Buzz buzz, Superfans! Yellowjackets Season 3 is here, and will hopefully be streaming via Showmax really soon.

And while we wait (because we don’t dabble in the noble art of soft piracy), let’s dissect the glorious, gory, and utterly gripping madness that is Yellowjackets S1 & S2. From plane crash survival to suburban mysteries, this show has us hooked like a… well, like a hungry team of survivors on a wilderness buffet. Consider this your ultimate recap, but be warned…

Season 1: The Wilderness Calls… and We Answered (Reluctantly)

Season 1 introduced us to the Yellowjackets, a high school girls’ soccer team whose plane crashes deep in the Canadian wilderness in 1996. We immediately split into two timelines: the harrowing survival ordeal in the woods and the present-day lives of the adult survivors.

In the wilderness, things escalate quickly. Initial attempts at rescue fail, forcing the girls to fend for themselves. Leadership falls to the initially reluctant Taissa, while Shauna harbors a dark secret (a burgeoning wilderness pregnancy!). We see the slow descent into savagery, disturbing rituals and a growing sense of desperation. And who can forget the infamous drug-fueled frenzied “Doomcoming” sequence which culminated in Travis’s capture!

And what about that creepy cabin and the symbols? The mystery deepens!

Back in the present, the adult survivors – Shauna, Taissa, Natalie, and Misty – are trying (and failing) to lead normal lives. Shauna’s marriage is a mess, Taissa is sleepwalking and doing… questionable things, Natalie is struggling with addiction, and Misty is a citizen-detective-slash-carer with a penchant for torturing old ladies. The past comes knocking when someone begins blackmailing them about their wilderness secrets, forcing them to confront the horrors they thought they’d buried.

Shauna starts an affair with Adam, but kills him after suspecting him of being the blackmailer.

We learn that they resorted to cannibalism in the wilderness, a secret they desperately want to keep hidden.

The season ends with the chilling revelation that fellow survivor Lottie Matthews might have had a deeper connection to the wilderness than anyone suspected, and that she’s still very much involved in some kind of… community.

Also, present day Tai goes off the rails and … RIP Biscuit the adorable doggo.

Season 2: The Feast Continues (and Gets Weirder)

Season 2 dives deeper into the psychological trauma of the survivors in the present day, while giving us a harrowing deep dive into the wilderness experiences that left them forever changed. Winter has arrived in the wilderness, making survival even more brutal. The girls are starving, and the lines between sanity and savagery blur further. The hunt becomes a necessity and the disturbing rituals intensify which leads to the shocking death of Javi. The wilderness is clearly influencing them in a way that defies simple explanation.

In the present, the blackmail continues, and the survivors’ carefully constructed facades begin to crumble. Shauna’s relationship with her husband takes an even darker turn, Taissa’s sleepwalking habits reveal a terrifying truth about her family history, Natalie delves into Lottie’s “community” and her own past, and Misty forms an alliance (and possibly future romantic connection) with fellow citizen detective, Walter.

We meet more survivors, and the complex dynamics between the group become even more fraught. The climactic season finale sees a dramatic confrontation at Lottie’s compound, where the adult Yellowjackets are forced to confront their past traumas and the darkness that still resides within them, while back in the wilderness, the young survivors see their shelter burn to the ground.

The final moments leave us with a burning question: what really happened in the wilderness, and how far will these women go to protect their secrets?

Burning questions before S3:

We’ve rewatched S1 & 2, seen the S3 trailer, and we have some questions that we hope will be answered in the coming weeks:

  • Where is Coach Ben?? And crucially, will he survive or will he be the next meal? We know he can’t run far.
  • How did the teens survive the rest of winter? They clearly did – who did they eat??
  • Is there more to Walter than meets the eye?
  • Will we discover who Pit Girl (S1 cold open) is?
  • Who is Hillary Swank playing? Judging from the teaser and trailer she’s clearly an older version of one of the teens… is it a survivor we haven’t met yet?
  • Will the Yellowjackets split into two factions?

Join us for weekly recaps once S3 lands in SA. We can’t wait!