Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere Review

Yellowjackets Season 3 kicks off with an excellent two episode premiere featuring several unexpected twists.

Episodes jump between both timelines, allowing us to see what happened to the teens during their quest to survive in the Canadian wilderness for nineteen months and then what their adult lives are like many years after being rescued. 

Last season’s finale, “Storytelling,” saw the teens commit another act of cannibalism. That was followed up by their leader Lottie Matthews (portrayed by Courtney Eaton in the 1996 timeline and Simone Kessell in the 2021 timeline) informing them that she can no longer hear the mysterious “wilderness” and stating that it has chosen Natalie “Nat” Scatorccio (Sophie Thatcher in the 1996 timeline and Juliette Lewis in the 2021 timeline) to lead them. When we last saw the teens, something or someone had lit the cabin they were sheltering in on fire and their assistant soccer coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger) was nowhere to be found.

In the 2021 timeline, Lottie convinced the remaining survivors to please the wilderness with another hunt, which unleashed a chain of events, but most importantly for the Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere: it led to the death of Juliette Lewis’ Natalie at the hands of Misty Quigley (portrayed by Samantha Hanratty as a teenager and Christina Ricci as an adult). Lottie winds up being sent to a mental institution, but remarks that they “gave it what it wanted” and will be rewarded. 

See what I meant when I mentioned there was a lot to unpack? Perhaps that is why Showtime decided to debut the first two episodes of Season 3 at once. Fans have been waiting long enough for answers, they deserve a little treat. This review will cover the first two episodes of the season (“It Girl” and “Dislocation”) without giving away major spoilers. 

“It Girl” takes Yellowjackets back to its roots and reinforces the mystery behind what happened out in the wilderness with some new layers. Season 2 put a lot of the more interesting supernatural elements on the back burner in favor of more mundane plot lines involving the adult timeline. These particular plots seem to be wrapped up by the beginning of Season 3 and more than ever, both timelines are starting to feel interwoven with each other.

Writers Jonathan Lisco, Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson waste no time in getting us up to speed on where things are in the teen timeline. We have now reached Spring and everyone appears to be thriving except for Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), who is the only teen with a full grasp on how traumatic their current situation is and also still bitter about not being chosen by the wilderness to lead the group. As the teens figure out how to deal with Shauna, their exiled Coach Ben Scott (Krueger), who they presume burned down their cabin, tries to survive on his own. 

Meanwhile, the adult timeline plot sees each survivor dealing with the aftermath of Natalie’s death in their own ways. Shauna (portrayed by Melanie Lynskey as an adult) deals with the impact that witnessing said death had on her teenage daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins). Misty (Ricci) finds solace at the bottom of a bottle, while Taissa (portrayed by Tawny Cypress as an adult) and Van (portrayed as an adult by Lauren Ambrose) seek their own escape from Van’s cancer and Tai’s relationship issues. While all this is going on, a new mystery emerges. 

The first part of the Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere winds up being a slow burn that offers a few answers and reignites the intrigue in both timelines. Rather than spending time on subplots/characters that barely matter, the writers once again place the attention on our main protagonists, what happened to them out in the wilderness, and how those events are bleeding into their present lives. Both plots feel like a natural continuation when you consider where things left off and they give a number of characters the chance to shine. 

Sophie Nélisse’s rageful performance as Teen Shauna is a standout but it wouldn’t have worked if Alexa Barajas hadn’t been on top of her game as Mari, a teammate who pushes Shauna’s buttons. Watching these two go back and forth is refreshing because not only are both performances great, but this is a dynamic that we have not seen too much of in previous seasons. It seems like when it comes to the teen timeline, Season 3 may feature interactions between a wider variety of characters. Doing this should not only flesh out our main players, but it also keeps this timeline from getting stale and predictable.

As far as the adult timeline, there is not a true show-stopping performance but the writers seem to be putting pieces in place that will allow for a greater connection between both timelines while also giving each of our players a role to play in bridging that gap. 

Episode 2 is where things truly begin to get moving. “Dislocation” gives a vast majority of my favorite scenes to the adult timeline, which sees Shauna receive an unexpected visitor. Not to be completely outdone, the teen timeline’s plot centers on the fallout from Shauna and Mari’s conflict. Writers Rich Monahan and Ameni Rozsa divide up the time we spend in both eras well while also providing viewers with some very interesting developments. “Dislocation” is my favorite of the two episode premiere but would not have worked if the first episode had not laid the groundwork. Early on in Episode 2, I began to see that not only were they trying to reward eager fans, these episodes just work really well back to back and will get people talking. 

In the adult timeline, Shauna’s unexpected visitor forms a bond with her teen daughter Callie, who has now become really curious about what happened to her mother back in 1996. After last season’s finale, you cannot really blame Callie when you consider that the teenager witnessed Shauna being hunted by her friends and then one of those friends dying. Part of me is beginning to wonder how close Callie will get to the truth before someone or something stops her.

However, with adult Lottie remarking how “powerful” she was last season, there may not be much that can be done about Callie if supernatural elements are truly at the root of what happened in the wilderness. Perhaps whatever was out there is guiding Callie in some way? Only time will tell and honestly, I am here for it. Sarah Desjardins has been a real gem in the first couple of seasons and her promotion to series regular appears to be opening up new possibilities for Callie as a character.

Melanie Lynskey’s Shauna gets another piece of the mystery that began in Episode 1 while at a business dinner with her husband Jeff (Warren Kole). Said mystery feels like a mirror of Season 1’s blackmail plot (where the culprit was revealed to be Jeff in a scheme to get money for his failing business from the survivors), except this time around, whoever is doing this appears to have a particular interest in Shauna. I have an idea which involves something that happens in the teen timeline in Episode 2, but I will keep it close to the vest.

When it comes to the teen timeline, things mostly revolve around Shauna and Mari in the second half of the Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere. I cannot really touch on Mari’s journey, because it involves major spoilers for the first episode, but I will mention that things take a bit of a turn. Teen Shauna’s plot revolves around her continued grief over the loss of her baby and anger. It also sees her develop the most unlikely bond. Everyone else receives tiny developments, particularly Travis (Kevin Alves) and Lottie. “Dislocation” splits its time between timelines well and there are beats in both that will be important moving forward. 

Yellowjackets returns with a pair of episodes that feel much more in line with Season 1 of the show in terms of atmosphere and tone. These openers also put the focus squarely back on characters that we care about and the mystery of what happened to them out in the wilderness all those years ago. We need more of this and less of the pointless subplots and side characters that plagued Season 2. Some of those characters, like Lisa (Nicole Maines), a member of Lottie’s cult, were valuable pieces that added to the larger story, while others were a total burden. Here’s hoping they continue to utilize big name guest stars only when it serves the story and if these first two episodes are any indication, the writers will.

The Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere is tame compared to the most unhinged parts of the series, but it sets the stage for an unpredictable ride and will excite viewers. I cannot wait to see what is in store over the next few months.

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