Are the Yellowjackets Good People? Or Pure Evil? You Decide

Ever wonder what the Donner Party would have looked like during the era of grunge? Showtime's Yellowjackets asks whether our stranded protagonists are evil or just victims of circumstance.

By Samantha Bergeson Jan 03, 2022 2:00 AMTags

What would you do if you were starving (and possibly possessed) in the woods? 

While we're still seeking answers to all the mysteries behind Showtime's Yellowjackets, we're still left grappling with feeling simultaneous pity, horror and empathy toward our favorite 1996 high school soccer team turned plane crash survivors. Sure, teenagers do messed up stuff all the time, like sleep with their BFF's boyfriend and flirt with their adult soccer coach. But left to their own devices, would every teenager stranded in the woods resort to cannibalism? 

A flash forward of a camp-side cannibalistic feeding frenzy shows that these '90s teens did not have a typical high school experience one bit. 

Juliette LewisChristina RicciMelanie Lynskey and Tawny Cypress star as the adult versions of these high schoolers who, 25 years later, are still haunted by what happened out there in the forest. The psychological thriller pits past trauma against present-day threats like blackmail, poisoning and oh yeah, a few pesky murders.

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Get All the Secrets Behind How Yellowjackets Assembled Its Stacked Cast

But we can't help but focus on the root of these modern horrors: How exactly did the team survive 19 months being stranded? And who became a cannibal first? Is the feast that we witnessed a ritual sacrifice or an average dinner?

Showtime

As more and more of the team start to listen to the call of the wild and receive premonitions after a scary séance, there seems to be another presence with them in their cabin in the woods. So who really is to blame? 

On the one hand, these girls have to eat. (Insert vegetarian joke here.) Young Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) is pregnant and Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) is a recovering amputee. 

Showtime

Meanwhile Lottie (Courtney Eaton) is off her meds and may or may not have been infected by an otherworldly element in these woods. 

We do know there is a supernatural element to their rescue as the Man With No Eyes haunts Taissa (Cypress). Is this a cosmic punishment for their past sins? 

So, considering all of the above, where do you stand in this debate?

Case your vote below on whether you still empathize with the Yellowjackets or if you've seen enough to know that whatever they've got coming, they deserve it.

Poll

Yellowjackets Poll

Are the Yellowjackets Good People?
Yes
37.4%
No
21.9%
Undecided
40.7%

Yellowjackets airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. 

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