Yellowjackets is a thriller/drama TV series that follows a 1996 high school girls soccer team that gets stranded in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. The team resorts to cannibalistic rituals in order to survive and basically ends up going crazy. The show includes two timelines, one that follows the team when they crashed, and the other that follows the survivors of the crash 25 years later.
This was indeed one of the strangest shows I’ve ever seen, but its thrilling plot and complex characters made it an interesting watch. Unfortunately, season three was no doubt its worst season yet.
The beginning of season one descends into the team’s first few months stranded in the wilderness, while the survivors in the present timeline deal with the effects of the plane crash on their current lives. Eventually, when the survivors are investigated by a reporter, they discover that someone may know about secrets they thought they left behind in the wilderness years ago, and a mystery unfolds.
Overall, season one was quite good. The storylines of both timelines were fairly well-organized, and it felt like the plot was actually going somewhere.
However, everything went downhill soon after.
By the third season, the pace of the plot, especially in the present timeline, moved very slowly, and most of the scenes felt like they were filler. What made the first season nice was that both timelines were engaging, and the events in the past timeline correlated with those of the present, connecting both timelines in a way that was easy to follow.
By the third season, all of this had changed. Everything felt less and less structured and more like the writers were just figuring things out episode by episode. There was no longer one single storyline, but a ton of different events scrambled together that made it impossible to understand what was happening. Plots that were introduced in previous episodes were entirely dropped without explanation, and many new characters were introduced in season three that didn’t seem to serve much of a purpose. While it’s true that a highly predictable storyline can make one lose interest, Yellowjackets’ third season was so convoluted that it only brought confusion.
Season three of Yellowjackets also lost its great characters, as season one was filled with characters who were fun to watch. Sadly, many of the same characters in season three seem to lack the traits that made them nuanced and endearing or have been removed from the show entirely.
For instance, Natalie “Nat” Scatorccio, played by Juliette Lewis, was one of the show’s main characters and one of the most complex. However, her death came out of the blue when she was accidentally poisoned by her best friend in season three, and she has no longer appeared in the show since. So many episodes of season three just felt strange after losing a character who used to be a central part of the story.
Other main characters of the show haven’t been removed, but instead have changed so much that it’s hard to root for them. For example, Shauna Shipman, played by Melanie Lynskey, has become completely unlikeable in season three. Her endless immoral, reckless decisions have made it difficult for one to feel invested in her story.
It’s understandable that not all characters will survive, particularly in a show that falls more into the horror genre. But when too many characters are removed from a show or start to lose the parts of them that the audience feels connected to, the show simply isn’t as enjoyable to watch.
Despite some major flaws in its recent seasons, I do think that Yellowjackets is a unique show and has a lot of strengths. If you’re in the market for a show with a thrilling plot and a mystery around every corner, this could be the one for you! Just don’t get too invested in it, or you might be disappointed later on. I’d also advise anyone who doesn’t enjoy the horror genre to steer clear, as some scenes are a bit gory.
Overall, I thought season one of Yellowjackets sparked so much potential, but it seems that it was wasted in season three. Yellowjackets was originally renewed for five seasons, so perhaps season four will get its act together and we’ll finally understand what’s happening.
