This first season of "Yellowjackets" really captured the imagination of the TV-viewing public. To a certain extent, I think I understand why: the show is "cool", edgy, and plays off 1990s nostalgia. It also features a "LOST meets Lord of the Flies" vibe that is intriguing, to be sure. But how good is this inaugural campaign when it comes down to brass tacks? Does it actually understand how to parcel out mystery plot elements, develop characters, and mess with time-shifting flashbacks? I'd argue the answer is a definitive "no" to all those elements.
For a very basic overview, this season of Yellowjackets begins with a harrowing scene of a girl running through a winter wilderness. She falls into a pit and is presumably eaten by a group of deer/bear skin-clad individuals. Viewers are then--over the course of the first episode--clued into the impetus for such a scene: in 1996, a plane carrying a high school girls soccer team crashes into the Canadian wild, forcing the young ladies to fend for themselves. Viewers also are taken even further into the future, where some of the soccer girls are now grown women struggling with the events of the past. So, the setup for the whole show is basically this: just how in the heck did a group of relatively normal 90s teens get to the point of cannibalism--and what is the fallout from those actions?
Though admittedly as juicy of a premise as has come across TV screens in quite some time, S1 of "Yellowjackets" does so many things wrong that by the end I couldn't even call it an "okay show". A few examples...
-Teasing that brilliant opening scene and then, within a few episodes, making it clear that no resolution towards it would be gained in S1. This cuts the "Lord of the Flies" angle off at the knees.
-Trying to do flashback storytelling but having no idea what is actually the present. Are we supposed to most strongly identify with the girls in the woods, or the women they have become? This dislocation from time makes it difficult to understand what is trying to be conveyed thematically.
-The "middle-aged women" timeline is downright embarrassing by the end, with characters doing little more than Scooby Doo-ing their way into ridiculous situations and even more ridiculous resolutions to them.
-No real serious storytelling to be found anywhere in the entire season. While ostensibly the goal is (or should be) to push the wilderness-dwellers towards that initial scene, nothing of the sort takes place. Instead, the season focuses almost exclusively on a "Mean Girls" or "Pretty Little Liars" approach to things: squabbling over cliques, boyfriends, and even detouring into the occult. The season totally lost me when seances and impromptu dance parties were more important than serious, crafted storytelling.
About the only positive thing I took from this slate of episodes was some solid acting performances from Sophie Nelisse (Teen Shauna), Sophie Thatcher (Teen Natalie), and Samantha Hanratty (Teen Misty). Sadly, not even the 90s vibe--which should be my sweet spot--could lift the material for me.
My low rating for this season is probably somewhat indicative of the esteem I hold for the mystery/flashback genre of storytelling and character development. All in all, I was extremely frustrated and angry with the show's promise of engaging mystery and parceled character developed, only to see it focus nearly all its efforts on the shallowest of themes and the most ridiculous of situations. As of this writing, I have absolutely no desire to return to "Yellowjackets" for subsequent seasons.
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