A Moment of Appreciation for Jeff's Papa Roach Rock-Out on 'Yellowjackets'

Is Shauna's once ineffectual husband getting ... attractive?

Yellowjackets is known for delivering plenty of shocks, and the Season 2 premiere is no exception—looking at ears is going to be hard for a few weeks, at least. But there was one moment in “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” that had nothing to do with pagan rituals, cannibalism, or plane crashes that was still pretty shocking: Jeff’s private head-banging session.

After Jeff (Warren Kole) and Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) break into Adam’s studio, the duo head home and pretend like they didn’t just obstruct justice or have awkward sex while staring at tons of paintings done by Shauna’s dead lover (Peter Gadiot). Once Shauna goes into the house, Jeff treats himself to a moment of zen in the garage and cranks up “Last Resort” by Papa Roach—and it’s perfect.

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First of all, of course Jeff likes nu metal. But even that’s kind of charming, given the circumstances. We spent much of Season 1 thinking he was cheating on Shauna when he was actually just trying to keep the furniture store afloat. Shauna, meanwhile, was sleeping with a gorgeous millennial who’s not even old enough to have seen Reality Bites in theaters. Can you really blame Jeff for needing a moment alone with his thoughts and a music genre that peaked 20 years ago?

This scene also doesn’t take place too long after Jeff and Shauna’s painful birthday brunch with Jackie’s parents, which ended with Jeff assuring Shauna that he doesn’t wish she’d died in the wilderness instead. It’s a lot for anyone to process, and that’s before you even get into the rebellious teen daughter of it all.

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To be clear, Jeff isn’t innocent—he did cheat on Jackie with Shauna as a teen and then blackmail the adult Yellowjackets—but it’s hard to deny that he truly loves Shauna now. He wasn’t a cheater in the present day, he was just a man trying to save his business by borrowing money from a dangerous loan shark. Then, after he got the Yellowjackets’ money, the first thing he did was buy Shauna a present. And when he realized that yellow bandage monstrosity wasn’t really her vibe, he exchanged it for something that actually suited her—and she liked it so much she wore it to their 25th high school reunion.

Even now that his wife has made him an accessory to murder, Jeff is still out here trying to cheer her up with corny bits about calling the chicken nugget department. He’s also somewhat better at committing crimes than Shauna is, which certainly counts for something when your wife has stabbed her lover and the cops know he’s missing. When Shauna decides to burn Adam’s remaining possessions in the family grill, it’s Jeff who comes up with the brilliant idea to cook up some franks and beans so the neighbors won’t wonder why they’re barbecuing in November. There is simply no choice but to stan!

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It’s never easy to predict what’s going to happen on Yellowjackets, but Jeff’s metal moment is an encouraging sign that the writers are positioning him to become a bigger presence in Season 2, and maybe even a fan favorite. He hasn’t really had a breakout scene since Season 1’s viral “there’s no book club?!” line, so it was nice to see Kole getting the chance to flex his comedic chops again. It also didn’t hurt that his Papa Roach rock-out added a rare moment of levity to an episode that was otherwise typically dark. Now if only he’d remembered to clean out the grill after dinner.