Yellow vests
Credit: Showtime
Post updated 3/10/2024. See updates below.
If a terrifying survival scenario, dual timelines, hints of the supernatural and a cast of wonderfully complex characters sounds like a fun time, then you’re in for a treat. One of the best seasons of television I’ve seen in years has just arrived on Netflix, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s must-see television.
Yellowjackets first aired in 2022 on Showtime where it quickly found a cult following thanks to its quirky story and engaging cast. The series revolves around a high school girls’ soccer team across two different timelines.
In the first part, the girls land in a vast wilderness on their way to a soccer tournament. Here, they face not only famine and the elements, but also strange visions, frightening discoveries, and other terrifying encounters that often leave the characters and audience wondering if some supernatural force is at play, or if there are more mundane explanations for all these strange things. Things that happen. The mystery is compelling.
Yellow vests
Credit: Showtime
In the second timeline, we follow several of the girls decades later. We know that at least some characters survive, but we’re not entirely sure who or – perhaps more importantly – how. These middle-aged survivors have deep, dark secrets and harbor old sorrows and terrible guilt. Little by little, the two stories unfold side by side. It’s one of the most interesting and sinister seasons of television I’ve ever seen, with plenty of shocking revelations, sordid betrayals, and even some welcome humor thrown in for good measure.
However, it’s the cast that really elevates the show. Ella Purnell (Fallout, Arcane) plays Jackie, the captain of the soccer team and a natural leader who finds herself out of her element in the wilderness. She is best friends with Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) although their friendship is tested as they struggle to survive. Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) is the black sheep of the team, and probably my favorite character in the series. Other teenage survivors include Travis (Kevin Alves), Lottie (Courtney Eaton), Van (Liv Hewson), and Tessa (Yasmine Savoy-Brown), as well as Misty (Sammy Hanratty), who I can only describe as a wild card, although perhaps There must be more than one. The team’s assistant coach, Ben (Steven Krueger), also survives the accident, although he is a changed man.
Yellow vests
Credit: Showtime
Meanwhile, in the modern timeline, we mainly follow Shauna (Melanie Linksy), Tessa (Tawny Cypress), Natalie (Juliette Lewis), and Misty (Christina Ricci). Like I said, it’s a group of stars. The actors in both timelines are exceptional and both stories – which weave together in wonderful ways – are fascinating from beginning to end, each with their own mysteries to uncover and disasters to endure.
Furthermore, the original score for the show’s first season is one of the most moving and exciting scores I’ve ever heard for a TV show.
Right now, only the first season is available on Netflix, and here I have to put in a pretty big caveat: the first season is much better than the second, which remains on Showtime/Paramount+ even though it will come to Netflix at a later date. . Honestly, Yellowjackets, as a standalone season, is absolutely fantastic and one of my favorite modern TV shows. The second season wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t as good as the first, and I really felt like many aspects of the story fell flat spectacularly. I think I was disappointed because I was a huge fan of the first season. But the Season 2 finale really annoyed me, unlike the great ending of Season 1 (which wasn’t even its best episode).
I still recommend you watch the first season, and if you like it, you can always decide on the second season. I’m still hoping that Season 3 will get the series back on track, but no matter what I will always be a huge fan of Season 1, which I’ve already watched three times. It’s one of the best female-led shows, largely because it never engages in silly girl tropes and treats each of its characters as well-rounded (and deeply flawed) human beings. it’s great. Do yourself a favor and give it a chance. Also included in our list of the best TV shows of 2022:
Updated 10.02.24
Since this post has gained some traction and hopefully people will turn to Yellowjackets now that it’s on Netflix, I wanted to bring to your attention another top-notch supernatural thriller series that I’m still hoping will make its way to Netflix as well.
Who is currently only available on MGM+, although the first season of the show is available to watch with a Prime Video subscription. I subscribed to MGM+ via Prime Video, and that’s the only place you can watch Season 2 and Season 3, which is currently streaming.
