‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Premiere Recap: It’s All Fun and Games Until …

Season 3, Episode 1: ‘It Girl’

Welcome back to the wilderness, darlings.

“Yellowjackets” is back and we’re — wait, what is this? Are we having fun? Can that be possible in a show that ended its last season with multiple devastating deaths? With an adolescent’s heart being eaten? If Season 2 got bogged down in the dour, Season 3 is promising to bring some levity back into the proceedings — despite, you know, the cannibalism.

Based on this first episode back, “Yellowjackets” seems to be trying to recapture the juicy magic of its breakout first season, which sucked us in with its tale of bloodthirsty would-be high school soccer stars. Right off the bat, this premiere is a little goofier, a little cattier and a little less self-serious.

The very first images we see onscreen hint toward the reset. We get a mirror image of the opening scene from the pilot — one of the reasons we got hooked on this show. A dark-haired girl is being chased through the woods.

But now it’s immediately clear who is running and who is pursuing. Teen Mari (Alexa Barajas), the team’s resident mean girl, is trying to escape Teen Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), who tackles her and bites her hand. This, however, is no creepy ritual. Rather, it’s a game of the poorly named “capture the bone,” a cannibal’s riff on “capture the flag.” Mari is a decoy, leading her team to victory. At the end of the chase, no one dies, and everyone cheers.

The vibes in the forest are actually pretty good. This is shocking considering Season 2 ended with the girls’ being stranded without shelter because their cabin burned down. But now the snow has cleared, and the Yellowjackets have built new living spaces, artful looking huts. They have a garden with ducks and rabbits. Food is plentiful. Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), previously crowned the queen of their toxic group, rules benevolently. They talk of how their sacrifices led to miracles.

For the most part everyone is pretty happy. Everyone except for Shauna, that is. Shauna is furious that her teammates are not wracked with guilt over their misdeeds. Her anger is understandable, of course. She is probably struggling with depression after having given birth to a son and lost him, and she isn’t into the kumbaya spirit that seems to be taking over. She is especially mad at Mari, who taunts her.