S03.E01: It Girl

[AnimeMania]

Summer inspires the Yellowjackets to ditch soccer for a more contact-intensive sport and revive an old pagan tradition. In the present, a cringe-worthy funeral flows organically into a bar therapy session.

Premiere Date: February 14, 2025    Paramount+   
Premiere Date: February 16, 2025    Showtime   8pm

[BitterApple]

Yay! Our show is back!

Last season when the girls were fleeing the cabin during the fire, they were fast grabbing necessities. I guess I'm going to have to suspend disbelief on how they managed to collect enough material to make 14 white robes, plus candles and what looked to be store-bought paper lanterns. 

Also, nice that we got a little insight into why Tai and Van broke up post-rescue. When Misty went through the storage unit there was a mug shot photo of Natalie that featured the younger version, so things must've gone off the rails quickly for her after they got back. 

I loved the comedic moments. Van's total look of horror after Nat's mother spoke at the service. Randy rolling up on the scooter to deliver the pig intestines. Lovable himbo Jeff wondering if the guts were human. 

I felt like the tone was a little all over the place, but first episodes back after a long layoff tend to be a little clunky. I'm still looking forward to the rest of the season!

 

[jsm1125]

Well, that was an abrupt way to find out that Simone is still alive and conscious. 
 

I felt terribly for Misty this episode

[Quickbeam]

So glad it’s back. I do miss Juliette Lewis. So many good performances. I need for Misty to have a win. 

[Thalia]

17 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

Well, that was an abrupt way to find out that Simone is still alive and conscious. 

Yep.  I guess that storyline has been dropped.   I wonder if we'll see Tai's son again.  

I watched the two episodes one after another so I hope I don't mention anything from the second episode.  I was a little surprised over how much the show glossed over, or explained through exposition, things that had to happen to wrap up season 2 storylines. 

One was the conflict between Simone and Tai.   There don't seem to be any repercussions from the police over any of the modern storylines involving dead people.  Van has apparently given up her store and moved back to Yellowjacketstown (I don't know where they live in NJ).  But not a lot of time has passed in the present day because we saw Nat's funeral.   

The most jarring thing to me was the 90s timeline and the way the girls (and Javi) seem to be living in a New Age Sandals Resort.   They were so close to starvation in season 2 and the burning of the cabin -- and yes, @BitterApple, almost all of their stuff -- and the frigidness of the temperatures had me wondering how in the hell they would survive.   I need to go back and relisten to young Van's speech.  

I also didn't remember things being quite that tense between Mari and Shauna, although if I was to pick two of the girls to go to war, those would be the girls.  

There was something about the fire burning for two weeks.  Was that done to keep themselves warm while they built those huts or until Spring came? 

Shauna continues to be weird and entertaining in both timelines.   Biting Mari and talking to "Misty" through the salt shaker.   Sweet mother-daughter bonding moment over Callie's use of entrails -- that were door dashed no less.  

[BitterApple]

Jeff noted it had been six weeks since the dust-up at the compound, so there was a bigger than usual time gap between death and memorial service. I'm thinking that was a deliberate writer's choice so they didn't have to cover the fallout, Tai's impeachment and Simone coming out of a coma. Adult Van is stunted and immature, so I could see her walking away from a failing business and pile of bills. In that one scene, Tai was trying to get her to sign what I assumed were legal documents regarding her finances and health, and Van blew her off, making a joke that the only one she signed was the DNR. 

For me, the time skip in the 90s is way more jarring. I think the premise we're supposed to believe is that the 'sacrifice' of  both Shauna's baby and Javi was returned to them in the form of an early spring and plentiful game. 

There's also a very interesting theory rolling around on Reddit. I'll put it under the spoiler tag in case some don't want to read speculation: 

Spoiler

The theory is that the harmonious summer camp style set up is a delusion, much like the Greek banquet feast when they ate Jackie, and Akilah toting around a long-dead Nugget. One thing that gives this idea merit is the weird split-screen view of Mari as she's being chased by the girls, as if there's two things going on at once. Fantasy and reality. 

 

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, Thalia said:

I need to go back and relisten to young Van's speech

I would rather poke nails in my ears, LOL. 

