Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Yellowjackets Season 2 – Showtime
“Yellowjackets” is an original Showtime series about a girls soccer team that survived a plane crash in the wilderness while on their way to the national championship. It takes place on two timelines that alternate during each episode: one in 1996 in the remote wilderness after the plane crash and the other is current day (2021) showing their lives as adults after their final rescue from the woods. The series is filled with eerie dark humor, does a great job of seamlessly moving between timelines and the younger actors are dead ringers for their adult counterparts.
They left off at the end of Season 1 in the present with Natalie (Juliette Lewis) holding a shotgun to her head but kidnapped by people in purple after discovering Travis had committed suicide. Shawna (Melanie Lynskey) killed her lover thinking that he was blackmailing the Yellowjackets and unfortunately found out that it was her husband Jeff (Warren Cole). Taissa (Tawney Cypress) won her election as a New Jersey state senator, while at the same time her partner found a morbid alter she created under the house. Misty (Christina Ricci) released but poisoned her captor and proved very helpful in helping dispose of Shawna’s lover’s body.
Meanwhile back in 1996 Jackie (Ella Purnell) fell asleep outside and froze to death when the first winter snow fell on the cabin. Shawna (Sophie Nelisse) struggled with her teen pregnancy and the group knew that Jackie’s boyfriend Jeff is the father. Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) and Travis (Kevin Alves) fell in love and shared romantic time away while hunting for food for the group. Javi was still missing since the night that the whole group was accidentally dosed with magic mushrooms Misty (Samantha Hanratty) had stowed away. Lottie (Courtney Eaton) had several experiences in front of the group that proved she had some sort of psychic and mystic abilities. Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger) was the only adult survivor, but lost his right leg in the crash. Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Van (Liv Hewson) also started a romantic relationship.
In the first three episodes of Season 2, in the present we find out that Lottie (Simone Kessell) had started her own intentional community where she serves as a mystical leader which was the group of people that did grab Natalie and where she stayed since her initial escape. Misty teamed up with another citizen detective named Walter (Elijah Wood) who was a millionaire due to an injury settlement. Together they were trying to find Natalie and close to locating the purple people retreat. Taisa had fallen back into the trance-like episodes she had in the woods that seemed to indicate she was connected to the unknown force they all knew was around, which surprisingly led her to Van (Lauren Ambrose).
Back in 1996 the group was struggling to find food in the harsh winter conditions. The ground was too frozen to bury her body so Shawna put it in the meat shed and was secretly talking to her for 2 months until Taisa found that she was even putting makeup on her. The decision was made to cremate her body, but a pile of snow fell from above putting the fire out before her body was burned and became the group’s first act of cannibalism. Travis continued to have hope in finding his brother Javi even though it’s winter and had been two months since they’ve seen him.
Though some things have been revealed, there are still lots of lose ends and unanswered questions. Season 1 opened with the chasing down and cannibalising a member of the group which still remains unexplained, but “Yellowjackets” fans will be glad to know that the show has already been approved for Season 3 with a total of five seasons planned for the original series.
Season 2: 9 – 1 hr Episodes
