While Valentine’s Day for some was spent celebrating love, for fans of the hit show Yellowjackets, it meant one thing: the launch of a new season!
A spoiler-free review below should hopefully entice you to join the many eager-eyed viewers tuning in every Friday on Paramount+ for new episodes of the third season.
Yellowjackets ticks all the boxes for great television—action, romance, mystery, suspense, and a fantastic cast. The show follows a group of girls from a high school football team whose plane crashes on the way to nationals. Through a dual narrative—one set in the wilderness, where the girls struggle to survive, and the other in the present day, following those who made it into adulthood—the writers masterfully keep audiences in suspense. As viewers, we are left to unravel the mystery of what truly happened out there and how they survived.
What makes the show so compelling is that, no matter how dark it becomes, those stranded in the wilderness are still teenagers. Their experiences are explored in a nuanced and honest way, something often lost in film and television. They are messy. They argue. They love and hate in equal measure. They fall in and out of love. They make mistakes—big ones—all while trying to survive, both the wilderness and one another.
The show is unique in its balance between characters. Each one has their time to shine, making it impossible to pinpoint a single lead. The strength of the ensemble ensures that every storyline receives the perfect amount of attention. This balance also allows for a deep and authentic exploration of queer relationships and identities, something Yellowjackets does exceptionally well. Queer themes are so seamlessly integrated into the plot that the show could never be accused of mere tokenism. Instead, the character-driven writing successfully creates unique, honest, and deeply developed characters and relationships—unparalleled by any other show I have seen.
While Yellowjackets is not for the faint-hearted—featuring a level of gore that some viewers may find disturbing—it brilliantly weaves together themes of guilt, desperation, love, and desire. Combined with breathtaking cinematography and an incredible soundtrack, the show forces us to love and hate each character in equal measure. As our own morality is tested, we are left wondering: how far would we go under those circumstances?
Photo by Matt Whitacre on Unsplash