# Yellowjackets (2021) Review: The Crash That Never Ended > Yellowjackets splits its story between teenage plane-crash survivors in the wilderness and the damaged women they become, turning survival horror into a study of trauma. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/yellowjackets-review/ Published: 2026-07-04 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 4/5 ## Verdict Yes. It is a gripping, ferociously acted survival mystery for viewers who like dark, twisty drama, though its later seasons grow uneven and slow to answer questions. ## Is Yellowjackets worth watching? **Yes. Yellowjackets is a savage, compulsive survival drama whose double-timeline structure and superb ensemble make it one of the most distinctive American series of the 2020s.** It uses a plane crash, a girls' soccer team and the promise of unspeakable acts in the woods to explore what trauma does to people decades later. The main reservation is that the show is better at raising questions than answering them, and the second and third seasons are less focused than the first. ## What is Yellowjackets about? In 1996, a New Jersey high-school girls' soccer team boards a flight to a national tournament. The plane goes down deep in the wilderness, and the survivors, stranded far longer than anyone expects, must find ways to live through the cold, hunger and each other. The series cuts between those desperate months and the present day, 25 years later, when the adult survivors are living outwardly ordinary but deeply haunted lives, bound by a pact of silence about what they did to survive. When that silence starts to crack, the past comes after them. The adult survivors are played by Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci and Tawny Cypress, with Sophie Nélisse and a strong young cast playing the teenagers. Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, [Yellowjackets](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/yellowjackets/) is an American series in English that premiered on Showtime and streams on Paramount+ in many regions. This review covers the three seasons released so far, 29 episodes in total; the story is still in progress. ## Two timelines, one wound The structure is the show's great idea. By cutting between teenage survival and midlife dysfunction, Yellowjackets makes the wilderness feel less like a place the characters escaped than a condition they carry. Every present-day scene is shadowed by what the audience suspects happened in the woods, and every flashback gains weight from knowing the damaged women these girls will become. The dual casting is unusually well matched. The young actors and their adult counterparts share gestures, rhythms and wounds, so the connection between past and present feels physical rather than just narrative. The 1990s setting is used cleverly too, with period music and style luring viewers into nostalgia before the story turns vicious. ## An ensemble with real menace Melanie Lynskey is the anchor, playing a suburban wife and mother whose placid surface hides a startling capacity for violence and dark humour. Christina Ricci is a comic and creepy delight as a survivor with an eerie enthusiasm for other people's disasters, and Juliette Lewis brings raw, jagged energy to a woman who has never stopped running from her past. In the wilderness timeline, Sophie Nélisse and the rest of the young cast carry the show's slide from team spirit into ritual and hierarchy with real conviction. The horror is as much anthropological as visceral. The show is fascinated by how a group of ordinary teenagers might build a belief system, a pecking order and a mythology to cope with the unbearable, and it takes that descent seriously. ## Mystery-box frustrations Yellowjackets flirts constantly with the supernatural without committing, and it teases answers that it seems reluctant to give. In the first season that ambiguity is thrilling; by the later seasons it can feel like stalling. The plotting sprawls, some adult storylines turn soapy, and the wilderness timeline occasionally treads water. The acting and atmosphere keep the show watchable even when the story wanders, but patience is required. ## Who should watch Yellowjackets? It suits fans of dark psychological drama, survival stories and puzzle-box mysteries, especially viewers who enjoy strong ensemble acting. It is firmly for adults: expect graphic violence and gore, cannibalism, sexual content, drug use and strong language. Three seasons of hour-long episodes make it a considerable commitment, and the story is not yet finished. If it grips you: - [The Last of Us](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/the-last-of-us-review/) for another prestige survival drama about what people become under extreme pressure. - [Silo](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/silo-review/) for a slow-burn mystery that also withholds its answers. - [Stranger Things](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/stranger-things-review/) for period-set horror built around a young ensemble. ## The verdict Yellowjackets is a lurid, intelligent nightmare about trauma, hunger and the stories people tell themselves to survive. Its evasions grow frustrating as the seasons pile up, but the ferocious ensemble and haunting double structure make it far too compelling to abandon. **Rating: 4/5** ## Related title - [Yellowjackets (2021)](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/yellowjackets/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)