Karl Puschmann: Don't ignore the buzz over Yellowjackets

Juliette Lewis as Natalie and Christina Ricci as Misty in Yellowjackets, streaming on Neon.

OPINION:

The advance buzz around new series Yellowjackets made a real meal out of the fact that teenage girl cannibalism would feature heavily on its menu. If you were of a sensitive disposition it was a tough proposition to stomach. Especially as it served up that headline-grabbing, stomach-churning moment in its incredibly disturbing first episode.

Forget opening with a bang. Yellowjackets instead opens with a nuclear explosion of macabre imagery that shows the teen girls hunting down one of their own before participating in some kind of cultist ritual that sees them lit up by flaming torches, wearing spooky animal head masks and messily stuffing the poor soul's cooked limbs into their mouths.

These scenes, that are cut in and interspersed around the show's two main timelines, firmly imprint into your nightmares and leave you needing - not wanting - to know how the teammates descended to such an unsettling level of hell.

Ella Purnell as Teen Jackie in Yellowjackets, streaming on Neon.

This, as it turns out, is a common occurrence when watching Yellowjackets. The series packs mysteries inside of horrors and then stacks them on top of an increasingly large pile of WTF. It's a wild and mostly thrilling ride that gets increasingly bizarre with each passing episode.

It's not giving away any spoilers to say that the show, which streams on Neon, is a survival horror, supernatural mystery series that deals with topics of PTSD, infidelity, grief and parenting. It wouldn't surprise me if by the end of the next episode it's violently twisted itself into some new and unexpected place. So far, there's been psychos, kidnappers, demonic possessions and maggot-infested animals.

And, of course, the distressing knowledge that at some point this nice bunch of girls start feasting on each other.

Despite that gruesome opener and the barrage of complexities I've described, the series starts off relatively straightforward. Set in the mid-90s it follows a high school's girls soccer team, the titular Yellowjackets, who all hop on a plane to fly to the championship final. But halfway through the flight their plane goes down, stranding them in the middle of the wilderness. Half of the show stays with the team as they attempt to survive in the inhospitable, wolf-and-bear-infested woods.

Sophie Thatcher as Teen Natalie, in Yellowjackets, streaming on Neon.

The other half of the series fast-forwards to the present day where the survivors of the 19-month ordeal are trying to live normal lives while dealing with the minor infamy they gained from the life-changing, for some life-ending, event.

Despite happening so long ago the public remain unsatisfied by their unified and unchanging account that they survived by foraging through the frozen winter. These public suspicions are dredged back up when a journalist starts sniffing about on the 25th anniversary of the event. An action that forces the former friends reluctantly together again.

While we know what they did, that'd be the eating each other, the show hints that there's still worse to be revealed, with a lot of hushed talk between the adults about, "what we did out there".

Melanie Lynskey as Shauna in Yellowjackets, streaming on Neon.

Both timelines are powered by absolutely gripping performances. But it's New Zealand's Melanie Lynskey who anchors the whole show with a nuanced and powerful work that has her flipping from dowdy, unsatisfied mum to steely-eyed rabbit killer and hot-blooded temptress. Her grounded and believable performance allows Juliette Lewis to really play up her too-cool-for-school, rock 'n' roll persona as she sets off on a mission of revenge.

But it's Christina Ricci who steals the show. Her perversely chirpy, high-pitched nurse is one of the most fun and frightening characters to light up the telly in a long while.

Fun and frightening is also a good way to describe Yellowjackets. It's not scary per se, but it's unsettling and loaded with plenty of gotcha! jump scares, blood and guts and moments of cold-blooded terror. There's also a few jokes to stop the mood getting too dark.

There are, of course, some minor quibbles. The early episodes have more padding than an 80s power suit - persevere, it's worth it - and there's a nagging worry that it could succumb to the same problems that plagued Lost, a show which this bears more than a passing resemblance to.

Juliette Lewis in tense survival drama Yellowjackets.

Sure, there hasn't been a polar bear inexplicably running through the woods (yet), but Yellowjackets needs to start delivering some answers and not just keep throwing unexplained occurrences at the screen or burrowing deeper into the mysteries it's presenting in both timelines lest it become more of a frustration to be abandoned than an entertainment to wallow in.

But for now I'm happy to be lost in the woods with the show. It's incredibly tense, with a kick-ass, grunge-powered soundtrack, countless rabbit holes to dive into and a sinister, creepy atmosphere that revels in gory shocks and a willingness to not just go there, but to keep you guessing as to just how far out there "there" actually is.