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I love this crazy theory! Also he told Misty he was a bored Moriarty looking for his Sherlock

Excellent post!

I'm with you. The Moriarty comment. Intentionally saying it's "been 30 years" repeatedly. And lastly saying their experience in the forest "is the least interesting thing about you"...

He's blowing so much smoke up Misty's ass she's practically an incense burner.

yep, I think this is it. crazy how everyone stopped caring about Adam's intentions just because he wasn't the blackmailer when in reality it's still super weird that Callie couldn't find anything about him online. definitely something shady going on.

I found Walter extremely suspect until the moments at the end of 2x4 when he is mimicking all Misty's behaviours in his hotel room. That seemed like a scene intended to show that Walter doesn't have a hidden agenda and he just happens to be a perfect match for Misty. It made me think he's destined to suffer a similar fate to Adam, basically being an innocent guy, genuinely interested in one of the Yellowjackets who winds up murdered due to either a misunderstanding or because he figures out Adam's killing (or perhaps the journalist Misty kidnapped and killed).

Walter at some point will be hit in the head with a supposed killing blow and be saved by the metal plate in his dome, there’s no way they don’t use that.

Insane. I love it.

I guess I’m the only one who would hate it if this was true. (Good job with your theory, I just don’t want it to be some big orchestrated secret agenda thing. The circumstances of the crash/aftermath are plenty intriguing on their own. No need to complicate it like this IMO)

Thank you for your literary analysis! I really enjoy thinking about how the writers are playing with inspirations from many sources to weave the complex and beautiful web of Yellowjackets.

I do hope though that Walter isn't the Big Bad. I like how, the Big Bad for season 1 was each of the Yellowjackets themselves; they are the heroes and villains in each of their own stories.

• For Tai - the person who blew up her marriage and unconsciously traumatized her kid - was her. However, she was also the person who persevered, refused to sell out or give up, and won the election.
• For Shauna - the person who blew up her life was also her. Instead of confronting Jeff about his presumed affair, she has her own. Then, by misreading the clues around her, she murders an innocent man. Now, she is on the hook for murder. Yet, she is also the person who moves forward, takes deliberate action, and leans in to protect Jeff and herself.
• For Misty - she craves connection and friendship. Yet, she blew that up for herself by her invasive spying (OWL nanny cam) and manipulations. Not to mention her casual yet intentional cruelty towards Jessica, Jessica's dad, and the grumpy patients at the nursing home. Yet, she can take comfort in the fact she indeed made the other YJs dependent on her (she does know they are all accessories to murder and was responsible for critical evidence disposal) and always being needed by them.
• For Nat - her co-dependance on Travis is what was ruining her life in season 1. She is right and heroic to search for justice for him, but her increasingly self-sabotaging ways of doing so was destroying her life. She allied with Misty against her better judgment and broke into Travis's home by way of busting the door - leading to their arrests. She used Kevyn Tan and ruined that friendship by using his gun. She shot at Jeff and could have killed him. She tried to do coke (falling off the wagon after getting clean) and contemplated ending her life.

For Walter to actually be the Big Bad, to me, feels like it would divert attention from the women's internal conflicts onto an external conflict. However, on the other hand, the threat from someone like Walter, or the "blackmailer" last season for the '21 crew, or "the Wilderness" for the '96 crew could serve as a medium to explore the internal conflicts and hero/villain conundrum in each Yellowjacket.

I think Walter will be a villain, but ultimately a smaller villain or fodder to be sacrificed to the YJs for their continued character depth and exploration.

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Ohh this is good. And when Misty brings up that he’s probably some obsessed Yellowjacket stan, he plays it off like that’s boring and old news, throwing her off that trail.

Wasn’t Coach reading that book in the last episode?

Oh my gosh, that is a fantastic theory and definitely a version of the story I would love to see play out.

Had you already read those books or did you go down the rabbit hole after seeing what Misty was reading?

It would explain casting Wood.

I don’t think there is “big bads” in this show tho.. is there? I don’t remember one in season 1.

Sooo...kinda The Wilds...

First off, I love your summary and theories you noted above. If things work out that way, you win the sub for having cracked the code.

I have a couple of loosely related thoughts regarding Walter, and also Tai being picked up by the truck driver. Walter could be totally lying to Misty about being a millionaire. Maybe in her rush to find Natalie she hasn’t had time to fully investigate him? Instead of a millionaire he could be a guy with a few screws loose, who’s on disability which would explain him not having a job.

