Yellowjackets S2 delivers the darkness I expected last season
As soon as I finished Yellowjackets season one in January 2022, I couldn’t wait to watch the next season because it left us on a huge cliffhanger and with so many unanswered questions. Thankfully, the second series is here!
In case you need a refresher: 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 passengers 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’ve got problems.
One of my main niggles with season one was that it promised – or at least teased – that some gnarly s**t goes down in the woods. The opener hinted at hunting people, cannibalism and general Lord of the Flies carnage. It started going in that direction, particularly with teen Lottie (Courtney Eaton) and her weird rituals towards the end, but it didn’t fully get into that territory by the finale. The show was still very dark, but I was expecting more.
Thankfully, season two leans into that way more. I’m not going to give any specifics away at all but cannibalism happens! It’s quite artfully done and you don’t see very much, but it sets a precedent for their future in the wilderness and will likely get more gruesome going forward. Given that the creators view this as a five-season show, they clearly don’t want to do too much too soon – but the survivors are facing a hard winter with little food so I imagine they’ll resort to it again in no time.
Everything in this show is a spoiler so I can’t share too much about what happens this season. But, I loved being reunited with the characters (particularly Christina Ricci‘s Misty) and I feel confident in the direction it’s going. I’m also really excited to know what the heck is going on with adult Lottie (Simone Kessell, new this season) and more about the problems that ail Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown/Tawny Cypress). However, I hope adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) gets more to do in the later episodes.
Based on the six episodes I’ve seen, Yellowjackets delivers the goods it teased in season one and promises that the situation is going to get way worse. Excellent!
Episodes stream weekly on Paramount+ every Friday. You can get Paramount+ for free with a Sky Cinema subscription or as a paid add-on with Prime Video