What Do Coach Ben’s Flashbacks Mean on ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2?

Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2, Episode 3.

While there’s a lot to love about Yellowjackets, one of the main reasons for the show’s popularity is how each episode keeps us guessing and trying to figure out what’s real or not. Season 2, especially, seems well aware of the wacky online theories that emerged since the first season finale. Yes, the show revolves around the supernatural events surrounding the survivors of the plane crash, and we are constantly wondering how much of what happens can be pinned on coincidence. Nevertheless, some fans like to go further on their speculation, wondering if the survivors might actually be dead and trapped in limbo or being part of a bizarre psychological experiment. Of course, most of these theories can be blamed on fans’ wild imaginations. Still, Coach Ben’s (Steven Krueger) flashbacks in Episode 3 give us much more to consider.

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Coach Ben’s Flashbacks Help Him Escape ‘Yellowjackets‘ Horrors

At the end of Season 2, Episode 2, the teenage survivors are consumed by their hunger and the delicious smells of perfectly cooked meat and fall into a cannibalistic stupor, during which they devour Jackie’s (Ella Purnell) body. It’s a gruesome scene, made all the more disturbing by how the series frames the barbaric act as a happy dinner among friends. The only character not to become part of the grotesque ritual is Coach Ben, who resists the urge to eat people and is terrified of the consequences of such actions. So, while the teenagers feast, Coach Ben hides alone in the cabin.

In Episode 3, everyone tries to wrap their heads around what happened during the cannibal banquet. Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown) is horrified to learn her alter took over her body while she was sleeping to partake in the disgusting meal. On the other hand, Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman) and Misty (Sammi Hanratty) are surprised about how good human flesh tastes. As for Coach Ben, during Episode 3, he mostly stares into the void, thinking about his life before the plane crash.

Through Coach Ben’s flashbacks, we finally meet Paul (François Arnaud), his boyfriend from a life before the wilderness. Paul is a writer who would like nothing more than for Ben to move with him to New York City. Unfortunately, Ben is not ready to commit to his relationship with Paul since this would force him to assume his identity as a gay man. While Paul is at peace with who he is, Ben still keeps his homosexuality a secret, unwilling to face prejudice from family, friends, and colleagues. That’s why Ben keeps pushing the decision to move in with Paul while he remains a high school coach in a small town, where he feels he should remain hidden.

As the flashbacks reveal, Ben’s tragic relationship ends when Paul decides he doesn’t want to share a life with someone ashamed of who he truly is. Paul knows he cannot force Ben to be proud of being gay, but he must preserve his own mental health by not sharing his life with someone who still hasn’t learned to love himself. It’s heartbreaking, and the flashbacks explain what Paul really meant when he told Nat (Sophie Thatcher) he “kinda” had a boyfriend. However, this is not where Ben’s flashbacks end.

Before Episode 3 is over, Ben visits the past one more time. In this final scene, we watch Ben burst into Paul’s apartment, professing his love and vowing to follow the writer to New York City. Ben also tells Paul he quit the Yellowjackets team right before they flew to nationals. As Ben puts it, his commitment to the team is not as important as his love for Paul. And while Ben and Paul held each other, celebrating their love, we see in a TV turned on the background the horrific news of the Yellowjackets’ flight crash.

In this last flashback, Ben never went aboard the plane, didn’t lose his leg, and is not digesting the horrific truth his teenage companions are cannibals. Of course, Ben’s flashbacks could be just wishful thinking, as the coach tries to take his mind to a happy place where his life turned around for the better. Nevertheless, a strange editing choice creates a puzzling connection between Coach Ben’s flashbacks and Yellowjackets’ intro.

Why Ben’s Flashbacks Nod at the Yellowjackets’ Intro?

While Yellowjackets has featured flashbacks before, Coach Ben’s dive into the past stand apart from other scenes due to its analog effects. Each flashback is introduced and ends with a transition filled with granulation and white noise, not unlike what happens when a VHS tape comes to an end. These effects are only ever used in one other moment of the show, its intro.

While the opening song of Yellowjackets plays, we see images of the teenage and adult cast as if recorded by old cameras. It’s a clear nod to analog horror and a creative choice that echoes when the Yellowjackets team fell into the woods, in 1996, when the digital era was yet to begin and analog media such as VHS tapes dominated the market.

We are just starting Season 2 of Yellowjackets, and it’s too soon to tell if Coach Ben’s flashbacks represent an isolated instance of VHS effects or if the theme of analog media will appear in other scenes further along in the season. Still, this curious editing choice opens a whole new path of speculation for fans. Because while there is a chance the analog effects are used only for style reasons, Yellowjackets is famous for hiding clues in plain sight. So, could these analog effects mean Coach Ben’s fake memories are somehow recorded? And if so, could we say the same of the scenes we see in the show’s intro?

There’s an obvious dispute between the supernatural narrative and the coincidence one. However, with a story plan that extends through five seasons, the series might be teasing some shocking reveals about the reality of what happens in the woods and in the adult timeline. So far, nothing is random in Yellowjackets. That means, for the moment, we feel it’s fair to scratch our heads thinking about why they gave Coach Ben’s flashbacks, which are fantasies, and what reason the showrunners have to add these analog effects.

New episodes of Yellowjackets Season 2 premiere every Friday on the Showtime streaming app and every Sunday on-air.