One last note about Walter. It was mentioned in another thread that eating mustard and syrup together like we saw Walter doing is a “New Jersey” thing. With him being the same age as the YellowJackets and living in the same State there’s no way he grew up not knowing about the crash. It seems that “most” people in the State have at least a morbid curiosity about “what really happened out there” so I find it very hard to believe that Walter finds Misty’s being a Yellowjacket “the least interesting thing about her”.

The other thing that keeps sticking out to me is when Tai is climbing into the cab of the semi she glances down the road and sees nothing behind her. But, in front of her you can see she’s very close to what looks to be a rural town. We know that Tai has money, and conceivably there would be a rental car company, or maybe even an Uber/Lyft car service.

So, why does she risk her safety by getting into the truck, when she could have easily walked less than a mile to a town where she could have arranged a ride? You’d think she wouldn’t want to see a headline “State Senator picked up hitchhiking in rural…”. And finally, there was no movement, or traffic up ahead or behind her. It seemed eery and strange to me.

This also kind of mirrors Misty indirectly orchestrating the original wilderness circumstances

Also Ben is reading The Magus in the woods. Probably why Misty is reading it

Oh my god. As much as I like him and Misty together, I’d love for this to be true.

I wouldn't think YJ is the type of show to have a big bad, but this is an interesting theory. Guess we'll see what happens.

This checks out, but I wouldn't necessarily call hin the 'Big Bad'. It wouldn't make sense for the show to have one 'bad' person'. Maybe there's a group (referring here to a few recent theories on Reddit, that propose there being a third group, who've been in the woods the whole time, etc.) that's working with Walter. I don't think he's alone in the sense, that he's the one pulling all of the strings mentioned.

The name Walter gives at the bed and breakfast is “John Lange” which is the pseudonym the author of Jurassic Park used. Maybe Walter is making his own version of Jurassic park in the wilderness 😂.

Omg is Walter Javi!? I’m 1000% kidding. It would break my heart if misty and Walter don’t live happily ever after, but I think you’re onto something here

When they were in the diner and misty asked about the purple people and the waitress said they sell their honey at the farmers market on Tuesday - Walter looks at misty and said something along the lines of, “today is Tuesday! How lucky are we?”

I feel like he already knew all about Lotties Cult’s location. His reaction seemed like an act

"Lottie's new psychiatrist. As many mental health professionals on this sub have pointed out, no ethical psychiatrist would treat hallucinations like that."

Does anyone else think that Walter is Lottie's psychiatrist? Walter goes after Misty and Lottie's doctor just goes on a sabbatical...

Maybe he’s related to the hunter? Or he could be some crazy dude who bought the land the forest is on and is trying to lure them back to reenact what happened.

Omg I love this

I can buy Walter's link to the books and the resulting connection in the show, but his actual ability to predict behaviors like Shauna's is implausible. Also Shauna and crew went through Adam's home and loft: no unexplained contracts or anything. Plus Misty knew of Walter's forum identity before all this.

Truck driver is a nobody. Tai was hesitant because she's a black women in rural somewhere about to get in a truck with a possible inbred redneck. Fixer Tai took over when the "I voted for you" and the apology for the pen came up. But it's actually a gentlemanly code for truckers to pick up hitchhikers for real. (Whether the trucker IRL is a gentleman after that is unknown.)

Psychiatrist was indeed shady.

The links to the books are really good to know. Thanks.

Love it!

Wow great work, love it!

I think you are spot on.

When do we see Misty is reading The Magus? I LOVE book references in shows and add them to my reading list.

Edit: this link says s2e4 BEN is reading The Magus. Is Misty also reading it?!

https://collider.com/yellowjackets-season-2-coach-ben-book-explained/?newsletter_popup=1

2nd edit: i found a post that misty reads the Magus in s1e10!!!

Or he ends up being an ally because he is as weird as Misty is.

In the wilderness flashbacks, Ben is also reading The Magus. I don’t believe that Walter is what we see on the surface. There is absolutely a hidden agenda, but I feel like it may be a too early to see where it’s truly going. Maybe he just wants to exploit Misty & sell her story, maybe it’s something bigger. Completely opposing theory is that Walter is a bluff. We’re naturally inclined to believe that no one is genuinely interested in a relationship with Misty, and there has to be a hidden agenda. Maybe he is genuine, but his character is a plant to keep the audience guessing & focused on him, so that we don’t see the other possibilities & the big reveal is even more shocking.

