'Yellowjackets' Season 2, episode 3 recap: Why Lottie's bee lesson is so important

Lottie (Simone Kessell) just dropped one of the most important monologues we've seen in Yellowjackets so far. 

Amidst all the drama of this week's episode, Lottie decides to give Natalie (Juliette Lewis) a tour of her wellness camp (aka cult), marveling in all its wonders before arriving at its honey farm. She begins waxing lyrical about bee hives and how they work like an ominous David Attenborough, while we learn some fun facts about what worker bees do for their queen. 

From Lottie's brief National Geographic speech, we learn that worker bees will often vibrate around their queen in winter to keep her warm, and that newly hatched queens will typically sting unborn queen bees to death to maintain their title. While Natalie sees brutality in the hive's ways, Lottie sees natural order and a species doing what they have to do to survive (and not starve). But why does any of this matter? 

You might overlook this scene as just Lottie being Lottie, but in her explanation of hives we find the exact dynamics of the Yellowjackets themselves. Not only is the team aptly named after a type of wasp but they've been living up to their mascot's ways, at least up until Jackie's (Ella Purnell) death. Unlike the vibrating worker bees in Lottie's monologue, the Yellowjackets let their queen bee freeze to death in the winter. No one cared to stop Jackie from spending the night outside. No one cared to still cater to her needs. And everyone realized she was more useful to them dead than alive when they ate her. But why did the Yellowjackets betray their queen bee the way they did? 

Jackie went from queen bee to big drag in the wilderness.

The old hive could no longer work for them. Credit: Paul Sarkis/SHOWTIME.

Before the fateful crash of Flight 2525, the Yellowjackets entrusted Jackie with all of their decision making. She was the team's captain. She was the most popular girl at school. And within the realm of high school, Jackie was equipped with all the charisma needed to reign over the others. But outside of that unnatural order, in nature's realm, none of that mattered.

As months went by in the wilderness, the core hive dynamic of the Yellowjackets gradually became a thing of the past, left behind on their high school soccer field that's miles (and memories) away. In the wilderness, the Yellowjackets needed a queen bee that knew how to survive and how to inspire hope — Jackie wasn't that. She knew how to survive a high school cafeteria but not a relentless Canadian winter.

In due time, Jackie was dethroned. Her role of team captain didn't matter in the face of imminent starvation. If you can't hunt, heal, or help, you're not much good to the hive. You might think letting Jackie freeze to death and eating her corpse was the team's ultimate rejection of their natural hive instinct, but it's the exact opposite: They're more in tune with the natural order of things than ever. Sure, they ended up committing the worst possible mutiny against their queen bee by cannibalising her, but it was seemingly the only way to survive. It also established a new queen that would help them thrive in the future — Lottie. 

Lottie's bloody vision is foreboding as hell.

Their new hive is terrifying. Credit: Paul Sarkis/SHOWTIME.

Our unofficially official Antler Queen is the group's new queen bee in the wilderness, and that's less than ideal. Unlike Jackie, who mainly ruled by virtue of her previously bestowed status, Lottie's ruling as a false messiah. So far in Season 2, some (though definitely not all) of the Yellowjackets perceive Lottie as an all-knowing figure whose visions are going to be their way out, but we all know how terrifying Lottie's visions actually are. With the Yellowjackets' willingness to violate their original order and empower someone who can only be described as a ticking time bomb instead, we're seeing them turn into the most primal version of their hive yet. 

Lottie's bee monologue coming right after the the feast in episode 2 emphasizes the team's growing dangerousness and desperation. We should all be scared of these bees and what they're willing to do for their queen next, because the hive is buzzing...and hungry. And given Lottie's bloody bee hive vision at the end of the episode, things don't look hopeful for this new hive under her reign, or for her current state of mind. 

Season 2 of Yellowjackets is now streaming on Showtime.