‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Review: Showtime’s Buzziest Series Still Stings [B]

It has been two years since the shocking season finale that left one of our favorite Yellowjackets dead and another being hauled away on a psychiatric hold. But, as is the trend in TV these days, though we have waited two years, only weeks have passed in their world. 

Picking up days after Misty (Christina Ricci) accidentally administered a fatal dose of fentanyl to Natalie (Juliette Lewis), the third season of the Emmy-nominated series Yellowjackets touches on the fallout of that fateful night. Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and Jeff (Warren Kole) get ready for the funeral neither really wants to attend, but Shauna’s sense of obligation won’t let her out of it. Misty, on the other hand, rejects Walter’s (Elijah Wood) suggestion that the funeral might be a good way for her to say goodbye and move on. She knows it won’t help assuage her guilt and skips the event, preferring to drown her sorrows with work and binge-drinking.

Meanwhile, spring has sprung in the Canadian wilderness and the teenage castaways have been busy. After losing their cabin to a fire that “burned for weeks,” the girls have built sturdy huts and taught themselves farming. With Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) leading them, most of the group prepares for the summer solstice, though Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) wants nothing to do with the revelry. Still grieving the loss of her baby, Shauna is haunted by memories and horrific images of the cannibalism that was long-rumored and finally confirmed. Shauna can’t get past it, and the fact no one else seems bothered by it keeps her on the outside.

Much of the success of the first two seasons can be attributed to the equally compelling storylines of the adults and their teenage counterparts. Switching back and forth from present day mystery to the late-90s fight for survival kept both perspectives intriguing and full of momentum. That seems to be shifting in the third season, however. With only the first four episodes provided for review, some of the adults are spinning their wheels just as things with the teens are getting weirder and more exciting. That is not to say the present day story has stalled completely. Shauna is making some progress with her teenage daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins), who learned far more than she expected the night Natalie died. Ever the high school senior, Callie would never admit to the newfound respect she has for what her mom endured. 

Watching Shauna attempt to parent a child on the verge of adulthood has taken on new meaning after last season’s confession that she didn’t really like her daughter and had never felt close to her. Perhaps that is starting to change now that Callie knows more about her mother’s experiences and feels driven to defend her mom against the rumors that still swirl around the school 25 years later. Though Shauna wants to keep the full truth from Callie, it seems as though the truth is the one thing that can actually bring them together.

The present day storyline plays out more like a soap opera than the prior seasons. Things are complicated when Lottie (Simone Kessell) shows up at the Sadeckis’ door, freshly released from psychiatric care and needing a place to crash. Shauna needs to keep Lottie from spilling more secrets to Callie, so she enlists a checked out Misty for help. But Misty, who has been disconnected from her friends since Natalie’s death, wants to prove to Walter that they don’t just call when they need something from her, a hope that is quickly dashed when she is called upon to babysit Lottie and Callie. Meanwhile, disgraced former State Senator Taissa (Tawny Cypress) enjoys reconnecting with lost love Van (Lauren Ambrose), but Van’s advancing cancer — and the fact Taissa is still technically married — throws a wrench in their relationship. At least until a dine-and-dash situation changes their fate.

It’s all so soapy and silly, and yet, because the actresses are as good as ever, it’s impossible not to enjoy the drama. The trick with a show like Yellowjackets is to keep the audience engaged, revealing just enough that they need to keep tuning in, but not giving everything away all at once. Even with a potential new threat, though, it’s time to start getting a few answers instead of just more questions.

And that’s where the momentum this season lies with the teens who are still stuck in the woods and seem to have accepted this. After failed attempts to get themselves rescued, they have created their own society under Natalie’s leadership, but guided by the demands of the unseen force in the woods. One of the most grounded parts of the series is the way these teenage girls organize themselves. From the day they crashed, they gave themselves jobs and figured out how to stay alive. Now, some untold months later, they have created for themselves a tiny village society with roles and rules, and consequences for breaking them.

Several of the teens are starting to experience and hear things now, which seems to answer the question of whether this is a supernatural force. But it’s also possible that it’s some kind of mass psychosis. Is there a faceless entity haunting them, convincing them to feed it? Or is there a rational explanation? That is one answer that we can wait a while longer for.

Lottie (Courtney Eaton) and Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) aren’t the only ones who sense it now. After a fight with Shauna, Mari (Alexa Barajas) wanders out into the woods alone where she has an unexpected encounter that leads to seeing, hearing, and experiencing things that can’t be explained. After a bad drug trip, Travis (Kevin Alves) understands what “it” wants. Everyone seems to be having their own encounters, and yet, there are still questions about how much of this is real. The young actors do such a great job with the constant shifts in tone, moving deftly from laughing and playing to paranoia, fear, and confusion. They get more room to play than the adults do and Thatcher, Barajas, and Nélisse are particularly good in these first episodes. 

The growing mystery and the shifting interpersonal relationships are why the teenagers are so much more compelling now than their grown up selves. Even as the questions mount, the search for answers drives the story forward. In the present day, there is less of a focus on trying to resolve anything, and more on keeping their secrets hidden. Even a plot line in which adult Shauna might have a stalker seems like a rehashing of things we’ve already seen. The new developments are good, but maybe not enough to build toward a satisfying conclusion. It’s easy to compare the series to Lost, which was successful for several years but lost too much steam by dragging out revelations over too many seasons. From the four episodes given to critics for review, the new season of Yellowjackets is off to a decent start. If they pick up the pace and answer at least a question or two satisfactorily, it can be as good a season as the first two. So far, though, the teens are winning this round.

Grade: B

The third season of Yellowjackets begins with two episodes Friday, February 14 on Showtime and streaming on Paramount+ with new episodes weekly.

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Karen Peterson

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