Review: Yellowjackets, “Bear Down” | Season 1, Episode 4
A basic survival story brings together two kids with daddy issues
In season one of Lost, it was difficult to imagine just how out there the show would get. Sure, the supernatural element was there from the beginning, but time travel? Purgatorial alternate realities? A giant frozen wheel that functions as a teleportation device? Ageless deities fighting a proxy battle over a magical light at the center of the universe? Compared to later episodes, most of that first season felt downright grounded, emphasizing basic island survival that would gradually fade as the show continued. A typical episode might revolve around a debate over the safest place to set up camp or the building of a raft to find help.
I’m probably bringing up Lost too much in these reviews, but it’s impossible to ignore the show’s influence on Yellowjackets. In “Bear Down” alone, we get two different characters fixating on daddy issues (and flashing back to their fathers’ violent deaths), and the reveal of a second plane in the woods. (In both shows, it’s pretty cle…