‘Yellowjackets’ had a flawed second season — but its female ensemble continued to deliver

What TV shows are dominating the conversation, capturing the zeitgeist, have something interesting to say or are hidden gems waiting to be uncovered? We take a look ahead of your weekend watch. And, be warned, there are spoilers ahead.

When a TV show becomes a hit, actors, directors and writers, or at least showrunners, tend to soak up the credit. You’re unlikely to read an article raving about the casting director.

But in the case of “Yellowjackets” — which recently wrapped its second season — casting directors Libby Goldstein and Junie Lowry-Johnson deserve our fulsome praise for putting together one of the best female-led ensembles I’ve ever seen.

It’s not just the name stars — you would expect great work from people like Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis and Melanie Lynskey — but the relative unknowns playing teenage girls stranded in the woods after a plane crash who have elevated this drama. And they carried an even heavier load in Season 2 as the series veered into ever darker territory.

First off, what is “Yellowjackets”?

It was the sleeper hit of 2022, a horror-mystery series about what happens when a girls’ soccer team from New Jersey crash lands in the Canadian wilderness in 1996 and is stranded for 19 months, and also what happens to the now adult survivors 25 years later.

Sure, there are attention-grabbing plot lines — cannibalism, violent deaths, the possibility that a supernatural force followed the women out of the woods — but the main attraction for me has always been watching this terrific group of actors navigate the complexities of the story.

The good news is that the performers continued to deliver in the second season. The not-so-good news is that “Yellowjackets” lost its way somewhat in this sophomore outing — and that was partly because of how the show used its ensemble.

It has been fascinating to watch the young versions of the characters forming a wilderness matriarchy (only three males survived the crash, including coach’s son Travis, played by Toronto’s Kevin Alves); discovering new strengths or flaws; navigating alliances and rivalries. And, in the first season, adult survivors Shauna (Lynskey), Natalie (Lewis), Misty (Ricci) and Taissa (Tawny Cypress) also banded together to fend off a blackmail attempt and then cover up a resulting homicide.

For some reason, though, creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson decided to have the grown-up women pursue individual quests until six episodes into Season 2. It was great that adult versions of Lottie (Simone Kessell), the one-time spiritual leader of the stranded Yellowjackets, and Van (Lauren Ambrose), the former girlfriend of Taissa, joined the cast, but it took too long to bring everyone together.

And then — in a finale that was threaded with some improbable and overly convenient plotting — they killed off a key character. I’m not saying who in case you’re a newbie who’s about to start binging the show, but it’s a loss to both the acting and the character ensembles.

It raises the question of how effective Season 3 will be given that this character has just been named leader of the survivors in the past — a heavy mantle given that the teammates are now at the stage where they’re hunting and eating each other for survival — and won’t have an adult version to play against in the present. Seeing the teenage characters mirror and enhance our understanding of the older ones has always been one of the show’s chief joys.

Still, I’m willing to hang in.

It’s possible the series will collapse under the weight of its own mysteries, particularly since five seasons have reportedly been planned. The central question still to be answered is whether the strange phenomena these girls and women are experiencing are the work of an otherworldly “it” or their own considerable trauma — so far I’m leaning toward the latter.

But I suspect there are rewards yet to be had in watching how these actors bring these deeply troubled humans to life.

‘Derry Girls’ perfectly captures the teenage years

After watching the Yellowjackets devour their teammates you might be in need of a lighter look at female bonding. Might I suggest the Northern Irish comedy “Derry Girls”?

Technically, there are four girls and a guy in the main group of characters.

Friends Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), Orla (Louisa Harland) and Clare (Nicola Coughlan, who went on to star in “Bridgerton”) are joined by Michelle’s cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn). Since James is English and likely to get the snot beat out of him by his Irish classmates at the all-boys high school in Derry, he joins the all-girls’ one instead.

But the only violence in “Derry Girls” happens off-screen when Northern Ireland’s Troubles — the unofficial war between Catholics and Protestants that lasted from 1968 until 1998 — intrude on the girls and their families by way of news reports.

Sure, the way to school might be blocked because of a bomb threat, but the teens have more typical things on their minds: boys (or girls in James’ case), parties, getting good grades, being popular, testing parental authority, all within the context of an early 1990s, working-class Catholic upbringing.

Religion is part of the fabric of the show, written by Lisa McGee, a real-life Derry girl, but not in an oppressive way. Indeed, one of the funniest characters is the deadpan, eye-rolling school principal, Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney).

It’s a delightful family comedy and coming-of-age story that perfectly captures the self-conscious awkwardness and self-important seriousness of the teenage years. And the Derry Girls (and boy) have each others’ backs when it counts.

Debra Yeo is an editor and a writer for the Star’s Culture section. She is based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @realityeo

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