‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 Review: Show’s Cast Is Better Than Ever, but We Can Skip the Supernatural Mystery

thewrap.com:

“Yellowjackets” definitely hit a nerve with its inspired combination of “Now and Then,” “Lord of the Flies” and “Alive”; the series quickly became one of Showtime’s most successful ever, with about 5 million viewers tuning in each week.

The inspired premise of a group of plane crash survivors — told in the “then” and “now” — was only enhanced by the stellar cast who brought it to life, like Melanie Lynskey as Shauna, now a suburban mom and housewife with homicidal impulses; Juliette Lewis as the edgy, extremely damaged grown-up Natalie; and Christina Ricci as the obsessive Misty, who was basically to blame for the entire disaster, as her teenage self (Samantha Hanratty) was enjoying the camaraderie of the girls’ life in the wild so much that she destroyed the plane’s black box to prevent the team from getting rescued in the first place.The “Yellowjackets” casting team deserves all the awards, as the older and younger versions of the main characters match up seamlessly.

That streak continues this season with the inspired casting of “Six Feet Under’s” Lauren Ambrose as the grown-up Van (Liv Hewson).

Elijah Wood, former co-star of Ricci (“The Ice Storm”) and Lynskey (“I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore”), is a welcome addition as Misty’s male counterpart Walter, a so-called “citizen detective.” “Search Party” star John Paul Reynolds offers some ridiculous swagger as an interested local.“Yellowjackets” devotees will just be glad to see the main characters on screen again, even though Season 2 kicks off by splintering our four main characters off into their own paths.