The show is the closest thing to a Lost series, although Yellowjackets has some Lost vibes as well – plane crash, survivors, supernatural mysteries and so on. Who, however, looks more like Lost and also includes some of the creators behind the hit ABC series. Jack Bender, who directed some of the best episodes of Lost, is one of the series’ producers. Bender has been in other great shows, including The Sopranos and Game of Thrones.
Harold Perrineau is perhaps the biggest attraction. Perrineau played Michael Dawson in Lost but his character often felt underutilized and was pushed aside for other stories. Here, he plays Boyd Stevens, the main protagonist of the series, and we really get to see his acting skills.
Without spoiling too much, FROM’s story is about a strange, unnamed town — which I call Fromville — where people end up and can never leave. At night, terrifying monsters come out and hunt down anyone unlucky enough to be caught outside – or gullible enough to open their doors.
The show is full of mystery, suspense, a cast of great characters, and plenty of horror. It’s scarier than LOST but has the same great mystery to keep you tuned in every week. And unlike LOST, the series’ creators have a five-season plan, so we can expect – or at least hope for – a satisfying ending.
If you have Prime Video, please do yourself a favor and check out the first season. It’s not perfect. The show drops too many F-bombs, for one thing, and the characters have an annoying tendency to not communicate properly with each other, but I still love it, warts and all. So far, Season 3 seems to be the best yet, as it actually improves on the issues I mentioned. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
That’s a terrible title for a TV show, isn’t it? It’s hard to Google!
Updated 10.03.24
Other shows I’ve been watching lately in case you need more recommendations (and these are all shows I highly recommend):
Season 4 of Only Murders In The Building on Hulu is the best season since the first season. A charming, cozy mystery set in New York City starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. Seasons 2 and 3 kind of flopped, although I kept watching because I like the cast. Season 4 has put the train back on track and I am eagerly awaiting each new episode. Bad Monkey on Apple TV is my surprise show of 2024. Vince Vaughn is at the top of his game in this hilarious mystery comedy set in the Florida Keys. Season 1 is almost over and I’m completely hooked. Natalie Martinez co-stars and is a delight, as is the rest of the cast. Apple TV’s Slow Horses is almost done with its fourth season, and as always, it’s the best spy show on TV. Gary Oldman remains as delightful as ever as the smelly but brilliant Jackson Lamb. What a gem. But Oldman isn’t the only gem in this talented actor. Jack Lowden is great as River Cartwright, a spy with a lot to prove, and Kristin Scott Thomas is the idealistic MI5 head in the role of Diana Taverner. Agatha All Along on Disney+ is a surprisingly good sequel to WandaVision. It’s not as good as this other stuff, but it’s charming and fun and a nice change of pace for Marvel. I think this show had a lot of potential and it feels like they backed away from what could and should have been, but it’s not bad at all. There’s a bit of a community theater feel to the whole thing. The Legend Of Vox Machina is a fantasy anime series for adults full of laughs, fun fight scenes, and a really great cast. It’s based on a D&D Critical Role campaign and is a lot of fun. Season 3 will drop on Prime Video this week. The series includes an impressive cast of popular voice actors from the games and anime including Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, Taliesin Jaffe, and Matt Mercer. Sunny on Apple TV is a “light” sci-fi series set in Japan about a woman who loses her husband and son but gets a new robot sidekick. The mystery of her family’s fate becomes wrapped in a story about near-future technology, the yakuza, and much more. It’s great. Severance on Apple TV is about a dystopian near future where a company has developed technology to “cut off” your awareness of your work and life. This is just an elevator pitch. There’s a lot to this great show. I’m currently rewatching it for the third time and it’s absolutely good every time. Unforgotten on BritBox is a mystery detective drama set in the United Kingdom about detectives solving old crimes. In the first season, which I just finished, a body is discovered and appears to be the victim of a murder in the late 1970s. Old secrets and buried lies are revealed when the truth is revealed.
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