Why Did Tai Use Van’s Body in Yellowjackets Finale

Nivedita Dubey
April 15, 2025

Summary:

Tai eats Van’s heart in Yellowjackets Season 3 as a final act of love, grief, and symbolic transformation.
The moment parallels prior finales, continuing a disturbing tradition of ritual cannibalism tied to emotion and power.
Van’s burial in the woods allows Tai to avoid authorities and protect their secrets, both past and present.

Why Does Tai Eat Van’s Heart in the Yellowjackets Season 3 Finale?

Let’s not tiptoe around it: Tai eats Van’s heart. Not metaphorically. Not in some dreamlike fugue. She literally cuts open her partner’s body and consumes a piece of her. It’s grotesque, deeply unsettling—but also, if we’re being honest, very on-brand for Yellowjackets.

This isn’t just some shock-value gore. It’s a callback. A continuation. A pattern. In Season 1, Lottie offers the bear’s heart to the Wilderness as a bloody thank-you gift. Season 2? Travis devours Javi’s heart, mourning his brother and attempting to connect with whatever darkness kept them alive for so long. Now, Season 3 gives us Tai, alone in the woods, trying to make sense of Van’s death in the only language the past taught her: ritualized cannibalism.

But here’s the twist—it’s not Other Tai doing it this time. This is regular Tai. The lawyer. The senator. The person trying very hard to forget the forest ever happened. And yet, here she is, embracing that old horror willingly. It’s not just a send-off. It’s a transformation.

Eating Van’s heart becomes Tai’s way of saying goodbye, but also of promising not to ignore the things they did, the things they survived. It’s a grotesque love letter and a bloody vow. And in a season defined by fractured identities, it’s her first step toward stitching herself back together.

How Does Tai’s Act Reflect Yellowjackets’ History of Ritual Cannibalism?

At this point, Yellowjackets finales have a signature move: someone eats a heart.

First it was Lottie, then Travis, now Tai. And every time, it’s not about hunger—it’s about meaning. The act has evolved into a ritualized expression of love, loss, and power. To eat someone’s heart in this universe isn’t just survival—it’s tribute.

In Tai’s case, she loved Van more than anyone. From the teen timeline to their reunion in adulthood, their bond remained raw, complicated, and unbreakable. So when Van dies—partially because of events set in motion by Shauna—it makes sense that Tai falls back on the most primal way of honoring her: consumption, both physical and symbolic.

Travis ate Javi’s heart because he couldn’t carry the guilt of his death alone. Tai eats Van’s heart because she refuses to bury her pain under politics and pretense anymore. This is the moment she stops hiding from Other Tai and instead starts folding her into herself.

The heart becomes a talisman—a physical symbol of their love and a spiritual bridge between Tai’s fractured selves. It’s not just about Van’s death. It’s about who Tai chooses to become in the wake of it.

Why Does Tai Bury Van in the Woods Instead of Reporting Her Death?

Here’s the other half of the equation: Tai doesn’t take Van’s body to the authorities. She takes her to the woods.

This isn’t the Wilderness from their teenage trauma. It’s a stretch of adult forest, somewhere far enough from society that you can bury a body without too many questions. But to Tai, it’s all the same. The forest is the only place these girls ever truly belonged.

Burying Van in the woods accomplishes two things:

It avoids legal exposure. Reporting Van’s death would inevitably open up a Pandora’s box of uncomfortable truths—like what happened between Melissa and Shauna, or how many bodies are actually tied to this group of survivors.
It keeps the burial personal. Tai and Van’s relationship existed outside of societal norms. They found each other in fire and frost, trauma and tenderness. It makes sense that Tai would want Van to rest somewhere untouched by rules and paperwork.

Also worth noting: Van doesn’t have any close connections outside the group. There’s no family demanding justice, no friends waiting for closure. Tai can bury her in the woods, eat her heart, cry through the whole thing—and the world just keeps turning.

How Does Tai’s Act Set Up Yellowjackets Season 4?

Season 3 ends not just with grief, but with a power shift. Tai’s act isn’t just about mourning—it’s about momentum.

Earlier in the finale, she tells Van that she needs to start embracing all the parts of herself. After years of compartmentalizing—senator by day, possessed sleepwalker by night—Tai is finally merging her personas. Regular Tai and Other Tai are becoming one. And Van’s death? That’s the crucible where that fusion begins.

She’s also furious at Shauna, blaming her for everything that happened to Melissa and now Van. That fury doesn’t disappear after the burial. If anything, it simmers into a new mission—one that, according to showrunners, will drive a major wedge between Tai and Shauna in Season 4.

So this isn’t just a finale full of horror. It’s a hinge. A pivot point. Tai’s decision to eat Van’s heart changes her. It draws a direct line back to the wilderness and forward into the storm brewing between survivors. And if the show’s past is any indication, that line is going to be painted in blood.

When Did Yellowjackets Season 3 Release and Where Can You Watch It?

Yellowjackets Season 3 premiered its finale on April 4, 2025, streaming exclusively on Showtime. All episodes are currently available on demand for subscribers.

This season leaned hard into the teen timeline but left just enough adult-world chaos to stir the pot for what’s to come. And if the pattern holds, we’re not done with hearts just yet.

Source: The Gamer

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