Give me Yellowjackets season two right now
Since the start of December, I have heard nothing but raves about Yellowjackets and now I’ve finished it, I can fully appreciate the buzz. I’m not very good at binge-watching but I blasted through all 10 episodes within a week, which shows you exactly how into it I was.
If you haven’t heard about the show, here’s the lowdown – the action is split between 1996 and 2021 and follows the Yellowjackets high school soccer team. In 1996, their plane crashes in the wilderness and the survivors (10 girls and three guys) have to fight for survival. In 2021, we follow adult versions of some of the characters as they deal with the trauma of their 19-month stay in the remote woods. And let’s just say that they’re pretty f**ked up.
It’s a mix between Lost, Lord of the Flies, and your classic teen dramas. It’s described as a psychological drama and that’s fully accurate for the 2021 scenes but the 1996 ones definitely have some horror thrown in. The 1996 action primarily follows Shauna (Sophie Nelisse), Natalie (Sophie Butcher), Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Misty (Sammi Hanratty), and Jackie (Ella Purnell), while the 2021 action follows their adult counterparts, played by Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress and Christina Ricci (there is no adult Jackie).
*SPOILERS FOLLOW*
I must admit, the show takes a while to get going because it needs to establish the characters and their relationships and get through the immediate aftermath of the plane crash before it can step up a notch. I got really into it from episode 5 – Blood Hive – onwards as the scary element that was teased in the pilot returned and Lottie (Courtney Eaton) became this creepy person that I felt very uneasy about. And she just gets more terrifying from then on!
As a whole, the series is gripping as hell and presents us with a set of interesting characters and dynamics that were a minefield to explore. It gets truly exciting towards the end of the season as the various slow-burning threads come together in thrilling ways and nails it with the cliffhanger.
The pilot teased cannibalism and the adults have hinted about it, so I thought this would happen by the end of the season but I guess that is being saved for the second one. The survivors haven’t quite devolved into savages just yet, but it feels like that’s not too far off (the Doomcoming episode!) Has too much has been left for the second season? Maybe. In many ways, this first one just feels like the foundation and the tease for the next season but that also means it’ll be even better than this one given all the groundwork that’s been laid.
I finished the last three episodes last night and laid in bed just thinking about everything that had happened and what might happen going forward. The revelation that Lottie is alive as an adult is a huge game-changer. It seems like she’s the leader of some cult – but what does she want with Natalie? And what is this mysterious cult about? Also, finding out that Taissa is some sort of sleepwalking savage is wild! OMG.
This season has left me with so many questions that I’m desperate to have answered so I really want the second season, pronto. I want to know so much more about Lottie and what her deal is, ditto for adult Taissa, and basically, I want them to spill the beans and reveal everything that went down in the woods. Give me it now, please!
Available on Sky and NowTV until 19th February