Lord of the Flies leaves viewers ‘really confused’ after episode 3 kills off major character: ‘Am I being dumb?’
Let's break down who died at the end of episode 3 – and why
Lord of the Flies episode 3 is the BBC adaptation’s most chilling chapter yet, but the death of one character has left some viewers “confused”.
There are multiple deaths by the end of Lord of the Flies. In the opening episode, the “little’un” with the birthmark (whose name we never learn) lost his life to the wildfire unleashed by the boys.
However, the third episode sees the boys descend into crazed savagery as they split into two separate camps. They set out to find the beast, but when they do, they fail to realise it’s nothing to be scared of.
This has grave consequences for one character, who dies in one of the show’s most disturbing scenes.
***Warning: spoilers from Lord of the Flies ahead***
Lord of the Flies episode 3 kills off Simon and it’s horrific
Towards the end of episode 3, Simon walks into the woods on his own and finds the mangled corpse of the pilot. As the weather rages around the island, he hears an eerie voice from the fly-infested pig head on a stick.
“You are a silly little boy. Just an ignorant, silly little boy. You’d better run off and play with the others. They already think you’re batty,” it says, taunting him. “Aren’t you afraid of me? I’m the beast.”
“You knew, but you didn’t make them listen,” it tells him.
Remember, the beast isn’t a real animal: it’s the dead body of a fighter pilot still attached to his parachute.
Jack rallies the boys on the beach to kill the beast, and they start dancing. Meanwhile, Simon hurries back to tell everyone the truth about the beast.
The boys hear the motion in the bushes, and in their vicious delirium, they all attack Simon with their spears. Instead of Simon’s pain, we hear the agonised screams of the pig from episode 2. Jack quickly realises that it’s Simon, but it’s already too late.
In the closing seconds of the episode, Simon’s wound-ridden body is carried out by the tide.
Viewers ‘confused’ by why Simon died
The reason why Simon died seems simple when you read it: not only did they believe he was the beast coming through the bushes, but the boys were blinded by the camaraderie of their joint bloodlust.
However, when you watch the episode, it all happens very quickly in a dark, frantic sequence. For some viewers, it made Simon’s death a little hard to follow.
“As someone who has never touched the book I was heavily confused not sure if it was the adaptation or I’m just genuinely dumb but anyway. Why did they kill Simon?” one user asked on Reddit.
“As someone else who didn’t read it, I was also confused by this. I thought Simon was running back to the original camp and wasn’t even heading towards the wild boys so I was confused too,” another wrote.
Simon’s diary has also divided viewers, given it didn’t come up in the original book. “In my opinion, maybe the worst part of this adaptation. Adds nothing and takes away the mystique surrounding Simon in the book,” one user commented.
“I like that they gave Simon some backstory, but I always imagined him having loving parents. Roger should be the one with abusive parents,” another argued.
