Yellowjackets Season 3: The Story So Far

By: Sadie Downing'26

Photo courtesy of Forbes and Showtime

Finally, after a nearly two-year long hiatus, the Showtime show “Yellowjackets” has returned for season three. The first four episodes have already been released as of Friday, February 28th, with more coming each Friday until April 11th (for Showtime+ viewers, but for everybody else, they can catch it on the Showtime channel at 8pm every Sunday). As a rabid fan of “Yellowjackets”, I’ve watched every episode of season three the day it was released, and then immediately gone to talk about it in online fan spaces. I have eagerly awaited the arrival of season three, and so I’m very excited to be writing this review of the story so far. 

Like a lot of TV shows that have blown up in the past couple of years, “Yellowjackets” seems to have more and more detractors speaking out against the newest season. I first noticed this pattern of popular shows being heavily criticized in the process of a season being released with the Apple TV show “Ted Lasso” and its third and (potentially?) final season. For the first time in the community of the show I had heard nothing but good things about, people online were talking about the season “going nowhere” and characters and plotlines “making no sense.” Full disclosure: I was and still am a huge fan of “Ted Lasso”, and I didn’t agree with this criticism. However, beyond the fact that I didn’t agree, I was surprised that people were judging the story before it concluded. I fear that this is a common refrain that has repeated with “Yellowjackets” season three as it stands so far. 

Since only 4 out of 10 episodes of season three of “Yellowjackets” have been released, the season is only 40% of the way through, and it’s not even the final season of the show, so personally, I’m willing to give the season more time to fill out. I’m actually a huge fan of the season so far, nonetheless. I appreciate the choice to release episodes one and two at the same time, as I believe that if only episode one had been released there wouldn’t be quite enough of the story out at first, though I did like both of the episodes on their own. 

Episode one of season three opened up with a direct analogue to the very first episode of the show, the brutal ‘pit girl’ opening commonly discussed among fans of the show. The identity of the pit girl, the girl hunted, killed, and eaten in this opening episode, has long been guessed at and never revealed. Season three winked at the common fan choice for pit girl, Mari, by having her chased through the wilderness in what seems like a hunt, but is quickly revealed to be a game very similar to capture-the-flag, which the girls have named capture-the-bone. However, episode one does not continue in this winking, amusing kind of way; characteristic of the rest of the show, the episode skews darker and darker, including teen Shauna’s extremely angry takedown on the happy girls in her diary, and the fact that it seems someone is stalking the girls (another survivor, possibly? One distinctly antagonistic with the others?). However, the real punches come in episode two. 

Episode two begins right where episode one left off: Mari, fan favorite ‘pit girl,’ has fallen into… well, a pit, dug out by the estranged Coach Ben, who left the Yellowjackets after he saw them cook and eat a 12 year-old boy. I get that, to be honest, but Ben may have burned down the girl’s cabin at the end of the last season, though he swears to Mari he didn’t. I believe him; I have always been a Ben stan, and I’m really hoping he makes it out of the Wilderness, but I don’t think he will. In episode two, he brings Mari back to his little cave where he’s been eking out a living since the end of last season, helping her reset her dislocated knee but not letting her leave. Meanwhile, the girls go look for her, though Shauna’s pretty hopeful that she’s dead. Meanwhile, Shauna gets surprisingly close to fellow survivor Melissa, who’s definitely getting a meatier role this season after her introduction in season two. At the end of the episode, they kiss, filling the hearts of all gay “Yellowjackets” fans with joy. Mari also makes her escape from Ben, though not before she attempts to seduce Ben so he’ll let her go (which fails because she’s a. 17, b. Super duper mean, and c. Ben is gay), then her and Ben get into a mutually awful bear-spray incident. 

Episode three, in my opinion, is when things finally kick into gear. I didn’t dislike the last two episodes, but season three includes all of the things that really make “Yellowjackets” so special: realistic teen angst, stellar acting, dead characters haunting the narrative, and, most importantly, an absolutely bonkers hallucination sequence with Van, Shauna, and Akilah, whose visions I’m sure will have ramifications lasting throughout the season. My general review, not including episode four, is that I’m super excited for the rest of the season, but I do hope that Ben survives (though, based on the fact Natalie is holding a gun to his neck at the end of episode three, I don’t have super high hopes…). 

This is just the teen story so far; I haven’t even touched the adult story, but in all honesty, it’s not at all as good as this season, though I have high hopes for the guest stars, Hillary Swank and Joel McHale, but even their characters names’ haven’t been revealed yet. Basically, Taissa has completely abandoned her wife and child and is shacking up with Van, who is suffering from terminal cancer, though maybe not for long… In the meantime, Misty is suffering from the loss of her only friend, Natalie, who she accidentally killed at the end of last season. She tries to reconnect with Shauna, but Shauna hates her (not without some reasons), and when Shauna’s brakes fail she immediately blames Misty, though she has no evidence for this. (To be fair, Misty did stop Natalie’s car from running in season one, but that had a purpose, and she didn’t put either of them in danger.) Tai and Van dine and dash, and the waiter who chases them down to try to get them to pay the bill has a freak heart attack and dies. Then, mysteriously, Van’s cancer goes into incredibly rare remission. Lottie convinces Shauna to let her stay with her family, and she quickly convinces Callie that she’s super cool. However, she gives Callie Jackie’s necklace, which the girls (seemingly) gave each hunting victim, which understandably causes Shauna to flip out and kick Lottie out of the house. But she doesn’t tell Callie why, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this eventually deepens the existing rift between mother and daughter. I look forward to seeing how season three continues to play out, and I hope for an eventual answer to the question each season has been asking: what is the driving force behind all that has happened in the wilderness; the girls…or something stranger?