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daniirosie · 17 hours ago

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A very deep study and dissection into Lottie and Shauna’s dynamic and relationship throughout all three seasons, and where I think this progression will lead for s4.

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Let me first start off by saying, this might just sound like me rambling and not making a coherent analysis on the topic I’m trying to cover, but there’s so many thoughts that are constantly swimming around in my head when it comes to these two characters, and their incredibly unique and enigmatic relationship and dynamic. This is purely just me trying to air my thoughts, dissect scenes, all while also trying to do a genuine analysis, and to see what other people think, and/or if they have things to add. So let’s begin and dive deep into to these two, and their relationship in its entirety.

Warning: this will be extremely lengthy and analytical, i will be basically pointing out even the smallest of details and interactions to the point where it might sound ridiculous. You have been warned lmao

Pre-crash:

There’s not much to go on with the pre-crash timeline, but we know the basics, lottie and shauna were both on varsity, shauna being a (center?) midfielder and lottie being a centre-back/sweeper - Both defensive positions. We know that they had the same opinion about the Allie situation/tai’s idea of freezing her out of the game, and they both seem to have sympathy for Allie’s injury as we see here:

Now we go to the actual game win that gets them into nationals, now this completely could just be a spur of the moment celebration and sudden feeling of joy with your teammate and nothing more, but shauna is comfortable enough with lottie that she hops on to her back after the teams win as seen here:

And the party before the flight, we don’t see them speak but again, they are comfortable enough to be in each other’s orbit, and it’s clear that there is no hatred or animosity between them. Just normal Highschool teammates who we can maybe consider as friends

Before I get into the wilderness dynamic, which is the most interesting and fascinating obviously, it’s good to lay this groundwork of who they were as individuals, and how they were as a pair before everything that happened. And importantly to me, to see if there’s any connection that can be made as to why lottie ended up being so enamored and genuinely obsessed with shauna, and as well for shauna herself, to see if there was any hint of disdain or distrust for lottie. Were there any signs in the pre-crash timeline that could’ve morphed into what became in the wilderness? My answer is not at all. I see nothing that what suggest a gateway into lottie’s complete and utter fascination, nor Shauna’s aggressive nature towards lottie. I just see two normal Highschool teenagers who again, have no visible hatred or animosity, but who are friendly and comfortable being in each other’s spaces. I could say that maybe there’s more that isn’t being shown, that maybe lottie always had been drawn to Shauna, and that maybe Shauna had hidden conflicting feelings about Lottie, but in this particular post, I’m only going to be talking about what is actually shown to us and what is officially canon.

S1 Wilderness:

So, let’s now get into their time in the wilderness. The very first interaction, if you can even call it that, is when shauna hears rustling behind her and turns back to look subtly to see lottie taking her medication for her schizophrenia, which is unknown to shauna at this time, but still she is now made aware that lottie has some sort of condition that requires her to take medication for it. And I’ve always loved that shauna never told anyone about this, she could’ve told the whole group what she saw, she could’ve embarrassed lottie if she didn’t like her at this point in time, and most incredibly, she didn’t even tell Jackie, her best friend. but no, she kept it a secret, even all the way to the current season. (We’ll get into Shauna’s “shrink” comment towards Lottie later in the post)

So now we move to lottie and Shauna’s second interaction in the wilderness. The séance. Lottie at this point hasn’t taken her medication for at least a whole 24 hours, probably even more, close to 48 hours. Now whether you or I believe in the supernatural or not, lottie is now extremely paranoid, agitated, and slowly falling into the state of mind that we are now very familiar with. Lottie without warning, screams suddenly and starts to ramble incoherently in French, we see shauna kneel down next to her and ask “lottie sweetie, what’s going on, what is it ?” And this, this right here, is where at least in my eyes, we see Shauna start to subtly have this weariness and distrust towards lottie. Because just after she asks lottie what’s wrong and what it is, lottie looks directly in her eyes, and says “it’s in you already” And Shauna immediately retracts her hand away from Lottie’s. So this scene shows me two things, that shauna used, and was originally comfortable with using a term of endearment for her (which I don’t think shauna would use if she wasn’t at least a little close to the person), and that again, this in my eyes is the exact point where Shauna starts to think differently of lottie. Shauna knows that she’s pregnant or in a very high possibility of being pregnant, so lottie saying “it’s in you already” could possibly be Shauna perceiving this as lottie calling her out on her secret - maybe to embarrass her, and knowing about it somehow; and on top of shauna just generally being weirded out by Lottie’s new behavior. And after this moment, we don’t ever hear or see shauna use a term of endearment towards Lottie again.

