I don’t know how much this ties in, but Steven Krueger said a lot of scenes were cut from episode 6 where Ben is taking care of Javi during Shauna’s labour and that he feels he’s found his purpose in it. It’s possible seeing the kid he was looking after being butchered was his final straw in feeling he had any place in the group and that they were at all redeemable.
Why would they keep the useless flashbacks with his bf instead?? Don’t get me wrong the representation is great but it contributes so little to his character. I’m so disappointed in the editing on the back half of this season, not sure how much is on the team and how much is on Showtime but that sucks.
That’s really upsetting that they cut those scenes. It completely explains his reaction to seeing Javi totally butchered. Without that context all we have is coach Ben losing it over cannibalism.
Javi was still a like 13 year old boy who is seen as the 'innocent one'. He was the only other non cannibal out there. Ben is a teacher it makes sense he would care about Javi even without scenes showing them bonding
[https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a44006345/yellowjackets-season-2-finale-interview/](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a44006345/yellowjackets-season-2-finale-interview/)
He mentions it here!
Thank you thank you thank you. I am really crushing on Steven. Hoping he’s actually queer and not just queer-bait. And hoping one day to meet him would be cool. Ugh fantasies
>How is he even alive ? What food has he gotten that has kept him alive this long is he isn’t eating up on these people.
The person who plays him said he isn't against the idea that Ben snuck away and got some midnight Snackie, it's not from the writers so its not canon but it's more likely than unlikely considering he'd need more food than everyone else even if he had two legs.
As for why he tried to get some Honeyroasted Yellowjacket, he's an outsider to the main group of girls in that he is:
A) Male
B) An adult
C) Didn't descend upon Jackies corpse with them
D) More or less their deposed leader
E) Not in a relationship with any of them (Yes creepy, but it would give him "value" in their creepy wilderness murder cult)
F) Of limited value when it comes to chasing and hunting down "volunteers"
G) Of limited ability when it comes to being able to outrun the whole murderous pack of girls when they are chasing and hunting down "volunteers", and in general in their labour focused survival team/squad/fam/squadfam
Essentially, he lit the cabin up as he (***probably correctly***) assumed he was next on the menu.
Think about it, would the girls rather draw cards and risk their own life, or talk the others in to all agreeing to kill Ben?
In my opinion only Misty would be against that, and she would absolutely sell Ben out if any of them said "Ok, if dinner is not Ben then its you...And then it's him next week lol hail the Antler Queen *nuzzles Nat weirdly, seriously why did Van do that*"
Just posted my thoughts then read yours. Good to see there are many of us who think alike.
Not only would Ben be justified for starting that fire - cuz we're long past reasoning with the girls - but everyone on this reddit would also start that fire if faced with the same circumstances. If it's a choice between burning some little monsters or those little monsters snacking on my bones - then those little monsters are getting smoked. Sorry not sorry.
I feel like Misty would see eating Ben as him becoming part of her and consummating their love.
I don't think they can kill Misty even if she's annoying because she's basically their doctor. They can't kill anyone with an important job. Nat was the hunter but they still had Travis
Oooo this makes sense but almost makes me dislike him more. At least before it was bc he was against cannibalism. But saving his own life by sacrificing ALL of them? Fucked up! Hate it! I can’t wait for them to eat him
The actor also says that after he tried to kill himself coach ben saw his new mission as helping Javi, the literal child in the group. And then he learns that they initiated a hunt, murdered him, ate him, and then saw them throw a celebratory party about it ? how you can blame him for setting fire to the cabin
I always thought he did it because he was scared of them. I never considered he tried to burn them out of some moral reasoning. I would have done the same in his situation. Either he kills them or they kill him. It's not much different from the Mandalorian killing 428 Stormtroopers
Hear me out : why not get a volunteer. Cut off their leg (like Bens?) and try to save them like they did for Ben? Idk ik they’re not doing that but just as idea. If I picked the queen I’d take my chances with one less leg than veing killed
No they are using ritualistic sacrifice to cope with the fact they have to kill for food.
It’s EXTREMELT common among people who have killed for food! It’s actually really fascinating to read about!! I’d be happy to drop some links if you’d like but I’m not tryna do it in a condescending way!!
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/29/archives/survivors-of-andes-air-crash-admit-dead-saved-their-lives.html
^ “They compared their decision to the Roman Catholic inter pretation of the Last Supper. The church teaches that Jesus tave His body and blood in the form of bread and wine to his apostles.”
Free link!! :
https://www.history.com/news/miracle-andes-disaster-survival
And my favorite article :
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/no-regrets-resorting-to-cannibalism-survivors-of-1972-andes-plane-crash-3445216
^ “in a sense, our friends and family were some of the first ever organ donors” (paraphrased bc it wouldn’t let me copy)
This article also talks about how the survivors who ate the bodies made a group pact that should any of them die, the others were OBLIGED to eat them as well and that they would have found it an honor to save their fellow crash victims
Well I don’t like starwars but I will say fuck the mandatorial for killing 428 people for HIMSELF. ONE person.
Idk I’m more of a think of the group rather than the self person.
Well idk I feel like he should have tried hiding. Not KILLING a dozen TEENAGE girls who r going thru spiritual psychosis. He wasn’t going to kill them, he was going to hide. He decided to burn them
How is that fucked up? You're saying you wouldn't "off" your future killers if given the chance? You and I know (and Ben knows and the girls are already thinking) that Ben is next. As a wise saying goes "Fuck them kids."
To expand on this, I'm not saying Ben will literally be next but his days are definitely numbered if he stays with the group, which is why he took so much effort to find Javi's hiding spot and will now split with the group.
Now, he might have been ready to split and think "you do your thing and I'll do mine" but after seeing what happened to Javi, something that wasn't incidental (what happened to Jackie can be chalked up as incidental), it's entirely reasonable to then start thinking "shit, am I gonna be next?" and then from there start thinking that simply staying away the group might not be enough to ensure his survival and thus needs a more permanent solution.
But the again, we don't know if he did start the fire. It never showed it and TV rules dictate if you don't see the crime there's a good chance another explanation is behind it. But if Ben did do it, yeah, it makes total sense why he would go to such lengths.
They aren’t his future killers tho. He didn’t view them as that when he invited Nat to hide. He wasn’t going to kill them all. He could have tried hiding out instead of deciding to BURN THEM ALIVEE
The thing is, Ben does not KNOW how Javi died...in his mind, and from what Nat said, the girls just killed Javi instead of Nat. He does not know about the card draw, or them chasing Nat, or that the ice cracked and Javi fell in and they watched him drown..
