Francesca Tolentino

The show “Yellowjackets” rises in popularity as it has been renewed for a fourth season.

“Huh, freaky,” I thought to myself as the credits rolled to season one, episode one of the show “Yellowjackets”. It was a Friday night, and my dad and I had sat down to finally begin the show that was getting a lot of “buzz” (pun intended) on social media. I really had no idea what the show was about other than the clips I saw floating around on my feed, and at this point, the first season was still releasing episodes weekly. But, oh boy, I was not ready for the obsession that was about to form.

The series “Yellowjackets” on Paramount+ is split into two timelines. The first is a “teen timeline” that takes place in 1996 following a girls’ soccer team that crashed in the Canadian wilderness on their way to nationals, and the other, the “adult timeline,” set in the present, follows the adult survivors of the plane crash and the mental aftermath it had on them. 

Obviously, this short description can’t do near enough justice to the greatness that is this show. In the wilderness, the girls had to go through and do a lot of stuff to survive, and we see all their characters slowly unravel as the plot progresses. 

On May 20, Yellowjackets was renewed for season four. When the news was revealed, it was almost as though you could hear a collective sigh of relief from the fandom. There is no doubt that fans have been burned before by streaming services canceling shows, regardless of the show’s popularity. 

Now that a new season is guaranteed, I think that it’s finally time I can talk about the beauty that is “Yellowjackets.” As with any show, people have their criticisms, and there are always going to be flaws to point out. But, for me personally, “Yellowjackets” is not letting me down. Keeping a strong and engaging plot for three seasons in a row is something that some shows can only dream of doing. 

One of the things that makes the show so good is the character writing. “Yellowjackets” is not afraid to make its characters unlikable or give them flaws. In the “teen timeline,” the characters are relatable because they are truly just a bunch of teen girls. 

The characters are human, and they display real mental health issues and are not immune to being bad people. Having characters who are bad people is what makes the show so interesting. We get to see what happens when teen girls are left in the woods for 19 months and slowly decay into madness. It’s hard to hate them because of the situation, but it’s also kind of hard to like them because of the actions that they resort to. 

It is especially seen in the “adult timeline” how poorly the surviving girls chose to deal with their trauma, which just really makes viewers shake their heads (I mean, come on, no therapy? Really?) But, I don’t want to only point out the actual character flaws, because that’s missing a big point of the show. 

Another thing “Yellowjackets” does beautifully is its female characters. The show features only female leads, and it could not have been done better. Depicting how girls take on the world and how they are sometimes boiled down to almost nothing is refreshing to see in popular television today. It can sometimes feel as though we are going back in time in current media, and with shows like “Yellowjackets,” we know that there is still progression. 

The deep relationships in “Yellowjackets” are just, gosh, I could talk about each character and their interactions with each other for hours, but then this article would never end. So, I’m just going to jump into the actresses. 

I mean, where do I even start? “Yellowjackets” would not be the show it is now if it weren’t for the actress’s beautiful portrayal of their character. The small details put into the actions are what make the show, and it’s no easy feat to understand the character you’re playing so deeply once, let alone twice. Because of the two timelines, there are teen and adult versions of the characters, and oh boy, the casting could not have been better. Everything, down to tiny vocal details, is perfect; it’s almost hard to believe that the actresses for the teen and adult characters aren’t the same person. 

All in all, I really love “Yellowjackets,” and I think that the marketing team should hire me, given the sheer number of people that I have gotten to watch the show. I have high hopes for the future of the show. No matter how many tweets I see criticizing the writing, nothing can change how great the first three seasons were to me. And no matter what crazy, messed-up stuff those girls do out there, just know I will defend them until I die. So, if you have any free time at all, go watch “Yellowjackets.”