Alison Herman TV Critic SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers for Season 2 of “Yellowjackets,” now streaming on Showtime. Compared to the feverish, fan-theory-fueled heights of Season 1, the response to “Yellowjackets” has felt more muted the second time around.
This lowered volume is partly due to factors outside the Showtime drama’s control. The network programmed the new season in the midst of a crowded Emmys rush, pitting it directly against fellow contenders like the final chapter of “Succession.” A confusing release schedule split new episodes between Fridays, when they became available to stream on an app that soon won’t exist, and Sundays, when they aired on Showtime’s linear network — diffusing the impact of a plot-driven, suspenseful show that might otherwise become live-tweeted, appointment TV.
Worse yet, Showtime’s standalone app will be merged with Paramount+ in a month, but not in time to expose “Yellowjackets” to a potential wider audience.
But the series’ problems haven’t just been with scheduling. They’re also creative, a truth cemented by this week’s finale and its shocking, if clumsily executed, character death.
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