Yellowjackets on Showtime is chaotic evil at its finest: Review

Take one part Alone, two parts Lord of the Flies, three parts LOST, a pinch of all the weird mystical shizz that went down beyond the wall in Game of Thrones, and a heaping scoop of the beloved 90’s movie Now and Then. Now, mix it all up in a haunted blender, and you’ve got Showtime’s fantastic new series Yellowjackets.

Yellowjackets pulls off the tricky feat of evoking favorable comparisons to all of the above without being a remake or a reboot. This show is its very own daring thing, and it is wild to the point of being feral. It is also absorbing and addictive.

From the minds of Narcos alums Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the series is a sharp and knowing female-focused narrative that draws immense strength from dynamite performances, stellar casting, and a bananas premise. In 1996, a high school soccer team from New Jersey was headed to Nationals when their private plane crashed in the middle of the Ontario wilderness. A rescue team didn’t find them for nineteen months. And, after returning to society, the survivors never fully disclosed what really happened out there.

But Yellowjackets smartly concerns itself more with the why, not the what. So, much like Season 4 of LOST, the series bounces back and forth with the aftermath of the crash serving as the “before” time. There are two main timelines: one focusing on the teen girls in the 90s, and one focusing on four of the adult survivors in present day. (Note: There’s some flashback turduckening going on here too, with flashbacks within flashbacks taking place somewhat often, but the separation of the timelines is always clear, and the content of the flashbacks made clearly relevant.)

Even though it’s not a remake or a reboot, Yellowjackets is a worthy spiritual successor to LOST.

Cranking up the 90’s nostalgia factor is the casting of the adult women in the present day. Nineties icons Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, and Christina Ricci are all on hand to portray the survivors. Anyone who had eyeballs in the 90’s knows that these women are absolutely not to be messed with, and the sheer power of the three of them in a series together is chaotic evil at its finest. Tawny Cypress rounds out the adult cast as Taissa, a woman with a steely ferocity that could probably melt glass. I’ve only seen six out of ten episodes, so maybe she does? It’s definitely possible.

The less you know about the overall plot the better, but just know that none of these women are very happy with their lives in the present day. While all the actresses are operating at the top of their game, Ricci gets the most to work with as Misty, a nebbish-seeming nurse who is clingy, intense, and wildly unhinged.

If Tracy Flick had crashed in the wilderness instead of winning the Carver High election, she would 100% be Misty. Ricci rocks her wacky corkscrew wig, turns her weird knobs to eleven, and digs in, infusing every moment that Misty is onscreen with an effervescent anxiety that tickles and twists. Samantha Hanratty plays teen Misty, and her performance is no less bonkers amazing. The two actresses clearly collaborated on Misty’s mannerisms, jumpy eye movements, and sing-song vocal inflections, and it all pays off, creating an indelible character that is sure to haunt all our dreams before the series has concluded.

In present day, we find out that there are a handful of survivors other than the four adult women. And someone is sending them all cryptic messages. Therefore, there are others we don’t yet know about. So the flashbacks take on an ominous quality. Whenever the show flipped to the 90’s timeline, my brain was always scrambling to guess whether or not some of the initial survivors would actually make it out or not. As the episodes elapsed, and a supernatural element was introduced, the fate of some characters began to get a bit dimmer, but the guessing game remained the same.

Yellowjackets is a survival series. It is a period piece. It is a horror show. It is a coming-of-age story. It’s so many things. But somehow, just somehow, it all works. Now, I know I’m just one person with a single opinion, and I know this show won’t be for everyone—the mere mention of the premise to my mom sent her into “nonononono” territory—but if what I’ve put down so far interests you, maybe you’ll come a little further with me.

Here are a few hints that may help you navigate whether or not Yellowjackets is right for you.

One: Are you faint of heart? If you are even the tiniest bit squeamish, then get out right now. Yellowjackets is audacious in its depictions of gore and bodily harm. If you’re a person who can peek through your fingers when something bad is about to happen, then maybe you can hack it, but just know that this show is very interested in depicting blood and gore in a hyper-realistic, brutal, and shocking way.

Second: Do you love the 90’s? For me, the answer to that question is a resounding yes. I am just five years younger than the teen girls in the series, and much of Yellowjackets, including an impeccably curated soundtrack, is a potent nostalgia bomb. If you’re a young’un who is interested in the series for other reasons, get ready to experience the end of the last millennia in all its glory.

Third: Do female-focused stories excite you? Narratives told from a female lens often get hated on all over the internet. Yellowjackets proudly boasts a cast and creative crew that is overwhelmingly female. Conversations between characters are grounded and realistic. There’s a focus on lady-on-lady love. There are certainly other series that do these things, but this show goes a few steps further. Case in point: A very important plot element surfaces surrounding all the teen girls’ periods syncing up, and the raw power of menses is put on full display. Consider that as you will.

Four: Is Stephen King your jam? Set aside all comparisons to other stories, and the heart of Yellowjackets is very similar to the heart of a lot of King stories: What happens when the monsters that live within us finally surface? And what happens if they’re hungry?

Did you answer yes to all four? Excellent. You’ll need to access Showtime somehow. This might be your last hurdle. But it’s so worth it.

As obsessed as I am with this series, I have mixed feelings over whether or not I’d like to see it go further than a single season. I’m not quite sure how the show would mine content out of a second installment without greatly frustrating viewers. However, I’m fully swept away in the black magic of Yellowjackets, and I’m here for wherever it takes me.

Yellowjackets premieres on Showtime on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 10 p.m. EST.