With Lottie (Simone Kessell) confirmed dead in Yellowjackets, the investigation has begun to figure out who killed her. It seems unlikely that she just fell down the stairs on her own. Naturally, fingers are pointing to the obvious suspect, Tai (Tawny Cypress), considering Episode 5 is even called “Did Tai Do That?”
But as the ladies, led by Misty (Christina Ricci), dive deeper into the mystery, they uncover that there’s a lot about Lottie they didn’t know. Her death could be at the hands of just about anyone, the reason for just about anything.

Yellowjackets

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime

Showrunner

Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco

Directors

Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis

Writers

Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa

Misty Jumps Full Force Into an Investigation

The episode begins with Misty, one of the best characters on Yellowjackets, using her amateur sleuthing skills and connections to gather information. She visits the coroner, who she knows personally from her online citizen detective group. Having damaging information on him, she blackmails him into giving her Lottie’s personal items so she can examine them. While he goes to retrieve the bag, she steals a piece of hair found under Lottie’s fingernail, likely to reach out to another contact to run it for DNA.
The other ladies seem shocked to learn that Lottie is dead. It doesn’t take long for them to turn the tables on Misty and accuse her. After all, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) knows that Misty left work early and no one knows where she went. Based on how furious Misty is at this accusation, she’s not likely the killer. However, Misty has exhibited troubling behavior before, both in the present day and in flashbacks. So while it’s unlikely, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that she did it.
Going through Lottie’s personal items, Misty calls the coroner to ask about the cell phone, because it wasn’t in there. He confirms that she didn’t have a phone on her, which leaves Misty puzzled. She gets in her car, but Shauna is not far behind, planning to follow her. But when Shauna stops the car to investigate someone who is following her, it turns out to be Walter (Elijah Wood). They reluctantly team up and head to the hotel where Lottie died, and where Walter knows Misty is likely headed as well.
He’s right and as Misty investigates, she finds visible scratch marks on the walls of the stairwell where Lottie fell (or was pushed), suggesting either she tried to break her fall or there was a struggle of some kind. But she discovers something even more shocking.

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Lottie Was Hiding Details of Her Family

The big reveal in the episode is that Lottie wasn’t homeless after her compound was closed down, as she suggested to Shauna when she showed up on her doorstep looking for a place to stay. Rather, her wealthy father still lived in the penthouse of the building where she died. What’s more, Lottie had been staying with him for weeks. This raises serious questions as to why she showed up at Shauna’s house, and her motivations in trying to get close to Callie (Sarah Desjardins).
Suffering from dementia and living with a nurse, her father was likely not capable of doing the deed himself and would not have any reason to do so unless he somehow thought she was going to bring him harm. But it appears he doesn’t leave his penthouse suite much, likely even less so on his own, and to be in a dark stairwell without anyone noticing. So her father can almost certainly be ruled out.
Learning this information from the bellman, Misty shows up at the door of the penthouse, pretending to be a neighbor coming by with treats and condolences. She also claims that Lottie was holding a package for her and convinces her father to let her into the apartment to look for it. She fishes around and finds a receipt in Lottie’s coat, which she stealthily steals and reads to discover that Lottie withdrew $50,000 from her bank account right before she died.

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Shauna Remains Suspicious

Showtime

But someone else has beaten Misty there. Walter is there with Shauna posing as techs working on the Wi-Fi, pretending something is wrong and needs upgrading. Along with finding Lottie’s phone and copying its contents to go through later, he’s trying to tap into her computer to see what she might have been up to on the day she died, or the days leading up to it.
While Walter and Shauna are working together, they are also seemingly still suspicious of one another. Shauna starts to think that maybe Walter killed Lottie for the sake of Misty, especially since he comments that he “knows what curls her toes,” and that’s a challenge. Upon being accused, Walter pulls out one of his hairs and suggests that he will run his DNA against the hair Misty found under Lottie’s fingers if Shauna will do the same. But she refuses. It’s unclear if this is because she’s guilty or just finds him repulsive.
Shauna remains a potential suspect, with signs pointing to Shauna being unhinged, both as a teen and in the present day, which raises suspicions. Let’s not forget that she also went to New York the night Lottie died to purchase a cat that resembled a lost one in hopes of helping Jeff (Warren Kole) fulfill his plan for good karma. Plus, the last time Shauna saw Lottie alive, she had a massive argument with her and kicked her out of her house. Nonetheless, Shauna seems steadfast in her belief that someone is after the Yellowjackets in general, considering all the strange things that had been happening to her. From her brakes not working to getting locked in the freezer, she worries she could be next.
So, Did Tai Do That?

The most obvious suspect, as noted, is Tai, and it doesn’t help that she seems unaffected by Lottie’s death. Even Van (Lauren Ambrose) is disturbed by Tai’s ability to just go on with her day like nothing happened, not expressing any upset about the loss of their friend. Van is suspicious and questions where Tai went the night they had their date in New York. She told Van to meet her in New York in an hour, even though it was only a 15-minute train ride away. That leaves 45 minutes unaccounted for. Tai is adamant that she had nothing to do with Lottie’s death, claiming she had to prep things, including hiring the horse and carriage, and navigating the wildness that is New York itself took time.
Is it possible, however, that Tai entered one of her fugue states, visited and killed Lottie, and doesn’t even remember it? It’s fitting that in flashbacks in the same episode, teenage Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown) pulled the King of Hearts card and was tasked with executing Ben (Steven Krueger). She was having trouble grappling with the idea, and Van (Liv Hewson) coached her through trying to summon her alter-ego, the one that made her sleepwalk, to do it for her. It’s evident that right before pulling the trigger, this works, and the other personality enters Tai’s body. If this is the case in present day, she could very well be the killer but doesn’t recall doing it.
One sign that the Tai who is present right now might not be the “real” Tai is when she goes to see her son Sammy (Aiden Stoxx). Despite being told that he had been asking about her, oddly, he instantly turns away from her when she crouches down to talk to him. He’s scared, and it’s either based on something she quietly said to him, or that he senses this is not his mommy but someone else much more sinister.

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Could It Be Someone Else Entirely?

Showtime

If Tai, Shauna, Misty, Van, even Walter, didn’t kill Lottie, who could it be? It’s possible Shauna is right and it’s someone entirely different who is after the Yellowjackets. If so, who? This might largely depend on who of the women from the wilderness were left standing at the end outside the core group, or it could be someone related to them in some way.
What is apparent based on Lottie’s father is that he has already instructed the police to rule her death an accident. If they fail to do so, he tells Misty, their foundation would not see another dime. (It’s unclear if the former Wall Street titan, however, still has the ability to make such demands in his current medical condition or just thinks he is doing so). If so, there’s no incentive or desire for the police to investigate further and nothing will be done about Lottie’s death until the Yellowjackets do it.
If they continue down that path, what they uncover might not be what they want to hear, and could potentially have implications for all of them. But it’s possible the same could be said if they don’t continue to try and find the truth, especially if the killer is someone completely outside their group.