Top Line Thoughts: I hate to love this show. It’s so good and fascinating and addicting and yet also horrifying and disgusting and hard to watch. I also feel like this show is surprisingly unknown for the caliber of talent and quality it has. For those who haven’t heard of it, Yellowjackets follows a girls high school varsity soccer team in 1996 after their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness and they are forced to find ways to survive. It takes place in dual timelines in the 90s and present day, featuring some of the survivors as adults struggling to move on from the past. The creators of the show have said they were inspired to make it after someone said that “Lord of the Flies” would never happen with girls because they’re too polite and they thought: have you ever met a teenage girl? They’re the most vicious people in the world. The show is very reminiscent of Lost and not just because it starts with a plane crash. There is also a mystery/potentially supernatural element to the crash site. However, Yellowjackets leans way more into elements of suspense, horror, and gore than Lost ever did.

I don’t typically like horror and avoid it if I can, so the first season of this show actually shook me to my core. It creeped me out so much I had nightmares. And yet I couldn’t stop watching it. I was addicted and had to know what was going on and what was going to happen next. I was both nervous and excited for season 2 to creep me out again. But this season swung way more into gross, shocking gore than a lingering sense of unease. Almost every single time I sat down to watch it, I made the mistake of eating something. Let this be a warning to everyone: do not eat while watching this show. You will lose your appetite. It is not only visually gross, but also mentally and emotionally hard to stomach. I commend the creators for really just going for it and not shying away or pulling back from anything that might be taboo. The darkest depths of people are just laid bare. 

Despite all that, there are actually moments in the show that are really funny and quirky and I love every time they inject a flash of levity. It reminds me of the tone of Jordan Peele’s horror movies where the combination of horror and comedy heightens both. The funny moments are funnier because you’re already on edge and they’re unexpected, but the scary moments are scarier because the funny moments force you to let your guard down. Yellowjackets does have a weird, dark sense of humor that I really enjoy.

This show strikes such a delicate balance that it would not work or be nearly as enjoyable without the pitch perfect performances by the cast. First of all, the casting of the Yellowjackets team members as teenagers and then as adults is spot on. They all really do look like different aged versions of the same person. From the adult Yellowjackets, Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, and Juliette Lewis all play unhinged in their own unique ways, each one more entertaining than the next. The three are all also given a few more emotionally deep scenes this season that they nail as well. It’s so hard to pick a favorite (and no one is asking me to) but I am just obsessed with Melanie Lynskey right now, in this role and as herself. 

The teenage Yellowjackets were asked to do some seriously messed up and emotional stuff this season and all gave terrifying and moving performances, but I want to specifically call out Sophie Nélisse, who plays the young version of Melanie Lynskey’s character. She was really amazing this season in some absolutely brutal scenes.

Yellowjackets is what is referred to as a “mystery box” or “puzzle box” show which is a genre of high concept fiction that features large and complex stories based on enigmatic happenings and secrets, with multiple interlocking sub-plots and sets of characters that eventually reveal an underlying mythos that binds everything together. Lost is a prime example of this. Even though I don’t like horror, I can always get behind a puzzle box show for the experience of watching it because you don’t just watch it and move on. (Well maybe normal people do but I don’t.) The experience doesn’t end when the episode ends. You continue to think about it and theorize and question and explore. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of podcasts and will listen to a podcast about almost anything, but one of my favorite parts of watching Yellowjackets is finishing the episode and then listening to my favorite podcasters pick it apart and discuss clues and theories about what it could all mean. Or going on Twitter to see what other people are saying and thinking and what they noticed that I didn’t. If you’re not normally a podcast person, I think this is the perfect show to listen to breakdown pod with because it adds so many extra layers of symbolism and theories and mythology that enhance the experience of the show.

There’s not too much else I can say without getting into spoiler territory, but I really like this show. I liked the first season better than the second, but I still enjoyed season 2. This is a really specific show and is a super hard pill to swallow. If you’re up for it, I think it is definitely worth the watch, but I also understand that this show is not for everyone. It is dark and twisted and can be ruthless but can also be fun. It deserves more widespread attention and recognition. Viewer discretion advised!!!

Spoiler Section: I don’t know where I thought season 2 of this show was going but it definitely wasn’t here. First off, I think we all knew cannibalism was coming in the future of the show, but I was shocked how quickly it happened. I liked that they didn’t tease and build to it all season and just went right to eating Jackie in the first few episodes. It was shocking, but also didn’t feel totally out of nowhere considering what the group was dealing with in that moment and the circumstances of her body being cooked without them having to do anything.

