Yellowjackets Season 3 Review (Episodes 1-2): New Challenges and Ghosts From The Past Await The Protagonists
The horror series Yellowjackets Season 3 Emmy candidate returns exclusively streaming Showtime with its third season available on the service starting from February 14, 2025, with the first two episodes. The women’s football team of the Yellowjackets after falling into the woods due to a plane crash, finds himself living an extreme survival for a year and a half, during which the darker side of the human being often takes over everything else. Composed of ten total episodes, Yellowjackets Season 3 the story continues in the TV series divided between the past of the young protagonists and their present in adulthood, in which the former players have to deal with ghosts born in those woods which continue to return to the surface. After previewing the four initial episodes of Yellowjackets Season 3, the review with first impressions on this third season is below.
Among the many heirs of Lost, we also counted Yellowjackets, the women’s series on a group of teenagers who survived an air disaster, and now have to live as adults with that indelible trauma within them. There was no lack of the mystery component since from those cursed woods they had carried “something” together with the dramatic experience. Three seasons later, we are still here to rejoice, cry, and get excited with the girls as they try to make sense of their lives, without being able to forget the past that continues to knock on their doors. “Yellowjackets” returns with its expected third season, starting with an episode that does not waste time immersing ourselves in the emotional and psychological chaos of its protagonists. On the 1996 timeline, spring arrives at the camp, bringing about a change in group dynamics and new conflicts. Meanwhile, in the present, survivors deal with the aftermath of Nat’s death, each in its way. The episode leaves us with shocking moments, from Mari’s disappearance to a disturbing package that Shauna receives. Who sent it? And what does it mean for the Yellowjackets? Let’s analyze everything.
Yellowjackets Season 3 Review (Episodes 1-2): The Story Plot
For the first time since its debut, the Showtime series must deal with an important departure that has been consumed among the adult protagonists and not among those in the flashbacks on the island. After the ritual sacrifice of the girls Nat (Juliette Lewis) ended badly, leaving only Sophie Tatcher to interpret her corresponding teenager in the past – even visibly a little too grown up, let’s remember that in those woods they remained for no more than a year and a half. Since the show has always talked about metaphors and signifiers, post-traumatic stress disorder continues to do so starting from the woman’s funeral. It is no longer just about who they lost in that place forgotten by God, but also about who is leaving them 25 years later. Following that sensational ending, all have lost something: Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and her husband Jeff (Warren Kole) face the truth told to her daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins, one of the most unbearable teenagers seen in seriality); Misty (Christina Ricci) is no longer alone but has Walter (Elijah Wood) in her life, yet he points out the ‘toxicity’ of her friends Taissa (Tawny Cypress) is in a full legal battle with his ex-wife and has found Van (Lauren Ambrose) but now that he risks losing her they may have a second chance; Lottie (Simone Kessell) is discharged but no longer has a place to stay and above all her community of acolytes.
Yellowjackets Season 3 Review (Episodes 1-2) and Analysis
The sense of loneliness therefore all share a little Yellowjackets adults and not only those stuck in the woods. The latter in the flashback face the arrival of summer after the freezing winter, which seems to increase their chances of survival. I group males Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) and Travis (Kevin Alves) are the outsiders: the first literally since he abandoned the girls after they had given themselves to cannibalism before Jackie and then Javi. The second now seems to be recalled by the presence of the forest, with the complicity of Lottie who has lost the shaman scepter in favor of Nat. “Nature has chosen” is what the woman continues to repeat even in the present, and on the one hand the group, on the other Callie wants to find out what this is and if they survived by eating each other. Who buys more space is Mari (Alexa Barajas), in conflict above all with Shauna who cannot recover after the loss of his newborn son. At least in the first four episodes that we could preview.
Once again, the soundtrack and the photography accompanying the two different time plans are crazy and perhaps the best aspect of the show, together with the performers. Speaking of casting, there are two new entries in this cycle of episodes too: Hilary Swank and Joel McHale in the role of two mysterious characters who demonstrate how we have not yet fully known all the survivors (like Van in season 2), confirming their appearance choral. Just wanting to show all these developments, even a little predictable in history, together with some repetitive and redundant storylines, makes us ask how much the mystery series can still go on like this. There is a question, however, that seems to unite all the stories of this season: at what price do you survive, both in the jungle and in the big city? The TV series Yellowjackets despite having reached the goal of a third season, continues to maintain interest without losing the previous rhythm. Not a small detail, considering that more and more often some television titles, after an explosive pilot, I cannot replicate the same success with the subsequent sequels. First, the four episodes of Yellowjackets Season 3 essentially offer the same recipe that previously led to the appreciation of this television content, playing on some well-established functional elements.
