Yellowjackets Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2 Review: I'm Frustrated Things Get Off To A Slow Start But Excited About The Hints Of A Promising Season
Warning! This review contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets season 3, episodes 1 and 2, "It Girl" and "Dislocation!"In the nearly two years since the Yellowjackets season 2 finale, it's been agony waiting to see what has become of the team, past and present. However, the first two episodes of Yellowjackets season 3, "It Girl" and "Dislocation," are a reset, not a continuation. It's no secret that season 2 started losing the thread of what made Yellowjackets so initially compelling, and the first few episodes of season 3 feel similar to a soft reboot. Only time will tell if this is the pivot the show needs or if the girls will end up back where they started.
From the first moments of episode 1, Yellowjackets attempts to answer some of the many questions it posed at the end of season 2. I wasn't a fan of the heavy-handed recap provided by Van (Liv Hewson) and Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) in season 3's premiere. It delivered the necessary exposition as it quickly became clear there was a significant time jump in the woods and the present, but there must have been a more graceful way to provide this information. The fact that it isn't winter anymore was a good tip-off on its own.
Yellowjackets Season 3 Pushes The Plot Forward, But Leaves The Characters Behind
Despite The Intense Emotional Fallout Of Season 2, Many Characters Proceed With Business As Usual
As always, Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, and the rest of the adults are doing a fantastic job bringing the necessary humor to the series. However, while their younger selves are grappling with life and death, the adults are grappling with virtually zero consequences for their actions. Everyone is happily paired off romantically when the season starts, and the legal issues plaguing the characters and getting pretty messy at the end of season 2 have been neatly wrapped up. Outside a few verbal acknowledgments, no one but Misty is particularly upset about Nat.
For a show about cannibalism, everything is just a little too tidy at the start of Yellowjackets season 3. It's possible the writers are lulling us into a false sense of security, as they do set up a fair number of story elements that are sure to result in exciting blowouts. However, if Yellowjackets doesn't take these conflicts as far as it can, we're looking at a disappointing third installment. Despite my worries, I do have a lot of hope for this season and can see the writers know where season 2 started to go off the rails.
Unfortunately, time and again, we wait for Yellowjackets to deliver the payoff, give us an answer, or break the intensely built-up tension, but the show underperforms during critical moments.
Going into Yellowjackets season 3, Shauna remains my favorite character, so I'll always be inclined to root for her, even at her most homicidal. Her emotional journey has consistently been one of the most compelling of the series, as the tangible grief and loss she's faced, both in and out of the woods, has made her into a very complex individual. I'm excited about where it seems Yellowjackets is taking her character. However, her conflict with Nat in the woods should be a gripping part of the series, but it's being prolonged, forcing us to wait.
Unfortunately, time and again, we wait for Yellowjackets to deliver the payoff, give us an answer, or break the intensely built-up tension, but the show underperforms during critical moments.This is a recurring theme across the seasons, and I want to see the series shed it this year. If the crime elements from the last two seasons are being put to bed, then whatever replaces it in the present needs to shake up the status quo, as the first two episodes do little to progress the story.
An excellent development is that season 3 is clearly going to utilize the other team members who have been relegated to the background for the first two installments. At this point, enough characters in the woods have died to make it necessary for the series to start bringing new personalities into the fold. This couldn't come at a better time, and so far, it seems as though Yellowjackets is taking advantage of the opportunity. New sides of the characters are coming out, and I want more of that.
Yellowjackets Season 3 Starts Picking Up Speed By The End Of Episode 2
There Are A Few Paths Forward For Yellowjackets Season 3 & I Want The Show To Take The Most Outrageous
What I saw from the first two episodes of Yellowjackets season 3 was an unfocused and uncertain show that wasn't sure where to turn. There are kernels of good ideas that are coming to the surface and hint that it could become the series it's always tried to be. I'm the most engaged when Yellowjackets plays with surrealism, pushes its characters to truly unhinged acts, and gives me hints to help piece together the mystery. A puzzle isn't any fun when you don't have all the pieces, so Yellowjackets needs to start connecting the many dots it's laid out.
For all my mixed feelings about the series, I can't lie; the final moments of "Dislocation" sucked me back into Yellowjackets and made me excited to see more of the season. The series might have lost its vision in terms of the overarching arc and mystery, but it still understands its target audience and knows what they want to see. Yellowjackets has all the tools it needs to craft an iconic season of television, but it's up to the series to get us there.
Yellowjackets season 3 debuts new episodes weekly each Friday on Paramount+ with Showtime and on Sundays on Showtime.
- Cast
- Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Steven Krueger, Warren Kole, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Sarah Desjardins, Courtney Eaton, Liv Hewson, Kevin Alves, Alexa Barajas, Ella Purnell, Simone Kessell, Lauren Ambrose, Nia Sondaya, Mya Lowe, Alex Wyndham, Elijah Wood, Jenna Burgess, Nicole Maines, Jane Widdop, Rukiya Bernard, Luciano Leroux, John Cameron Mitchell
- Showrunner
- Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco
- Creator(s)
- Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson
- The performances are still the best part of the show.
- Interesting new characters & relationships are introduced.
- The pacing drags throughout both episodes.
- The characters don't face consequences for their actions.
