Summer inspires the Yellowjackets to ditch soccer for a more contact-intensive sport, revive an old pagan tradition and thrift-shop the wreckage for a new team look. In the present, a cringe-worthy funeral flows organically into a bar therapy session. The Yellowjackets are stuck deciding whether to track down a missing teammate or just trip out on mushrooms and forget it all.
The series often ponders: what does it mean to survive? In the past, it's a literal battle between life and death. The Yellowjackets endured a brutal winter in the wilderness. Spring has emerged. They weren't without shelter for very long. In fact, they appear to be flourishing. They have ample energy to engage in many activities. They play out dynamics as a group. Shauna is obviously positioned as the outsider looking in. She's much more angry and volatile than the rest. She doesn't want to play along with the idealized telling of what happened to them. They are monsters who resorted to cannibalism to survive. It's been a freeing experience. One that allows each of them to live truthfully as they are. It's still incredibly dysfunctional. Any twist can lead to disaster. Taissa is right to be concerned about the growing friction between Shauna and Mari. She doesn't want someone to perish like Jackie did. That still haunts the group. And yet, they are collectively fine with letting Mari go off on her own in the night. Everyone wanted to celebrate the solstice. They find reason to engage as a community. They don't wish to suffer in the dire state of their circumstances. They have survived. It's not as bad as it once was. Of course, they can't forget what got them to this point either. They have no outlet to regulate their emotions and handle conflicts appropriately. That delivers a clear through-line to their present-day lives where only a handful survived. The show puts characters in danger to acknowledge that not everyone has plot armor. Some are destined to die. That's apparent in the past and the present. Yet the intrigue largely comes from the ways in which the performers infuse their characters with personality rather than the overall story.
In the present, Shauna laments about what will be said about her after she dies. Natalie's memorial was depressing. It offered nothing special that honored her life. It was nothing more than a sad, brief tribute. Shauna only sees the futile endeavor of surviving. She doesn't have good relationships with her husband or daughter. Jeff is concerned immediately about Callie acting out at school. Shauna laughs at Callie's public display of cruelty to make a point. This twisted family is closer because their secrets are out in the open. That doesn't make them fulfilled. They are constantly yearning for more. The adults want to reinvigorate familiar dynamics. Taissa wants romance to blossom once more with Van. In pursuing their childish antics, they enjoy that rush all over again. That fondness for the past can never escape the horrors of the wilderness though. Taissa sees that physical manifestation and chooses to ignore it. It's better to live in the present and enjoy making out with Van. It's what she has always wanted. Now, it's possible. Meanwhile, Misty acts out because she blames herself for Natalie's death. She killed her best friend. It was an accident. The group believed it satisfied the thirst for sacrifice from the wilderness. The show remains coy and obtuse about whether anything supernatural is truly happening. It's eerie when the forest literally screams out in pain. The entire team hears it. It's not just Travis. That's very evocative. More plot momentum is needed. This premiere grounds everyone in their current circumstances. It reintroduces the themes that have been prevalent since the beginning. More of a sense of direction is needed to make the journey more satisfying as it goes along.
What is It? Callie wants clarity from the Yellowjackets. She wants to know precisely what they have done and what they continue to do. Shauna was almost killed. Callie shot Lottie. The bloodlust of the wilderness was seemingly satisfied. And yet, death continues to linger over these characters. It has a physical embodiment for Taissa. A man suffers a lethal heart attack chasing after her and Van. She learns about that after Van has regrets about their dine and dash. These friends want to protect each other. And yet, they fundamentally are picking each other off one by one. Natalie was killed. Lottie lost everything as a result. She is desperate for a place to stay. That leads her back to Shauna. Callie convinces her parents to be forgiving. Callie is the closest to understanding what the Yellowjackets went through without experiencing it herself. Lottie makes that key insight. She doesn't explain herself any further. The Yellowjackets killed and ate one another to survive. The rumors about them are true. That isn't the extent of what happened in the wilderness. Lottie believes something is talking to Travis. She pressures him to keep ingesting mushrooms to communicate with it. He has bad and traumatic trips. They are presented as something more because all of the girls heard the screams. Travis wasn't alone. But now, he almost hurts Lottie. She isn't worried about her well-being. Travis casually shifts the burden onto someone else. He doesn't want to handle Lottie's obsession any longer. And so, he scapegoats Akilah. She's the next target because of her affection for animals. That's all it takes to convince Lottie. With everyone else, they accept the possibility of something mystical happening. They never get too distracted from the practical realities of the wilderness.
Coach Scott has been vilified. The Yellowjackets believe he lit the cabin on fire. They lost shelter because of him. He was horrified by what they did to Javi. They killed and ate him. He couldn't participate in that. He sought safety elsewhere. His position is compromised because Mari stumbled into his makeshift trap. He found supplies to keep him nourished. He still has limited mobility. He knows how to handle injuries. He's also worried about the devious intentions of his former players. He doesn't want to be next on their hit list. He's very rational with that concept. He openly speaks to it even though Mari believes that it's all in the past. It's not. All it takes is another disaster for the group to return to cannibalism. The audience operates with that clarity. The group believes it's more complex than that. Something drives their actions. They are powerless to stop it. They have to give in. That's difficult for others to accept. Shauna believes she is prioritizing her family now. And yet, she immediately doesn't want to attend a dinner with Jeff. While there, she ends the conversation because of how arrogant and fake the potential business partners are. Moreover, she's distracted. She feels she is being followed. Some physical presence is active. Callie received the cassette tape. She doesn't know what to do with it. Meanwhile, Shauna presses for any information about who this is. She believes she knows. It's heavily implied to be Melissa. The final sequence intercuts between the past and present. Shauna and Melissa hookup while Shauna inquires with the bar staff over the phone. It's all just cryptic clues in search of propulsive energy. That's understandable in the early going. It highlights how possessive everyone remains. But it's also just not as fun as seeing Misty get drunk and fight with Walter despite him making some good points about her friends not actually supporting her.