First of all, the continuous alternation between the past and the present of the protagonists makes history intriguing, since the details are revealed little by little and until the end, you can never take anything for granted. The main characters die both in the past and in the present, therefore those who survived previously are not said to necessarily have long lives later, and vice versa. A trick is already seen in the first two seasons of the series, with Yellowjackets Season 2 which ends with Natalie’s unexpected death in adulthood, preceded by Travis’s departure. While always in the present, Van and Lottie are shown only from a certain point onwards, initially making believe that the only ones who returned home after the plane crash were Shauna, Taissa, Misty, and Natalie herself. Another fundamental characteristic that enriches the plot of Yellowjackets also in the third season, is the ability to mix dramatic tension tones with lighter and almost ironic breaks, marking a distinctive trait consisting of a versatile narrative. Although the TV series is predominantly of a kind horror and thrillers, some moments dampen the darkest and most macabre aspects, allowing the viewer to take a break from some disturbing visions without diminishing their importance or scenic effect.
And just when you have the impression that history is going in a certain direction, apparently harmless, comes the twist able to overturn what has been seen up to that moment. Also in Yellowjackets Season 3, music again plays an important role. Not only as a soundtrack but even as a backbone in certain sequences, which are anxiety-provoking or exciting based on the type of context. The choice of an impeccable cast, both for the teenage protagonists and for their adult version, is confirmed to be the main business card of the TV series, with convincing acting and an extraordinary physical similarity between the two counterparts, making the story even more likely, albeit with imagination. The part of the third season set in the past also put more emphasis on some minor characters than Yellowjackets, which previously limited themselves to fleeting extras. This makes the vision more stimulating, waiting to find out if it is only expendable pieces for narrative purposes or if, even in the present, these figures could play a fundamental role on par (or almost) with the other protagonists.
The third season of Yellowjackets continues in the previous wake renewing itself in the different scenarios. In the final of the second season, the group in the past loses the cabin due to a fire and remains immediately without shelter. However, before that moment, the characters face far worse, and it is yet another negative event that gives them the input to rise from their ashes. Yellowjackets Season 3 shows the most combative and motivated protagonists compared to before, also thanks to the end of the freezing winter, compared to other members of the group they are still alive, despite everything. They certainly did not win against the national teams and were unable to demonstrate their football talent to the world, but the real challenge turned out to be off the pitch where the prize at stake was not the podium but their own life. In the present instead, always in Yellowjackets Season 3, it happens in a way the exact opposite following the latest dramatic events. Natalie’s tragic death shocked everyone and in particular Misty who, although involuntarily, personally ended her friend’s life.
Somehow, for one reason or another, the protagonists seem destined to never have peace and, above all, to relive almost déjà vu of everything they believed they had left behind. When they are finally all together, twenty-five years later, in a short time the Yellowjackets must say goodbye forever to Natalie and bring Lottie back to therapy, while Taissa and Van face the consequences of the cancer that has affected the latter. Not seeing each other for so long was like closing a door leaving their past behind and starting a new life all over again, each in its way. A past that inevitably returns, when friends are face to face again in the same present where, willingly or unwillingly, they have to deal with their actions. The previous blackmail suffered by Jeff (husband of Shauna), through which the terrible secrets of the Yellowjackets risked coming out into the open, was the trigger because of which they returned to being the same people as those woods. Shauna and Misty have committed murders, Nat has tried to kill herself while Taissa has resumed suffering from sleepwalking, coming to behead her dog and scare her son. But is it the past that returns to torment them or perhaps that dark side has always been present in each of them?
The truth is that since they met, the Yellowjackets they also found what they thought they had left in those woods. And perhaps, it was precisely the absence of those strong sensations and of that bond that once united them that made them currently incomplete and unhappy people. Starting with Lottie, who while he seems to have found mental stability, is willing to sacrifice one of her friends in the present too, although it is not necessary for the survival of the group as happened in the past. Taissa, while in full marital crisis and risks losing custody of her son, after finding Van becomes the latter the priority over the rest, leading her to take questionable actions to stay with her. Misty has been facing her loss since Natalie died in the same way as it had happened to Shauna with Jackie. Both have established a morbid and symbiotic relationship with their friends, as if they could not live without them and, at times, as if they wanted to be Natalie and Jackie themselves. It is no coincidence that Walter, the hacker frequented by Misty, tries to remind the latter that his relationship with Yellowjackets is toxic and affects her life too much, effectively making her another person.