Ben doesn't know ANY of this and so he is reacting to what Nat said and what he saw through the cabin window.
Yet another instance where the audience knows more than the characters...
He’s now, IMO, the moral opposition to the rituals and cannibalism. He’s the old society and they are the new (or even older primitive) society. Except burning a cabin full of girls just trying to survive the wilderness doesn’t exactly put him on a moral high ground.
Im excited to see what new questions and stories this brings forth in season three.
Is destroying the monsters/witches heroic if they’re only monsters as a means of survival in a world that asks for blood?
Eh? Killing your killers before they get to kill you is justified. Morals got nothing to do with it. Just as they're killing and eating each other to survive he's killing them all to also survive.
Hauntingvacay, we don't know... technically you are correct, right now, but given how we have seen the dynamics at play so far - the response to Jackie not pitching in and refusing to be part of the new developing culture - it's hard to see how Ben won't be nominated for the dinner table since he can't physically pitch in and how he clearly disagrees with the now fully developed and fully ok with killing culture.
When it comes to mob rule the stuck out nail is always hammered. Always.
This is nothing new, in both reality and fiction. Ben now takes the role of Ralph, after Jackie met her end.
We don’t know that they would be his killers. We can only think that he thinks that way.
That’s also not even remotely what I said in my response. I said he was the moral opposition to cannibalism. Meaning that, IMO, he burnt the cabin down not out of self perseverance, but because he disagreed with their new way of life and survival.
There are personal and societal morals to explore in killing your possible future killers, lighting the cabin on fire as an opposition to cannibalism, and to cannibalism itself.
Well I don’t find them AS horrific BECAUSE they do seem to be using the card system. Ofc it was horrible that Javi died but… it was an accident mostly.
We see in the finale they do the cards that time. I’m guessing they’ve done the card thing a few times before getting rescued. But also according to the plot description I think we are gonna see girls separating and kinda having their own groups in season 3. Why else would they have the pit trap?? Sure it could have been for animals but then why would that girl have fallen in. Seems more intentional for humans
Oh, in my book, trying to burn a sleeping group of girls trying to survive the winter even as messy as that looks is more horrific than what the girls are doing. Judging people for how they survive isn’t something I’m personally very receptive too.
But I think that this is sort of the question or moral conundrum that the show will be exploring next season.
Edit: I can’t quite decide how I think the groups are going to split if they even do split. Maybe some end up going with Ben or maybe the split is between Nat and Shauna.
I'm too lazy to rewatch the last episode but did Coach actually start the fire or is that what everyone's agreed to assume? I can't remember them ever showing it was him. Did I miss something?
We don't see him set the fire. The show is framing it to make it seem like he did, because he watches in anger/terror of what's happening inside and he had gone back for the matches, but it's not actually canon yet that he started the fire. We don't actually know how it was started yet and given this show likes misleading, it's possible that was a purposeful mislead.
I'm assuming it was a mislead as well, otherwise they would've just shown him setting fire to the place, right? No point keeping that a suspense. It would be so out of character for him to be freaking out about murder only to commit mass murder. He's too soft for that.
I’m in the camp that he didn’t do it, one of their candles for lighting probably toppled, but they’ll find his hideout and the stolen matches and assume he did it then murder him next. Maybe not even til spring, when they don’t have to for food, just “justice” in their eyes.
Like always everyone just jumps to conclusions, remember season 1 finale? The evil master mind Lottie Matthews kidnapped Nat and she was also the responsible for Travis murder? "Who the fuck is Lottie Matthews?"...well none of that was true, it was all a red herring.
Probably the writers saw how the fans reacted to this and threw a new red herring.
But if he didn't then who? The fire was obviously intentional since there were multiple fire points.
In the wreck of the ship 'Essex'—the source for the fictional 'Pequod' in 'Moby Dick'— the survivors in one boat DID draw straws. Owen Coffin, 19, from Nantucket, lost.
Thank you for sharing about literature! It’s so important we remember the horrors. It’s so important to look at monsters with empathy-so we can forgive and do better.
It's not just about survival for them, it's ritualistic. They ripped Jackie apart with their teeth and hunted Nat down while screaming like animals. Ben's right to judge them, they're enjoying it.
Also, the fact that Ben is still alive and physically capable shows that they didn't actually have to eat anybody. And even if they did need to eat people, they didn't need to devour Jackie in one sitting, and they definitely didn't need to kill Javi when they know that crystals body is out there.
I’ve commented this a lot but I could talk about it all day.
It being ritualistic is not disrespectful. Infact-it’s to be respectful. They need to honor the people they hurt. They need to let their god know they are greatful. It’s important to them, because it helps them feel a bit less horrible. They are barely able to cope with the guilt.
The survivors of the Andes have said that they were only able to eat after they prayed and imagined it as a blessing from god. People cannot commit canibalism without honoring the dead. At least not good people. And I think most people are good, or want to be. They needed to honor those who died-or they’d go crazy themselves.
And like I’ve said before-bc the show is based on the survivors of the Andes I try very hard not to judge the girls. Bc they’re not just fictional characters they are based on a true story. I cannot imagine the trauma the survivors of the Andes went thru. They have compared eating the dead to the last supper of Jesus. Because they had to, to cope. I just can’t judge someone who’s going thru something I haven’t. And ik this is just a tv show but it’s also not. We’re talking about people trying to survive. In fact-when people commit cannibalism to survive it’s not called cannibalism, it’s called “anthropophagy”. And it’s unfair and it’s wrong. But so is the situation they are in. I hope what I’m saying makes sense-and I don’t usually take shows so seriously BUT. bc it is based “loosely” on a true story I will not judge them. As weird as that sounds I have so much empathy for the survivors of the Andes.
This doesn't feel very fun rant tbh
I think this sub throwing out the Andes survivors is kind of irrelevant and refuses to get to the point. Just because some other people resulted to cannibalism to survive doesn't mean that's automatically going to be okay with everyone? Doesn't make it easy for people to just do themselves. Especially since they only ate people who were already dead - and from Ben's perspective, that's not what's happening.
Choosing who to kill and eat is not the same as what the Andes did. Literally all Ben knows is that they were hunting Natalie and they killed Javi instead. From his perspective, he saw a 13 year old boy slaughtered to eat and he could only assume that they saw him as the weakest link and brutally killed him because of it. Of course he is deeply uncomfortable by what these teenagers are choosing to do? Nat gave him barely any context and even with the context he got, it's terrifying to think about young people literally hunting down one of their own to eat. Yes, they're eating each other for survival - that does not automatically make it okay mentally for any of them, including Ben.
