Imagine Lord of the Flies, but instead of young boys, the characters are teenage girls in the 1990s. Showtime’s hit series, “Yellowjackets”, reimagines the question as to if humanity exists outside the constraints of society. Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the show develops a complex narrative, switching between a teenage timeline, and their adult counterparts in the modern era. Proceed with caution as there might be spoilers!
The story follows a high school soccer team whose plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness on their way to nationals. While they miraculously survive, they are left to survive the horrors of the wild such as animals, hunger, the seasons- while simultaneously facing a changing team dynamic.
After a full year spent in the wilderness, the season opens after their first harsh winter in the wild. At the end of season 2, a cabin which they discovered from an old mining colony, mysteriously burnt down with the entire team inside. However, they were somehow able to salvage the supplies inside and set up a camp for spring.
In the modern timeline, the adult survivors Shauna, Tai, Van, Lottie, and Misty mourn the loss of their teammate Natalie. While the police rule it a fentanyl overdose, the audience and survivors know she passed after partaking in their old tradition known as “the hunt”. She died in an attempt to protect another member, taking a vial of fentanyl in the chest.
The teenanger timeline for this season marks the girls stark descent into madness. While past seasons saw them commit murder and cannibalism, they maintained a shred of humanity. However, the loss of Coach Ben resulted in a loss of their dignity. The Coach stood as a marker of their morality, as he refused to partake in their hunts, refused to eat Jackie and Javi, and protected the girls from the wilderness. While the girls did not respect him as their leader, he was somewhat of a symbolic leader.
The wilderness chooses Natalie their leader, and while she uses her power to maintain order, things soon spiral. The group puts Coach Ben on trial after they discover his hideout, in an attempt to give him a fair chance. However a threatened Shauna refuses to accept this decision, and overrides the group’s decision, convicting Coach Ben of attempted murder and arson. Shauna’s rise to power marks the girls’ turn from humanity to chaos, and resembles that of a dictator.
Back in the adult timeline, the surviving yellowjackets attempt to live somewhat normal lives while avoiding each other. However, a mysterious presence connects them, known as “the wilderness”. Shauna bonds with her daughter Callie; Tai and Van reconnect after years apart; Lottie is checked into a mental institution, and Misty mourns the loss of Natalie. Lottie abruptly checks out of the hospital and appears at Shauna’s front door, begging for temporary shelter. While Lottie stays at her home, she develops a disturbing attachment to Shauna’s daughter, Callie. Shortly after being asked to leave, Lottie is discovered dead at the bottom of a staircase, presumed to have fallen.
The yellowjackets quickly turn on one another, assuming Lottie was murdered. Misty revives her role as a citizen detective and links the murder to Shauna after discovering her DNA under Lottie’s fingernails. However, in the finale of the season, Misty realizes that Callie pushed Lottie down the stairs after a fight about Callie’s connection to her mother and the wilderness. Misty identified the DNA as Shaunas, but failed to remember that mothers and daughters share mitochondrial DNA.
Back in the teen timeline, the girls are discovered by frog scientists after they hear them mourn Coach Ben. Most see this as their way home, however Shauna and Lottie refuse to leave. They are unwilling to relinquish the power they hold in the wilderness, which does not reflect their experience in society. Led by Natalie, the girls who desperately want to leave hatch a plan to fix a phone the scientists brought with them, in order to call for help.
This point in the finale marks a pivotal moment in the girls’ relationships with one another, as some form an alliance against Shauna, while others cling to her in fear. Shauna insights fear in the girls and insists on the need to hold a hunt in order to please the wilderness, targeting Mari. At this point, the audience finally discovers a huge plot point which has been open since the pilot of the series: who is pit girl? Pit girl is the fitting name coined by the fandom as to the girl who fell into a pit of spikes in the pilot. This event represents the collapse of the group’s morals.
Mari’s character carries a disturbing symbolism. As a character with several grudges against Shauna, her body is stripped bare, dragged, and destroyed. This greatly contrasts from the treatment of Javi, whose body was treated as a gift. This creates a shift from a means of survival to a more personal vendetta for Shauna and her group. The writers also chose to make Shauna scalp Mari, a practice done by colonizers to indigenous people, highlighting the dehumanization of Mari as an indigenous person, but also Shauna’s descent into pure evil.
The narrative device of switching the timelines chaotically, while in previous seasons was critiqued for confusing the audience, fit their descent into madness. The more chaotic, the more frequently the timeline changes between past and present. It also creates artful parallels between the two timelines, furthering the truth that the girls can never truly escape their time in the wilderness.
“Yellowjackets” has not been renewed for season four, however the writers previously stated that five seasons of the show were written before the first season’s release. Ultimately, “Yellowjackets” dissects the intricate power dynamics between women in society, especially under pressure. The series questions how social expectations put on girls, as in maturity and responsibility, can in fact fracture relationships. No matter how free they are from society, the characters bring the structures with them and fight for dominance. The season reminds us: one can never truly escape what they know.
