“Yellowjackets” is a psychological thriller that grabs the viewers attention from the start. It tells two stories at once; the 1990s survival tale of a high school girls soccer team after a plane crash, and the adult lives of the women who made it out alive.
The dual timeline is the show’s greatest strength. It builds suspense as the viewer uncover the horrors the girls faced in the wilderness, including starvation, power struggles, and a descent into something feral. The trauma still grips all the survivors decades later.
The show doesn’t fit into one single genre box, as it blends survival horror and teen drama with hints of the supernatural. The mix of genres keeps the story unpredictable and gives it a unique edge.
This genre mash up adds depth rather than chaos, as it allows “Yellowjackets” to explore the characters’ emotions on a more complex level. Personally, I think this mix of genres enhances the narrative and makes the show distinct.
The tone is dark and tense, but also unpredictable at times, just when you think you know what is going on, the story twists. Familiar tropes like mean girls, team rivalries, and lost innocence are flipped into something deeper and more disturbing. Under the pressure of the wilderness innocence curdles into cruelty, and loyalty takes a dangerous turn.
The forest and wilderness becomes more than just a setting, it feels alive and menacing. It isolates the survivors from the outside world and slowly breaks down their sense of reality. As the show progresses, the wilderness seems to feed into their fears, pushing them toward something primal.
It’s in this isolation that the girls start to unravel. They see omens, adopt rituals, and slowly lose who they were before the crash. The forest they crashed in transformed from a backdrop to an antagonist.
As adults, the survivors are still dealing with their trauma some 25 years later. Some deny it while others lean into it, but all of them are hiding something. The past is always just under the surface pushing its way into the present.
Each character hides something critical to the larger mystery. Shauna Sadecki conceals violence behind her domestic normalcy, Natalie Scatorccio masks pain with rebellion, Misty Quigley hides menace under her cheerfulness, and Taissa Turner fractures under pressure with her multiple personalities. These buried truths drive the plot, deepening the mystery and drama.
The characters are another major highlight of “Yellowjackets.” Both the teen and their adult counterpart are complex and flawed; no one is purely evil or good. That moral duality makes them more believable and harder to trust.
Sadecki betrays her best friend and later struggles with the consequences of living a double life as an adult. Quigley’s need for control and connection leads her to commit horrifying acts while still craving affection and validation. Scatorccio masks deep vulnerability with a tough exterior and self destructive behavior, while Turner’s ambition and denial of her darker impulses break both her family and sense of self.
The casting between the teen and adult versions of each character is especially well done. They feel like the same people, just years apart. Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Tawny Cypress all bring depth to the adult survivors, while the younger cast delivers raw emotional performances that show the chaos of life in the wilderness.
Sophie Nélisse shows Sadecki’s growing detachment, and Sophie Thatcher gives Scatorccio a raw toughness. Sammi Hanratty captures Quigley’s eerie innocence, while Jasmin Savoy Brown brings a quiet intensity to Turner. These performances help tie the timelines together seamlessly.
The cinematography shifts in each timeline to reflect the time period. Washed out, earthy tones for the past, and colder, sharper visuales for the present. Everything feels calculated and carefully chosen to keep the viewer slightly off balance.
“Yellowjackets” doesn’t offer answers and closure easily, it’s a show built on secrets, and not all of them get answers. In the end, this is a story about survival, not only in the wilderness but also in terms of dealing with guilt, fear, and truth. It poses the question: What kind of person will you become after everything falls apart?