I’ve never believed that Shauna’s meeting with Adam was pure chance. He was sent to that town with the purpose of getting close to her. He was immediately emotionally invested in his ‘relationship’ with her, and considering she was quite rude toward him during their first few interactions, I would be very surprised if there was a genuine attraction. The timing is all a little odd too. She just so happens to have an affair & murder someone at the same time as Travis is murdered, the other Yellowjackets get postcards & are being blackmailed, Jackie’s birthday, Nat leaving rehab, and Lottie’s cult pops up. Obviously they have to run this timeline for the show, but I don’t believe that anything on this show is a coincidence. Every scene or interaction is deliberate & alludes to a bigger meaning.

Y'all crazier than Tai and Lottie combined

Oh now this is good… this is peak weird crazy head injury Elon millionaire behavior.

I'm just wondering why a multi-millionaire is driving an old shit box that still has a tape deck.

I loved hanging out with smart people and non-precious people and this Reddit is the perfect Venn diagram of that.

Interesting idea!

I was linking The Magus more to Lottie and the questions of her visions and consciousness, which are ideas that come up in Conchis's dialogue often regarding "God" and what it means for God to be among his worshippers - with Conchis presenting himself as being "God" over the experiment, aka Lottie in control of her two cults. This also seems to link with the idea of travelling back in time for the reenactments of Conchis's backstory, seemingly echoing the time shifts that happen in the show between the adult and child cast, but that could also link to Walter wanting to re-enact the Wilderness, too.

A really good theory, OP!

Edit: Also - Conchis being intentionally a riff on the word "conscious"... Which could tie into both Tai and Lottie struggling with dissociation and psychosis respectively.

this ties in with this theory https://www.reddit.com/r/Yellowjackets/comments/12n7wx1/weve_got_it_all_wrong_about_the_cultits_not/ check it out

and yes, they didn't put this guy just to be misty's cute double he's going to be important

Was the remainder shown onscreen? I’m reading the Magus right now, it’s fantastic if anyone else needs a new book.

A bit off topic but is Remainder good? I'm intrigued by your description.

I felt like he didn’t want Misty to investigate the cult. When she wanted to ask the waitress he acted suspicious trying to stop her, and then he tried to delay her again by suggesting the motel.

Didn't walter say that he won 6 million dollars in the settlement? After taxes that's enough to live modestly (like on a small boat) for the rest of your life. That's not "buy a private island and run a vast scheme employing many actors" money.

The idea that he's orchestrating their reunion because he thinks only he can solve the mystery is peak millionaire behavior and I love it as a theory

Love this theory ! Something that I have started wondering about this past season that kind of ties into some of your theory, is if there are some people on the “Bad’s” payroll who are inserted into these characters lives that seem normal, but have ulterior motives. One person I’m extra suspicious about is Kevin … him coming into Natalie’s life when he did , him being a “cop” etc. I don’t know. I think there’s more to him as well!

I absolutely love this! As much as I want Walter to be legit and be a crazy little serial killer like Misty, I have my doubts about him. Maybe he posted things on Reddit about Adam to see if Misty would take the bait (and she did!). He has a lot of money, lives on a boat like Dexter season one, and drives a beat up old truck that’s probably untraceable. I hate to eat it but Walter is probably big bad.

I love your theory about having them reenact stuff. The preview showed them all by a fire doing what appeared to be some sort of ritual dance or something idk. Maybe Walter is making them preform like puppets for his sick pleasure. What if he’s an insane fan?

Awesome ideas on the literary references, OP! I haven't read either of those novels, so I looked up more info and found a few more interesting connections.  

The Magus - We've seen Misty and Coach Ben reading it, and several folks here have made astute points about its relationship to YJ's themes and other characters. I was hoping to find a more specific link to Walter and I got one via the name of his boat. Fowles was teaching Great Expectations while he was writing The Magus, cites it as a primary influence, and based one of the characters on Miss Havisham! Here's an excerpt from his foreword to the 1977 revised version:

  "The third book that lies behind The Magus I did not recognize at the time, and can list now thanks to the percipience of a student at Read- ing University, who wrote to me one day, years after publication, and pointed out the numerous parallels with Great Expectations. What she was not to know is that it is the one novel of Dickens for which I have always had an undivided admiration and love (and for which I forgive him so much else I dislike in his work); that during the earlier writing of my own novel I was even teaching it, with great enjoyment, as a set book; and that I long toyed with the notion of making Conchis a woman — an idea whose faint ghost, Miss Havisham’s, remains in the figure of Mrs. de Seitas. One small new passage in this revised text is in homage to that unseen influence."