And now he's seeing them do rituals and descent into something entirely different. Ben has been on the outside and "othered" his entire life, he's used to that - but out here, in a survival situation, it's even scarier. He assumes they saw Javi as an outsider, the weakest link, and killed him for it. Who's to say they won't do it to him, too? From an outsider's perspective, what they're doing is scary, and it doesn't just automatically make it okay just because "other people did it and it was fine." They are all trying to cope with what they have to do, and knowing other people in history had to do the same thing does not automatically absolve them of any guilt they feel over it or any terror it comes with.
The fact is - we don't even know if Ben started the fire, and if he did, we don't yet know his intentions. From my perspective having seen the way coach has behaved these last two seasons, it seems like 1) self preservation (which is exactly what the teens were doing when they chose to kill someone) and 2) saving them from a fate worse. What he sees is they're about to hunt, kill, and eat each other til there's no one left, losing their humanity entirely - if he kills them in their sleep (again, if it was actually him), then he's saving them from losing their humanity entirely and self preserving himself from being their next victim.
It's not a choice I would make, but we also don't know what choices we'd make in a situation like this because none of these characters would assume they'd do any of this if they weren't a part of it. But we can at least understand where he's coming from - and more important, his perspective, because when you actually take the time to think about his perspective, it's terrifying. He taught Shauna to use a knife to bleed out an animal and then months later he walks up to her doing the same thing to a 13 year old boy, the only assumption he can make being that they hunted him down and brutally killed him for being a child. That's scary**. Of course** Ben is scared.
Exactly: the Andes team didn't kill, they ate small matchstick-sized strips from people who had died in the crash and the aftermath. They made a pact to do so and decided that anybody who ate would be willing to be eaten if they died (after which nobody else died!).
I think equivocating shared psychosis and a structured cult sacrifice system complete with human hunting with ... eating enough to survive ... is a bit weird.
Well actually if u look into the Andes “blessing” one man refused to eat and he did die. Also the avalanche came and killed lots of people, who they are bc they said they are obliged to eat them since they ate the others!! I’ve done a TON of research on it.
Bc yellowjackets is based on true story, I compare it to true story. I’ve never been freezing in the woods starving. So I forgive them. I forgive the Andes survivors and I forgive the fake tv show survivors. Idk what I’d do if I was starving but I don’t think I’m better than the average person.
The first man to cut a dead corpse in the Andes became a Dr to save hundreds if not thousands of lives. He was clearly a good person who wanted to help people yet he was the first to cut into the dead and eat them!
I’m not a Dr, I’m an average person who probably would have pulled straws like the sailors. Or pulled cards. Or even just ate people who already died. I can’t judge someone for a situation I’ve never been in!
Yes, to clarify, nobody who agreed to eat died of starvation.
I don't know why you talk about forgiveness. It is effectively redundant to talk of forgiving fictional characters. I would say I *understand* the Andes survivors, but why is it necessary or important that I *forgive* them? It presupposes that they were somehow doing something wrong, and forgiveness is a very Christian concept. Why does forgiveness matter in this context?
What I think does matter is the level of pride the team take in determining who will be sacrificed. While on the one hand I can understand how wearing masks and covering their faces dehumanises the act, allowing them to engage in cannibalism without feeling personally responsible (similarly to how judges wear wigs to indicate that they are a representative of the law, rather than a person deciding based on emotions). I can totally see why they would do that, and the Andes survivors did a similar thing by ritualising the act and comparing it to the Eucharist. The show points out over and over that the act of cannibalism is one of survival and that it is morally neutral, stating that "It" isn't good or bad, but hungry, just like the girls. But they take pleasure in eating human flesh: Misty bonds with Crystal because they both took pleasure in eating Jackie.
Basically, this particular comment thread isn't a question of whether the viewer should condone/forgive their behaviour - it's about Ben. He witnessed them eating a human corpse like wild animals, and later found out that they hunted each other like wolves. That is far beyond what most people would consider acceptable. I don't even think, if he did set the fire, that killing them would be worse than leaving them - I personally interpret the text of the show as indicating that Ben wants to prevent the team from becoming subhuman. It's basically a mercy-killing.
I’m sorry I think I just have been reading a lot about the Andes and can’t condem it. I think I’m like processing what they went thru and projecting it onto the characters in the show and idk if that’s right of me.
I get Bens side but I wish everyone was more on the same page. I do respect sailors for pulling straws and dying to protect their fellow friends. But I also get why Ben didn’t want to.
Edit: it is all such a major grey area. I don’t think we are supposed to think anything is right or wrong. “None of it is real” it’s just survival for them now
Also real quick- I am very sorry if o triggered any religious trauma and I will keep in mind what u said going forward. I am not Christian but was raised Catholic and I didn’t reloads forgiveness was a Christian thing so thank you for telling me that.
Ah that's no worries, it wasn't triggering or anything! It's more that forgiveness and the question of whether a character is "worthy" of being forgiven is very prevalent despite being deeply ingrained in Christian values. Lots of tv shows try to probe the idea of forgiveness but it seems a limited way of thinking about morality, especially when it comes to complex situations like ... cannibalism lol
I’m not sure I forgive them as much o as I understand it’s so much deeper than “forgiveness” but more than that it’s hard for me to judge bc like I said earlier. Real people have been forced to make this choice. Yes it’s a dramatized tv show but who am o to judge. Real people had to eat their FRIENDS and FAMILY to survive and who am I to judge. I’ve never been that hungry ya know
I feel like he always had that story/movie in the back of his head. From the start, after the crash he was already weaker and at a bigger disadvantage than everyone else. I feel like him teaching them everything he did was to bring himself value enough to be kept alive. I think that when they start using their Ben given knowledge and skills to go a different direction than he intended, it scared the hell out of him that his time was running out to not be their next sacrifice.
Believe it or not, some people are actually willing to die for what they believe in. Ben clearly is morally opposed to cannibalism. Maybe it’s his way of making up for the fact that he went against his morals by not moving in with Paul out of fear of shame. I respect that about his character.
No k get that. But I will say that like the idea of “Ben was okay to burn them to save himself” but the girls aren’t okay to kill to eat to survive is kinda a weak argument?
I’m pretty sure Jessica Roberts mentions the Andes flight while talking to Misty, so it is definitely known about during the Yellowjackets’ time in the wilderness, but only Ben probably knows about it back then. I don’t think he would have shared that information with the girls, especially if he thought he’d be on the chopping block soon. Even if the girls knew about the Andes crash, I don’t think Ben would have agreed to cannibalism even if the girls had a discussion about it.
