Yellowjackets “Pilot”

Yellowjackets is the sort of show where it was never a question if I was going to cover it on Gabbing Geek but when.  Sure, I thought it would enter a Friday rotation, but Fridays are probably going to be booked solid for the next couple months.  Tuesdays works since I needed to fill a slot before a pair of returning Tuesday shows return for new seasons.

Besides, given the central premise for this one involves a plane crash, I have to wonder if the first episode is titled “pilot” for that reason.

Yellowjackets, complete with a rather impressive cast, is the story of a high school soccer team that survived a plane crash and how they seem to be keeping things secret decades later.  The more recognizable actors–such as Juliette Lewis, Melanie Lynskey, and Christina Ricci–are playing the adults of the survivors since not all of the team made it back.

That much is obvious during the opening minutes when a teenage girl, running for her life down a snowy mountain, barefoot and in what looks like a nightgown, falls through a hole in the ice that looks like a trap only for another girl to later slit her throat, the second girl covered from head-to-toe in some sort of homemade outfit to hide her identity while looking what I am guessing a 90s teenage girl thought would be “primal”.

From there, the show bounces back and forth between the characters as girls getting ready to go play for the national championship and them as women today, mostly focused in the present on Lynskey’s Shauna.  In the past, she was best friends with popular girl Jackie, but she takes a lot of cues from her friend.  In the present, she’s in what looks like a lonely and depressed state as a housewife whose husband is never home and whose rebellious teenage daughter seems to have no time for her.

Also, in the past, she was screwing around with her best friend’s boyfriend.

For the flashbacks here, it’s mostly to establish the girls before their private plane crashes in the middle of nowhere on their way to the West Coast to play in the national championship.  The crash itself isn’t shown.  The episode just shows the crashed plane and a few of the passengers milling around outside of it.

But as for the other girls, a few stood out.

• Jackie, as stated, is the popular girl and team captain.
• Taissa is hypercompetitive.  In the past, she broke a teammate’s leg during practice because she felt said teammate wasn’t up to snuff.  In the present, she’s running for the New Jersey State Senate.
• Natalie, a burnout the others tend to dismiss.
• And then there’s Misty, looking awfully manipulative in the present as played by a creepy-looking Christina Ricci.

So, whatever happened up there, the surviving girls stayed silent after they were rescued.  Except, well, Shauna looks like she might want to talk to someone about it right about now…

So, interesting premise, impressive cast, and a good start.