The More We Learn About Yellowjackets' Wilderness Timeline, The More The Adult Storyline Doesn't Make Sense

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Yellowjackets season 3, episodes 1-8.

Yellowjackets season 3 inches the show’s teen timeline towards their second winter in the Wilderness — and it looks like it could have been avoided, making the adult storyline far more perplexing. Although Yellowjackets season 3, episode 7 sees the teen survivors attacking and capturing the frog scientists that come upon their camp, episode 8 finally raises the possibility of them going home. Eager to save their own lives, Hannah and Kodiak agree to accompany the girls back to civilization, even insisting they won’t reveal the truth about what they’ve seen at their camp.

Naturally, this stirs excitement among the teens in Yellowjackets season 3, episode 8, but it’s quickly dampened when several of the girls insist on staying. Teen Shauna even ends “A Normal, Boring Life” by telling the others that they can’t go, either. And this is just one detail of the teen timeline that complicates the adult story. Throughout Yellowjackets season 3, there are a number of events that don’t quite add up with what we see from the adult survivors. Episode 8 is the strongest example yet, raising questions about how we’ll get from point A to point B.

Yellowjackets Season 3’s Teen Timeline Is Making The Adult Storyline Harder & Harder To Believe

The Survivors’ Relationships Don’t Really Add Up

Based on what happens throughout Yellowjackets season 3, the survivors in the show’s adult timeline should have very different relationships than they actually do. While they’ve all been through a huge collective trauma together, there should likely be some hard feelings — or even distrust — among them in season 1. At this point, there are many unresolved issues between characters in the ’90s timeline, and it’s hard to see how they overcome them.

The survivors do distrust Misty in season 1, but after this outing, it’s shocking they don’t hold the same contempt for Shauna. Knowing that Shauna is directly involved in the very actions they feel so guilty about — and likely destroys their chances of being rescued — makes it unlikely that Natalie, Van, or even Misty would want anything to do with her. Tai and Shauna’s relationship from one storyline to the next adds up, but Shauna’s scorn for Lottie also feels out of place in hindsight.

It’s not just Shauna, either. Misty’s anger over Natalie killing Coach Ben at the end of Yellowjackets season 3, episode 6 raises questions about why she’d be so desperate for her friendship in the adult story. Travis’ bond with Natalie also looks shakier after season 3, and even the survivors’ personalities from one narrative to the next are starting to feel like a jump at times. Shauna, in particular, is starting to feel like two different characters because of her sudden shift in attitude.

Shauna’s Wilderness Arc Doesn’t Match With Her Adult Story

Her Shift To Being A Villain Feels More Jarring As An Adult

Yellowjackets season 3 has a bit of a Shauna problem, as the series is making the character far more unlikable than viewers expected — and thus, making it difficult to square teen Shauna with her adult counterpart. While any inconsistencies in Tai’s character could be attributed to her strange alter ego, Shauna’s darkness in season 3 feels jarring by comparison. It’s understandable that teen Shauna is angry and depressed, especially following her losses in the Wilderness. But pushing her to such extremes doesn’t just complicate her future relationships; it also doesn’t add up with adult Shauna.

Related

Callie Just Said What We’ve All Been Thinking About Shauna Since Yellowjackets Season 1

Yellowjackets season 3, episode 7 sees Callie questioning her mother, and she finally says what we’ve all been thinking about Shauna since season 1.

Adult Shauna is far from perfect in Yellowjackets seasons 1 and 2 — her killing Adam proves as much — but she comes off as a complex mix of guilty and paranoid, with something darker stirring beneath the surface. It’s far from the cruel Shauna shown in the teen timeline in season 3. And yet, Shauna’s behavior in the adult timeline is beginning to match that of her teen counterpart. It feels like time has hardly passed and not much has changed. Shauna’s adult iteration would benefit from a more gradual decline, even with her teen self proving what she’s capable of.

Natalie’s Relationship With Travis In Season 3 Hurts The Adult Twist

Their Bond In The Adult Timeline Is Getting Less Believable

Yellowjackets season 1 puts a significant focus on Natalie and Travis’ relationship in the adult storyline, even though viewers see so little of it. Travis’ death has a huge impact on Natalie, and while he doesn’t seem interested in maintaining a friendship in season 1, it’s clear they have a unique bond. Their promises to one another suggest that they remain close as adults, at least for a time, and that doesn’t add up with their teen dynamic in season 3. Natalie and Travis barely speak to one another the entire outing, which feels off with what we know of their adult connection.

It makes sense that they have some distance between them after Javi’s death at the end of Yellowjackets season 2, but it’s gone on for a bit too long. Hopefully, later seasons of Yellowjackets will rectify this, bringing them back together in some way. They’re two of the teens who actually want to go home — and still have some humanity left — so it’s possible to bridge this gap between timelines. And after season 3, the series will need to, at least if it wants to sell viewers on what comes next for them.

Yellowjackets’ Future Will Only Get More Confusing

Maintaining Consistency & Excitement Will Be Difficult

There are certainly ways that Yellowjackets can fix the current consistency issues between its two timelines. However, I’m afraid the series may just get more confusing. After all, the show needs to maintain excitement by delivering new surprises in each season. That makes it difficult to craft a believable transition from past to present, as the writers need to throw wrenches into the storyline. The first couple of seasons do an impressive job of juggling both consistency and twists, but season 3 proves that balancing act can only last for so long.

Related

All 8 Confirmed Survivors In Yellowjackets, Explained

When Flight 2525 crashed into the Ontario wilderness in 1996, only eight of the WHS Yellowjackets team are known to have survived to the present day.

Melissa’s return is the perfect example, as it forces Yellowjackets into a convoluted plot twist, revealing that she fakes her own death in order to make an eighth survivor twist possible. Shauna, Tai, and Lottie wanting to remain in the Wilderness as teens is an equally surprising turn of events, but it also hurts the adult storyline. A series like Yellowjackets requires these big moments to pay off its mystery elements, but that means things will only get more complicated between the two narratives from here. Perhaps shifting further into the adult timeline in future outings could help.

Yellowjackets

7/10

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime

Showrunner

Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco

Directors

Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis

Writers

Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa