‘Yellowjackets’ season 2 review
Photo credit: Lorenzo Agius/SHOWTIME
Written by: Tyler Hedmann
Season two of Yellowjackets officially wrapped up a couple weeks back, and I decided to let the finale sit and simmer in my brain before jumping into this review. Season one was one of my favourite seasons on TV of all-time, and it felt important to digest this second season, mostly because my initial reaction was a mix of frustration and confusion. After allowing some time…I’m still bummed out.
Now, there will be some spoilers in this review, so if you don’t want to ruin things for yourself, best to jump out now while you can!
So…where to start? Yellowjackets season two picks up where season one left off, diving right back into the lives of the high school girls’ soccer team damned to the snowy, remote wilderness, as well as the lives of their current selves, buried in guilt, pain and trauma as they attempt to live as regular, functioning adults.
Before I start picking at the issues I found in this season, let me start with the biggest strength: the acting. The acting chops of this cast continues to be a massive draw, with both seasoned actors and young up-and-comers stealing the show at one time or another. Tippity of the top is the Misty duo, Samantha Hanratty and Christina Ricci. Both are amazing in their own individual right, playing the unhinged and delusional social pariah with just the right amount of believability while selling the nuttiness that seems baked into Misty from birth. But the most impressive aspect is how I truly believe that one becomes the other. The transition between some characters’ young and old versions can be a bit stilted, but Misty is an incredibly seamless shift, and that’s in large part due to Hanratty and Ricci’s consistency in their characters. It’s awesome to watch.
But this whole cast shows their range, and everyone deserves credit. Juliette Lewis continues to shine as the barely-sane Natalie, giving the most believable interpretation of what emotional instability looks like. Simone Kessell’s massive range of emotion and expression as grown-up Lottie is so strong that it’s quite literally used as a plot device (not necessarily a good thing, but a testament to Kessell’s work), and all the young actors are showing more depth and taking more risks as they settle further into their characters. It’s fun to watch so much talent bloom on screen.
But here’s the deal: no matter how good the acting is, I need a story that flows, makes sense, and doesn’t have me screaming ‘are you serious?!?’ multiple times an episode. There are so many issues, and they’re mostly rooted in the impossible pace at which the show tries to push the adult storyline. Taissa watches her family fall apart, before actually having her wife put in the hospital, and then almost immediately just dips on her family to hang with her trauma-bonded ex. While she speed runs abandoning her kid, Misty meets Elijah Wood’s Walter, who goes from mysterious online detective to partner to potential love interest to potential enemy to full blown murder accomplice (which is a PAINFULLY forced ending to the arch we’re about to discuss). And then there is the irrationally illogical Shauna v. creepy cop storyline, which is flush with crazy writing decisions, from Shauna’s constant, unprovoked divulging of information, to her daughter Callie being entrapped by an adult police officer (which they note, briefly try to take advantage of, then abandon), to the insane condom sniff scene, which was one of the most truly bizarre push-the-plot moments I’ve ever seen.
And on the other end of things, the child-cannibals-in-the-wilderness side of things seems to be dragging along now. Two seasons in and we’ve not been presented with any significant understanding of what or who the “Wilderness” is or what its motivations are. The brutality and gore have picked up if anything, and the realness of surviving still conveys, but there are very few answers to what are becoming more and more questions. The hope is that come season three, answers start coming and snowball into some crazy rabbit hole. The worry is that it’s all tied together to one singular thing, and all the build up doesn’t hit when it’s wrapped up too quickly. We’ll see what happens, but I’m still expecting great things from that storyline.
End of the day, despite all the things I struggled with in terms of the plot, I’d still say it’s worth a watch. Yellowjackets has so much potential, and the acting alone is worth tuning in. If the writers are able to come back with some more robust and clean storytelling in season three, it’ll be well worth the quirks and kinks of season two. Much like the girls in the forest, I am lost (in the plot), and I’m hoping I’ll soon be found.
