‘Yellowjackets’ Just Committed the Ultimate TV Sin

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 8.Season 3 of Yellowjackets has not been messing around this season. Whether it be by putting the characters through emotional turmoil, seeing them shift into completely different versions of themselves, or upping the death count to new heights. In Seasons 1 and 2 we lost some big characters, such as Jackie (Ella Purnell), and Natalie (Juliette Lewis), but Season 3 has seen the characters dropping like flies. From Lottie (Simone Kessell) to Coach Scott (Steven Krueger), and now, in a devastating turn, Van (Lauren Ambrose). After the death of Lottie, the rest of the survivors felt safe for the time being. After all, what were the chances they’d kill off two surviving Yellowjackets? But no one is safe in Yellowjackets, and Season 3 affirmed that. But in killing Van, Yellowjackets also committed one of the biggest TV sins of all time.

How Did Van Die in ‘Yellowjackets’?

After Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) unknowingly tracked down Melissa (Hilary Swank) and got into a bloody tift with her, Melissa runs for the hills — or rather, drives. But she runs out of gas along the way, which leaves her stranded and at the mercy of Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Van, and Misty (Christina Ricci), who are en route to find Shauna and happen to recognize her. They bring her with them, which incites a reunion of the surviving Yellowjackets, much to Shauna and Melissa’s dismay. As they figure out what to do with the situation, Melissa closes the fireplace flue, causing Tai and Shauna to pass out and Van — who was outside in the car — to be the only one available to save them all.

She does so, even managing to help disentangle Tai from “Other Tai”. But when she goes back in for Melissa, she has other plans for her. At first, she intends to kill her and use her as a sacrifice in the hopes that it will extend her life and maybe even cure her cancer, but she’s unable to do it — something we saw earlier in the season when Tai was looking for a random sacrifice for them. Melissa, however, doesn’t have any similar inhibitions, and just when it seems like she’s comforting Van in her time of anguish, she suddenly lifts the knife and plunges it into her chest.

Just like that, Van is back on the plane, sitting next to her teenage self (Liv Hewson) and angrily wondering why she wasn’t the hero of her story. But her teenage self reminds her that she is because she saved everyone and she got the real love of their life back. And sure, this moment is touching, and yeah, it’s romantic as hell that Van managed to save Taissa from not only the brink of death but also from her evil alter ego. But this scene only temporarily distracts from the fact that Yellowjackets committed a huge TV no-no with this death: it buried its gays!

TV Has a History of Killing Off Gay Characters

The term “Bury Your Gays” is pretty much what it sounds like. A television show kills off a gay character for seemingly no rhyme or reason, even if they’re a fan-favorite or in the midst of a storyline or a happy relationship. It truly doesn’t matter what is going on in their lives; they’re rarely safe within the narrative, and it’s infuriating. One of the biggest examples of this is in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with the character of Tara (Amber Benson). She was Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) girlfriend in the series, and not only was their relationship, and she herself, beloved by fans of the show, but they were also incredibly important to television and shaping how we know it today. Tara and Willow were the first openly gay couple depicted on television, and in a show as hugely popular as Buffy the Vampire Slayer was, this was a big deal. They shaped how audiences look at relationships and romances in television, and paved the way for many more beautiful LGBTQ+ stories to come to life down the road.

But then their story was cut short without any reason or warning, and unfortunately, this became an all-too-familiar trend to accompany gay characters in television going forward. Who knew Yellowjackets would commit it so soon? To believe that Tai or Van would be saved by the narrative purely because they’re gay would be naive and a little ridiculous, but it’s still upsetting nonetheless. Van barely had the opportunity to flesh out her character as an adult, let alone make any meaningful progress in her relationship with Tai.

This Was Van and Tai’s Chance To Be Happy

The entire conversation between Van and her teenage self takes place as her death plays out on a movie screen in front of them, where her lifeless body is being cradled by Taissa, who is wailing for her. It’s especially gutting because now we have no question that this is actually Taissa mourning Van. It’s not “Other Tai” projecting; it’s really Taissa. She just got back in control of her body, and immediately, the love of her life is dead before her. It’s a devastating blow in so many ways. Now that Tai is herself again, this gives her the opportunity to right her wrongs in both her life and her relationship with Van. This was their time to be happy together and actually get to know each other as adults. Sure, they’re still Yellowjackets, so they’ll never truly get a moment of peace, but they deserve the opportunity to explore their relationship free from the clutches of “Other Tai”.

Also, Episode 9 was the first time we heard a love confession from them in the adult timeline, which makes Van’s death and all of the “what ifs?” all the more gutting. She tells Tai she loves her as she nurses her back to health and gets her oxygen, and you can tell it’s a genuine moment. Yes, it comes in a moment of fear as she thought she was losing Tai, but she means it wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, the Yellowjackets are just cursed with being unable to escape their past, so Van’s death really shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it’s just so sad. Even in the wilderness timeline, we see that she is still so in touch with her humanity, something that never fades in her adult years. Where Shauna is still noticeably haunted and tormented by her past, Van seeks to move past it, and does all she can not to fall back into it. It’s why she doesn’t kill Melissa, even when Melissa basically gives her the go-ahead, and she’s pretty sure it’ll save her life to do so.

Van was never going to make it out of the show alive — it’s likely that none of them will — but to take her out so early on when there’s still so much story to tell, feels like a missed opportunity. Not only is there still so much story to tell between her and Tai, but there’s so much we don’t know about adult Van, and the survivors need her as their moral compass. Killing her off for seemingly no reason not only commits a big TV no-no, but squanders so much potential for a great character arc ahead.

All episodes of Yellowjackets are available to stream on Paramount+.

Yellowjackets

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime

Showrunner

Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco

Directors

Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis

Writers

Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa