Yellowjackets.

Taissa began to sleepwalk after the plane crash of her all-girls high school soccer team in 1996, wandering out into the wilderness on her own and behaving strangely.

Apart from the girls' sacrifices and spooky connection to a sinister symbol, one of Yellowjackets' greatest mysteries is why Taissa eats dirt, which is actually a real-life behavior. Both the adult (Tawny Cypress) and teenage (Jasmin Savoy Brown) versions of Taissa are depicted in the series eating dirt while sleepwalking, but she is unaware of this in Yellowjackets Season 1.

What Made Taissa Eat Dirt in Yellowjackets?

Taissa's dirt-eating habit appears to be triggered by stress, as she begins the habit while attempting to survive in the wilderness, then returns to it in the Yellowjackets' 2021 timeline when the campaign's stress and Jeff's covert blackmail take their toll.

Taissa isn't pregnant, and there's no evidence that she was for cultural reasons, so she's probably eating dirt as a result of stress, malnutrition, and possibly pica, a compulsive eating disorder in which people eat non-food items.

Taissa having pica would also make sense given that there have been instances in the past and present where she hasn't eaten food, and others have pointed this out to her, implying she instead absorbs her nutrients subconsciously while sleepwalking.

What’s Next for Taissa in Yellowjackets Season 2?

Taissa is unlikely to be able to ignore the unbelievable in the future, especially now that Simone has uncovered what happened to the family dog. It would be interesting to see how much Taissa truly knows and how she reacts when questioned in Yellowjackets Season 2.

Hopefully, there will also be an explanation for Sammy’s weird behavior and the strange man with no eyes. Meanwhile, Yellowjackets leaves its audience with a lot of questions and a lot of possible answers to ponder.

While the precise date for Yellowjackets Season 2 is uncertain, Showtime executive Gary Levine previously told Vulture that the show would return "at the end of 2022." In the meantime, you can watch the first season on Showtime now.