Review: Yellowjackets, "The Dollhouse" | Season 1, Episode 3
With the establishment of new settings, the pacing slows but the intrigue increases
After the chaotic opening to this season, “The Dollhouse” is the status quo-establishing episode I’ve been expecting. There’s some incremental progress all around and a clarification of the basic stakes in the main wilderness story: The Yellowjackets have been in the woods for three days now, with no sign of rescue, and they’re beginning to ration out what remains of the food. Lack of sustenance will become a big problem soon—and lack of medicine will, too, judging by Lottie’s exhausted pill supply.
This inventory-taking is necessary, but it makes for the weakest of these first three episodes. There’s little of the flash and violence of the previous two installments, and most of the group dynamics are limited to grounded character drama rather than the almost-murderous resentment and control issues that provided so much tension before. I can’t help but crave more of what we saw in “F Sharp”: focused character stories with immediate consequences on the plot. There’s …