After the séance, we don’t see an interaction until episode 9 - the doomcoming. Now this part will be a little lengthy because I’m gonna be talking about 9 and 10. The first thing we get is when they’re all high as fuck off of the mushrooms, the group is starting to heavily feel its affects; Shauna suddenly starts to feel the baby kick inside her and tai comes and kneels in front of her to listen and to feel the baby’s movements - we then see Lottie stare at them. This is probably where Lottie’s fascination with Shauna’s children starts, whether it’s due to the heightened emotional elements from the drug, or just Lottie herself feeling drawn to this life growing in Shauna, and Shauna being the one to create new life, she’s hooked now, and this obsession stays with Lottie until her death in adulthood.

The next we see from them is a bit later, it’s now night time and they all storm back to the cabin to confront Jackie and Travis, moving past that highly uncomfortable scene where they basically SA Travis, he escapes and runs away until they do have him again, and this is where we truly see for the first time lottie encouraging this darkness in shauna. Lottie has gagged Travis’s mouth, and shauna now has the knife in hand, and lottie, behind her is encouraging shauna to slit his throat saying “it wants us to”. And I have to point out that this stuck in Shauna’s mind because we see her recall that exact moment in her flashbacks when adult shauna was in Lottie’s room after her death, so very important scene for many reasons.

the morning after the doomcoming in ep 10, we see the bear scene. Lottie asks shauna for her knife, shauna gives it to her, and she walks towards it. The bear ends up kneeling before lottie and lottie kills it, Shauna’s face, like everyone else’s, is a mixture of shock, disbelief, and a bit of awe; But talking about shauna specifically, this is another moment where I think shauna starts to be very aware and cautious of lottie, likely because she remembers what lottie was telling her to do to Travis, and now the bear, and on top of what she saw at the séance; a build up to the anger and animosity that shauna shows towards lottie in season 2.

Now to the jackieshauna fight scene. You’re probably wondering why the fuck am I bringing this scene up, well it took me a recent rewatch to see that there is some very interesting lottieshauna material here. Not to sound genuinely crazy and way too analytical, but shauna and lottie are seen sitting together when they are all inside the cabin eating the bear meat, which I know that shauna would’ve been sitting with Jackie if they weren’t at odds, but still, found it interesting that they chose to sit next to each other, and it makes me wonder who chose to make that move and sit next to the other, but I have a pretty good guess that it was lottie. I’ll tell you why. Again, this all took me a recent rewatch and to rewatch the scene itself a few times before agreeing with myself that I saw what I saw; this scene where Jackie and Shauna fight, is where I believe personally that lottie made her full claim on shauna in her head, and became protective of her in a way. If you watch the scene over because of this post, I want you to pay attention to lottie when Jackie starts to fight with shauna, but most importantly, look at Lottie’s literal smirk when Jackie opens the door and leaves. It’s so subtle, small, and quick so you’ll really have to look, but it’s there, and once you catch it, you can’t unsee it. So lottie seems to be for some reason, happy that Jackie is leaving. I’m able to accept that it may just be because Jackie was a denier of lottie and her abilities - and the wilderness in general, but with everything that we know now about how lottie feels about shauna and her interest in her, I think it could be because lottie just simply has this pull towards shauna and she didn’t like what she was witnessing; Jackie calling shauna out on her pregnancy, on almost killing Travis-something that lottie encouraged her to do. so again, it could just be because Jackie was a denier, but it could also be about shauna herself.

So with all of that, in my eyes and the way I see it, both shauna and Lottie’s perceptions of each other are changing in these episodes, but going opposite ways; shauna is starting to feel weary, cautious, untrusting, while lottie is feeling a pull towards shauna, an interest in Shauna’s capabilities for darkness, and “it” that resides in her.

That completes all of their interactions, and my dissection of them for season 1. It’s not a lot, but it’s good groundwork, and I think it lays out just enough to analyze and to start to recognize patterns and small things about their blooming dynamic, the one that we know and are now familiar with.

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Note: unfortunately I’m almost at the photo limit because I post from mobile, so I won’t be able to give much more visual examples.

