Since its premiere in 2021, Yellowjackets has established itself as one of the best thrillers around. Starring Christina Ricci, Ella Purnell, Melanie Lynskey, and a slew of other talented actors, the show focuses on a group of girls after their plane crashes in the Wilderness. It then jumps forward into the present to show how the Survivors are coping with their experiences (or in many cases, not coping).
Release Date
November 14, 2021
Network
Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime
Showrunner
Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco
Stream
For so many reasons, Yellowjackets is helping redefine women-led thrillers, as well as thrillers in general. With its unique take on friendship, deeper focus on the gray layers of morality, and subversion of the classic strong female character archetype, there’s a lot to love about the series, which has left us hungry for more.
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Unique Take on Female Friendships
Friendship is a core component of what makes Yellowjackets work. But that doesn’t mean the relationships themselves always work out. Many of the friendships in the show are toxic, or at the very least, realistic renderings of what people bonded by trauma might look like. That’s not to say there aren’t heartwarming moments between the characters, only that there are moments of them literally eating each other’s hearts as well.
Complicated but Not Uncaring
Outside the more extreme conditions brought upon by the Wilderness, Yellowjackets gets female friendships right in the quieter moments pre-crash. For example, Shauna and Jackie had a real bond, but much of it was built on Jackie bossing Shauna around and Shauna doing hurtful things behind Jackie’s back. It’s not that they didn’t love each other, but that love was more complicated, and at points, problematic. Even after Jackie dies, Shauna feels connected to her—as much as they fought and argued, they still cared deeply about one another, and Jackie’s death would continue to haunt Shauna for the rest of her life.
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Coming of Age
Yellowjackets isn’t just a thriller, it’s also a coming-of-age story. The show jumps back and forth in time, sometimes showing the girls in the Wilderness and other times back at home. Although some thrillers use a similar setup, Yellowjackets is unique in that so much of the past continues to be present in the modern day. Try as they might, the women are still the same young girls fighting to survive, and that traumatic past means they’ve simultaneously grown up too fast while also never really leaving their childhoods behind.
Caught in Time
Of course, not all the girls come of age, as many of them die in the Wilderness. These deaths remain with the Survivors, serving as just another way that they can’t outrun their past. In this sense, the show’s suspense lies in not just what happened to the girls, but also in what will happen to their modern-day versions. Past and present are constantly linked, which makes every moment even tenser.
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4
The Mundane and the Murderous
The tension in Yellowjackets largely stems from the girls’ need to survive in the Wilderness. However, there are also more mundane, tense moments, such as when Shauna starts an extramarital affair or when Tai begins sleepwalking again. Shauna’s affair ends in Adam’s murder, and Tai’s sleepwalking not only endangers her son, but also results in the death of her dog. In short, these somewhat more typical problems spiral into huge, dramatic events that rival the suspense of the girls’ attempt at survival.
Less Wild Wilderness Moments
The mundane vs. murderous focus doesn’t just apply to the show’s older women. In the past, even with the looming threats of freezing, starvation, and being cannibalized, the girls experience “milder” moments that quickly spiral into something horrible. For example, Nat and Travis’ relationship was a central focus when Javi went missing, and Jackie’s betrayal by Shauna didn’t just end their friendship, but also, Jackie’s life. Similarly, Misty’s friendship with Kristen (Crystal) quickly spiraled into the latter’s accidental death when Misty’s desire to finally, fully bond with someone led her to share a horrific secret.
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Not Just Good and Bad
The heroines of women-led thrillers are often the good guys taking down the bad guys. However, the characters in Yellowjackets are constantly trying to take each other down. Additionally, no one is really good or bad; rather, they’re all shades of gray who are just trying to make it out alive. This creates an interesting experience for audiences, where rooting for a character’s survival could ultimately cost another character their life.
Saving and Destroying the Day
Several times throughout the show, the women of Yellowjackets have been each other’s protectors. For example, Lottie gave the younger girls hope, and several of the women helped older-Shauna cover up Adam’s murder. However, the very hope that inspired the girls ultimately led to them cannibalizing each other. Similarly, Adam would have never been killed if Shauna hadn’t feared he was blackmailing her and the other women over their past. In other words, the girls and women have shown true heroism throughout the show, but that heroism often stems from, or sometimes leads to, something horrible.
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Subverting the “Strong Female Character”
In the beginning of Yellowjackets, the story is seemingly about whether the girls will win a soccer game. Some of these girls emerge as leaders early on, such as Team Captain Jackie, who was pretty, popular, and not afraid to speak her mind. In this sense, she was the strongest of the girls, with the principal even telling her to take control “when things get tough.” However, once they arrive in the Wilderness, the idea of strength, and who has it, abruptly shifts.
Weakness Disguised as Strength
Though there’s some argument to be had about the definition, in theory, a “strong female character” stands up for her beliefs, works hard for what she wants, and is true to herself and what matters to her. All of these traits seem to apply to Jackie. However, in the Wilderness, strength takes on a different form, and the strongest girls are those with the ability to adapt, get their hands dirty, and above all, pretend to be strong, emotionally.
The girls are all traumatized, but they put that trauma on the back burner in order to make it through each day. All except for Jackie, who falls apart in her new environment. The strengths she had in her pre-crash life became weaknesses, while other characters such as Shauna found strength in new roles as providers. However, as previously said, this was more-so a facade of strength, one which was used to hide how alone, scared, and weak the other characters actually felt.
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Psychologically Thrilling
Psychological thrillers are nothing new, but the way Yellowjackets approaches psychology is. There’s constant uncertainty about what actually happened to the girls and how much of their memories can be trusted. Did they really kill and eat each other? Were Lottie’s visions real? What’s up with Dark Tai, Javi’s “friend,” etc.? This makes it difficult to know how to respond to everything happening, and it keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat from scene to scene.
Keeps You Guessing
The questions above are only a few of those remaining. For example, who’s Pit Girl? What about the Man in the Cabin, or the Man with No Eyes? And what do the symbols actually mean? While we’re hoping to get these answers in Season 3, each season introduces more mysteries, so we’re sure we’ll walk away with even more questions.
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