1 hour ago, BitterApple said:

Jeff noted it had been six weeks since the dust-up at the compound, so there was a bigger than usual time gap between death and memorial service. I'm thinking that was a deliberate writer's choice so they didn't have to cover the fallout, Tai's impeachment and Simone coming out of a coma. Adult Van is stunted and immature, so I could see her walking away from a failing business and pile of bills. In that one scene, Tai was trying to get her to sign what I assumed were legal documents regarding her finances and health, and Van blew her off, making a joke that the only one she signed was the DNR. 

For me, the time skip in the 90s is way more jarring. I think the premise we're supposed to believe is that the 'sacrifice' of  both Shauna's baby and Javi was returned to them in the form of an early spring and plentiful game. 

There's also a very interesting theory rolling around on Reddit. I'll put it under the spoiler tag in case some don't want to read speculation: 

  Hide contents

The theory is that the harmonious summer camp style set up is a delusion, much like the Greek banquet feast when they ate Jackie, and Akilah toting around a long-dead Nugget. One thing that gives this idea merit is the weird split-screen view of Mari as she's being chased by the girls, as if there's two things going on at once. Fantasy and reality. 

 

Yet I noticed that Laura Lee’s sacrifice and death weren’t even mentioned 😢.

[Black Knight]

2 hours ago, Thalia said:

I also didn't remember things being quite that tense between Mari and Shauna, although if I was to pick two of the girls to go to war, those would be the girls.  

In an early S1 fight between Shauna and Jackie (Jackie was mad that Shauna had voted Tai's way instead of hers), Jackie cozied up with Mari to punish Shauna. Shauna heard Mari telling Jackie they should move their lockers next to each other when they got back home. And after Jackie's death, Shauna and Mari had a scuffle over Jackie's jacket or something like that. This is one of the types of arcs the show writes best, these little incidents that don't mean much in themselves but serve as fuel for something bigger later - which is probably a big part of why, as you said, Shauna and Mari would have been your choices for who would go to war with each other. (Another part probably being their decidedly spiky personalities in general.)

I liked a couple of the contrasts the show did in this opener. Van's recap vs. Shauna's recap of the time in the woods being an obvious one, especially with how the show cut from Van to Shauna, and then at the end of Shauna's in which she used "sacrifices" and "miracles," the scene cut back to Van saying exactly that.

And the other contrast I really liked was Mari at the beginning and end, which also contrasts with the series opener. A lot of us thought Mari was that girl because she fit the physical profile the best out of the group, so to have her running from the girls at the beginning of this episode and then actually falling into that hole at the end was kind of a fun Easter egg.

I have more thoughts, but I think they're best suited for the second episode thread.

[Chaos Theory]

Yay one of my two favorite shows is back!!!

Honestly I think the show started  season 3 exactly where it needed to.   In the teenage timeline the girls have fully acclimated to their new environment.   It has become home to them.    I really liked Van’s recap and Shauna telling a darker version.  Misty is still trying to find her place.  Plus Coach Ben is still alive and likely out to do something problematic.   But it does look like the girls are more or less acclimated and not even trying to get rescued anymore.

The adult story starting with the ramifications of Nat’s death was also a good place to start.   It allowed the group to mourn.    Hey it looks like Shauna’s husband and daughter have become full fledged recurring characters.   Tai and Van are acting like they are teenagers again.  Maybe because they have this whole block of time they missed out on after being rescued so they never got to have that time in the real world together.   But this is still Yellowjackets and a simple dine and dash has unintended consequence.    Misty is in a bad place which can only mean bad things.   Shauna is actually trying to be another to her daughter.   

Edited February 16 by Chaos Theory

[Black Knight]

23 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Hey it looks like Shauna’s husband and daughter have become full fledged recurring characters.

Warren Kole was added to the opening credits last season, but Sarah Desjardins is new for this season (and the only new addition I think).

There are some new shots in the opening credits too, but I think we've already seen the scenes they're taken from in these first two episodes, so there's nothing hinting at later in the season.

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

Tai and Van are acting like they are teenagers again.

Hmmm. Could that be why Tai ate the foie gras? She became a vegetarian after the rescue, and we saw in S1 that Adult Tai is quite bothered by meat. But if she's regressing to her teen self...

[Brn2bwild]

On 2/14/2025 at 5:28 PM, jsm1125 said:

Well, that was an abrupt way to find out that Simone is still alive and conscious. 
 