Finally, there is Shauna, the one who with his behavior perhaps represents the basic concept best of all. While previously dating Martin, his lover whom he later killed, Shauna tries again with him to look for those lost emotions during adolescence committing some “bravate”. But not only. Even afterward Shauna continues to make immature and impulsive gestures, sometimes putting herself or her family at risk. So why do it? Why the Yellowjackets I’m just like that and those woods have done nothing but bring out their true nature. If in the past it could only be survival, in the present they have freedom of choice. Yet despite this, they always continue to make the wrong choice, why she is the only one who can make her feel alive. In conclusion, as far as it was possible to see until the fourth episode of Yellowjackets Season 3, don’t expect anything less from the horror TV series Showtime. The third season presents itself as a solid and coherent continuation of the series, keeping the narrative quality and interest in the public high, offering a perfect mix of suspense, drama, and lighter moments. The new episodes promise to further deepen the protagonists and their stories, with a plot that goes deeper and deeper into the depths of the characters and their secrets, waiting to find out how this new adventure will end and what mysteries will finally be revealed.
A return that we have been waiting for a long time. And that didn’t disappoint us at all. Finally, he made his debut on Showtime + the third season of Yellowjackets. The non-trivial choice to release the first two episodes on the day of Valentine’s Day offers us the assistance to talk about different things. The surprising ending of 3 × 02, with a kiss between Shauna and Melissa opens to a total rewrite of the character played by Melanie Lynskey (here seven curiosities about her) in its adult version and by Sophie Nélisse in the young one. Of the suffering of Misty, whose busted conception of human affection is hitting her hard. Di Callie, whose trauma is coming out forcefully and feeds precisely on the inexorable absence of motherly love. Love, therefore, is a fundamental part of Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 and 3 × 02. It is in its shades cloudy is gloomy. As per tradition of this amazing TV series. It is in many variations, destined to take the scene in this third season which, after the impactful ending of the second chapter, starts from a new balance. Ready, too, to break immediately. To dissolve in a cloud of smoke. Yellowjackets returned and did it great, immediately making clear her ambitions for this highly anticipated third season.
The first moments are already manifested. Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 opens amazingly. What, still troubled by the previous season, we believe is one hunting instead it turns out to be a new sport that girls are putting into practice. After this beginning, particularly significant because emblematic of everything we would see later, we are presented with a new context. The snow and cold have left room for the warmth of the spring. During the beautiful season, he reinvigorated the girls, who after the cabin fire reorganized themselves. Huts, breeding, hunting. The young people have set up a micro-society, in which the cult of the woods now has a central value as an established rite. Calm, however, is destined to last little. The signs of bad weather can be seen from that game. Lo clash between Shauna and Mari degenerates and leads to the removal of the second. The cracks, deriving not only from the difficulties of the condition but also, by now, from trauma lived and consumed, emerge and become deeper and deeper within that delicate social fabric built. That spring donated, according to Van, from the woods, it is only an apparent rebirth.
Eloquent, in this sense, is precisely what Van’s monologue puts in hard comparison with Shauna’s outburst. The same situation is seen with two different filters. That of the anger of the second. That of the faith of the first. Removal and processing of trauma. Each metabolizes what happened in its way. Winter has left wounds that are impossible to heal. Not even the spring sun can heal. Rebirth, as we said, is pure appearance. Illusion, like most girls’ beliefs. Nothing seems to be certain for them. Coach Scott’s guilt in the fire. The rumors that disturb the solstice party. And also, that belief that he did not carry out a massacre by devouring his companions, but a sacrifice. The entire spring of the Yellowjackets is pure illusion. In this climate of anesthetized optimism two new threats plummet (random, even these, at least so far), for girls. One has more real contours and reports right to Coach Scott. Having survived the winter, the man moved away from his players. Caught by their deeds. The blame for the fire on the cabin fell on him. And if his denial of the facts seems plausible to us, on the other hand, we certainly cannot trust his sanity, clearly compromised.
At the moment it is difficult to frame the contours of this character. He seems more like a reaction of fear than an attack. The coach does not appear completely genuine, but neither does it a real threat. Despite Natalie’s efforts to avoid it, a confrontation seems inevitable to us. However, it will probably take some time. The other threat, much less tangible, comes from those noises coming from the woods. We must ask ourselves, first of all, if these are real, before asking ourselves what kind of noise they are. Absorbed in their new collective rite, the girls are traumatized and highly suggestible. It is probably that same trauma that causes more than a hallucination with just one collective suggestion. However, the possibility remains that it is some animal lurking in the woods, perhaps frightened by civilization. More difficult to believe one presence. So far, despite the firm beliefs of the clan, there has been nothing supernatural in the story.
Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 and 3 × 02 introduce, however, these two new threats. And the torment here is psychological. So finer and thinner. The series also enjoys playing with the viewer, emulating that sense of bewilderment that the girls are feeling. What will be real? What is not? The goal is to get to doubt in one’s senses, to immerse ourselves in that climate in which the only answer always embraces a collective ritual to feel that belongs to something. Let’s take a good leap forward and get to the grand finale of this double date. In Tail a Yellowjackets Season 3 × 02 we witness the clash between Shauna and Melissa (decidedly disturbing the latter, it must be admitted) culminating in an unexpected kiss. Beyond the narrative implications (it seems likely that the woman on the phone is Melissa) this step can rewrite completely the character of Shauna. By kissing Melissa, did the girl succumb to an already present instinct that she was repressing? If so, some things should be reconsidered. First of all, the relationship with Jackie always seemed too deranged. The presence of feelings by Shauna for Jackie would justify the devotion proven. In part, it would also explain the story with Jeff, which could be a consequence of the repression that Shauna was putting in place.
One repression that, it seems to us, Shauna continued to exercise as an adult as well. The chronic dissatisfaction of the woman would thus have at least a credible justification. The lukewarm relationship with the daughter. Misunderstandings with her husband. It wouldn’t be just trauma a brake Shauna, but a life that she simply doesn’t want and never wanted. Furthermore, it must not have been easy to combine these feelings with motherhood and the loss of the child. One can easily understand how an emotional hurricane may have overwhelmed poor Shauna. This narrative line, therefore, assumes truly central relevance. It is perhaps the most valuable addition to Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 and 3 × 02. It will be interesting to understand how the situation between Shauna and Melissa will evolve. In the past but, at this point, probably also in the present. We must say that we are very intrigued by this situation which is emerging.
A situation that promises to overwhelm other characters as well, including the one on which, perhaps, one of the deepest psychological works of the whole narrative is ready: Callie. The time seems to have finally come for Callie. Shauna’s daughter in the first two seasons was a fixed but somewhat marginal presence. Appendix to women’s problems. In Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 and 3 × 02, the girl conquers, however, one centrality is completely new. It is very deserved. We can’t forget what Callie experienced. The discovery of parental crimes. The hunt that ended the second season. The young woman has now accumulated a wealth of negative experiences that will make her explode. And even before all this happened, it does not seem to us that the situation with her parents (in particular with Shauna whom we would certainly not call mother of the year) was so idyllic. Now, however, the trauma is becoming overwhelmingly wide in Callie as well. Another particularly suffering character in Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 and 3 × 02 is Misty. Despite all its oddities, you can’t help feeling at least a shred of tenderness for her. Seeing her drunk and suffering is a nice blow to the heart. His loneliness exploded heartbreakingly.
Misty does not accept it and continues to take refuge in her construct of illusions which, however, is now slowly crumbling. Callie and Misty are similar in some ways. Sun. Incomplete. Suffering. Both are, it seems to us, destined for an important parable in this third season. And Misty deserves a very central path. We will see what will happen. For the rest, there is not much to report. Or rather, there are some situations to monitor, to perhaps talk about later. The return of Lottie, for example, or the relationship between Taissa and Van. And of course, also the one between Mari and Coach Scott. Issues to frame again (long ago we had imagined how the series could have ended). Proposals from Yellowjackets Season 3 × 01 and 3 × 02 and to be explored during the season. There is a lot of meat on the fire (using a way of saying a little unhappy, but effective in this case). The impression is that this third season of Yellowjackets will be a beautiful journey. And we will do it together over the next few weeks.
Yellowjackets Season 3 Review (Episodes 1-2): The Last Words
Yellowjackets Season 3, at first glance, maintains the same narrative style and the same rhythm as previous seasons, continuing to involve the viewer through the intriguing plot set between past and present. The history of the adolescent protagonists is enriched, giving greater importance to members of the group who had hitherto played minor roles, while in their adult version, a new mystery calls everything into question. The fixed points of the TV series, which include excellent cast choices, a soundtrack, and a targeted photograph between splatters and postcards of daily life, also make the third season of Yellowjackets as high as the first two. The first episodes of the third season of Yellowjackets show a repetitive structure and are a little redundant compared to the previous ones: new challenges and ghosts from the past await the protagonists while trying to keep firm that life that they have painstakingly built. Not all evolutions seem interesting and captivating, but the post-trauma theme and the search for truth maintain our curiosity. Fortunately, the visual aspect and the music are once again cracking just like the girls we learned to love.
Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Steven Krueger, Warren Kole
Director: Bart Nickerson, Bille Woodruff
Streaming Platform: Showtime
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)