While cannibalism exists on the show for the shock value and taboo nature of the topic and also makes sense from a survival standpoint, I’m so interested in the thematic purpose it serves. The entire idea of the show comes from breaking down the meanness of teenage girls and the dynamics of female relationships. The 2009 horror/comedy Jennifer’s Body had the same central focus and also ended up showcasing evil, possessed humans who eat other people. It ultimately all boils down to jealousy. Teenage girls want to be like their friends, their enemies, strangers on the internet more than they want to be themselves. They want to be like others so badly that it’s more than that. They want to literally be someone else. To inhabit them. This is a form of consumption. 

Many Yellowjackets viewers have theorized that Shauna was in love with Jackie, but really she just wanted to be her. She wanted the attention and the popularity Jackie had so she started trying to be her and take her place by sleeping with Jackie’s boyfriend and then escalating to fully consuming her by eating her piece by piece. Obviously that’s an extreme example, but the notions of love and consumption are so closely aligned in human brains. There is a concept called “cute aggression”. This is the urge to squeeze, bite, or pinch something cute like a young animal or a human baby without any desire to cause them harm. When we love something so much, we just want to consume it and have it be so wholly a part of us. An act of love and an act of violence become intertwined.

Yes, the Yellowjackets are starving in the woods and are forced to turn to cannibalism for sustenance. But who and how and why they eat someone, especially as this becomes a more common practice going forward in the show, is also a commentary on the interpersonal dynamics of the group. Female friendships, especially as a teenager, are a literal horror show. To me, this is what really sets the show apart from any horror movie or show that throws in cannibalism for shock value or gore. It definitely brings both of those things to Yellowjackets, but it is also used so smartly and intentionally by the creators to make a point rather than just to scare.

That being said, I do think the creators tried to do just a little bit too much in the second season. It seemed like they were trying to tackle a lot of big themes and there was a noticeable increase in stylistic choices this season with the timelines and editing and what was real and what wasn’t. It made it hard to track what point was being made and who believes in what at what time and why. A lot of characters switched sides multiple times and I lost the thread of many of their motivations.

But on the subject of belief, another interesting point the show makes and demonstrates really well is essentially how desperately people try to find control in chaotic situations. They turn to religion or belief in something, anything, when it seems like all hope is lost and the world is anarchic. This also allows the show to be as supernatural as you want it to be. Everything that happens has a natural and logical explanation, but could also easily fall into mystical territory. The show doesn’t try to sway you one way or another, it just lays it out there and lets you interpret based on your own beliefs.

Plotwise, I loved spending time with the Sadecki family this season because Jeff is the best comedic relief and Callie really grew on me, but I didn’t like how their storyline kept Shauna away from the rest of the girls for most of the season. Misty is always endlessly entertaining and Walter is the perfect psychotic sidekick for her. Elijah Wood was a great addition to the cast. Once the women and the storylines finally did converge, it felt like plot started to move a little too fast and conveniently. Actually in present day and back in the 90s. Suddenly Misty just put together that Jeff was the blackmailer? And suddenly the 90s girls are just willing to sacrifice someone or even themselves by picking cards? We knew these conclusions were coming, but it felt like we missed a conversation or two on the road to getting there. 

Adult Natalie dying was really shocking to me on a show that makes my jaw drop three times an episode (ex. Travis eating his brother’s heart like actually what???). Mostly because Juliette Lewis is such a huge draw for the show and brings an energy that literally no one else on the planet could bring. It also calls into question a potential “Final Destination” dynamic – Natalie picked the Queen card and was therefore sentenced to death years ago but managed to elude it. Until now. Since Shauna picked the Queen in this episode, does this mean she’s now doomed? I hope not because I don’t know if I could watch this show without Melanie Lynskey, but I guess we’ll have to see what happens next season!

Before my final note, I couldn’t write this without mentioning the episode where teen Shauna gives birth. I already called out Sophie Nélisse earlier, but I have to bring her up again to say how incredibly heartbreaking her performance was in this episode. This was a different realm of dark and painful for the show and it was so devastating. There were many theories between seasons about awful or creepy things that could happen to Shauna’s baby, but the choice to make the answer so simple and realistic was surprisingly harder to watch. The reactions of the other characters to Shauna’s breakdown at the end of that episode said it all. 

A few brief, random thoughts:

• I’m shocked Ben survived the season
• Javi came back after that long just to die
• Whoever let Tai get another dog should go to jail

Season 2 was a rockier road than season 1 but I have to trust the show. The creators have said they’ve known the ending from the beginning and have a road map for the story. It’s subject to change, but that’s still so important to making a good show. They don’t just do things to be shocking or interesting; they’re all part of a larger plan thats headed in a certain direction and I’m excited to see where it all ends up!

2023 Count: 12 seasons, 30 movies, 1 special