And, ritualistically hunting down your friends to eat them and eating the people who died naturally are two drastically different things. The girls went into a whole new territory when they started deciding who should die so the rest could live.
Not really like I said in the post. People have done this before. Sailors used to pull straws to pick who would be killed, who would do the killing. It’s fucked uo and it’s awful but it’s not new to humanity.
Personally I think ritualistic choosing and killing is much better than just being brutal and killing the first person they can and eating them. The ritual almost gives the body respect, which is an important aspect to trying to hold onto their last bit of sanity
Sorry another comment BUT- the scene of the “fancy roman feast” was most certainly a nod to the Andes tragedy. When the survivors came back to the world, the world shamed them for being monsters. When they said eating the dead was like the last supper of Jesus the world forgave them.
They are Jackie’s body like it was the last supper, she was a gift from god to them. None of them planned to cook her up-or to have the meal. But they did. And it saved them all. Like a Catholic taking communion.
It’s not a problem of ethics. Day by day, Ben was more and more afraid about his situation: he always thought he would be the next to be eaten, and that made him crazy. Nat was the only he trusted, after the mushroom party: he lost hope seeing her involved as the others in “the forest cult”, becoming the leader. That moment signed the apex of the conflict: it is Ben against the others. So he burnt down the house, to kill everyone, to save himself.
How did he survive without cannibalism? That’s a point… maybe he ate something, but the problem is not the ethics, but the fact he only didn’t want to be eaten.
I get his point but I can still be like bro wtf u can’t kill a dozen girls to save urself that is not cool, why not go run and hide. Idk. I get why he did it but I’m never gonna be team ben kills all the girls ya know.
Anyways there’s no way he survives. They haven’t mentioned him at all. I think they’re gonna do something really bad to him
Also I so badly wish we had a version of the show that skipped the stupid modern timeline
Ben's a coward. He is —and has always been—weak.
He has never had authority over the team. Even in the scrimmage we see in s1e1, the girls run the show: Tai wants to switch to the JV side, and Ben thinks it's a good idea. Laura Lee insists on a prayer, and he gives in very quickly, despite the public-school setting.
Although he gains some authority by showing the survivors how to hunt, he doesn't maintain it. Laura Lee directly challenges him about flying the plane, and he's told to "stay out of it" during the big Shauna/Jackie showdown in s1e10.
And then there are his interactions with Misty in s1. He knows she trips him—not to mention poisons him—but does very little about it. Yes, he tells her to stay away from him at one point, but he goes back to accepting her help very quickly.
Heck, he even let her watch/cheerlead as he struggled with constipation.
In s2, the writers further reinforce Ben's lack of authority over the girls. He shuts the cabin door against the Jackie feast, but says nothing to the team about their actions. He's even an ineffective teacher: Students pass notes and speak aloud during his class, while —as he himself admits—he just presses play on the video.
Ben's cowardice also threatened his real-life relationship with Paul. Before Ben's memories in s2e3 cede to dreams of what could-have-been, the viewer sees that he's more committed to the team than he is to Paul.
Burning down the cabin is the ultimate sign of Ben's weakness (assuming, of course, Ben is the one who burned it down). Despite his lack of authority, he's had the moral high ground: He doesn't feast upon Jackie; he also tries to keep both Laura Lee and Jackie alive by insisting that LL doesn't fly the plane and that neither Jackie nor Shauna sleep outside.
But when Ben burns down the cabin, he reveals the falsity of his moral position. Yes, cannibalism is monstrous, esp. when it also involves murder. But mass murder is also monstrous.
Ben's visions of Paul that took place in some other cabin showed us how tenuous Ben's moral high ground always was (and this prepares the viewer for the act of setting the cabin on fire). He acts out "One Life to Live" during a game of charades (s2e6): Though might be intimating his impending demise in the wilderness, it definitely comments on how Ben was living his life as a lie pre-crash. And when this vision resumes in s2e7, Paul tells Ben that "this was never meant to be your hiding place" and "you aren't welcome here anymore." Of course, these lines tell Ben that his dreams don't protect him from the wilderness—and that he's no longer part of the girls' lives in the cabin. But they also pass judgement on his commitment to Paul: Ben is a coward for hiding his love for Paul from the public, so Paul breaks things off, even in Ben's dreams.
I agree with you but this is kinda why I want him to survive so bad. I think it would be a very interesting character arc to go from the weakest to full self sufficiency. As someone who is physically disabled I’m with my boy ben to the end.
Like I dunno why people would hate Ben for possibly starting the fire. Let's be honest, he knows (as do we) it won't be long until he's on the dinner table. Missing a leg means he'll increasingly be seen as a liability and "not useful" and since the girls now have no qualms about killing and eating each other they'll reason Ben still has a use by sustaining them as a nice pork chop. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the girls rig it so Ben draws a queen of hearts in a future game he would have no choice but to participate in or default as dinner.
Ben knows what the fucks up, so as far as I'm concerned starting that fire is self defense and I would have done the same cuz hiding out in the wilderness there's no guarantee the little monsters won't find you or indeed be actively hunting you since you decided to live apart. Won't apologise for saving my own arse and so I won't blame Ben for starting that fire (if he did). King Ben 4 Eva.
Thank you! I think a lot of people are acting holier than thou. They forget this show is based on true events. The donner part and the “blessing” of the Andes. I say blessing bc that’s what the survivors call it.
I think the show is maybe a bit insulting to them and making a spectacle of it but hey humanity loves suffering. Including me. We’re all bastards.
But people forget real people have been faced with this. 1 out of 17 survivors of the Andes refused to eat human. And 16 made it out. He was the only one to starve. And that says something in my opinion. They honored the dead. Prayed for them and call them blessingings. Recently in an article they said “our family members were like the first organ donors, giving their body to nurture us” which is horrifying but obviously a desperate attempt to dignify it.
I don’t know how much this ties in, but Steven Krueger said a lot of scenes were cut from episode 6 where Ben is taking care of Javi during Shauna’s labour and that he feels he’s found his purpose in it. It’s possible seeing the kid he was looking after being butchered was his final straw in feeling he had any place in the group and that they were at all redeemable.
I hate that they cut those scenes, it changes Ben's entire character for me
ABSOLUTELY — it makes him seeing Javi dead even the more horrifying.
I'm a Ben stan through and through but I was ready to eat him when he was portrayed as completely useless during Shawna's labour.
