'Yellowjackets' Loses Its Sting: Has TV's Buzziest Show Gone Too Dark?
Olivia Bennett, 3/9/2025In a critical look at "Yellowjackets," the article assesses the show's descent into darkness, questioning its narrative choices and emotional stakes. With recent character deaths and increasing violence, it argues the series risks losing its initial depth and authenticity. Will it regain its footing?
Oh darlings, we need to talk about "Yellowjackets." Remember when prestige television felt like catching lightning in a bottle? Those halcyon days when each new episode promised both artistry and emotional resonance? Well, Showtime's survival horror darling has wandered deep into the woods, and honey, it's not looking good.
Season 3 has taken a particularly nasty turn — and not in that deliciously wicked way we've come to expect from our appointment television. The show that once masterfully balanced psychological horror with genuine character development now seems determined to torch its own nest, much like that mysterious fire that turned the cabin into kindling last season. (Speaking of which, Coach Ben's looking less and less like our mystery arsonist, but more on that later.)
Let's pour one out for our latest casualty, shall we? Lottie Matthews bit the dust in Episode 4, "12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis" — a title that somehow manages to be both too clever and not clever enough. Her departure follows hot on the heels of Natalie Scatorccio's gut-punch exit in Season 2's finale. At this rate, the show's body count is starting to rival the post-pandemic Broadway revival scene of 2024.
The wilderness timeline has always promised darkness — that's part of the bargain we made when we first glimpsed that notorious "Pit Girl" sequence. But darling, there's a difference between serving darkness with a side of meaning and just dumping trauma on our plates like yesterday's craft services leftovers. The present-day narrative has become particularly thorny, with Shauna morphing from complex survivor to someone who makes Lady Macbeth look like a Hallmark movie protagonist.
Van remains our last hope for relatability in the modern timeline, though given the show's track record, that's about as secure as a streaming service's content library these days. (Too soon, Max? Too soon?) The ghostly appearances of Jackie Taylor in Shauna's hallucinations feel less like artistic choice and more like the show's subconscious guilt about its own choices — much like those "Mickey 17" clone sequences that had Robert Pattinson essentially talking to himself for half the film.
Here's the real tea: "Yellowjackets" seems to have forgotten that shock value without emotional stakes is just empty calories. The violence — from Jackie's devastating death by hypothermia to Shauna's savage beatdown of Lottie — used to serve character development. Now it's starting to feel like trauma porn dressed up in prestige television's hand-me-downs.
With two and a half seasons left in its planned five-season run, "Yellowjackets" needs to find its moral compass in the wilderness — and fast. The series may have started as a brilliant exploration of survival, trauma, and complex female relationships, but it's veering dangerously close to becoming the very thing it once critiqued: entertainment that mistakes darkness for depth.
Television audiences, much like this season's dwindling viewership numbers, can smell authenticity from a mile away. And right now? Something's rotting in the state of "Yellowjackets." Let's hope the series can find its way back before we all lose our appetite for what was once television's most promising survival story.
