“The Lord of the Flies but for girls” has been the starting point of several projects in recent years: The wilderness, Class of ’07and to some extent even Mean girls. But too often, these shows get mired in the petty drama that most people associate with teenage girls. That misses the point of the entire survival thriller genre, which is about survival and power dynamics, not gossip.

In 2021, Yellowjackets managed to create a female-led survivor series that focused on survival while weaving in a non-linear story, a massive conspiracy, and supernatural elements. After achieving cult status on Showtime, the first season is now streaming on Netflix, opening it up to a whole new audience. This is why you should watch Yellowjackets on Netflix – and what you need to know before you get started.

Yellowjackets follows a high school girls’ soccer team after their charter plane to a 1996 tournament crashes in the Canadian forest. Unsurprisingly, there are casualties and many injured teenagers, forcing the girls to put aside their feuds and focus on surviving until rescue can occur. upwards. That might be intriguing enough in itself, but Yellowjackets quickly introduces a second timeline, set in the future, where (most) of the girls have survived, returned to civilization, and grown into women – while hiding a dark secret beneath them.

Throughout Season 1, young Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) tries to cope with being pregnant after sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend, while older Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) begins an affair with a stranger who triggers her paranoia. arouses. Misty (Samantha Hanratty) must deal with her exclusion from the team, while the older Misty (Christina Ricci) hides a dark secret in her basement. Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) struggles with sleepwalking through the woods, while older Taissa (Tawny Cypress) investigates a threat to her political campaign.

Yellowjackets is also a mystery box, where the central question is particularly dark. From the beginning, we know without a doubt that the girls will eventually resort to cannibalism. How they get there (and who they eat) isn’t addressed until Season 2, but along the way we see the group’s mental state unravel as seemingly supernatural events begin to take place, leading to cult-like behavior and shifting power dynamics.

Yellowjackets also portrays the chronological setting better than many other historical shows. The nineties are often misunderstood, but the way in which Yellowjackets uses the music, fashion and attitudes of the time, feels perfect. Even the creative time hired for the series comes with ’90s pedigree. The penultimate episode of Season 1, “Doomcoming,” was directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer (1995’s Party girl) while the season 1 finale was directed by Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project.)

Even two seasons later, we still don’t know what’s going on with the forest. (Yellowjackets Season 3 is now in production and recently announced Hilary Swank as a new addition to the cast.) But while we can’t promise answers to the show’s many mysteries, Season 1 is still a lot of fun. Try it out on Netflix, and if you get hooked, there’ll be plenty of time to catch up before Season 3 premieres on Showtime.

Yellowjackets Season 1 is now streaming on Showtime.