Season 2 wilderness:

Season two in terms of Lottie and Shauna’s relationship/dynamic is by far my favorite of all the seasons, Even more than s3. It’s complicated, tragic, brutal, and completely separates itself from how they used to be, from how they used to act towards each other. No longer are they the two highschool soccer teammates from wiskayok who seemed to have a normal acquaintanceship/friendship. No. They evolved into a deeply tragic, weird, and toxic pairing by the end of the season. Lottie and Shauna are changing as individuals, Lottie coming into her role as the prophetess with a huge burden to carry on her shoulders, while Shauna is drowning in her anguish from losing Jackie and her son, turning her sadness into pure rage by the end of it. We also see Shauna take into her role as well as the butcher. So Lottie and Shauna are again moving in opposite directions, Lottie is becoming quiet, cryptic, and eerily calm, while Shauna is becoming dangerously more and more angry; And this is why their dynamic in s2 to me, is by far the most fascinating we’ve witnessed yet. Let’s get started.

Episode one in the teen timeline for s2 opens up with it being winter, everyone is established in their roles, Mari the cook, nat the hunter, Shauna the butcher, Lottie the head of the ‘household’. Shauna is shown sitting with Jackie’s two month old corpse in the shed while the rest of the team are waiting for Shauna to return with the meat; Mari makes a comment about Shauna being in there all the time with “deadass Jackie” and Lottie immediately comes in defense of Shauna, telling Mari to “leave it alone”. Lottie defending Shauna will be a constant reoccurrence in s2, Lottie doesn’t seem to allow much, or really any criticism of Shauna under her leadership.

The second episode shows an identical scene to the one in the first episode, the group is again waiting for Shauna to come back with meat so Mari can cook for dinner. Ben says someone should get her, and tai is the one to stand up and go get Shauna. Lottie is again seated in the middle, and says “don’t, she’ll come when she’s ready”, then followed by Lottie saying “she’s processing and needs our support”. Nat then chimes in on the conversation in disagreement, Misty then also complains that they are always waiting on Shauna, to which Mari then basically says that she should take Shauna’s share for herself or for the group. Tai immediately says “no one is eating Shauna’s food”, then we see everyone look to Lottie for permission, as she is ‘head of the household’. Lottie then firmly states:

“No one is eating Shauna’s share.”

So Lottie in this scene, and the last scene in episode one, is seen enabling this unhealthy behavior, but at the very same time, being Shauna’s biggest advocate; and to me, the one who feels for Shauna’s pain the most besides tai. Tai cares for Shauna deeply, but she does not enable these unhealthy coping mechanisms that Lottie seems to do for Shauna. I 100% believe personally that Lottie would’ve let Shauna keep Jackie’s body for as long as she wanted, to let her stay in the meat shed for as long as she wanted, again, because she’s Shauna’s biggest enabler, and still is to this current season.

Now this next scene is one of my favorites for lottieshauna. Before I talk about this scene, I do want to say for the record that tai was completely in the right to want to try and put an end to what Shauna was doing with Jackie, but since I am talking about lottieshauna, I do see Lottie’s protection over Shauna romantic, and I will be romanticizing it.

So tai, along with a good portion of the group are outside, some are doing chores, and some seem to be just doing whatever. Tai is cutting wood when she sees Shauna leaving the shed, tai decides that enough is enough and goes to see what is going on in the shed; She finds to her complete horror and shock, Jackie with makeup and is propped up, so tai leaves the shed and goes to confront Shauna. She pulls Shauna up to her feet and begins to vocalize her concerns, to which Lottie immediately stands up and steps in front of Shauna to push tai back two times; tai continues to question Shauna, and then also questions Lottie and her habit of enabling Shaunas behavior. Lottie aggressively steps towards tai to say “she was her best friend tai”, Lottie is now showing aggression and an almost territorial attitude towards people who confront or call out Shauna, which again, is a indicator of Lottie’s growing obsession.

Tai then says finally that they are getting rid of Jackie’s body, and throughout the rest of the scene, Shauna is constantly casting her eyes to Lottie for help; this is Shauna recognizing Lottie’s influence. Lottie doesn’t say anything, but she offers a silent but strong presence.

