Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds an approval rating of 84% based on 134 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Still at its very best when lost in the wilderness, Yellowjackets' third season is inescapably uneven but carried along effortlessly by its stronger elements." [32] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 64 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [33]
Shirley Li of The Atlantic wrote, Yellowjackets "is now built for—and deliberately toying with—the die-hard viewer who's watching the show for its revelations, as silly as they may be." [34] She added, "The show doesn't comment on modern-day politics or today's headlines, but it captures the feeling of being inundated with surreal news. The result is a season that's ludicrous in plot yet freshly unsettling in its portrayal of how people can become resigned to their fate." [34] In The Hollywood Reporter , Angie Han wrote, "Now in its third go-round, the drama still wobbles in pursuit of an ideal balance. But as ever, it's guided by character dynamics juicy enough, and performances excellent enough, to keep you watching." [35]
Salon.com 's Melanie McFarland wrote that the absence of Juliette Lewis was akin to "breaking up the actor equivalent of a '90s supergroup", and criticized the writing of adult Taissa, Van, and Lottie's character arcs. [36] Particular praise was given to the performances of Lynskey, Ricci, Nélisse, Thatcher, Hanratty, and Krueger. [37] [36] [35] Elizabeth Alsop of the Los Angeles Review of Books , however, disagreed with "the decision to dial Shauna's psychotic behavior in both timelines up to 11", feeling that an overt villain arc "sends the show careening toward melodrama, turning what was a spiky, original look at group survival dynamics into something more like a morality play". [38]
The present-day timeline received criticisms for its unsteady narrative and tonal dissonance with its 1990s counterpart. [39] [40] [36] In Vulture , Roxana Hadadi noted while it is admirable to give the core adult characters separate plot arcs, "Yellowjackets forgets that a major appeal of this ensemble is what its members get up to together." [41] [39] She added "season three feels like Yellowjackets wiping the board of its adult story lines rather than working them out of the corners they've been written into". [41] Hadadi said the show is at its best when it focuses on "what makes these girls and women tick, maneuvering the characters to reflect the thin line between civility and the feral...But the impenetrability of where this story is going, and the dwindling numbers of who will survive by the end of it, are diminishing shadows that glow." [41]
Reviews were critical of the ongoing mystery storylines and withholding of answers, particularly the question of whether the supernatural force that the survivors face in the wilderness is an actual entity or a symptom of psychological trauma. [40] [36] Some critics said that the show had fallen into the same traps as Lost , another plane crash drama with mystery box elements. [42] [43] In Vanity Fair , Joshua Rivera said the series' "emphasis on mystery and posing questions it can't answer has historically been why its present-day story lacks the dynamism of the '90s plot; if any of the present-day cast is too outspoken about what they experienced, well, that kills the tension of the flashbacks". [43] Rivera concluded, "Depending on what brings you to Yellowjackets, this new season will either bring disappointment or seem like a turn in the right direction…If the series continues to shed its puzzle-box baggage...there remains plenty of room for the series to settle into a sharp, mean survival story, complemented by biting satirical dramedy. That would be more than enough for Yellowjackets to make it through the woods." [43] [44]