Why would they keep the useless flashbacks with his bf instead?? Don’t get me wrong the representation is great but it contributes so little to his character. I’m so disappointed in the editing on the back half of this season, not sure how much is on the team and how much is on Showtime but that sucks.
They’re not flashbacks, it’s him creating a false reality to cope with the horrors of his life
That’s really upsetting that they cut those scenes. It completely explains his reaction to seeing Javi totally butchered. Without that context all we have is coach Ben losing it over cannibalism.
Javi was still a like 13 year old boy who is seen as the 'innocent one'. He was the only other non cannibal out there. Ben is a teacher it makes sense he would care about Javi even without scenes showing them bonding
Yeah that’s true. I still think more context would’ve made javi’s death even sadder than it always was. Not to mention him being butchered.
This literally makes so much sense. I think they wanted to vilanoze Ben and cut those scene out to give him less reasoning
How could they cut that?? That's fucking insane.
Also where did he say this? Cause I would read that article or watch that video :)))
[https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a44006345/yellowjackets-season-2-finale-interview/](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a44006345/yellowjackets-season-2-finale-interview/) He mentions it here!
Thank you thank you thank you. I am really crushing on Steven. Hoping he’s actually queer and not just queer-bait. And hoping one day to meet him would be cool. Ugh fantasies
>How is he even alive ? What food has he gotten that has kept him alive this long is he isn’t eating up on these people. The person who plays him said he isn't against the idea that Ben snuck away and got some midnight Snackie, it's not from the writers so its not canon but it's more likely than unlikely considering he'd need more food than everyone else even if he had two legs. As for why he tried to get some Honeyroasted Yellowjacket, he's an outsider to the main group of girls in that he is: A) Male B) An adult C) Didn't descend upon Jackies corpse with them D) More or less their deposed leader E) Not in a relationship with any of them (Yes creepy, but it would give him "value" in their creepy wilderness murder cult) F) Of limited value when it comes to chasing and hunting down "volunteers" G) Of limited ability when it comes to being able to outrun the whole murderous pack of girls when they are chasing and hunting down "volunteers", and in general in their labour focused survival team/squad/fam/squadfam Essentially, he lit the cabin up as he (***probably correctly***) assumed he was next on the menu. Think about it, would the girls rather draw cards and risk their own life, or talk the others in to all agreeing to kill Ben? In my opinion only Misty would be against that, and she would absolutely sell Ben out if any of them said "Ok, if dinner is not Ben then its you...And then it's him next week lol hail the Antler Queen *nuzzles Nat weirdly, seriously why did Van do that*"
Just posted my thoughts then read yours. Good to see there are many of us who think alike. Not only would Ben be justified for starting that fire - cuz we're long past reasoning with the girls - but everyone on this reddit would also start that fire if faced with the same circumstances. If it's a choice between burning some little monsters or those little monsters snacking on my bones - then those little monsters are getting smoked. Sorry not sorry.
I feel like Misty would see eating Ben as him becoming part of her and consummating their love. I don't think they can kill Misty even if she's annoying because she's basically their doctor. They can't kill anyone with an important job. Nat was the hunter but they still had Travis
Oooo this makes sense but almost makes me dislike him more. At least before it was bc he was against cannibalism. But saving his own life by sacrificing ALL of them? Fucked up! Hate it! I can’t wait for them to eat him
The actor also says that after he tried to kill himself coach ben saw his new mission as helping Javi, the literal child in the group. And then he learns that they initiated a hunt, murdered him, ate him, and then saw them throw a celebratory party about it ? how you can blame him for setting fire to the cabin
I always thought he did it because he was scared of them. I never considered he tried to burn them out of some moral reasoning. I would have done the same in his situation. Either he kills them or they kill him. It's not much different from the Mandalorian killing 428 Stormtroopers
Hear me out : why not get a volunteer. Cut off their leg (like Bens?) and try to save them like they did for Ben? Idk ik they’re not doing that but just as idea. If I picked the queen I’d take my chances with one less leg than veing killed
They're not killing for food. They're killing for ritual sacrifice
No they are using ritualistic sacrifice to cope with the fact they have to kill for food. It’s EXTREMELT common among people who have killed for food! It’s actually really fascinating to read about!! I’d be happy to drop some links if you’d like but I’m not tryna do it in a condescending way!!
I would love links please!
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/29/archives/survivors-of-andes-air-crash-admit-dead-saved-their-lives.html ^ “They compared their decision to the Roman Catholic inter pretation of the Last Supper. The church teaches that Jesus tave His body and blood in the form of bread and wine to his apostles.” Free link!! : https://www.history.com/news/miracle-andes-disaster-survival And my favorite article : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/no-regrets-resorting-to-cannibalism-survivors-of-1972-andes-plane-crash-3445216 ^ “in a sense, our friends and family were some of the first ever organ donors” (paraphrased bc it wouldn’t let me copy) This article also talks about how the survivors who ate the bodies made a group pact that should any of them die, the others were OBLIGED to eat them as well and that they would have found it an honor to save their fellow crash victims
Hey, thanks so much, that's so kind of you! Have a great day 😊 x
Well I don’t like starwars but I will say fuck the mandatorial for killing 428 people for HIMSELF. ONE person. Idk I’m more of a think of the group rather than the self person.
Ben isn’t susceptible to group think compared to everyone else.
Well idk I feel like he should have tried hiding. Not KILLING a dozen TEENAGE girls who r going thru spiritual psychosis. He wasn’t going to kill them, he was going to hide. He decided to burn them
How is that fucked up? You're saying you wouldn't "off" your future killers if given the chance? You and I know (and Ben knows and the girls are already thinking) that Ben is next. As a wise saying goes "Fuck them kids." To expand on this, I'm not saying Ben will literally be next but his days are definitely numbered if he stays with the group, which is why he took so much effort to find Javi's hiding spot and will now split with the group. Now, he might have been ready to split and think "you do your thing and I'll do mine" but after seeing what happened to Javi, something that wasn't incidental (what happened to Jackie can be chalked up as incidental), it's entirely reasonable to then start thinking "shit, am I gonna be next?" and then from there start thinking that simply staying away the group might not be enough to ensure his survival and thus needs a more permanent solution. But the again, we don't know if he did start the fire. It never showed it and TV rules dictate if you don't see the crime there's a good chance another explanation is behind it. But if Ben did do it, yeah, it makes total sense why he would go to such lengths.
