WARNING: Spoilers for Yellowjackets season 2, episode 3
Lottie has a mysterious vision regarding her bees at the end of Yellowjackets season 2, episode 3, and one theory suggests it could mean another survivor is going to die in the 2021 timeline. There is evidence on both sides of the fence that Lottie's visions are either a byproduct of her mental illness or proof of her supernatural powers. It seems like most people in the series tend to believe the latter, as evidenced by the fact that she led two cults (one in the 1996 timeline and one in the 2021 timeline), and there are few in the show who question her.
Like all of Lottie's visions, her latest comes with no explanation. In the episode, Lottie strolls over to the bee boxes kept on the cult compound. Noticing a number of dead bees on top of the box, Lottie lifts the lid to the hive and pulls out one of the combs to see it covered in blood. Lottie gets emotional but is then broken out of her vision when an acolyte asks if she's joining them for lunch. While the vision is unexplained, something Lottie says earlier in the Yellowjackets episode, coupled with where the series is going, hints that the hallucination is an ominous sign for the show's future.
Yellowjackets Theory: Lottie's Dead Bees Foreshadow More Survivor Deaths
There are several things that point to Lottie's vision equating to more survivor deaths. First off, obvious comparisons can be drawn to the Yellowjackets teammates being represented by a bee hive. Between Lottie's earlier explanation of the importance of a queen bee to Natalie, the soccer team name itself, and the fact that being a part of a cannibalistic cult requires a hive-mind mentality, the connection between the survivors themselves and the bee hive that Lottie keeps is easy enough to make. The deeper symbolism that comes from the scene, however, has to do with the Yellowjackets season 2 soundtrack.
During Lottie's bee vision, the song "Bells For Her" by Tori Amos plays, with the lyrics "Can't stop what's coming, Can't stop what's on its way," underscoring the moment, suggesting that Lottie's vision is a sign of things to come rather than a manifestation from the past like her vision of Laura Lee. Lottie becomes distraught over the hallucination, perhaps more so than she was during Travis' death. The blood on the comb, the bee symbolism, and even Travis' line that the wilderness is coming back to haunt the survivors in the 2021 timeline, all support the idea that Lottie's vision could be foreshadowing another survivor's death.
Why The Bees Are So Symbolic To Lottie & Her Cult
When Lottie first introduces the bees to the kidnapped Natalie in Yellowjackets, she speaks lovingly of their importance in nature — especially the queen bee. Lottie explains that all the bees cluster around the queen in winter and vibrate to keep her warm, and that when a new queen hatches, the first thing she does is kill all other unborn queens. When it comes to the nature of Lottie's new cult, she is the queen bee, and the rest are her workers. This is made abundantly clear in numerous ways, as the followers are shown to have great reverence for their leader, bordering on worship.
How far they're willing to go is demonstrated by their willingness to cross state lines and abduct people on Lottie's behalf. Lottie's cult is full of fierce followers, willing to bury someone alive as a form of therapy, kidnap someone, wear animal masks to perform ceremonies in the middle of the night, and more. For whatever reason, Lottie is able to hold influence over people, making her the queen bee and her followers her workers. This influence is equally powerful in the 1996 timeline, furthering the connection that the Yellowjackets team are the bees in Lottie's hive.
How The Fate Of Lottie's Bees Connect To Yellowjackets' Past Timeline
Lottie's speech to Natalie about the queen bee seems eerily similar to the trajectory of the girls in the 1996 timeline. When Lottie says the new queen stings all the other prospective queens to death, Natalie remarks, "I see why you like them." Lottie reassures her that it's not "brutal" but rather, natural, and what has to be done — otherwise, the hive will starve. In the 1996 timeline, Lottie has essentially become the queen bee, but this was really only after Jackie, the other prospective queen bee, died. Not only that, but it was because of her death that the girls managed not to starve.
At some point, the girls will begin hunting one another for sport, and it's quite possible that Lottie's bee analogy connects to how this happened in the past. Some of the girls could become competition for Lottie or endanger the hive, and as the queen, Lottie must protect her hive and keep them fed. Lottie still presumably sees the 2021 survivor group as her original hive, which is why she's so troubled by her vision. With Shauna guilty of killing Adam and covering up Jeff's blackmail and Taissa's violent sleepwalking alter ego taking control, at least two of the Yellowjackets survivors are already in obvious danger.