The next scene in the teen timeline is them preparing Jackie’s body to be cremated, they all start to discuss whether or not they should take some of Jackie’s clothes, Shauna immediately rejects the idea, which ends up with Shauna getting into a scuffle with Mari, and tai tries to break it up but ends up being pushed to the ground by Shauna. Lottie again, comes to the defense of Shauna and pulls her back, then steps in front of her to tell everyone to give Shauna space. This next moment is one of, if not the most tender and gentle scene between the two.

The rest of the group leaves to give space, but Lottie stays. Shauna starts to fix Jackie’s clothes, a small way for Shauna to take care of Jackie. As Shauna is doing this, Lottie notices the chunk taken from Jackie’s arm, Lottie looks directly into Shauna’s eyes but Shauna immediately looks away out of shame - probably thinking that Lottie will judge, but instead, Lottie shows no sign of judgement or disgust. She instead takes the necklace from Jackie’s neck, and gently puts in on Shauna. A beautiful way of telling Shauna she knows, and that it’s ok, That she’s not judging her, but understanding of her and her way of grieving. Lottie then places her hand on Shauna’s shoulder, Shauna doesn’t flinch or react, just looks at Lottie for a moment - so does Lottie. Lottie leaves in silence because she knows that’s what Shauna needs. Not a talk, not an apology or an attempt at making Shauna feel better, just a steady presence of support and understanding.

Shauna then is saying her final goodbyes to Jackie before seeting fire to the body, Lottie is seen standing the closest behind Shauna. Lottie is looking at Shauna while Shauna’s eyes remain on Jackie’s body - symbolic of their relationship in my opinion; Shauna’s mind always on Jackie, while Lotties is full of Shauna. While I am a firm believer that this ship is not one sided, it is extremely unbalanced. Lottie will always care more for Shauna than Shauna cares for Lottie, and that goes for anyone Shauna interacts with.

The final sequence of this scene is the group leaving one by one, but Lottie and tai stay and walk to be on each side of Shauna. Also symbolic; Shauna’s two biggest supporters in the wilderness, one an enabler to all her unhealthy actions, and the other who is the voice of reason, pragmatic and grounded in rationality.

Now to the cannibalism of Jackie. They all smell her roasting flesh from inside the cabin, Shauna walks out first, and Lottie right behind her. Shauna’s stomach growls from the hunger, to which she then says “she wants us to”. Lottie looks up at Shauna with an almost reverent look, no disgust on Lottie’s face, but a silent agreement. We then get transported into the dream-like sequence of the group in this Greek/roman style feast of gods, Lottie is seen sitting next to Shauna. Lottie and Shauna cannibalize Jackie shoulder to shoulder - together in a way.

Now into episode three, the next moment between them is Shauna sitting by the cabin window, looking out to where Jackie once was. Shauna is bothered, distraught, and disturbed by what happened the night before; Lottie, calm as always, walks to Shauna and gives comfort, confirms what Shauna said the night before, that Jackie wanted her to. Shauna continues and confides in Lottie that she herself wanted it, and that Shauna now feels “fucked up”. Lottie then reassures her and reminds that Shauna is not alone, that she did not do what she did alone. Shauna then tells Lottie she’s scared - one of the last times we’ll see Shauna open up to someone and admit that vulnerability, that someone being Lottie I think means a lot. Lottie being the great step father comforter that she is, tells Shauna that she’ll keep the baby safe, that she’ll be a great mom and that she has a community to help her, this lightens Shauna’s demeanor, with also suggesting a sort of welcoming/baby shower for the baby, to which again, Shauna’s sadness and worry is lightened. Beautiful scene.

Now the last interaction between them in episode three is interesting to me; the actual baby shower. Lottie is the last person to gift Shauna something for the shower, it’s a hand made blanket (we see Lottie knitting it or at least fixing it’s stitches earlier in the ep) Shauna starts off with her loving the gift the most out of everyone’s, that is until Natalie points out the symbol Lottie put on the blanket. I find this scene interesting because for a small period of time, Shauna seemed to forget or put aside this distrust and weariness of Lottie, Lottie was supporting and defending her about Jackie and I think Shauna formed some a sort of appreciation and closeness towards her - a trust, until Shauna saw the symbol on the blanket. Shauna was then brought back to that state of distrust and annoyance towards Lottie again, and from there on out, Shauna keeps her at a distance. She doesn’t accept her help anymore, she’s hostile, angry, and in the end, violent towards Lottie.

