5 Years Ago, A Gripping Supernatural Drama Became A Surprise Phenomenon
Who is “pit girl”?
Usually, survival stories are pretty cut-and-dry: someone gets washed away, survives for a time, perhaps even thrives, and is later rescued. It’s the plot of Swiss Family Robinson, Cast Away, and Hatchet. But sometimes, a twist is built into this formula, and the wilderness isn’t what people expect.
The obvious example of this is Lost, which built twists into its DNA to become a bonafide cultural phenomenon. But five years ago, a nondescript Showtime series revealed that it was by no means a fluke. By using an unusual structure and interesting non-linear approach, it evolved the Lost blueprint for the 2020s. We may not know if it sticks the landing just yet, but it will go down in history as one of the greatest TV pilots in history.
A girls’ soccer team gets stranded after a plane crash in the first episode of Yellowjackets.
Yellowjackets opens its first episode about as in media res as it gets, following a mysterious girl in a nightgown running through the snow and ultimately falling into a pit. Usually, cold opens like this introduce some sort of image the episode will get to later, like the stereotypical “you’re probably wondering how I got here” opening gag. But Yellowjackets doesn’t do that. In fact, this scene shown in the first few seconds won’t be revisited until the end of Season 3.
Instead, the two storylines of Yellowjackets show two different eras of the timeline on opposite sides of the opening. First, we see the younger versions of our characters as they prepare for a soccer tournament, including peppy captain Jackie Taylor (Ella Purnell) and her best friend, Shauna (Sophie Nélisse). Then, we meet the present-day versions of some of these characters, including now-housewife Shauna, politician Taissa (Tawny Cypress), nurse Misty (Christina Ricci), and rebel Nat (Juliette Lewis). Now living normal lives, they were once left stranded in the Canadian wilderness for 19 months, and what exactly happened out there is left mysterious. The entire time we’re watching the present-day storyline, we’re trying to figure out who made it out of the wilderness, or if anything followed them out.
Yellowjackets quickly becomes about much more than just survival, but it starts off with the wilderness itself.
By the end of the final episode, it’s clear there are far bigger mysteries afoot than we first thought, but that’s the joy of it. This is a show that measures its plans in seasons, not episodes, and when we eventually do get answers as to who “Pit Girl” really is, it’s even more heartbreaking.
We still don’t know everything about Yellowjackets, as its fourth and final season premieres later this month. With these kinds of shows, so much rests on the final few episodes to explain everything — including the supernatural — and wrap up the central mystery in a way that feels satisfying. But even if they completely whiff the ending, at least the beginning is a masterpiece, something that will be used as an example of a good story “hook” for decades to come. In television, just like in life, you don’t get a second chance at a first impression, so you may as well go for the big swings.
