[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Yellowjackets, Season 2, Episode 3, “Digestif.”]

Every single character in Yellowjackets is at risk, but it’s looking like Steven Krueger’s Coach Ben is in an especially precarious situation right now.

Ben was at a major disadvantage the second the group crash-landed in the wilderness given he lost a leg in the accident. Coach was able to assert authority and lay some ground rules that the girls respected for the most part once Misty nursed him back to health in Season 1, but the more dire their situation gets, the less value there is in being the only adult in the room.

Ben took an especially big hierarchical nosedive when he opted out of the Jackie (Ellen Purnell) feast in Episode 2, “Edible Complex.” Not only did the choice leave him starving and weak, but the sheer terror of what the Yellowjackets are now capable of is totally rocking him to his core. And it seems as though the crushing weight of all that is making his mind wander to an especially devastating place — an alternate reality where he can explore the “what if.” What might have life held if he embraced his truth and prioritized his relationship with Paul (François Arnaud) over the trip to nationals?
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

Image via Showtime

While chatting with Krueger and co-stars Kevin Alves and Warren Kole in celebration of the Season 2 premiere, Krueger touched on the topic of Ben’s status in the group when I asked how he feels about what Lottie’s (Courtney Eaton) doing. Ben clearly isn’t a follower, but is he anti-Lottie enough to want to put a stop to it? Here’s what he said:

“I think there’s two elements to it. There’s one that, you know, if he was in a normal state, I think that he would be doing a lot of eye rolling along with the people that are not necessarily part of her group. I think he’s much more of a practical guy and he has some of his own wilderness experience from hunting when he was younger and all that kind of stuff, so I think he’s much more like, ‘Let’s map this thing out. Let’s figure out a practical way of getting out of there.’ The flip side of that is that, of course, he is slowly but surely being ostracized from the rest of the group. So I think there’s also an element to it of, what’s the point? If I did say anything, nobody’s listening to me anyway, so why even waste my breath? Gotta conserve some energy at this point. It’s just a useless, futile exercise to voice an opinion at some point.”

Will Coach Ben ever regain his voice and authority or is he on a downward spiral that’ll end in his demise? That’s a pretty hot topic of conversation at the moment, but at the end of Episode 3, he is still with us, so we’ll have to wait and see if Ben can rally and pull it back together as the season progresses.

Looking for more Yellowjackets Season 2 talk from Krueger, Kole, and Alves? Be sure to check out the first half of our conversation in the video at the top of this article and keep an eye out for the second part dropping on Collider a bit later in the season. You can also catch my non-spoiler chat with Liv Hewson, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sophie Thatcher in the video below: