It’s pretty hard to stop thinking about the crazy Yellowjackets finale. So much happened! It’s hard to pick which moment was the most shocking, but one in particular stands out. Obviously, there are spoilers on the way, so if you haven’t seen the episode I would advise you to stop reading. It turns out that scene where Travis (Kevin Alves) eats his brother’s heart was cut down for size.
In the episode, Travis is the first one to take a bite of his brother’s body, somewhat signalling to the other girls that it’s OK to go ahead and eat. Turns out the original cut featured more conversation about what Travis was about to do, per an interview Alves gave with ET.
Alves was asked “what’s going through Travis’ mind” when he takes the first bite of his brother’s carcass. Alves said, “you know, there’s the conversation that he has with Van, and the original cut of that was actually a little bit longer. In the episode, we’re seeing the tail end of their conversation now. “
So what was that part of the conversation we didn’t get a chance to see? Apparently, he’s “being told straight to his face by everyone, ‘Do you want to die in honor of your brother or do you wanna survive?’ That’s the decision he’s facing with his brother’s death. Like, ‘Is it just gonna be for nothing?'”
The stakes were so high for the characters because one person’s death means life for everyone else.
“Because they are starving and there is a chance they’re never gonna get outta there. And so, his decision in that case is in many ways him trying to be a little bit closer to his brother. He wants to be a little bit closer to him now cause he feels like it should have been him.”
Brutal. There aren’t that many shows out there where an older brother has to eat a younger one. Yellowjackets really is something.
In an interview with the AV Club, Alves also revealed how that huge scene and the finale as a whole set up the show for a bountiful third season.
In fact, he said the fact that the finale was so “heavy and dark” helped to set up the “most exciting third season that’s gonna come.” He is “so pumped” about what’s the future.
The full season is currently streaming and the finale airs Sunday night on Showtime.