Yellowjackets is a very trope-y show: the teen drama,the survival/"Robinsonade", the cabin in the woods, the Blair Witch, the creepy child... Everything very familiar, sometimes even to the point where you wonder if they seriously went there in the most cliché way possible or if they're being slightly ironic about it.
The tone is also very varied: from dark comedy to very heavy drama and everything in between, with ample genre mixing (horror, supernatural, realism, coming-of-age, psychological drama).
AND YET, somehow everything falls into place in a unique blend of characteristics, none of which feels out of place. What it does most successfully (possibly better than any other similar show), is the deep study of complex decades-long trauma. I love how the intense trauma experienced by the teenage characters is so finely woven into the present day (25 years later) psyche of their adult versions.
There's some superb acting by both generations of actors and the technical and artistic aspects are all to a high standard.
My only wish, as I'm writing this at the beginning of Season 2 is that it doesn't go the way of LOST, with mysteries piling up without answers and a sense of making it up as they go along. I do however trust that the creators submitted a 5-season arc before production begun, which they'll hopefully stick to (and surely they must have studied LOST as a case study of "how NOT to develop a multi-season horror/mystery/supernatural/survival show"). So here's hoping.
The tone is also very varied: from dark comedy to very heavy drama and everything in between, with ample genre mixing (horror, supernatural, realism, coming-of-age, psychological drama).
AND YET, somehow everything falls into place in a unique blend of characteristics, none of which feels out of place. What it does most successfully (possibly better than any other similar show), is the deep study of complex decades-long trauma. I love how the intense trauma experienced by the teenage characters is so finely woven into the present day (25 years later) psyche of their adult versions.
There's some superb acting by both generations of actors and the technical and artistic aspects are all to a high standard.
My only wish, as I'm writing this at the beginning of Season 2 is that it doesn't go the way of LOST, with mysteries piling up without answers and a sense of making it up as they go along. I do however trust that the creators submitted a 5-season arc before production begun, which they'll hopefully stick to (and surely they must have studied LOST as a case study of "how NOT to develop a multi-season horror/mystery/supernatural/survival show"). So here's hoping.