One Yellowjackets Mystery Still Confuses Me, And I Wasn't Sure How To Feel After Getting One Director's Update

I admittedly don’t throw TV shows on in the background absent-mindedly as much as I used to, but I’ll embrace any reason to return to Yellowjackets’ buffet of darkly comedic horror. Lo, the Wilderness provides! Or, for proper credit’s sake, it’s a Netflix subscription that provides here, with Season 2 landing on the streaming giant to provide a snow-blanketed escape for everyone suffering the miserable heat. Amidst the usual glee, though, was my reignited confusion about Crystal’s final resting place, so to speak.

Season 3 offered up a brief reference to Crystal, which I’d thought at the time might be an indication that answers were coming. When I talked to director Ben Semanoff for his standout penultimate episode “How the Story Ends," I made sure to inquire about it, since he also directed Season 2’s “Two Truths and a Lie.” Now seems like as good a time as ever to revisit his quotes about the mystery.

The Mystery: What Happened To Crystal's Body?

Nuha Jes Izman's Crystal (real name: Kristen) came literally out of nowhere in Season 2, having not appeared in the first season at all. Her love of musical theater could have sparked a delightful production from the survivors, but the character wasn't fated for such glory. Instead, her final act moments were spent dumping poop, learning that Misty broke the radio transmitter, and accidentally walking backwards off a cliff.

Both in shock and heartbroken over how quickly her friend turned against her, Misty was able to quickly locate the frost-covered body at the bottom. Crystal's vacant stare and bloodied face made it clear that she was dead, too, not that it's stopped some fans from theorizing that her death wasn't otherwise fully confirmed in that moment.

Misty attempted to find and hide that same body two episodes later, in "Burial," as her fellow survivors searched other parts of the forest. But instead of rediscovering it right away, she couldn't find it at all. She did balance her karma somewhat by threat-talking Coach Ben down from a suicidal moment, although one could argue that his death that day could have saved the teens from a lot of suffering down the line. In any case, no one ever learned the truth behind Crystal's death, and her body never resurfaced.

What Yellowjackets' Director Ben Semanoff Told Us

Director Ben Semanoff, who also directed the group feasting on Jackie in Season 2's "Edible Complex," was a delight to talk to about a twist as horrifying as Melissa stabbing Van to death. We know exactly what happened to Van's body, though, with Tai burying her lover after consuming her heart. No such conclusion for Crystal, though, and when I asked Semanoff if there were ever any plans or conversations about resolving that mystery, he told me:

On the one hand, I'm shocked to hear that, since I can't think of a vital reason to show MIsty being unable to find Crystal's body in "Burial" if the point wasn't to go in an unexpected direction at a later point. Had Misty not attempted to find the corpse, and the rest of that episode's events played out as depicted, I'd have no issues. Otherwise, what's the payoff?

On the other hand, however, I'm not sure that there's a reveal for that mystery that would both make sense and add a twist to anything. Unless it suddenly starts making sense for the Wilderness to bring the dead back to life willy nilly.

Ben Semanoff continued, saying his takeaway of it was that she was inevitably buried in the snow, though even he was unclear in the moment of how things shook out, since he wasn't behind the camera for "Burial."

I fully believe the director was referring to Misty and Ben's scene atop the cliff, but it's certainly interesting to consider the possibility of Ben finding Crystal's body at some point later on and not telling anyone about it so that she wouldn't get eaten like other victims. I'd almost like for that to be true, even, since he would have even more of a reason to burn the cabin down with Misty inside.

Alas, that mystery surrounding Crystal's body is likely never to be resolved completely, though I don't think it would really change anything too heavily even if we did learn that she was dragged away by wild animals or that Misty was just looking in the wrong spot. But if there was a juicier answer, I'd be here for that.

Thankfully, there are plenty of other mysteries that will get addressed inYellowjackets Season 4. We just have to actually survive long enough for it to get here.