The pilot episode of “Yellowjackets” begins with a hunt. A teenage girl runs barefoot through a barren forest covered in snow. She is dressed in a thin, dirty nightgown and wearing a necklace with a gold, heart-shaped charm. We never see her face, but her abject terror is clear through her sharp breaths and trembling sobs. Unnerving whoops, caws and howls can be heard coming from behind her. Suddenly, the dark-haired girl falls through a hidden pit of spikes. Dead. Another young girl appears, wearing a long coat made of animal pelt, a face mask fashioned out of an old sweater and bright pink converse, looking over her body from above. 

When “Yellowjackets” first premiered on streaming platform Showtime in 2021, it quickly garnered rave reviews and a large fanbase. The show, which finished airing its second season in May of 2023, boasts a star-studded cast and a spine-chilling premise. “Yellowjackets” is told from two points in time: the first being New Jersey 1996, where the Wiskayok High School girl’s soccer team is going to nationals. Tragedy strikes when their plane crashes on the way, leaving the Yellowjackets stranded deep in the Canadian wilderness, hundreds of miles off-course, for a total of 19 months before miraculously being found. Cut off from civilization and subject to two brutal winters, the team forms into a cannibalistic cult to survive. In the second timeline, it is 2021, and the survivors of the horrific disaster are trying (and failing) to move on with their lives. In the first season, we know of five confirmed survivors of the plane crash: bored housewife Shauna Sadecki (Melanie Lynskey), high-powered lawyer turned New Jersey Senator candidate Taissa Turner (Tawny Cypress), Travis Martinez (Kevin Alves), reclusive son of the Yellowjackets’ head coach, strange, generally off-putting nurse Misty Quigley (Christina Ricci), and Natalie Scatorccio (Juliette Lewis), who is freshly sober and has recently moved back to Wiskayok. 

To me, what makes Yellowjackets one of the best shows of 2023 is not the cast or premise – though they are both incredible. Instead, it is the way the show discusses the lingering impact horrific trauma has on a person, as well as the struggles of girlhood in general. Out in the wilderness, the team eventually finds an old abandoned cabin in which to take shelter, and slowly become convinced that something supernatural is happening to them. They find the skeletal remains of a man in the cabin’s attic, and a strange symbol carved into its floor and on several trees. Taissa begins sleepwalking in some sort of fugue state where someone or something else seems to be in control. Charlotte “Lottie” Matthews, whose fate remains unknown in season one, starts having strange visions and prophetic dreams. Thus, Lottie quickly becomes the de facto spiritual leader of the group and personifies this supposed supernatural force as “the Wilderness.”

Despite all of this, the show is careful to never definitively confirm whether Something was out there with the team, or if it was all something they created to justify their violent rituals and eventual cannibalism. The symbols could have been carved by the dead man in the attic. Taissa’s sleepwalking could just be her mind trying to cope with the life-altering trauma she just experienced. Lottie had been on antipsychotic medication for most of her childhood, and only began seeing things after her medication ran out. Haunted by the things they did in the name of a supposed “God,” the surviving Yellowjackets are stuck in an indefinite limbo, neither able to absolve themselves of all guilt, or able to face the past and move on. And when the five of them are inextricably drawn back together in the present and get tangled up in each other’s increasingly bad decisions, we are again forced to wonder whether Something is bringing them together, or if their unprocessed group trauma is severely impacting their judgment skills.

Another thing that I find refreshing about Yellowjackets is that in spite of all the horrific things the girls go through and do, this is still a show about scared, complicated teenagers. No one in the wilderness is truly painted as a villain, because they are all young, vulnerable people forced to make impossible choices that most adults would also struggle with. Lottie is not portrayed as some evil mastermind lost in her madness, she actually believes that the Wilderness is trying to protect them at first. She tries to use her newfound “gift” to hold the group together and bring them comfort, even as winter sets in and the bonds of friendship are truly tested. Even when the team does turn to cannibalism to survive, it is as a last resort. They create rules and rituals that seem fair to them, and attempt to find order in inherently volatile circumstances.

While “Yellowjackets” can be gory and hard to watch sometimes due to its setting in the harsh, unforgiving wilderness, after a few episodes it starts to feel like a framework for the true focus of the show: the relationships between the survivors, in both the current and past timelines. The violence may feel shocking at times, but it’s never gratuitous – there’s always a purpose, a deeper meaning. For example, when the group first engages in cannibalism it is not borne of frenzied, desperate starvation (though that does eventually transpire); it is borne from grief, of love and shame. Even in the present timeline, when the survivors are estranged and have decades of unspoken secrets and anger between them, that fierce loyalty is still there, even if all it does is make them worse. In the end, “Yellowjackets” is a show that questions whether the past comes back to haunt us, or if we haunt ourselves.

It’s been a long journey on the road so far. Many battles and deaths have been overcome. Sam and Dean have had many heartbreaking and life-shattering moments. It is finally at the end. Season 15 of “Supernatural” starts Oct. 10, and this 15-year series will finally end. 

Created by Eric Kripke, Supernatural is a fantasy show which first aired in 2005.

Supernatural is an intriguing story of two brothers who drive across the country practicing their family business, hunting for monsters and saving people from said monstrous beings. 

The more you learn about these two brothers, the more you fall in love with the characters and their faults. Over time you grow a love of classic rock that is always blaring through their 1967 Chevy Impala. There is comedy, horror and some amazing character development. The brothers face many different hardships as they hunt down demons, vampires and angels. They face death and turmoil daily in an attempt to save the world from the things that go bump in the night. 

It’s easy to enjoy all the crossovers and many references, including “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “Scooby-Doo.” The characters even walk into a musical theater production about themselves. 

This series talks about god, gods, heaven, hell, purgatory and everything in between. If you are a lover of Halloween and all things spooky, then Supernatural is the show for you. It was based on many different horror movies and creepy legends that everyone knows and loves. This story of love and family not only gives many different life lessons, but creates a family in the fandom itself. This has been shown in many fan meetups and interviews over the last 15 years.

The fan base itself has grouped to create their own day – Supernatural Day is officially Sept. 13. To celebrate this day, it’s suggested that you watch a marathon of all the show’s seasons with other fans.

“Every Sept. 13, fans come together to celebrate the show’s anniversary with Supernatural Day,” according to CheatSheet.com. “And coincidentally, this year’s Winchester-themed festivities – the last before the final season – fell on Friday the 13th. It also happens to be the same day as a full moon. So you best believe fans got excited.” 

If you look up supernatural day then you will find many different articles about this day and why it’s a thing. The day is all about fans celebrating the show – wearing their merchandise and participating in Supernatural themed activities. 

This community of fans has developed over the years. They have even developed shirts to mark this 15th anniversary of the beginning of the show and the final ending to the series altogether. 

“The fans haven’t just created their own crazy, dysfunctional family; they’ve done some real good in the world, and that’s not changing right now,” according to The Mary Sue. 

Hot Topic partnered with some of the stars of the show to sell a shirt to celebrate the end of the series, and the profits were used to help victims of Hurricane Dorian.

Speaking from experience, this series has changed my life in many ways. My closest friends and I have bonded over this series and it was essentially the start of our friendship. One of them even got an anti-possession tattoo to mark his love for this amazing fandom and the family it has created.