Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers from “Digestif,” the third episode of “Yellowjackets” Season 2, now streaming on Showtime.
From destroying the team’s only way out of the wilderness in the past to conducting citizen detective investigations in the present, Misty Quigley’s ambitions are always an attempt to further her relationships — switching from being a misfit, and an unknowing laughingstock — and to become a vital member of the soccer team at the center of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.”
As played by actor Samantha Hanratty, in “Digestif,” teenage Misty outdoes even her Season 1 antics, with one particularly eccentric breakout moment. While the girls grapple with their latest decision, to feast on their late teammate Jackie, they prepare for the birth of Shauna’s (Sophie Nélisse) baby. They decide to celebrate, and throw Shauna an impromptu baby shower. But with limited resources, Misty, with the guidance from her new “bestie” Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman), gives Shauna a unique gift: She decides to deliver Sally Field’s iconic graveside monologue from “Steel Magnolias.”
Speaking with Variety, Hanratty reveals that she has yet to see “Steel Magnolias,” the 1989 film that inspired the baby shower’s most unconventional present. Despite not having seen it — even now! — Hanratty watched the scene a handful of times to make sure she could combine the comedic perception of Misty with the character’s utter sincerity.
Had you watched “Steel Magnolias” before you were given the script?
Oh my gosh, I have not. I have yet to watch it. I’ve only heard amazing things, and I can’t wait to watch it.
It’s a very intimidating monologue and it’s a very intimidating scene. I feel like I would have been even more nervous if I had seen the whole film. I was deciding whether or not to watch it, and I just decided to just watch that scene a couple of times. On YouTube, I watched about six times. I didn’t want to be too exact, because I didn’t want to be like she knew too much. But at the same time when you think of your favorite movies, I feel like a lot of us are able to recite really big parts. We all have our things we remember, and this just happens to be Misty’s cup of tea.
Nuha Jes Izman as Teen Crystal, Samantha Hanratty as Teen Misty and Alexa Barajas as Teen Mari.
Did you rehearse in front of your co-stars, or did just perform in front of them on the day?
I only did it in front of them a couple of times. It was hard doing it with everybody with them laughing. There was a part of me that helped fuel the emotions in that sense, that was like, “All right, I’m not gonna let this get to me.” But at the same time, I think that it can be very distracting. Honestly, for the most part it was just me in there. They all got to hang out in the trailers, and I just had fake markers that I looked at every now and then. She’s not really looking at them, she’s so into her own world when she’s doing the monologue.
It’s interesting, because Misty is such a comedy piece. She’s the kind of person that everybody can kind of chuckle at, and have a good laugh at. But she doesn’t view herself as that, so I have to take her as seriously as possible. Now that I’m watching the show, I get to laugh and have fun, but when I’m filming it, I really try to keep her seriousness, to keep her where she believes that everything that she’s doing is 100%. She doesn’t know that everybody’s always making fun of her, you know?
In both timelines, Misty is the team’s resident misfit and outsider, but she does manage to slowly form new relationships. How was it adapting to Misty’s new dynamics, specifically with Crystal?
This is a completely new world for Misty. She has never had a friend, never mind somebody who seeks her, somebody who pursues her, so to have that in Crystal is literally the dream that Misty didn’t even know she could have. She wanted to be liked by people, but I don’t think she ever thought that she would be able to have a relationship quite like this. And Nuha, who plays Crystal, is so easily lovable and easily one of my favorite people in the world, so to do that was not hard at all with her. Every single scene we’re doing something whether we’re in the background, whether we’re not even on camera, we’re doing something that Crystal and Misty would be doing. I really love the ‘ship name that people have come up with: They’ve named us “Crusty.” We’re just starting the relationship between Misty and Crystal, and I’m really excited for where things are going.
For your main timeline, were you and your castmates surprised by how quickly in Season 2 the girls turned to cannibalism?
Yes, I think a lot of us were so shocked it was Episode 2. We got episodes one and two, back to back. So seeing that it was happening right then was wild. Also, I had the same reaction [as the audience] where I was like, “All right, like we’re doing this thing.” I think that because this was a body — it was Jackie — but it was also a body that had been there for a long time, and I think all the circumstances lined up for it to be an opportunity that they couldn’t really refuse.
How was it approaching the third timeline in the season premiere, after the girls are rescued?
So much secretiveness around that. There’s certain characters we don’t see, there’s certain characters that have their hoods up that we don’t know who they are. So there’s still like this element of “I still don’t really know who all survives and what happens.” But it was really cool to be able to play this element of this is their first time, seeing all these humans. Of course Misty has to have a little bit of excitement when it comes to cameras and had a little smile in there.
Without spoiling what’s to come, how much do you think destroying the black box weighs on Misty?
Honestly, I don’t really think she thinks much about it. She’s not somebody who really thinks much of the consequences of her own actions, unless it affects her negatively. But honestly, no, she doesn’t really ever blame herself for anything. Which is one of the things that makes Misty so dangerous is that she doesn’t really have many moments where she’s like, “Oh, I shouldn’t have done that. What have I done?”
Those moments are to come, she will feel that soon enough. But leading up to this, she doesn’t really have much regret. There isn’t really a moral compass that’s telling her I did something wrong. I think that she really just is somebody who takes what she can get in the moment, and she doesn’t think about consequences. Even when something bad happens, she has a way of turning it into everybody else’s fault. She becomes kind of like a little kid. She’s always going to turn it on somebody else.
Misty seems to trust teen Lottie (Courtney Eaton), but do you think present-day Lottie (Simone Kessell) can be trusted?
I’m gonna be totally honest: I don’t think Misty trusts Lottie as a teenager either. I think that she sees that Lottie has a lot of power. She is enthralled by it, and wants to be by it so that she can manipulate it. I don’t think she necessarily believes in the wilderness. I don’t think she believes in anything that Lottie is really pushing out there. It’s more of, she sees a place to belong. If there’s a circle where people are going to hold hands, Misty is going to be in that circle.
As far as current-day Lottie, I think there’s a lot of complexities with current day Lottie, but there is this element of good around her to that Simone plays so beautifully. I feel like I would probably be in that cult — like, I’m in there being like, “I’m drinking what she’s selling.” I think that’s just a huge win because of Simone being such an amazing actress. I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know about adult Lottie! I’m excited to see what she’s got cooking up next.
You and me both…
She’s clearly unhinged, and clearly has her problems. But I do think that deep down she wants to be good.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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