I felt terribly for Misty this episode

Wherever she and Sammy are, I hope Steve the Dog is with them.

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

Hmmm. Could that be why Tai ate the foie gras? She became a vegetarian after the rescue, and we saw in S1 that Adult Tai is quite bothered by meat. But if she's regressing to her teen self...

It's interesting we haven't seen Adult Tai's "other self" yet this season. Perhaps because it feels like rational Adult Tai and Other Tai have merged somewhat this year?

6 hours ago, BitterApple said:

There's also a very interesting theory rolling around on Reddit. I'll put it under the spoiler tag in case some don't want to read speculation: 

I love that theory!  Honestly, it wouldn't shock me if at some point this season, Ben visits the camp and finds out there are no huts and everyone has just been sleeping exposed on the ground.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16 by Brn2bwild

[BitterApple]

24 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

 

I love that theory!  Honestly, it wouldn't shock me if at some point this season, Ben visits the camp and finds out there are no huts and everyone has just been sleeping exposed on the ground.

If it proves to be true, that's my thinking as well. 

[sistermagpie]

Finally got to see the first ep! 

I liked the first one so far. I agree with the above thoughts about Mari and Shauna--I feel like the hostility was on Shauna's side and Mari is just reacting to it. I immediately thought of Jackie picking Mari to cozy up to when she was mad at Shauna, and Mari being eager to use that to her advantage, but Shauna's so full of rage I don't think Mari feels anything on that level for her. It really was unjust that Nat punished both of them for the soup thing.

I was mostly wondering why Akeelah and Mari weren't interacting since they used to be best friends.

I was worried about Callie having too much of the wrong kind of focus after Lottie's "she's so strong" line, but I liked her story in this ep.

I liked Misty a lot in this ep--I wasn't sure if the other women would really be ignoring her phone calls. We know they do that sometimes, but not always, and they already had wondered why she wasn't at the memorial. They would have at least talked to her if she'd gone. I liked her attempt to be Nat--and it's nice they can easily just use Sophie Thatcher to haunt Misty instead of Juliet Lewis.

I'm taking the little society they've built as real. They've had months with nothing to think about but how to make some shelter. Really, Coach Ben's survival seems like it needs more explanation--I guess there is just stuff somewhere for him to live on in Javi's hideout. There are people who consider Coach Ben a big victim and the true hero who basically was right to burn down the cabin if he did (self defense!) but I just couldn't help but still see him as representing the patriarchal survivalist story--the one guy who just thinks about himself and his survival and conquers the wilderness vs. the girls who form a society and work together. Like when he found the supplies underground I thought yeah, of course he's going to drag it back to his lair while the girls would have shared it amongst everyone.

Definitely wondering if it will turn out he didn't burn down the cabin. 

I wonder if Laura Lee wasn't mentioned as a sacrifice because "the wildnerness" didn't kill her, she died flying out in a plane (plus she was so clearly would not have been part of the wildnerness cult.)

Edited Monday at 04:04 PM by sistermagpie

[Brn2bwild]

Was the tall thin girl with long black hair, who seems like she'll inevitably be Pit Girl, on the show before this season?

[BitterApple]

19 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

Was the tall thin girl with long black hair, who seems like she'll inevitably be Pit Girl, on the show before this season?

I don't recall seeing either her or the new African American girl in the background prior to this season, but I could be wrong. They've recast redshirts multiple times. From what I've counted, the total in the camp is 13 (Nat, Tai, Van, Shauna, Lottie, Misty, Travis, Akilah, Mari, Gen, Melissa, random new girls). 

 

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, sistermagpie said:

I wonder if Laura Lee wasn't mentioned as a sacrifice because "the wildnerness" didn't kill her, she died flying out in a plane (plus she was so clearly would not have been part of the wildnerness cult.)

I think Laura Lee - and Misty's bestie last season, Crystal, who is presumed dead - weren't mentioned because there weren't bodies to bury. They acknowledged the people whose graves they were able to stand in front of. (There's also the people who died in the plane crash itself, of course, who were buried along with Coach Ben's leg, but that's quite a hike from where they are based now.)

The recasts definitely make it hard to keep track of who's a new redshirt and who's a recast. Isn't Gen a recast this season? I know with this large a regular series cast they can't put the many other actors also needed on contracts too, so recasts are inevitable.

