Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. The Yellowjackets are back and better than ever.
Currently in its third season, Yellowjackets follows a high school girls’ soccer team in dual timelines: one in 1996, when the team’s plane crashed in the wilderness en route to the national soccer tournament, and another in 2021, when some of the surviving girls are still attempting to deal with their trauma as adults. It is unquestionably my favorite television show ever.
The long-awaited season 3 kicked off on Valentine’s Day with a two-episode premiere, and I’ve got to say I absolutely loved it. After a second season that didn’t quite reach all my expectations but still had some great moments, I was a bit nervous about what season 3 would look like. However, I am happy to report that so far, season 3 has absolutely blown my expectations out of the water.
Let’s start with the wilderness timeline. The season opens with Mari (Alexa Barjas) being chased through the woods by all the other girls. A bait and switch is pulled here, and the viewer assumes Mari is being hunted when, in reality, the girls are playing a game. This resembles especially the infamous “pit girl” scene that opens the entire show, the girl also having been speculated to be Mari herself. However, this scene is clearly not the “pit girl” scene as that scene takes place in the winter and this one in the spring, but its marked resemblance bears an incredible hook for the season.
Nevertheless, as I said, spring has officially come for our beloved Yellowjackets, and they seem to have settled into an almost idyllic space. They’ve built masterfully constructed huts, started raising bunnies, and been very successful in their hunting efforts. All of this timeline is colored in a muted yellow tone, a color grading that has not previously appeared in the show—I’ve seen many fan theories that this is likely because what we’re being shown is the girls’ idealized version of this spring, and later, we’re going to be shown the much starker reality of their little village. This is a theory that I am 110% on board with, and I cannot wait to see if it proves to be true.
Yet, even as the girls have settled into this space, that doesn’t stop them from dealing with intense interpersonal conflict. Shauna (Sophie Nelisse) is angry and violent, having still not dealt with the loss of her best friend Jackie (Ella Purnell) and being even further traumatized by the recent loss of her baby. This is emphasized in two ways. First, by the vicious voiceover Shauna gives over Van’s (Liv Hewson) recap to the other girls of what has happened in the wilderness. The second point of emphasis comes when Shauna spits in Mari’s soup. This act sets off a chain of events where Mari runs off and falls into a pit (another clear reference to “pit girl”). She is rescued from the pit by coach Ben (Steven Krueger), who not only parted with the girls in the previous season but, in this episode, also found a large stash of food and supplies. Ben takes Mari back to where he’s been hiding but covers her eyes in an attempt to obscure his hiding spot.
While all of this is happening, Lottie (Courtney Eaton) and Travis (Kevin Alves) are experimenting with mushrooms, Lottie urging Travis to take them because she believes through them he can connect with the wilderness. While doing this, Travis hears a loud screaming and crying sound, which all of the girls will hear again later in the episode. This is honestly a devastating moment within the episode because we know this jumpstarts Travis’ lifelong struggle with addiction, which will eventually, in some part, lead to his death in the adult timeline.
Shauna and Melissa (Jenna Burgess) also become close in these episodes, as Melissa sides with Shauna against Mari. The two even share a passionate kiss at the end of the second episode. This moment explicitly confirms Shauna’s bisexuality, a point fans have speculated about since they were introduced to Shauna and Jackie and their intense homoerotic relationship.
With everything happening in the teen timeline, there is just as much, if not more, happening in the adult timeline. Many of the adult Yellowjackets, excluding Misty (Christina Ricci) and Lottie (Simone Kessell), attend adult Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) funeral. During the funeral, Misty breaks into Natalie’s storage unit and takes her iconic leather jacket before embarking on a drunken spiral until she breaks down with grief. Shauna’s (Melanie Lynskey) daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardens) decides to stand up against some bullies at school, who are mocking her and her mother about the wilderness time by dumping animal guts on them, resulting in her suspension. Shauna’s husband Jeff (Warren Kole) is horrified by this, but for Shauna it proves to be a bonding moment for her and Callie.
However, this feeling of connection is interrupted with the arrival of Lottie on Shauna’s doorstep, claiming that she has nowhere else to go. It is then Callie who begs Shauna to let her stay. This will later result in Callie drugging Misty, who was supposed to be monitoring Callie and Lottie so that Callie can talk to Lottie. This moment takes place while Shauna and Jeff are out at dinner with potential buyers for pieces from Jeff’s furniture store. While at this dinner, Shauna goes to the restroom and while she is in there the lights are shut off and a mysterious phone is left, this coincides with a tape that also arrives on the doorstep of Shauna’s house. While who this mysterious person is has not yet been revealed, it’s suspected that it will be the character Hillary Swank is portraying, which very well could be adult Melissa.
Van and Taissa meanwhile go out for a romantic dinner, and, in an attempt to return to their teenage selves, they dine and dash. This is a sweeping romantic moment as you see the joy both of them share and the clear love and care they have for each other, and “Glycerin” by Bush blasts. However, this scene is immediately tinged with sadness for the viewer as we watch the waiter who was chasing them fall to the ground and suffer a heart attack before eventually dying, a fact Taissa won’t discover until she goes back to pay for the meal. The push and pull of extreme tragedy has always been a core of Van and Taissa’s relationship and a source of doubt for Van and her place in the world, and the season is clearly setting up to explore this even further.
Ultimately, these two episodes mark an incredibly strong start to the show’s third season, and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead!