Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5 Review

Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5 begins unraveling a mystery and sees tensions rise in a decent hour of television.

Even in death, she can fulfill that potential, and it is up to the writers to build a compelling story around her passing. Considering the main plot of “Did Tai Do That?” centers on how the adults react and handle Lottie’s passing, I would call this a great step towards that. 

Indeed, the adult timeline now has another mystery at its center that actually builds on elements that the writers have introduced, like whomever is stalking Shauna (Melanie Lynskey). It is not impossible for Lottie’s death and Shauna’s stalker to be connected, something she poses to Misty (Christina Ricci) in the early moments of Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5. Where things really get interesting is that Shauna, Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Van (Lauren Ambrose), and Misty  do not really have solid alibis for the night of Lottie’s death. Each of them have periods of time where they either were or could have been in New York when Lottie died. 

None of our leads believe Lottie accidentally fell, least of all Misty and Shauna, who take it upon themselves to separately investigate due to their ongoing conflict. As she starts to dig into what happened, Shauna picks up an unlikely ally.  Meanwhile, Tai and Van are grieving their friend’s passing when Taissa receives a phone call. This week turns out to be surprisingly light on adult TaiVan, but when you combine that out of the blue call with what their teen counterparts get up to, things get more interesting. 

Misty and Shauna are at the center of Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5’s main adult timeline plot as they try to discover what happened to Lottie. Along the way, the pair find that their departed friend kept them in the dark about some things. Ricci and Lynskey are such a dynamic duo even if their characters cannot stand each other. Misty’s drive and scheming ways are out in full force, with Ricci turning up the charm while also being such a dork. One thing I have always admired about Misty is that she will do whatever it takes, even if I do not like some of the things she does. This character cares about Lottie, but you can also see a spitefulness towards Shauna which is also driving her. Whenever Misty and Shauna interact, Ricci will make you question if her character is doing this for the right reasons.

Melanie Lynskey has been a highlight of this series throughout its run and here we have another example of that. Shauna is all in on Misty being responsible for Lottie’s death and the stalking she has faced. This leads her to conducting her own investigation and teaming up with an unlikely individual to find the truth about what happened to Lottie. It is really fun seeing Shauna interact with a person that she has not shared really any screen time with. However, it is important to note that Shauna could be just as guilty as Misty considering she and Lottie fought a day before her demise. Lynskey puts on her poker face, but you can tell she is uneasy about the entire situation. Part of that is likely grief and regret; however, we have seen Shauna’s rage (more on that later), so she could be the guilty party covering her tracks. At one point in the episode, Lynskey delivers such a powerful moment which seems so simple but actually represents a moment of growth/humanity for Shauna.

All of the adult timeline’s best moments in Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5 revolve around the mystery of Lottie’s death. It is clear that she still has a role to play in this story and audiences will be able to learn more about her even with her passing. I’m glad the adults have a more concrete story to build on for once and we’ll have to see how things turn out before I consider this arc a success.

Shifting over to the teen timeline, it takes a backseat but has a bit of intrigue to it. In the aftermath of the trial and a guilty verdict, the group must figure out what they should do with Coach Ben (Steven Krueger). They make the choice after some more prodding from Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) who seems to be on a path to overthrowing Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) as Antler Queen. That choice could change this entire group forever, but especially Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Van (Liv Hewson), who are given a fair bit of screen time this week as teens and a particular development with them in this timeline could explain a thing we see happen with the adult versions. 

That choice will also impact Lottie (Courtney Eaton), Travis (Kevin Alves), and Akilah (Nia Sondaya) who, at Lottie’s urging, return to the cave in an attempt to conjure another vision from Akilah. I am interested to see if Travis will eventually come clean about the wilderness calling to Akilah because he is obviously shown to be a tad conflicted here. Leading them down this patch will surely not be good for anyone, especially when you consider the result of their visit. 

The teens have a weaker plot, which is a shame considering the writers have done such a good job of balancing things out. Though Taissa and Van get a development as teens that could connect to their adult counterparts and Shauna takes a dark turn in her quest for power, the teen timeline winds up eating breadcrumbs while the adults get some meat to chew on. While I hesitate to call Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5 a bad episode per se, and this is definitely not filler that you can skip over, it might be one of the weakest installments so far. 

The adult timeline carries Yellowjackets Season 3 Episode 5 on its back and adds to the growing mystery around Lottie’s death. While the teens have a couple moments which should factor into the rest of the season, their plot could have been more well rounded. Here’s hoping that next week regains the momentum the series seemed to be building after Episode 3. 

Season 3 Episode 5 of Yellowjackets is now available to stream with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan.