The Biggest Surprise Of Yellowjackets Season 2 Is How Sympathetic Lottie Is

Spoilers for "Yellowjackets" follow.

We've known since the "Yellowjackets" pilot that its leads, stranded in the Canadian wilderness during the late 1990s, would eventually resort to ritualistic hunting and cannibalism. The question is how? Season 1 consistently implied it would be the doing of Lottie Matthews (Courtney Eaton). Midway through the season, she began having visions and divining the will of the Wilderness itself (or, alternatively, she just ran out of the medication to treat her hallucinations).

The rest of the group increasingly turned to her for guidance. In "Doomcoming," Lottie wears a pair of antlers — foreshadowing the Antler Queen sitting at the head of the cannibals in the Pilot — and in the season finale, "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," she kills a bear. The episode ends with her placing the bear's heart on an altar, with Van (Liv Hewson) and Misty (Samantha Hanratty) on either side as her disciples.

That finale is also when we learned Lottie was still alive in the present day — she emptied the bank account of the recently dead Travis (Andres Soto) and her followers abduct Natalie (Juliette Lewis). Had Lottie rebuilt the cannibal cult within the walls of civilization?

Then, season 2 swerved and made Lottie into a more ambiguous — and tragic — character.

Season 2 begins with a montage of the Yellowjackets returning home after being rescued. The catatonic Lottie is institutionalized by her parents and is inflicted with electroshock therapy. Then in the present, Natalie stumbles on her followers in animal masks burying someone. After the premiere, though, these sinister hints stop.

Lottie (Simone Kessell) reveals that Travis' death was an accident and she had Natalie kidnapped to keep her from hurting herself; it was uncertain at the time if she was being honest but now it's clear she was. Her cult doesn't do human sacrifice, but eccentric self-care. Rather than cannibals, they grow their own food, and Lottie herself is vegan.

During season 2's 2021 timeline, Lottie is plagued by more hallucinations/visions — she's apparently been keeping them at bay for years with medication, but now they've returned. Episode 3, "Digestif," ends with her seeing blood coming out of beehives and staining her hands. In episode 7, "Burial," it turns out she's been hallucinating her therapist.

That's why she eventually pushes for the random sacrifice and then the hunt; it's not out of malice, she's delusional and convinced that the best way to help her friends is appeasing the Wilderness. The Yellowjackets all abdicate some responsibility for what they did — there's a reason their sacrifice ritual is designed around letting the Wilderness choose. Lottie has to believe in that ritual all the more because she took the idea of a higher power in her head and seeded it to the others.

Lottie's past self is also less sinister than in season 1 — her only crime is being a little creepily obsessed with Shauna's soon-to-be-born baby. Her "channeling" the Wilderness is mostly just giving good luck blessings and holding guided meditations. When she gets glimpses of how devoted some of the others are to her in "Old Wounds," it's clear that she's uncomfortable sitting on a pedestal.

More than anything, Lottie wants to help people — in episode 8 "It Chooses," when she's in bad shape, she offers her body to the others should she die. Instead, they concoct the sacrifice ritual in part to keep her alive. When she learns that Javi (Luciano Leroux) is dead and being butchered, she's sad and terrified, telling Misty this isn't what she wanted. Misty admonishes Lottie, "You started this, so you better not start making people feel bad about it."

We've been witnessing the creation of a religious idol, not a cult leader. Lottie's followers, both true believers like Van and Mari (Alexa Barajas) and pragmatists like Misty, have twisted her teachings for their benefit — that's what happens when you instill belief in people.

Will Lottie maintain any sort of authority going forward? In the season 2 finale, "Storytelling," past Lottie cedes leadership to Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) while in the present, adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) says they're all to blame for what Lottie believes. I think it's worth remembering that "The Antler Queen" label is a fan creation. The Pilot script referred to the figure as "the Shaman," i.e. a religious figure but not necessarily a leader.

We thought Lottie was the mastermind when really, she might just be a figurehead propped up by her more ruthless followers and forced to carry their sins.

"Yellowjackets" is streaming on Paramount+ and Showtime.