Episode 5 of hit show Yellowjackets Season 2 brings new characters, new revelations, and new shocking moments.
2021’s first season of Yellowjackets became a smash hit, with multiple Emmy nominations in 2022, and a greenlight for Season 2.
Fans have been waiting eagerly for said second season, which continues the story of a soccer team that was stranded in the wild for a year after a plane crash, and the ensuing trauma that lives on into their adulthood.
Thankfully, the second season is easily living up to the first, with the fifth episode now out. Let’s get into it, and don’t worry, we’ll do our best to avoid any big spoilers!
Yellowjackets keeps the present as a surprise gift
We get a lot of time in the present this episode, which may be disappointing to some fans. It doesn’t help that the focus of the present, that being the police following up on Shauna’s affair, feels pretty mediocre and out of place. Though we do grow to like Shauna’s daughter more and more this episode, and a scene that Shauna shares with Randy in a motel is one of the funniest moments this show has presented thus far.
However, there is a silver lining, as this episode brings fan-fave character Van off the bench, and it’s a delight to see her and Taissa reconnect. It’s hilarious that this character was once expected to die, until fan adoration kept her in the plot. It’s also clever of the show to introduce surviving characters bit by bit, that way we’re never quite sure who lives or dies in the past.
Speaking of the past, we get some nice downtime with the girls this episode, as we watch them hang out, do chores together, make rude snipes, all that good regular high school stuff. Probably the only downside of these moments is that generally the male characters, like Travis and his brother, feel somewhat pointless in Season 2. This is obviously a show meant to focus on women’s experiences, but that doesn’t mean that the boys shouldn’t feel like dead weight to watch.
Lottie is still one of the season’s highlights thankfully, as we still see her causing rifts in the past, while dealing with her own rifts and fears in the present.
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The danger is ramping up in Episode 5
As granted, this episode isn’t without its scares. There’s a very shocking scene on a cliff which is sure to be one of the series’ most memorable moments. There’s some mix ups about who killed Adam last season. Taissa’s other self is downright unsettling; Tawny Cypruss’ performance is really standing out this season.
When Shauna’s baby starts to arrive, the groups mediative voices to the Wilderness manage to reach a lost Taissa and Shauna. Clearly there is something supernatural still going on, both in the past and present. Like Natalie says, “We brought it back with us.”
Though while this aspect is certainly intriguing, one may wonder how this will actually work out. The show is doing an alright job of drawing out the mystery so far, but it is perhaps becoming apparent that the reason the story is being drawn out so much is because any ending may be disappointing. We already have an inkling of how things will end in the teen section, and it’s unlikely that things will be much different in the adult section. So what way is Yellowjackets going to end that will top anything we’ve seen so far, for better or worse?
Yellowjackets Season 2 Episodes 5 review score: 4/5
Yellowjackets is keeping a consistency in quality with all its episodes. And while middle episodes tend to just set up future conflicts, this episode still manages to be compelling and foreboding, which makes for a great viewing experience.
Yellowjackets Season 2 began streaming exclusively on Paramount+ on March 24. Season 1 is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, which you can sign up for here.
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