At the end of the third episode of Yellowjackets’ first season, Natalie (Juliette Lewis) and Misty (Christina Ricci) find the body of Travis, Natalie’s decades-spanning love interest, hanging from the hook of a crane.
The police believe that Travis’ death was the result of his own suicide, but Lewis’ adult Natalie isn’t convinced that’s what really happened. As a result, she spends most of Yellowjackets’ first season trying to uncover the truth surrounding not only Travis’ tragic fate but also a note he wrote just before he died that said “tell Nat she was right.”
In Episode 2 of Yellowjackets Season 2, both Natalie and the show’s fans finally get an explanation for what exactly happened to Travis. The episode, in other words, seemingly resolves one of the Showtime series’ longest-running mysteries. The only wrinkle? The explanation comes from none other than Simone Kessell’s adult Lottie, whose trustworthiness has yet to be determined.
In the second installment of Yellowjackets Season 2, titled "Edible Complex,” Lottie tells Lewis’ Natalie that she was with Travis the night he died. As a matter of fact, Lottie says that she sought Travis out because she’d become concerned about his behavior and his apparent belief that he needed to reconnect with the darkness that they all encountered in the wilderness as teenagers if he wanted to try and find peace again.
While Lottie did her best to calm him down, she says that Travis snuck out while she was asleep. When she found him, he’d already wrapped a noose around his neck and had set up a series of candles in the same shape around him as the odd design that was etched into the trees of the Canadian region where he, Lottie, and the rest of Yellowjackets’ core characters ended up stranded. Travis then demanded that Lottie use the crane’s controls to lift him up by his neck just until the moment he went unconscious.
Lottie, unfortunately, agreed. When Travis went unconscious, the crane’s remote control not only stopped working, but Lottie also saw a haunting vision of one of her dead Yellowjackets teammates, Laura Lee. Ultimately, Lottie claims that it was a tragic technical malfunction — and a possible bit of supernatural intervention — that resulted in Travis’ death.
Is that really what happened, though?
“Edible Complex” does, notably, accompany Lottie’s story with flashbacks that seem to back up her claims. That aspect of the episode makes it a bit easier to take her at her word. However, Lottie’s intentions in both the show’s past and present timelines are shrouded in so much secrecy right now that it’s hard to discern how much of her story about Travis is true and how much isn’t.
It is, after all, worth noting that Lottie says Travis left her a note before he snuck off detailing how to get into his bank account, but it’s never really explained why he did that. Even if he thought he was going to die, why did he want to leave all of his money to Lottie and not, say, Natalie or someone a little more trustworthy? Additionally, why did he even go to Lottie with his concerns in the first place?
The Yellowjackets Season 2 flashbacks have so far established a connection between Lottie and Travis that viewers previously didn’t know about, so it’s possible his belief in her powers is what led him to go to her for help. Whether that was the case or not, though, it’s hard not to feel like there are gaps in Lottie’s story about Travis that will be filled in at a later date.
The Inverse Analysis — In typical Yellowjackets fashion, there’s already a lot of mystery surrounding the story of its second season and the arcs that its characters are going on this time around. With that in mind, while it’s entirely possible that “Edible Complex” really does give viewers the full explanation for Travis’ Season 1 death, the chances of more information being revealed sometime down the line can’t be ruled out.
Indeed, the first two episodes of Yellowjackets Season 2 have made it clear that Lottie is going to play a key role in whatever story the show is telling this year. As of right now, it’s unclear exactly what role that is. Regardless of where her allegiances ultimately lie, though, Yellowjackets viewers should probably be prepared for the possibility that there’s more to Lottie and Travis’ final interactions together than the former character would like us (and Natalie) to believe.