Ooooo, speaking of graves, it just occurred to me that Shauna moving her baby to a new undisclosed grave would have aided the cover-up among the survivors after the rescue. That's not why she did it, but it's an unintentional benefit.

[BitterApple]

Gen is a recast, yes. 

[tennisgurl]

Van's "Previously on Yellowjackets" as this badass survival story contrasted with Shauna's angry journal entries showing the real things happening was a great way to start the season. The girls (and Travis) it seems made it through the winter and are living their best lives in their own little Coachella in the woods, although I really like the aforementioned theory that this is all a delusion like the night they ate Jackie and things are a lot less cozy than they look. They aren't even that preoccupied by getting rescued anymore, they are looking at the woods as more and more of their home, which I feel like is going to lead to the REALLY dark shit. 

Every time Shauna argues with a girl, they run off and end up in a very bad way. I guess she has a hate on for Maru because she and Jackie were pals and she sees her as a threat? Or she's just in a mood because of....literally everything? 

I miss Nat, but at least we get to see her teenage self literally haunting the narrative. Van and Tai are fun together but their dine and dash causing their waiter to have a heart attack does not bode well for them. Everything they do, even if it seems harmless to them, is going to have consequences. 

Like mother like daughter I see, I continue to love the Sadecki's descent into crime and madness in the most adorable ways. 

The girls surviving winter is crazy enough, but how long has Ben been wandering around alone with his one leg? Do we know for sure that he started the fire? 

Its great to have this show back. 

[BitterApple]

43 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

They aren't even that preoccupied by getting rescued anymore, they are looking at the woods as more and more of their home, which I feel like is going to lead to the REALLY dark shit. 

One of the questions I'm dying to have answered is the rescue. Do they actively try to make it happen or are they randomly discovered by land surveyors or government workers or something similar? 

Shauna wrote in her journal that they can never go back because of what they've done. In the S3 trailer, Tai says the wilderness will follow them forever. I can see it playing out where the girls are so far gone after that second winter, they actually avoid rescue crews and have to be dragged out of there kicking and screaming. 

Edited Monday at 09:27 PM by BitterApple

[Black Knight]

In that S2 scene where the rescued survivors walk towards the plane that'll take them home, Lottie actually does scream!

I could see there being a divide between those who want to get rescued and those who don't. I think Tai would be in the former camp. When we were following all the adult women in S1, she was always the one most in denial that she's messed up like the rest of them - if I remember correctly, Shauna even had a line to her about that. I think Natalie would be in this camp as well, perhaps not realizing after she returned home how she would feel about losing her "purpose." In the series premiere, she was firmly against freezing Allie out, because she wanted them all to be a team. It's only the idea that the wilderness is picking that makes it at all manageable for her, and since she's actually a skeptic that doesn't really help.

On the other side would be Shauna and Van and Lottie. I'm honestly not sure about Misty. It would be truly ironic if, after being the one who ruined their chances of being rescued early by destroying the flight recorder, she ended up wanting to go back home. But she's such a wild card, and if she felt like she had ended up on the outside looking in again, I could see her deciding she'd like to try to start over.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 2/15/2025 at 2:44 PM, Thalia said:

The most jarring thing to me was the 90s timeline and the way the girls (and Javi) seem to be living in a New Age Sandals Resort.   They were so close to starvation in season 2 and the burning of the cabin -- and yes, @BitterApple, almost all of their stuff -- and the frigidness of the temperatures had me wondering how in the hell they would survive.   I need to go back and relisten to young Van's speech.  

There was something about the fire burning for two weeks.  Was that done to keep themselves warm while they built those huts or until Spring came? 

It was definitely weird how they jumped from cabin burning down when there was still a lot of snow to living in the teepee town with no real explanation. Hope they show a flashback in the flashback. Because even if they kept the cabin bonfire going you are still outside with no protection from wind or rain or snow. And even with their little huts how do they stay warm in them during cool spring or summer nights.

Also I would love to know who made the ceremonial robes with matching leather hoods, and how.

[Niuxita]

I thought for sure the survival crate that coach found had to be a hallucination because WTF??? A lot has been said about how ridiculous/implausible it would be for Javi to have found something to that effect and that's why he stayed alive for so long, so I'm not sure how I feel about this new development. Please don't try to be Lost, show (and I say this as someone who has no hard feelings toward that show).

