Where to find it: Paramount+ on Amazon
Length: Twenty nine 50-minute episodes
Synopsis: Mystery about a plane crash
Recommendation rating: 3/5
What I like about it: drama and mystery (some of it good), acting, music
What I don’t like about it: sometimes resembles Lost, often unbelievable, confusing start
Review:
Showtime’s latest drama hit is crafted with a confident coolness and features mysteries and characters that will get their hooks in you if you give them chance, but it remains to be seen whether that is worthwhile. As is common these days, we see two timelines at once: the distant past of the late 90s where a girls’ soccer team suffer a plane crash in the famously-filmable woods of Vancouver, and the present where four of the survivors try to get on with their lives despite great trauma. The present timeline provides some great roles for actors “of a certain age” – including the always-welcome Melanie Lynskey and creepily quirky Christina Ricci – but it’s the past timeline that proves most interesting. Mystery builds in an intriguing way as we get to know characters in the past who are not represented in the present (will they die or be revealed next season?) and the appeal is carefully constructed towards the archetypal husband-and-wife: gore for him, relationship drama for her etc.
Overall, it’s good but not great and could go either way before it’s done. They have an eye for a great visual but don’t linger, the plot is intriguing but ultimately not that interesting and the acting is good but may be worth nothing more than a few Emmys if they don’t pull it together.
UPDATE AFTER THREE SEASONS: It never has the firmest grip on where it’s going but I have a lot of fun with Yellowjackets. They have a unique vibe and a great theme song. It’s like the better bits of Lost combined with a twisted tale of trauma-bonded female friendship. Often makes me gasp and comment snarkily to the television and I recommend it despite its flaws.
Content notes (may contain spoilers): sex, violence and horror, drugs, animal killing, psychosis, cannibalism