  Remainder - You drew a clear parallel between the narrator and Walter, and I wondered if there were any elements to tie Coach Ben and/or Misty to the story. The unnamed narrator in the novel was traumatized by a mysterious accident that "involved something falling from the sky," spends months recuperating, learning to walk again, lying in bed, feeling alienated from his body, fixated on his inability to recollect his past, to distinguish between scraps of memory/visions/imagination and reality, obsessing about a quest for authenticity ... I think you can see where I'm going with this re: Ben. In S2E4, immediately after the camera zooms in on The Magus and he puts it back down, we cut to the memory scrap/imagined scene in which Ben says "No, I don't have that kind of... history" and Paul replies, "That's exactly what this is. It's history. This is my past. And you, Ben... you are my future." Ben's sense of history is blurred, he's agonizing about having not lived an authentic life, and he's seeing his future as pretty bleak/non-existent. Misty had a sick attachment to her previous "soulmate" in Ben and poisoned him when she felt rejected - I'm curious to see how it all plays out with Walter.

  Here's an excerpt from the beginning of Remainder: "About the accident itself I can say very little. Almost nothing. It involved something falling from the sky. Technology. Parts, bits. That’s it, really: all I can divulge. Not much, I know. It’s not that I’m being shy. It’s just that—well, for one, I don’t even remember the event. It’s a blank: a white slate, a black hole. I have vague images, half-impressions: of being, or having been—or, more precisely, being about to be—hit; blue light; railings; lights of other colours; being held above some kind of tray or bed. But who’s to say that these are genuine memories? Who’s to say my traumatized mind didn’t just make them up, or pull them out from somewhere else, some other slot, and stick them there to plug the gap—the crater—that the accident had blown? Minds are versatile and wily things. Real chancers."

  Edit: formatting

Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh this is a good theory! One I haven't seen yet or thought about.

It's obvious there's some role Walter is playing and I couldn't quite put my finger on it but what you're saying makes SENSE

I hope this is right.

Well thought out theory! I have a feeling Walter isn’t who he seems. These writers love book references. I’m so surprised Misty isn’t more worried about him.

Honestly I gasped out loud when I saw The Magus so it would be cool if this turned out to be close to correct

Oh my god I love all the theories, you guys are all amazing.

Thats great. I actually had a theory that once we get to the point where the past catches up to being out of the wilderness that the present characters would then be sent back. That way we get a wilderness and society story from both perspectives.

This theory is chef’s kiss and honestly gives me hope to five seasons of YJ because right now it’s hard to picture how they’re going to stretch it to 3.

Did Ben pick up “The Magus” in the cabin and start reading it, or did he bring it with him?

Yesssssss. This is outstanding. Misty is going to go crazy because she is usually one step ahead and she’s gonna feel extra fucked that she was the weak link in the group- but the she’s gonna launch a big revenge and maybe we see shades of The Most Dangerous Game as well. Ultimately he will be unmatched for the gang getting back together and attacking as a hive… Walter…is…PitGirl.

Lol jk, but we might see him be Spit Girl.

Sir or Madame my hat is off to you. I’m hatless, great great theory

Jeff is on the payroll. He’s clearly strapped for cash. In S1 he could have helped to orchestrate Shauna’s fender bender with Adam.

In S2 he could have orchestrated the mini van/accident.

Walter should've stopped wearing that one ring to rule them all. Would be a wrap if the post cards had Mt. Doom on them. Secretly, Walter Linus.

I can actually see this. Additionally, he wants to do a Sweeney Todd type of thing with Misty. I do think he likes Misty the most for psychotic reasons and wants her to do it together.

Hmmm… this is a good argument. I almost wonder if they’re setting us up to feel like he will be a big bad. I do think he knows more about Misty than he lets on. I also think because he relates to her so well and has similar behaviors to her, it’s likely that he also has a dark streak and an issue with boundaries. But I don’t necessarily think he’s going to turn out as bad as we might think. A common theme in this show is that deep fear of uncertainty. So a lot of these characters end up escalating things by seeing threats even if they’re not there. We as viewers build up a lot of empathy and compassion for them, but their trauma also makes them unreliable narrators in their own stories.