The very first episode of Yellowjackets promises viewers that the show’s story contains — among other things — cannibalism. In the second episode of its sophomore season, titled “Edible Complex,” Yellowjackets finally delivers on its pilot’s gnarliest promise, too. The episode follows its teenage survivors as they finally decide to cremate the frozen body of their dead friend, Jackie (Ella Purnell), only for that decision to lead them straight to the point of no return.
When Jackie’s cremation is cut short by a sudden, potentially supernaturally-motivated fall of snow, Yellowjackets’ starving teenage survivors find themselves awoken by the smell of their dead friend’s cooked body. Overwhelmed by their own hunger, the survivors begin to feast on Jackie’s body. The only character who, notably, chooses not to partake in the sudden moment of crazed cannibalism is the group’s sole surviving adult, Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger).
While noble in its own way, Ben’s decision to refrain from giving in to the same cannibalistic impulses as his fellow survivors definitely doesn’t bode well for the character’s future.
Is Coach Ben alive in the present day?
Yellowjackets viewers still don’t know how many of the show’s stranded characters lived long enough to be rescued from the Canadian region where they were stranded for 19 months. In fact, for much of Yellowjackets’ first season, viewers didn’t even know that Van (Liv Hewson) and Lottie (Courtney Eaton) were still alive in the series’ present-day timeline. It is, therefore, possible that it’ll be revealed that Steven Krueger’s Coach Ben is either still alive in 2021 or, at the very least, didn’t die in the Canadian wilderness like some of Yellowjackets’ other characters.
That said, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that Coach Ben will be able to last much longer on Yellowjackets. His climactic decision in “Edible Complex” probably won’t sit well with the show’s teenage characters, most of whom will likely feel ashamed and bitter that they gave in to their cannibalistic urges and he didn’t. That means Coach Ben may very well begin to feel even more separate from his other survivors in Yellowjackets’ coming episodes.
If his decision at the end of “Edible Complex” really does create future divisions between him and the rest of the show’s characters, that only makes Coach Ben’s chances of survival on Yellowjackets seem even slimmer. After all, being the odd man out will only put Coach Ben in an even more precarious place once Yellowjackets’ teenagers divide into the cannibalistic cults that were teased in the series’ premiere.
The Inverse Analysis — If there’s one thing Yellowjackets has proven, it’s that the show is capable of surprising even the most keen-eyed of viewers. That means it’s still possible the show will reveal that Coach Ben did, indeed, make it through the 19-month survival period that still plagues the minds of many of its characters.
However, things certainly aren’t looking good for Coach Ben right now. The character’s amputee status already made it difficult to believe that he could even survive the kind of brutal hunts that open Yellowjackets’ pilot. Now, the character’s decision to ideologically and morally separate himself from the rest of the show’s survivors may only put him that much higher on some of their future hit lists.
If he does end up dying, though, here’s to hoping Coach Ben at least gets a death that’s worthy of him.
