In Yellowjackets Season 2, Natalie's Dangerous Decision Might Seal Javi's Fate

This post contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 2 episode 2.

"Yellowjackets" is bursting with unanswered questions: What happened to Shauna's baby? Was Travis actually murdered? Has Misty finally found her Citizen Detective soulmate? And after Jackie, who else are these starving girls gonna eat? The list grows longer and more intriguing with each passing episode, but there's one particular question that burns at the forefront of my mind: What the hell happened to Javi?!

Javi (Luciano Leroux), Travis' little brother and the youngest among the '96 survivors, has been missing ever since the Doomcoming party. After the girls drank Misty's mushrooms and spiraled into hallucinogenic-induced insanity, Shauna turned to the confused younging and growled a single, menacing word: "Run." She may be kindhearted and soft-spoken, but Shauna can be menacing when needed and apparently, this was one of those times. Javi must've taken her instruction to heart because two months later, he still hasn't returned.

Still distraught and determined to find his brother, Travis (Kevin Alves) hasn't stopped searching for Javi. He refuses to accept the (increasingly likely) possibility that his brother is dead, and it's tearing him apart; he thinks that every dead animal he spots might be his brother, and is plagued by panic attacks that only Lottie (Courtney Eaton) can soothe. And though she's remained by his side, Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) is worried ... which leads her to take a drastic action that will inevitably come back to haunt her.

Allow me to preemptively come to Natalie's defense. Travis' hope aside, all logic points to the saddest outcome: Javi is probably dead. The Ontario wilderness has been cruel to the Yellowjackets and despite being sheltered in a cabin, they are perpetually cold. Even though they've pooled their resources and preserved their food, they're still walking the razor's edge of starvation. So it's hard to imagine that Javi has survived while wandering the Ontario wilderness for two months, all on his own. By now, he's probably starved, been mauled by wolves (like Van), or frozen to death (like Jackie). But Travis can't bear to consider those options.

It's no coincidence that all of this is mirrored by Shauna refusing to let go of Jackie. Shauna is so overwhelmed by the loss of her best friend that she spends all her free time chatting with her frozen corpse ... among other things. Eargate aside, Shauna hasn't been able to move on from the loss, and it's debilitating. Natalie looks at Travis the same way: they can't hunt, and he can't effectively move on if he never accepts the loss of his brother.

With no confirmation that his brother is dead, Travis is trapped in a purgatory state: he refuses to stop looking, even if it means being consumed by an endless cycle of despair. Wanting to help him, Nat decides to kill whatever glimmer of hope he has left. In the second episode, she steals a piece of Javi's clothes, shreds it, wipes it in her blood, then plants it for Travis to find. For the moment, her plan is a success. Travis breaks down but in the end, he throws the bloodied clothes into the pyre with Jackie's body, accepting his brother's "death."

In any other show, we might not think twice about the reality of Javi's fate, but this is "Yellowjackets," the home of Antler Queen Lottie Matthews, who wholeheartedly believes that Javi is alive. "I can feel it," she says.

Listen, I don't love siding with Lottie. She kinda freaks me out and her followers (both in the past and the present) are very worrying — but she also has an uncanny ability to predict the future. In typical "Yellowjackets" fashion, it's unclear whether this is an eerie coincidence or something supernatural. So when Lottie claims that Javi is still alive with casual certainty, it feels like she knows something that we don't.

Natalie means well but as any avid TV watcher knows, this is extremely likely to blow up in her face. There are three possibilities.

• Natale is right and Javi is dead. She's succeeded in helping Travis move forward and all will be well.
• Lottie is right and Javi is alive. He miraculously survived on his own and will eventually make his way back to the group. Before long, Travis will realize that he was tricked. There's a very slim chance that he will understand why Nat lied and accept that she meant well, but this is the king of unnecessary grudges we're talking about. He will inevitably be pissed.
• The grimmest possibility: Lottie is right and Javi is still alive but by destroying Travis' hope, Nat ends the search and Javi dies after her lie, making her to blame.

Honestly, all of these possibilities suck. Javi's death would be a tragedy and watching everyone turn against Nat while doubling down on Lottie is also a troubling prospect. But for better or worse, compared to so many other "Yellowjackets" mysteries, this feels like a question we might soon learn the answer to.