First Impressions on Yellowjackets: Another take on the mystery genre

I really love mystery shows. I love that slow build up when there's just no context whatsoever and things remain hidden for the longest time, where mysteries only continue as tiny answers are given. There's some great shows throughout the years that handle this theme really well, but the mystery genre itself is quite thin these days. Many fail to really make a point just when it's needed the most, falling a bit flat with their reveals or even stretching things out a little too much. It's not an easy genre to handle. It needs a strong premise but also that awareness that the audience really does need to be given some answers here and there, but not too few and not too many. I can't fault shows that do fail at the genre, these stories require not only an engaging initial question, but also engaging characters that really pull you along for the ride. Ones you hate. Ones you love. And those little characters between that come and go. I knew Yellowjackets was part of this genre, though I never really did check it out until now, given I saw it on the streaming service I have access to. And I'm always ready for those fun mysteries.

The first episode was quite an interesting introduction to the story and its characters. Showcasing a constant switch between the past and the present, showing the characters in their youth and in their later years. This was quite a good introduction to them given we saw their personalities as they were younger, but also their lives as they were older, mixed with the struggles they now faced in adulthood, somewhat a result of their strange past but also inability to assimilate as a result of it. Though we don't really know what that past event was yet. Their teenage side shows typical teenager chaos. A group of girls part of a football team that have their own drama as it is, now sent by plane to Seattle. Though the plane crashes and this is where the mystery really picks up. Though from this first episode we see how the adults that survived the incident are really hesitant to speak about any of this. There's a sworn secrecy between them. No media talks. No bringing up the past. Just live and forget.

It's this that brings the question of what actually happened to them back in that plane crash. Did any of them have something to do with it? Here and there are these odd elements that almost imply something supernatural to the story. Something that's beyond their control. Constant references to who or what and why. It's quite an engaging introduction to things that has you thinking that one of these survivors, or perhaps even many of them, remain in secrecy as a result of something more malicious. Something they had to do or perhaps had seen that nobody would believe. Bringing these questions to mind immediately for the audience makes for a pretty decent pilot, but it's the following episodes where things really start to get interesting and pick up.

The following episodes handle the jump between present and past quite well. Flashbacks bring us back into past during present moments, connecting thoughts and moments now that the crash has happened. Friends and colleagues buried, survival is now the primary thought. A difficulty given their hard debated decisions on whether to stay sit or to move. The question of which decision would be safer. Are they more likely to be found on the move or by sitting still? And what are the odds of survival in either scenario? Naturally, survival mode results in gathering whatever resources they can from the crash site. The snacks they had with them, and the inevitable attempts to ration them. This is of course continued with the present drama as the survivors are older. The drama only making the story more engaging through it. But that question remains even with the story progressing: what actually happened? What led to the survivors being the way they are now. Why the mystery behind it all? One mystery I am clinging to is the coincidence of smashing the black box of the plane, when the plane actually belonged to a company one of the girls' father owns. Mysteries!