Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Yellowjackets season 3, episode 1 & 2.
Yellowjacketsseason 3 introduces a new mystery revolving around who Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger) is talking to in the cave. Coach Ben is the only adult survivor ofYellowjackets' plane crash. Between losing his leg, Misty Quigley (Samantha Hanratty) having a disturbing obsession with him, and the survivors descending into cannibalism, Coach Scott has had a particularly difficult time in the wilderness.Yellowjacketsseason 2’s endingsees him breaking away from the group and surviving on his own in the cave Javi Martinez (Luciano Leroux) found.
WhenYellowjacketsseason 3’s storybegins,Coach Ben is still alive despite being on his own, and has even found boxes filled with survival supplies. His survival is threatened after one of the teenage survivors, Mari (Alexa Barajas), falls into the pit where Coach Ben found the supplies. He helps her out of the pit, but then brings her back to the cave, as he worries that she will reveal his location, and the rest of the girls will come after him. The situation becomes potentially even more dire for Marie once she is in the cave.
Mari Overhears Ben Seemingly Talking To Himself In Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 2
He Talks About Trying To Keep Her Quiet
Mari is momentarily comforted and able to forget her troubles when Coach Ben gives her hot chocolate. That comfort quickly fades whenshe hears Coach Ben talking to someone in the shadows. He says that he is trying to keep her quiet, he needs time to think, and tells the unseen figure to"stop"and"that’s enough!“It seems as though Coach Ben is talking to himself, although his reactions and the way he speaks with such conviction make it clear that he thinks he is speaking with someone else.
Yellowjackets Season 3’s “Clear Answers” Hint Has To Connect To The Pit Girl, Right?
Yellowjackets co-creator Ashley Lyle has teased “clear answers” to two major questions in season 3, one of which could be the pit girl’s identity.
InYellowjacketsseason 2, Coach Ben began having hallucinations of his boyfriend, Paul (François Arnaud) and even having full-on conversations with him at times. Those hallucinations may be continuing in season 3. Another possibility is that Coach Ben is talking to Javi’s “friend.” Javi told Coach Ben that his “friend” told him not to come back, and it was never clarified who this person was or whether they were real. Since Coach Ben has been living in the same cave as Javi, perhaps he is now communicating with and being influenced by that friend.
Yellowjackets Proves Ben Is Still Just As Broken As The Teens (But In A Different Way)
He Has Broken By A Lack Of Community And Support
One of the main reasons Coach Ben left the girls in season 2 was because of how broken they had become, particularly with their decision to eat Jackie Taylor (Ella Purnell) and Javi. Coach Ben found their cannibalism to be morally reprehensible and also feared that they would eventually eat him as well. While the girls are undeniably traumatized and broken by what they have endured in the wilderness, season 3, episode 2 proves that Coach Ben is just as broken as them.
After so much time spent alone and without the support of otherYellowjacketscharacters, he has been left with no one to communicate with and rely on except for himself.
His conversations in the cave that he appears to be having with himself show how deeply he has been impacted by the wilderness and the desperation to survive. After so much time spent alone and without the support of otherYellowjacketscharacters, he has been left with no one to communicate with and rely on except for himself.Coach Ben genuinely cared about the girls, and it is tragic to see him losing himself, taking Mari captive, and worrying about the girls eating him inYellowjacketsseason 3.
