Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Yellowjackets As is often the case with popular shows that end their seasons on cliffhangers, Yellowjackets has set the internet ablaze since dropping its Season 2 finale. One of the greatest things to come from Season 2 of the popular show was that we got to meet adult Lottie (played by Simone Kessell). We found out in a closing line in Season 1 that Lottie was in fact alive and had something to do with Travis’ (Andres Soto) death, so we knew we were going to be seeing her soon enough. And while it was certainly a great addition, there is one matter of her character that wasn’t exactly handled with as much care as it should have been, which involves Lottie's timeline in the present.

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Lottie’s Mental Health Wasn’t Handled With Care in Season 2

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Image via Showtime 

We don’t have much backstory for the show’s characters, as much of their story is rooted in the wilderness timeline and the subsequent aftermath of it, but we did get glimpses in Season 1 to help us get to know and sympathize with these characters we’d be spending such intimate time with. So we do know that teen Lottie (Courtney Eaton) has experienced visions since she was a child. These visions caught the attention of her parents when they were out for a drive, and she started screaming seemingly out of the blue. A car crash happened right in front of them shortly thereafter, and her mother believed this to be precognition. Her father, however, was skeptical and insisted she see a psychiatrist and be put on medication.

She’s diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age and is placed on medication to help manage the symptoms, which poses a problem when the plane goes down and her supply of medication dwindles. This is how she becomes the team prophet of sorts, with her visions once again coming to her and making her see a deeper being among the wilderness she’s stranded in. Post-rescue, her parents once again bring her to a psychologist where she is soon committed to a mental institution and is subjected to electric shock therapy, which in and of itself is a controversial treatment method.

25 years later in the present day, Lottie is now the leader of what she calls “an intentional community” which she claims turns suffering into strength so you can live as your best self. This Lottie has been vision-free for years, but her visions return to her around the same time that Natalie (Juliette Lewis) arrives at the cult's compound, leading Lottie to believe that the wilderness has once again caught up with them. Over the course of Season 2, her visions grow stronger and Lottie starts seeing her therapist more frequently. This therapist, however, is eventually revealed to be a hallucination, signifying Lottie’s worsening visions, and a much deeper-rooted issue.

The women have consistently spoken ill of Lottie throughout the season with a mix of trauma, worry, and genuine disdain at times. And their entire motivation in going to Lottie’s compound is to get her committed all over again. Sure, they originally do this because they believe Natalie is in danger, but even when Natalie is found safe, sound, and content, they double down on their attempt to put Lottie away. By this point, it’s clear that Lottie is very much struggling, even if she doesn’t outright say it to the women until later on. But when she does finally let them in on what she’s been struggling with, telling them that something has guided them all together again and that it’s too powerful for her to reason with, they immediately play into her hysteria and then plot to get her committed again rather than listening or trying to help. Under the impression that a psych team is on the way, the women agree to a sacrifice by way of a hunt.

And sure, maybe at some point, they reverted to their old ways out of habit, but even Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) asks when the psych team is arriving, to which she’s told they’ve been called off, proving that they were playing against Lottie and working her up to better show the medical team that she really is a danger to herself and others. But the whole thing goes awry with Natalie's death, and when the ambulances arrive, Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and Van (Lauren Ambrose) inform Lottie that the medical professionals are going to keep her for a while.

Lottie Isn't the Villain in 'Yellowjackets'

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Image via Showtime 

A showdown with Lottie and the fellow survivors was always going to happen, but the issue lies in that Lottie was portrayed as a villain this season for her mental illness when she didn’t even really do anything to warrant such a response. Sure, she suggested a sacrifice, and wanted to do it Russian-Roulette style, but the women came in with their guns and knives well before this. The way her mental state was treated in the finale was done with all the delicacy of a sledgehammer and felt wholly disrespectful to not only the character, but to mental health as a whole. The final stretch of episodes shows Lottie gradually decline into despair and intense pain as her visions worsen and get out of her control. In the finale, she is portrayed in a cartoonishly villainous manner, as if she’s bloodthirsty and has planned this from the get-go. And yet, she was willing to drink the phenobarbital solution herself and be the sacrifice.

Even in the wilderness timeline, Lottie is looked down upon, most recently with Misty (Sammi Hanratty) pinning the blame on her for the hunt that resulted in Javi’s (Luciano Leroux) death. But that wasn’t her intention at all, in fact, those weren’t even her words. She simply told Misty to not let her body go to waste if she dies. She didn’t tell the team to sacrifice each other, but rather they chose that on their own because they see her as a prophet they can’t live without. The finale gives insight into this storyline, with Lottie saying she never wanted to be in charge but that the wilderness chose her because she knew how to listen. It was her coping mechanism in such a dire situation and she just wanted to prove helpfulin some way. It feels too often that the other Yellowjackets are quick to pin the blame on Lottie in an attempt to take the heat off of themselves, and thus Lottie becomes a punching bag (figuratively and as we see, literally) for them, and she’s saddled with the blame and guilt that comes with it.

While it likely wasn’t the show’s intention to portray Lottie’s mental health so poorly this season, it, unfortunately, came off that way many times. It wasn’t always bad, as the show did show that she still struggled but sought help and found healthy ways to cope and manage her trauma, but somewhere along the line, it all unraveled. Courtney Eaton said in a Collider interview that Lottie isn't a villain. “This is why I’ll fight to the end of day when everyone was like, ‘She's evil. She's got bad intentions.’ I'm like, Lottie does everything from the best place. She's trying to give her heart to everyone. It might not come across in the right way sometimes, but she's always well-intentioned, I think.”

Every character in this show toes a morally ambiguous line, and it’s natural that they wouldn’t immediately feel at ease around Lottie 25 years later. At first, the adult teammates couldn't even be comfortable around her, but they, unfortunately, didn't even try. They went in with the pre-conceived notion that Lottie was responsible for so much of what went on during their time in the wilderness, and was, therefore, a danger that needed to be put away. That’s not to say Lottie is devoid of flaws (she certainly isn’t) but too often she’s portrayed as some big-bad villain when really she’s just a scared girl who is desperately clinging onto the little hope she can find. Mental health is real, and it’s raw, and it needs to be handled with care, so it was disappointing to see it done so sloppily at times this season. With Lottie now going back to a mental institution for Season 3, we can only hope that a little extra care will be put into her story. Lottie is not a villain, she’s human, she’s vulnerable, and like the rest of the characters, she just needs people to care about, love, and support her.