Yellowjackets Season 3 Reveals Coach Ben's Fate In One Of The Show's Best Episodes Yet

Massive spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 3 follow.

The marketing and press tour for "Yellowjackets" season 3 has been promising answers, especially after the series' sophomore season earned criticism for slow pacing and underwhelming resolutions to some mysteries. I think the writers heard those criticisms and are responding to them.

The "Yellowjackets" season 3 trailer ended with a promise that "secrets will be spilled." Earlier shots in the trailer show some of the masked survivors running through the wintery wilderness on a hunt — we might even be returning to the hunting scene from the pilot before the season ends. The season 3 premiere "It Girl" already dropped more and more hints about which Yellowjacket the "pit girl" is.

Steven Krueger (who plays Coach Ben Scott) recently said in an interview with Jake "Jake's Takes" Hamilton that the pilot flash-forwards are indeed "finally coming" in season 3. But he won't be around to see it. The season's sixth and latest episode, "Thanksgiving (Canada)," finally sees the long-suspected death of Ben. To "honor" him and the Wilderness, the Yellowjackets butcher and feast on his body.

"Yellowjackets" is the type of show that invites audiences to pull out their cork boards and put together theories. Ben's fate has been one that's gotten intense viewer/Reddit detective scrutiny; he hadn't appeared in the 2021 timeline, but he wasn't explicitly confirmed dead either. He lost a leg in the plane crash, so many wrote him off as doomed in season 1. (It's hard to run away from crazed cannibals when you're on crutches.) But then he survived season 1, and then season 2 as well. Many began suspecting he might make it out after all; perhaps he'd resurface in 2021, looking for revenge on the Yellowjackets. Maybe the girls had left him behind and he was still out there in the Wilderness, 25 years later.

Alas, "Thanksgiving (Canada)" confirms the Wilderness sealed Ben's fate.

The one Yellowjacket who Ben saw as a friend was Natalie Scatorccio (Sophie Thatcher). She was the other survivor who maintained her heart and soul out in the wilderness, so Ben felt he could trust her.

"Storytelling" looked like it was pushing Ben and Natalie to darker places. Natalie had been chosen as a sacrifice, but survived when Javi (Luciano Leroux) died in her place. Lottie took this as a sign Natalie was meant to be the Yellowjackets' leader and anointed her. Natalie, deep in self-loathing from Javi's death, accepted her new role and made fans wonder if she'd ever been the hero she seemed to be.

Ben watched Natalie's coronation in secret, showing disbelief and disgust. The episode ended with the Yellowjackets' cabin catching fire; you were supposed to think Ben did it to kill them all before they could become even more monstrous. 

Now, "Yellowjackets" has pulled back and reaffirmed Ben as a sympathetic character. He probably didn't burn the cabin, but we may never know for sure, just like the girls won't. Natalie still sees Ben as a friend and has been torn by that; on one hand, she has an obligation to the group, but she also wants to dissuade them from seeking revenge on Ben.

In the previous episode, "Did Tai Do That?", Ben's guilty verdict was stayed because Akilah (Nia Sondaya) had a vision that he would lead them home. Instead of shooting Ben like an animal, the Yellowjackets tied him up like one. This had me worried; would the show drag on with Ben as a prisoner until the season 3 finale, falling back into old ruts?

Nope, because "Thanksgiving (Canada)" chooses to embrace heartbreaking consequences. Ben is desperate for his suffering to end and asks Natalie to kill him. She refuses again and again until the Yellowjackets force-feed him. That makes her realizes how much they're torturing him. So, under the cover of night, she goes to fulfill Ben's last request; her crying face trembles as much as her hands, so Ben guides the knife into his heart.

Back in "Storytelling," Natalie told Ben he was too good a person to stay with the other survivors: "You really don't belong in this place." Sadly, she was right, and so rescued Ben in the only way she thought that she could.

Natalie has been defined by survivor's guilt through inaction; it goes back to when she pointed a gun at her abusive father, only for him to accidentally shoot himself instead. Her mercy-killing Ben feels driven by not only her friendship with the Coach, but by what happened to Javi.

The last time Natalie held a choice between life and death, she stood by and let someone else die to save herself. "Storytelling" opened on a close-up of Natalie set to the Cranberries' song "Zombie," a song about the violent death of children. It's one of the show's best needle-drops, conveying Natalie's guilt and how she sees herself as a walking corpse living a borrowed life. By killing Ben, Natalie is confronting her guilt and reclaiming her humanity; she let someone suffer for her own benefit once, and she won't do it again.

Once the other girls learn that Natalie killed Ben, they brand her a traitor and Shauna rallies them to her side. To punish Natalie and Ben's sacrifice, Shauna commands Natalie to butcher Ben's corpse. Shauna is much more ruthless than Natalie; there's a reason she's become the group's butcher, i.e. the one who will get their hands dirty for everyone else's benefit. Speaking to Collider, Sophie Thatcher said that Natalie didn't really want the burden of leadership and its compromises:

"There was a moment where [Natalie] felt really seen when Lottie gave her the crown, but now she's restless and doesn't want the job because it's so much, and it's so overwhelming being with these girls and doing all of that. I don't think it's the best job in the world."

You really see Natalie's soul tearing apart during Ben's trial in episode 4; she thinks Ben is innocent, or at least forgivable, but she forces herself to go along with what her followers ask of her. A queen doesn't stay queen long without consent of the ruled. Natalie killing Ben was also her casting off her load of leadership to do what she felt was right.

Was it the right thing, though? "Thanksgiving (Canada)" has the most shocking ending in "Yellowjackets" history: during the girls' feast, some campers wander into their site. One of them spots Ben's decapitated head, recoils, then smash cut to black.

What?! "Yellowjackets" season 3 has tread a bit of water, and made some questionable calls, but "Thanksgiving (Canada)" puts the show back on track. Ben's death closes out one arc that risked dragging, while the episode's ending opens a world of possibility.

"Yellowjackets" is streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.