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Yellowjackets may as well be one of the great thriller series of our generation if it follows the trajectory it is on now. The show has generated enough intrigue to give sleepless nights to anyone drawn to it with only three episodes down.
Technical aspects apart, which are all by the way top-notch, from color-grading to beautiful cinematography and crisp editing, the storyline has so far proved to be an absolute game-changer. And it is even more exciting that the mysteries keep on lining up, forming more layers spread over two separate timelines (at times three).
Yellowjackets will release its fourth episode on December 5, 2021. It is titled "Bear Down" and may have many implications. Here are three talking points from previous episodes that need some thinking before watching the fourth episode.
1) The past and the present selves of the 'Yellowjackets'
What makes Yellowjackets so intriguing is the presence of separate timelines, both unfolding in such a smooth, composed manner. Each episode very skillfully shows just the amount we need to see from each character.
One thing that has worked incredibly well for the show is the contrast between the younger and older selves of the characters (not even speaking of the excellent casting). The characters are well written, each choice each behavior can be observed in the younger versions of the girls that led them to become the adults they are now.
This episode, for example, saw Taissa (Tawny Cypress and Jasmin Savoy Brown as the adult and teenage versions, respectively) slowly walking down the path that would lead her to be the way she is in the present day.
But what about characters whose adult versions are not shown? Is it right to assume that they did not make it out of there? Or is it something worse? For example, Jackie (played by Ella Purnell) was the main character in the original Yellowjackets team.
But no adult Jackie has been shown in Yellowjackets so far, and her then-boyfriend is married to Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) in the present day.
Could Jackie still be an essential part of the cast in the present day who is not shown, or has something gruesome happened to her that we haven't seen yet? The next episode may have some answers.
2) The symbol on the postcards
One of the first mysterious things we see on the show is these postcards sent to the survivors with a mysterious symbol. "Someone must have opened their mouth," we hear Nat (Juliette Lewis) say, indicating a kind of a threat.
It has something to do with the survivors' past, and it also implies that during their stay on the island, they have done such unspeakable things that no one should have "opened" their mouths.
The symbol was first seen engraved in a tree at the crash site. It vaguely represents a man being impaled by a tree, something that does happen as their plane crashes into the trees.
On one hand, it implies that someone must have already been on that island, while on the other hand, in the present day, the symbols being in the postcards is a form of threat telling the remaining survivors that someone out there knows "everything" and they are coming.
3) The real threat
We had no idea what sending the postcards meant until almost the end of the third episode of Yellowjackets. Of course, it meant that whoever is doing it is connected to the past of the Yellowjackets team, and it also meant someone was threatening them in some form.
But it was barely clear if they wanted to blackmail them or dig at the past. It was widely assumed to be one of the survivors. But the end of the third episode changed this. With Travis (Kevin Alves) being killed, it is clear that someone is after them; someone wants them dead. The postcards are the final warning that they are coming.
What have the girls done to put someone on their trail so many years later? The answer to this will probably be the crust of the story. But with the kind of unpredictability the series offers, we can be sure of nothing.
Here's to hoping we can get some solid answers in the next episode.