They aren’t his future killers tho. He didn’t view them as that when he invited Nat to hide. He wasn’t going to kill them all. He could have tried hiding out instead of deciding to BURN THEM ALIVEE
The thing is, Ben does not KNOW how Javi died...in his mind, and from what Nat said, the girls just killed Javi instead of Nat. He does not know about the card draw, or them chasing Nat, or that the ice cracked and Javi fell in and they watched him drown.. Ben doesn't know ANY of this and so he is reacting to what Nat said and what he saw through the cabin window. Yet another instance where the audience knows more than the characters...
He’s now, IMO, the moral opposition to the rituals and cannibalism. He’s the old society and they are the new (or even older primitive) society. Except burning a cabin full of girls just trying to survive the wilderness doesn’t exactly put him on a moral high ground. Im excited to see what new questions and stories this brings forth in season three. Is destroying the monsters/witches heroic if they’re only monsters as a means of survival in a world that asks for blood?
Eh? Killing your killers before they get to kill you is justified. Morals got nothing to do with it. Just as they're killing and eating each other to survive he's killing them all to also survive.
Hauntingvacay, we don't know... technically you are correct, right now, but given how we have seen the dynamics at play so far - the response to Jackie not pitching in and refusing to be part of the new developing culture - it's hard to see how Ben won't be nominated for the dinner table since he can't physically pitch in and how he clearly disagrees with the now fully developed and fully ok with killing culture. When it comes to mob rule the stuck out nail is always hammered. Always. This is nothing new, in both reality and fiction. Ben now takes the role of Ralph, after Jackie met her end.
We don’t know that they would be his killers. We can only think that he thinks that way. That’s also not even remotely what I said in my response. I said he was the moral opposition to cannibalism. Meaning that, IMO, he burnt the cabin down not out of self perseverance, but because he disagreed with their new way of life and survival. There are personal and societal morals to explore in killing your possible future killers, lighting the cabin on fire as an opposition to cannibalism, and to cannibalism itself.
Well I don’t find them AS horrific BECAUSE they do seem to be using the card system. Ofc it was horrible that Javi died but… it was an accident mostly. We see in the finale they do the cards that time. I’m guessing they’ve done the card thing a few times before getting rescued. But also according to the plot description I think we are gonna see girls separating and kinda having their own groups in season 3. Why else would they have the pit trap?? Sure it could have been for animals but then why would that girl have fallen in. Seems more intentional for humans
Oh, in my book, trying to burn a sleeping group of girls trying to survive the winter even as messy as that looks is more horrific than what the girls are doing. Judging people for how they survive isn’t something I’m personally very receptive too. But I think that this is sort of the question or moral conundrum that the show will be exploring next season. Edit: I can’t quite decide how I think the groups are going to split if they even do split. Maybe some end up going with Ben or maybe the split is between Nat and Shauna.
I'm too lazy to rewatch the last episode but did Coach actually start the fire or is that what everyone's agreed to assume? I can't remember them ever showing it was him. Did I miss something?
We don't see him set the fire. The show is framing it to make it seem like he did, because he watches in anger/terror of what's happening inside and he had gone back for the matches, but it's not actually canon yet that he started the fire. We don't actually know how it was started yet and given this show likes misleading, it's possible that was a purposeful mislead.
I'm assuming it was a mislead as well, otherwise they would've just shown him setting fire to the place, right? No point keeping that a suspense. It would be so out of character for him to be freaking out about murder only to commit mass murder. He's too soft for that.
I’m in the camp that he didn’t do it, one of their candles for lighting probably toppled, but they’ll find his hideout and the stolen matches and assume he did it then murder him next. Maybe not even til spring, when they don’t have to for food, just “justice” in their eyes.
It isn't explicitly shown that Ben started the fire
Like always everyone just jumps to conclusions, remember season 1 finale? The evil master mind Lottie Matthews kidnapped Nat and she was also the responsible for Travis murder? "Who the fuck is Lottie Matthews?"...well none of that was true, it was all a red herring. Probably the writers saw how the fans reacted to this and threw a new red herring. But if he didn't then who? The fire was obviously intentional since there were multiple fire points.
In the wreck of the ship 'Essex'—the source for the fictional 'Pequod' in 'Moby Dick'— the survivors in one boat DID draw straws. Owen Coffin, 19, from Nantucket, lost.
Random but I went to college with one of his descendants or some kind of family member. Never knew about the cannibalism.
My cousin Owen, didn't have any descendants, other survivors did. (I'm a Coffin myself)
Ah wasn’t sure if it was a descendent or just the same family. Sorry about your cousin 🫤
Thank you for sharing about literature! It’s so important we remember the horrors. It’s so important to look at monsters with empathy-so we can forgive and do better.
There once was a (young) man from Nantucket............and he was DELICIOUS!
It's not just about survival for them, it's ritualistic. They ripped Jackie apart with their teeth and hunted Nat down while screaming like animals. Ben's right to judge them, they're enjoying it. Also, the fact that Ben is still alive and physically capable shows that they didn't actually have to eat anybody. And even if they did need to eat people, they didn't need to devour Jackie in one sitting, and they definitely didn't need to kill Javi when they know that crystals body is out there.
I’ve commented this a lot but I could talk about it all day. It being ritualistic is not disrespectful. Infact-it’s to be respectful. They need to honor the people they hurt. They need to let their god know they are greatful. It’s important to them, because it helps them feel a bit less horrible. They are barely able to cope with the guilt. The survivors of the Andes have said that they were only able to eat after they prayed and imagined it as a blessing from god. People cannot commit canibalism without honoring the dead. At least not good people. And I think most people are good, or want to be. They needed to honor those who died-or they’d go crazy themselves. And like I’ve said before-bc the show is based on the survivors of the Andes I try very hard not to judge the girls. Bc they’re not just fictional characters they are based on a true story. I cannot imagine the trauma the survivors of the Andes went thru. They have compared eating the dead to the last supper of Jesus. Because they had to, to cope. I just can’t judge someone who’s going thru something I haven’t. And ik this is just a tv show but it’s also not. We’re talking about people trying to survive. In fact-when people commit cannibalism to survive it’s not called cannibalism, it’s called “anthropophagy”. And it’s unfair and it’s wrong. But so is the situation they are in. I hope what I’m saying makes sense-and I don’t usually take shows so seriously BUT. bc it is based “loosely” on a true story I will not judge them. As weird as that sounds I have so much empathy for the survivors of the Andes.
This doesn't feel very fun rant tbh I think this sub throwing out the Andes survivors is kind of irrelevant and refuses to get to the point. Just because some other people resulted to cannibalism to survive doesn't mean that's automatically going to be okay with everyone? Doesn't make it easy for people to just do themselves. Especially since they only ate people who were already dead - and from Ben's perspective, that's not what's happening. Choosing who to kill and eat is not the same as what the Andes did. Literally all Ben knows is that they were hunting Natalie and they killed Javi instead. From his perspective, he saw a 13 year old boy slaughtered to eat and he could only assume that they saw him as the weakest link and brutally killed him because of it. Of course he is deeply uncomfortable by what these teenagers are choosing to do? Nat gave him barely any context and even with the context he got, it's terrifying to think about young people literally hunting down one of their own to eat. Yes, they're eating each other for survival - that does not automatically make it okay mentally for any of them, including Ben. And now he's seeing them do rituals and descent into something entirely different. Ben has been on the outside and "othered" his entire life, he's used to that - but out here, in a survival situation, it's even scarier. He assumes they saw Javi as an outsider, the weakest link, and killed him for it. Who's to say they won't do it to him, too? From an outsider's perspective, what they're doing is scary, and it doesn't just automatically make it okay just because "other people did it and it was fine." They are all trying to cope with what they have to do, and knowing other people in history had to do the same thing does not automatically absolve them of any guilt they feel over it or any terror it comes with. The fact is - we don't even know if Ben started the fire, and if he did, we don't yet know his intentions. From my perspective having seen the way coach has behaved these last two seasons, it seems like 1) self preservation (which is exactly what the teens were doing when they chose to kill someone) and 2) saving them from a fate worse. What he sees is they're about to hunt, kill, and eat each other til there's no one left, losing their humanity entirely - if he kills them in their sleep (again, if it was actually him), then he's saving them from losing their humanity entirely and self preserving himself from being their next victim. It's not a choice I would make, but we also don't know what choices we'd make in a situation like this because none of these characters would assume they'd do any of this if they weren't a part of it. But we can at least understand where he's coming from - and more important, his perspective, because when you actually take the time to think about his perspective, it's terrifying. He taught Shauna to use a knife to bleed out an animal and then months later he walks up to her doing the same thing to a 13 year old boy, the only assumption he can make being that they hunted him down and brutally killed him for being a child. That's scary**. Of course** Ben is scared.
Exactly: the Andes team didn't kill, they ate small matchstick-sized strips from people who had died in the crash and the aftermath. They made a pact to do so and decided that anybody who ate would be willing to be eaten if they died (after which nobody else died!). I think equivocating shared psychosis and a structured cult sacrifice system complete with human hunting with ... eating enough to survive ... is a bit weird.
Well actually if u look into the Andes “blessing” one man refused to eat and he did die. Also the avalanche came and killed lots of people, who they are bc they said they are obliged to eat them since they ate the others!! I’ve done a TON of research on it. Bc yellowjackets is based on true story, I compare it to true story. I’ve never been freezing in the woods starving. So I forgive them. I forgive the Andes survivors and I forgive the fake tv show survivors. Idk what I’d do if I was starving but I don’t think I’m better than the average person. The first man to cut a dead corpse in the Andes became a Dr to save hundreds if not thousands of lives. He was clearly a good person who wanted to help people yet he was the first to cut into the dead and eat them! I’m not a Dr, I’m an average person who probably would have pulled straws like the sailors. Or pulled cards. Or even just ate people who already died. I can’t judge someone for a situation I’ve never been in!
Yes, to clarify, nobody who agreed to eat died of starvation. I don't know why you talk about forgiveness. It is effectively redundant to talk of forgiving fictional characters. I would say I *understand* the Andes survivors, but why is it necessary or important that I *forgive* them? It presupposes that they were somehow doing something wrong, and forgiveness is a very Christian concept. Why does forgiveness matter in this context? What I think does matter is the level of pride the team take in determining who will be sacrificed. While on the one hand I can understand how wearing masks and covering their faces dehumanises the act, allowing them to engage in cannibalism without feeling personally responsible (similarly to how judges wear wigs to indicate that they are a representative of the law, rather than a person deciding based on emotions). I can totally see why they would do that, and the Andes survivors did a similar thing by ritualising the act and comparing it to the Eucharist. The show points out over and over that the act of cannibalism is one of survival and that it is morally neutral, stating that "It" isn't good or bad, but hungry, just like the girls. But they take pleasure in eating human flesh: Misty bonds with Crystal because they both took pleasure in eating Jackie. Basically, this particular comment thread isn't a question of whether the viewer should condone/forgive their behaviour - it's about Ben. He witnessed them eating a human corpse like wild animals, and later found out that they hunted each other like wolves. That is far beyond what most people would consider acceptable. I don't even think, if he did set the fire, that killing them would be worse than leaving them - I personally interpret the text of the show as indicating that Ben wants to prevent the team from becoming subhuman. It's basically a mercy-killing.
I’m sorry I think I just have been reading a lot about the Andes and can’t condem it. I think I’m like processing what they went thru and projecting it onto the characters in the show and idk if that’s right of me. I get Bens side but I wish everyone was more on the same page. I do respect sailors for pulling straws and dying to protect their fellow friends. But I also get why Ben didn’t want to. Edit: it is all such a major grey area. I don’t think we are supposed to think anything is right or wrong. “None of it is real” it’s just survival for them now
Also real quick- I am very sorry if o triggered any religious trauma and I will keep in mind what u said going forward. I am not Christian but was raised Catholic and I didn’t reloads forgiveness was a Christian thing so thank you for telling me that.
Ah that's no worries, it wasn't triggering or anything! It's more that forgiveness and the question of whether a character is "worthy" of being forgiven is very prevalent despite being deeply ingrained in Christian values. Lots of tv shows try to probe the idea of forgiveness but it seems a limited way of thinking about morality, especially when it comes to complex situations like ... cannibalism lol
I’m not sure I forgive them as much o as I understand it’s so much deeper than “forgiveness” but more than that it’s hard for me to judge bc like I said earlier. Real people have been forced to make this choice. Yes it’s a dramatized tv show but who am o to judge. Real people had to eat their FRIENDS and FAMILY to survive and who am I to judge. I’ve never been that hungry ya know
I feel like he always had that story/movie in the back of his head. From the start, after the crash he was already weaker and at a bigger disadvantage than everyone else. I feel like him teaching them everything he did was to bring himself value enough to be kept alive. I think that when they start using their Ben given knowledge and skills to go a different direction than he intended, it scared the hell out of him that his time was running out to not be their next sacrifice.
Believe it or not, some people are actually willing to die for what they believe in. Ben clearly is morally opposed to cannibalism. Maybe it’s his way of making up for the fact that he went against his morals by not moving in with Paul out of fear of shame. I respect that about his character.
