How Does Travis Die in Yellowjackets?

Content note: this article contains a detailed account of a man’s death by accidental suicide as depicted in the television show “Yellowjackets.”

Episode two of “Yellowjackets”‘s second season might have answered one of the series’ biggest mysteries: how did Travis die? In season one, Nat (played by Juliette Lewis as an adult) is bereft when she discovers Travis has died of an apparent suicide. She’s convinced foul play must have been involved because she and Travis promised each other they’d never do that. But by the end of the season, she seems to finally accept that’s what happened — even though the mysterious Yellowjackets symbol was inexplicably present at the scene.

But that all gets flipped around when the cult, run by Lottie (Simone Kessell as an adult), kidnaps Nat. In episode two, Nat and Lottie talk, and Lottie says she was there for Travis’s death. Here’s how she says it all went down.

How Did Travis Die in “Yellowjackets”?

According to Lottie, Travis called her the day he died. As viewers see during the flashbacks to the 1996 timeline, Travis, while living in the forest, began to experience symptoms of anxiety and strange visions in the weeks after his little brother, Javi, disappeared. Lottie seems to be the only person who can help him deal with said visions, and they form a strange connection.

Lottie explains that adult Travis said the wilderness had come back to haunt him. Lottie was afraid he was going to hurt himself, so she drove all night to get to him. When she found him, “he was a mess,” she says. Lottie tells Nat that Travis said he believed the only way to confront the darkness was to get as close to death as possible, the way Lottie and Van did when they almost died in the wilderness. Lottie told him that this all was just his trauma talking. She then tells Nat that she asked Travis if he wanted Nat’s help, but he said Nat would only make things worse.

Lottie thought she got through to Travis, but things fell apart after she fell asleep. Lottie found him in a barn where he laid candles in the shape of the symbol. He rigged his neck to a crane and gave Lottie the switch that would bring the crane down after he passed out, thinking he could get close enough to death without actually dying. But Lottie tells Nat that the buttons on the crane stopped working and Travis ultimately died, calling it a “horrendous accident.” Before his death, Travis left behind instructions to get into his bank account as well as a note for Nat.

Is Lottie Telling the Truth About Travis’s Death?

Nat seems convinced that Lottie is lying about Travis’s death, and as viewers, we’re still trying to understand adult Lottie’s motivations. Teen Lottie seems to have been more open to mystical understandings of the woods, but adult Lottie, having gone through psychiatric therapy — including electroconvulsive therapy — appears to believe in a trauma-based explanation for everything.

Viewers also see that after Travis died, Lottie had a traumatic hallucination of her own of Laura Lee, whose death was shown in season one. Laura Lee was the first person to believe Lottie’s visions might be sacred or mystical. It seems Lottie is still struggling with the burden she took up out in the woods, but she doesn’t share that part with Nat.

New episodes of “Yellowjackets” premiere on Fridays on streaming and Sundays on Showtime.

If you or a loved one are experiencing suicidal ideation or are at risk, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has several resources and a 24/7 lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.