[Kel Varnsen]

9 hours ago, Niuxita said:

I thought for sure the survival crate that coach found had to be a hallucination because WTF??? A lot has been said about how ridiculous/implausible it would be for Javi to have found something to that effect and that's why he stayed alive for so long, so I'm not sure how I feel about this new development. Please don't try to be Lost, show (and I say this as someone who has no hard feelings toward that show).

I thought it was funny that they didn't even bother to try and show how coach hauled two crates out of the ground.

[JasonCC]

I got the sense that until the snow was gone they just kept a campfire going from the remnant of the cabin and logs could be dried out next to a fire before becoming the fuel to the fire? Then, an earlier Spring than usual and the dwellings were constructed. 

Yes, I know that involves giving a lot of grace there...

[Black Knight]

Wasn't there a sort of satellite building? The one where Shauna was hanging out with Dead Jackie? They could've kept logs and stuff in there.

[BitterApple]

15 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Wasn't there a sort of satellite building? The one where Shauna was hanging out with Dead Jackie? They could've kept logs and stuff in there.

There was a shed, yes. I think they were using it for meat storage (both human and animal, lol). If worse came to worst, they could've all holed up there. It would've been tight, but it's at least shelter from the elements. 

[JenE4]

Coach found an underground hatch filled with Dharma initiative supplies—and an unseen screeching entity in the trees. Where have I seen this before?

Agreed that it made no sense that they would somehow have all of that extra fabric for robes, even if we did suspend belief that they figured out how to tan leather. We literally saw them leave the cabin with one blanket each, and none of them were white cotton sheets. Not to mention the Party City paper lanterns with metal frames and candles, and the elaborate and varied shelters. They also said it was springtime and summer solstice and it being the shortest day of the year—all on the same day. Summer stolstice is the longest day of the year, in terms of daylight, and winter stolstice is the shortest day. 

[SoMuchTV]

3 minutes ago, JenE4 said:

Agreed that it made no sense that they would somehow have all of that extra fabric for robes, even if we did suspend belief that they figured out how to tan leather.

I’ve forgotten an awful lot. Did they salvage anything from the plane? Or was it still somewhere accessible?

[Black Knight]

Yes, they salvaged all their luggage, the beverage cart, and the compass from the plane, and used fragments of the plane as shovels to dig the graves for the people who died in the crash.

The plane is still there, a hike of some miles away. The girls wrote a large message of SOS and where they'd gone on the shell of the plane for any rescuers to read from the air. But I don't know if they left much there. They hauled their luggage with them on the hike to the lake.

[BitterApple]

I think they used the leather from the airplane seats to make the hoods, but I can't figure out where they would've gotten the white material for the capes. That wouldn't have came from the plane and it's unlikely they grabbed enough linens from the burning cabin to fashion 13 or 14 of them, not to mention enough needle and thread. 

[JenE4]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

I’ve forgotten an awful lot. Did they salvage anything from the plane? Or was it still somewhere accessible?

I just happened to watch the finale episode before the premiere episode. As they were running out of the burning house, someone yelled everyone grab their blanket! They each had a thin blanket, probably from the airplane, but they were blue, gray, and red. One of the blankets actually caught on fire. They grabbed an axe, a bucket, the gun, some candles, and the pan. Shauna had her backpack with journals. I don’t think they grabbed anything else. Okay, somehow with the bounty of spring they got super crafty. They even had a fence with penned in rabbits and ducks?! It does seem like too much for it to be real. I can imagine that they had a better experience in spring/summer and of course there would be more natural resources. But the aesthetic was over-the-top even for a modern-day Instagram influencer, let alone a gaggle of girls barely surviving with nothing in the 90s.

Edited Wednesday at 03:19 AM by JenE4

[Black Knight]

They do have a lot of people and absolutely nothing else to do with their days - even usual topics of conversation must be exhausted at this point - so I actually don't find it that unbelievable. A little glammed up for TV, sure, but that's nothing new for YJ. The similar and tragically-cancelled The Wilds had their group of stranded girls looking a lot dirtier and unkempt on the regular than this crew's ever been allowed to get.

[sistermagpie]

Btw, according to a hunter, the capes are deerskin.