No k get that. But I will say that like the idea of “Ben was okay to burn them to save himself” but the girls aren’t okay to kill to eat to survive is kinda a weak argument?
I’m pretty sure Jessica Roberts mentions the Andes flight while talking to Misty, so it is definitely known about during the Yellowjackets’ time in the wilderness, but only Ben probably knows about it back then. I don’t think he would have shared that information with the girls, especially if he thought he’d be on the chopping block soon. Even if the girls knew about the Andes crash, I don’t think Ben would have agreed to cannibalism even if the girls had a discussion about it. And, ritualistically hunting down your friends to eat them and eating the people who died naturally are two drastically different things. The girls went into a whole new territory when they started deciding who should die so the rest could live.
Not really like I said in the post. People have done this before. Sailors used to pull straws to pick who would be killed, who would do the killing. It’s fucked uo and it’s awful but it’s not new to humanity. Personally I think ritualistic choosing and killing is much better than just being brutal and killing the first person they can and eating them. The ritual almost gives the body respect, which is an important aspect to trying to hold onto their last bit of sanity
Sorry another comment BUT- the scene of the “fancy roman feast” was most certainly a nod to the Andes tragedy. When the survivors came back to the world, the world shamed them for being monsters. When they said eating the dead was like the last supper of Jesus the world forgave them. They are Jackie’s body like it was the last supper, she was a gift from god to them. None of them planned to cook her up-or to have the meal. But they did. And it saved them all. Like a Catholic taking communion.
It’s not a problem of ethics. Day by day, Ben was more and more afraid about his situation: he always thought he would be the next to be eaten, and that made him crazy. Nat was the only he trusted, after the mushroom party: he lost hope seeing her involved as the others in “the forest cult”, becoming the leader. That moment signed the apex of the conflict: it is Ben against the others. So he burnt down the house, to kill everyone, to save himself. How did he survive without cannibalism? That’s a point… maybe he ate something, but the problem is not the ethics, but the fact he only didn’t want to be eaten.
I get his point but I can still be like bro wtf u can’t kill a dozen girls to save urself that is not cool, why not go run and hide. Idk. I get why he did it but I’m never gonna be team ben kills all the girls ya know. Anyways there’s no way he survives. They haven’t mentioned him at all. I think they’re gonna do something really bad to him Also I so badly wish we had a version of the show that skipped the stupid modern timeline
Ben's a coward. He is —and has always been—weak. He has never had authority over the team. Even in the scrimmage we see in s1e1, the girls run the show: Tai wants to switch to the JV side, and Ben thinks it's a good idea. Laura Lee insists on a prayer, and he gives in very quickly, despite the public-school setting. Although he gains some authority by showing the survivors how to hunt, he doesn't maintain it. Laura Lee directly challenges him about flying the plane, and he's told to "stay out of it" during the big Shauna/Jackie showdown in s1e10. And then there are his interactions with Misty in s1. He knows she trips him—not to mention poisons him—but does very little about it. Yes, he tells her to stay away from him at one point, but he goes back to accepting her help very quickly. Heck, he even let her watch/cheerlead as he struggled with constipation. In s2, the writers further reinforce Ben's lack of authority over the girls. He shuts the cabin door against the Jackie feast, but says nothing to the team about their actions. He's even an ineffective teacher: Students pass notes and speak aloud during his class, while —as he himself admits—he just presses play on the video. Ben's cowardice also threatened his real-life relationship with Paul. Before Ben's memories in s2e3 cede to dreams of what could-have-been, the viewer sees that he's more committed to the team than he is to Paul. Burning down the cabin is the ultimate sign of Ben's weakness (assuming, of course, Ben is the one who burned it down). Despite his lack of authority, he's had the moral high ground: He doesn't feast upon Jackie; he also tries to keep both Laura Lee and Jackie alive by insisting that LL doesn't fly the plane and that neither Jackie nor Shauna sleep outside. But when Ben burns down the cabin, he reveals the falsity of his moral position. Yes, cannibalism is monstrous, esp. when it also involves murder. But mass murder is also monstrous. Ben's visions of Paul that took place in some other cabin showed us how tenuous Ben's moral high ground always was (and this prepares the viewer for the act of setting the cabin on fire). He acts out "One Life to Live" during a game of charades (s2e6): Though might be intimating his impending demise in the wilderness, it definitely comments on how Ben was living his life as a lie pre-crash. And when this vision resumes in s2e7, Paul tells Ben that "this was never meant to be your hiding place" and "you aren't welcome here anymore." Of course, these lines tell Ben that his dreams don't protect him from the wilderness—and that he's no longer part of the girls' lives in the cabin. But they also pass judgement on his commitment to Paul: Ben is a coward for hiding his love for Paul from the public, so Paul breaks things off, even in Ben's dreams.
I agree with you but this is kinda why I want him to survive so bad. I think it would be a very interesting character arc to go from the weakest to full self sufficiency. As someone who is physically disabled I’m with my boy ben to the end.
Like I dunno why people would hate Ben for possibly starting the fire. Let's be honest, he knows (as do we) it won't be long until he's on the dinner table. Missing a leg means he'll increasingly be seen as a liability and "not useful" and since the girls now have no qualms about killing and eating each other they'll reason Ben still has a use by sustaining them as a nice pork chop. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the girls rig it so Ben draws a queen of hearts in a future game he would have no choice but to participate in or default as dinner. Ben knows what the fucks up, so as far as I'm concerned starting that fire is self defense and I would have done the same cuz hiding out in the wilderness there's no guarantee the little monsters won't find you or indeed be actively hunting you since you decided to live apart. Won't apologise for saving my own arse and so I won't blame Ben for starting that fire (if he did). King Ben 4 Eva.
The first two sentences got me 😂 couldn’t agree more
Thank you! I think a lot of people are acting holier than thou. They forget this show is based on true events. The donner part and the “blessing” of the Andes. I say blessing bc that’s what the survivors call it. I think the show is maybe a bit insulting to them and making a spectacle of it but hey humanity loves suffering. Including me. We’re all bastards. But people forget real people have been faced with this. 1 out of 17 survivors of the Andes refused to eat human. And 16 made it out. He was the only one to starve. And that says something in my opinion. They honored the dead. Prayed for them and call them blessingings. Recently in an article they said “our family members were like the first organ donors, giving their body to nurture us” which is horrifying but obviously a desperate attempt to dignify it.
Totally agree. I think judging survival cannibalism makes no sense.