After the Little fight between the group over the symbol, Shauna’s nose starts to bleed suddenly, then they hear noise on the roof. They all walk out to find dozens of dead birds, nat and Misty rationalize it, saying they could be diseased, Misty says it could be because of the iron in the soil and lake, but Lottie says they should keep some of them for blessings/offerings; Mari, van and others listen and kneel before Lottie to place the birds at her feet and on the cabin steps. Shauna’s face is disgusted and again, annoyed. That period of trust and appreciation toward Lottie left as quickly as it came.

It makes me wonder what would’ve happened if Lottie didn’t put the symbol on the blanket and just gave it to her as is. Shauna didn’t seem to truly care for vans gift, she didn’t care for Mari’s, if you look at Shauna’s face after Misty’s gift of a monologue, she didn’t really care for that either, the only one that made her smile was Lottie’s. So again, if Lottie never put the symbol on, would their dynamic have gotten stronger ? Making them closer ? Would Shauna have fully started to rely and trust in Lottie ? Would she have wanted to be physically closer to Lottie ? Emotionally? I think absolutely. That small action and choice of Lottie to put that symbol on the blanket was oddly enough the deciding factor of which direction their relationship was going to go for the season; I say “oddly” not because Shauna didn’t have a right to be weirded out over it being on her baby’s blanket, but just the fact that such a small moment would seemingly change everything.

Next is episode four, but there was not anything related to lottieshauna. The only thing to note on was when Lottie came back from trying to find food for the competition between her and Natalie, Shauna helped Lottie take off her coat, but that’s all.

At episode five, Lottie’s prayer circles have now begun, the group is starting to fall into the beliefs of Lottie and in Lottie, there are only a select few who don’t participate in them; and one of those people includes Shauna. Shauna is sitting with tai and van asks tai if she’s coming out to the circle, van goes outside and Shauna’s asks tai, “seriously, you too ?”, tai explains that it’s mainly for van, but also admits that her sleep walking has stopped since attending these new prayer circles. Tai eventually leaves to go out there, but we see Shauna go to the porch to watch Lottie/tai, she’s again, annoyed and disgruntled at this progresion in belief in the wilderness/lottie.

The next scene in episode five is while Shauna is asleep in the chair, Lottie is knelt beside Shauna and is whispering to the baby, saying that it’s “gonna change everything”, Shauna wakes up slowly but then realizes what’s happening and shoves Lottie to the floor saying “what the fuck Lottie”. After a moment of bickering Tai steps in and try’s to say calmly that Lottie wasn’t hurting anyone, Shauna’s pissed at that and leaves. As I mentioned earlier in this post, tai and Lottie are Shauna’s two biggest supporters in the wilderness in s2, and also the way I see it, the two people she interacts with the most. It seemed that way earlier in the season, especially that period of Shauna mourning Jackie; but now we see this kind of switch within the dynamic of these three, tai used to be the one to call out Lottie’s enabler behavior, to disagree with Lottie’s way of handling things, especially when it came to Shauna, but now at this point in the season, tai seems to be slowly starting to change with Lottie, she defends her in this moment with the baby, she goes to the prayer circles, ect. So now Shauna sees this - and she starts to feel like she’s being betrayed in a way, Lottie is overstepping and pushing boundaries, and tai, the one who just a bit ago would be in agreement with Shauna, is now ‘siding’ with Lottie in some ways.

The next little scene is a good example of this feeling of isolation and betrayal, we get cut into a scene where Shauna is walking angrily in the woods and tai is following behind her trying to talk to her, tai then says “what am I supposed to do, say I’m sorry?” To which Shana snaps and says “you’re supposed to be my friend, you’re supposed to be on my side, not team Lottie”. Shauna also continues to explain that what Lottie is doing and how she is influencing the group is not helping, and that she is freaked out. She also says the famous line:

“She’s obsessed with my baby tai”

Shauna is aware fully now of Lottie’s behavior towards her pregnancy (which I stated I believed started in s1 at doomcoming), along with her feeling that no one agrees with her or is on her side about Lottie.

This is where her anger really starts to simmer and build, of course the breaking point is when her son actually dies, but you can see where it all truly starts.

