Yellowjackets Season 3 Pays Homage To One Of The Best Trial Movies Ever

Spoilers for “Yellowjackets” to follow.

Previously on “Yellowjackets,” the girls went hunting once more — this time for Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger). Ben rescued Mari (Alexa Barajas) from a nasty fall into a pit and ultimately let her fly back to the hive. No good deed goes unpunished, though; the Yellowjackets still think that Ben burned their cabin down, trying and failing to kill them, back in Season 2 finale “Storytelling.” Ben maintains he didn’t burn the cabin, and his past action suggests he’s being honest, but the Yellowjackets are not feeling trusting.

Most of the girls want some simple Frontier (er, Wilderness) Justice. However, team captain Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) insists they need to have a trial. A two-thirds majority will decide Ben’s fate, life or death. 

Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) is, of course, the prosecutor, since her adult self (Tawny Cypress) will go on to become a lawyer. Meanwhile, Misty (Samatha Hanratty) is the defense, and Natalie is the judge. She comes out wearing the early Antler Queen regalia, but we’ll see if the crown stays hers by the end of the season. And so, “Yellowjackets” begins its first ever trial episode — no courtroom, no problem!

Season 3, Episode 4’s title tips its hand: “12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis,” referencing the most famous courtroom drama in film history, Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men.” That 1957 picture is a one-room drama following a jury deliberation after a murder trial. Only Juror no. 8 (Henry Fonda) thinks the defendant, a young minority boy accused of murdering his father, could be innocent and slowly convinces the other 11, who range from apathetic to malicious to otherwise convinced.

Is Misty able to convince her fellow Yellowjackets of Ben’s innocence, much like how Fonda swayed the other angry men?

A trial episode isn’t just an exciting new trick for “Yellowjackets,” but it’s also one that fits the show’s past storyline. “Yellowjackets” is essentially an update on “The Lord of the Flies,” a story about children trapped away from civilization who reorganize themselves in a violent and unsettling fashion. A trial is all about fair enforcement of the law, the foundation of any civilization and a construct the Yellowjackets have lost out in the Wilderness.

They’ve been building a new micro-society with new rules, one with traditions of oral folk-telling and a religion with Lottie (Courtney Eaton) as high priest. Natalie insisting on a trial, though, rather than giving into their vengeance or letting “The Wilderness” choose, shows how she is once again acting as the Yellowjackets’ heart, trying to cling onto the world they grew up in.

Now, the structure of the trial isn’t necessarily similar to “12 Angry Men.” The movie doesn’t actually show the trial itself, but merely the jury deliberation. Evidence presented at the trial is referred back to as the jurors weigh it. “12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis,” on the other hand, uses a more common trial movie structure found in, say, “A Few Good Men” or “My Cousin Vinny.” Witness after witness takes the stand, answering questions from the defense and the prosecutor, as the pendulum of the jury’s judgment swings back and forth.

The episode was directed by Jennifer Morrison, who previously starred in “House M.D.” and “Once Upon A Time.” It was a good call getting an actor to helm such an acting-reliant episode.

Misty may only be a nurse in the present day, but she shows an aptitude for the law with some strong questioning. (Perhaps she was in debate club?) She lands a solid hit during Mari’s testimony, asking why Ben would spare her now if he’d previously tried to kill them all by torching the cabin. She then goes around the group, saying that many of them could have had plausible reason to burn the cabin or doubt the Wilderness.

 But Tai, with some info from Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), puts Natalie on the stand and Nat reveals she’d suspected Ben was alive but wanted to leave him be. Then Misty comes back roaring for the final knock-out, putting Ben himself on the stand and letting him bare his soul: he cares too much about the girls to hurt them, but after seeing them butcher Javi (Luciano Leroux), he was scared he’d be next.

Now, it’s time to vote. Unlike the sunny, humanity-affirming ending of “12 Angry Men,” Ben is found guilty after dozens of voting rounds. Shauna, playing the role of the obstinate Juror no. 3 (Lee J. Cobb), leads the anti-Ben faction and ultimately sways the tide. Shauna’s actions and attitude this season suggest she could be planning a coup against Natalie. Is she using Coach Ben, and Nat’s friendship with him, as a wedge issue to drive the Antler Queen away from her pack and take that crown herself?

“Yellowjackets” is airing on Showtime and streaming on Paramount + with Showtime. New episodes are available for streaming every Friday and air the following Sunday.