Review: YELLOWJACKETS

YELLOWJACKETS: Script analysis. Now on Showtime. #SpoilerAlert
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Such a disappointment. It had great potential in the pilot but quickly loses its way with contradicting rules and unclear supernatural elements just to spook the audience but don't really add up to the premise: WTF happened in the woods that they can't talk about?

The premise is the largest flaw of the series. These women are making a huge deal about not being able to talk about what they did to survive their plane crash. Meanwhile, everything that we witness in the 1996 timeline teaches us nothing about the secret they hold leaving me wondering: What are we here (in this season, not the overall series) to learn that pushes is closer to uncovering the "truth?"
The things that work: The relationships are complex and enjoyable. Nat, Shauna and Tai shine in the 1996 timeline. I care that Shauna betrayed Jackie. I'm tied up in the teenage inability to speak how they feel with Nat and Eric. And Misty is lovable terrible. Poor child.
So IMO, this could've just been a drama series without supernatural/thriller elements because that's where the storytelling gets clunky. With that said... do we really care who killed Eric 20 years later when no one else seems fazed about living their everyday lives? This isn't a strong enough storyline to keep us connected to the 1996 mystery. We don't know Eric in present day. Nat wasn't in relations with him in present day. So WTF do we care if or how he died when none of the characters we do care about seem to be in danger?
The writers try to make the inciting Incident of why these supernatural things (Tai sleepwalking/killing things, Shauna seeing Jackie) are occurring now the post card. But Shauna doesn't receive one therefore, she never feels her life is in real danger and she's the character we're most connected with. So, we're left with the question: Why now?
There is some mystery in the woods connected to the drawings, but we spend more time trying to understand the supernatural elements in the girls'/ women's lives BEFORE the crash (Lottie seeing the future/Tai seeing a man with no eyes) than we do the cult-like clique these girls had to become in order to survive. They sell us cool headgear and garb made of animal clothing and the necessity to eat each other in the pilot and trailers and then we simply lose the cool. The episode where everyone becomes animalistic... the shrooms did that, not the woods. So what're the rules? 10 episodes in and were still no closer to understanding the drawings that existed in the woods BEFORE the plane landed or what happened to the old man in the attic.
Am I supposed to want to come back to Season 2 to finally get some answers about the cult/drawings? Why should I trust that there will be any answers after watching 10 episodes in Season 1 and getting none?
Arrgghh. I knew it but I wanted to be wrong.

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AUTHOR

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.