"Yellowjackets" - Season 3 episode 5 review

“Yellowjackets” Season 3 is getting more morbid by the minute. Episode 5 follows the teen girls through their decision on what to do with Coach Ben and shows the aftermath of a death in the present timeline.

This post contains spoilers for all three seasons of “Yellowjackets.”

The beginning of episode five follows Misty (Christina Ricci) at the morgue before telling her other surviving teammates about Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) death.

In true Misty fashion, she does not believe that this death was an accident. After all, nothing that ever happens seems to just be an accident in these girls’ lives.

The women don’t have tremendous reactions to learning that Lottie is dead, strangely, which adds fuel to Misty’s theory of her death being fishy. She promptly storms out of her own house before returning to kick her friends out.

Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is pretty curious about Lottie’s death herself. In an attempt to follow Misty, she runs into Walter (Elijah Wood) who recruits her as a citizen detective.

Back in the wilderness, Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) is being kept prisoner in the animal pen, awaiting his undecided fate after the trial. The girls are juggling different ideas on what to do with him, but finally decide on a firing squad.

With only one gun in the group, this “firing squad” won’t be much of a squad.

They use their coveted deck of cards to decide who will be the one to kill Coach Ben. Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) draws the king of hearts, making her the executor.

Van (Liv Hewson) is helping Taissa prepare for the firing squad, encouraging her to tap into her dark side to make the job easier. When Taissa goes into this beside-herself state, she never remembers it later, making Coach Ben’s execution a perfect opportunity for “Other Tai” to come out.

Adult Misty shows up to Lottie’s father’s apartment to gather evidence and information, only to find that Shauna and Walter are already there pretending to fix the internet.

Taissa (Tawny Cypress) finally gets to reunite with her son at the park as he has been asking to see her. Within minutes of talking to him, however, he walks away, seemingly terrified.

This scene seems like the show confirming that maybe “Other Tai” has been around a lot more than the audience had thought.

In the past timeline, Lottie (Courtney Eaton) is pressuring Akilah (Nia Sondaya) to return to Ben’s cave to see if she will have another dream. Going into a gas-filled cave to force your friend to pass out so that she has another hallucination sounds like a great idea!

Akilah, Lottie and Travis (Kevin Alves) go down together and Akilah has another vision that, to Lottie, makes it seem like Coach Ben might be more important to their survival than they thought.

Just as Coach Ben is begging for his life and “Other Tai” takes control, the three mushroomed-out cave dwellers push him out of the way. Lottie exclaims to the rest of the girls that they can’t kill him, at least not yet.

The episode ends in a gruesome moment with Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) forcing Melissa (Jenna Burgess) to slice Coach Ben’s Achilles tendon.

The man already only has one leg, did he really need to be even more handicapped?

Fans of Coach Ben seem to be on a never-ending rollercoaster of emotions with his fate being pulled every which way. Once again, those viewers will have to wait another week to find out what happens to him.

Rating: 5/5

Sarah Gavlak is a third-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, please email sng5393@psu.edu.