So now we reach episode six. the birth. Shauna is now in labor and the group has made up a bed for Shauna to lay in the main part of the cabin; the whole team is surrounding Shauna and trying to figure out what to do next. Tai is comforting Shauna at one side of the bed, while Lottie stands up and goes to the other side of the bed. Lottie who is usually calm and stoic, is now clearly worried, unsure, and unknowing. She tells everyone that maybe they should all share their hopes around Shauna, Mari says the wrong thing to say at that time and Shauna starts to rightfully freak out; Tai grabs Shauna’s face and assures her, to which Lottie tries to do the exact same thing; but now with what has happened between her and Lottie, Shauna does not take comfort in Lottie’s touch, words, or her closeness and Shauna pushes Lottie’s hand off. Tai then tells her that she knows she’s trying to help, but Shauna needs space. After tai tells her that, she sort of gets pushed gently away from Shauna. Lottie’s face says so much; her eyes kept looking to Shauna and then away and to the floor. And I swear to god she looks like she wanted to cry.

I would usually make a Lottie “step father” joke but in all seriousness, I believe Lottie has some genuine connection in her mind to Shauna and this child. She has decidedly made it her and Shauna’s. Which again, any normal person would believe that it’s very weird and completely overstepping, but since this is fictional and these characters are not real, I find it… sweet?? In a way. Endearing? Lottie cares deeply for Shauna and the life that she’s carrying, but it’s just not want Shauna seems to need or want on outside appearances.

A little further into the ep and Shauna is now fully in the middle of labor and fighting for her life, Lottie had listened to tai (and to Shauna) and had given Shauna space. She is in the background but still watching. Travis suddenly brings down an animals skull from the cabin wall and Lottie notices right away, a few of the main believers in Lottie and the wilderness circle around and offer whatever they can to it, Travis offers blood, someone offers a button, and others offer a few miscellaneous items. Shauna sees this from her bed and looks terrified.

Again, we continue to move through the episode and we now land at the complications of the birth, the placenta has now come out first and that is not a good sign; Lottie sees this and immediately goes to find Misty in the other room. Lottie is serious and stern and grabs Misty tightly around her arms. Lottie says to Misty:

“You can still save Shauna, you can save our baby”

I’ve never been totally sure if Lottie meant “our” as in the groups, or “our baby” as in hers and Shauna’s. With Lottie it could be either of those. But watching that scene over and over, I’m gonna say she meant hers and Shauna’s. I do have a reason for that because of a certain scene, and I will talk about it when that particular scene comes up.

Now this next bit is sad because this is the period in the episode where Shauna hallucinates her baby surviving the birth, but I couldn’t help but notice that in Shauna’s hallucination, Lottie is softly caressing her head. Again this is from Shauna’s pov and from her own head, so she herself is seeing this. What does this mean? What does that tell us? It’s interesting that in real life, Shauna felt overwhelmed and unwanting of Lottie’s physical comfort and presence, but her subconscious then shows us the opposite. We all are aware that Shauna will say or do things but will feel the opposite within herself. I feel like this is an example for that. I think Shauna is drawn to Lottie in her own way, but instead of being like Lottie who loves it, Shauna hates the fact that she is drawn. A lot to consider for sure.

Now back to what I said about Lottie meaning “our” baby as in her and Shauna’s, that scene that I think proves that is here so let’s dissect it.

Shauna is still passed out from the birth and is still hallucinating this other reality of her baby being alive. Shauna “wakes up” from her sleep in the middle of the night to find Lottie sitting in the chair by the bed…. Breastfeeding Shauna’s baby. Now this I will say is really unnerving to me, but again, it says a lot. Even though this is seen and created through Shauna’s mind, I think this is how Lottie really sees it. The baby is hers and Shauna’s, and Shauna in her subconscious and deep in her mind knows that as well. It wasn’t Tai or nat, or Misty seen in that chair, it was Lottie. And we know why.

After that, we are show the last scene for the wilderness timeline for episode six. Shauna again “wakes up” in the middle of the night to find her baby missing, she gets up to find a horrific and traumatizing sight. The group is huddled around her baby and they are cannibalizing it. Tai, Misty, nat, van, Ben, a few others, and Lottie are shown with its blood on their face. This wrecked Shauna’s brain and reality. I don’t think Shauna ever got over that, even it being not real. And I think seeing Lottie specifically, is what maybe played a part in her beating Lottie to near death.

Episode 7: the aftermath of the Birth. The groups spirits are crushed, and everyone and everything is silent. Once again, tai is nearest to Shauna on one side, and Lottie is on the other side of the bed. Lottie always remains close to her, no matter what.

Now this post is 99% about the teen wilderness timeline because it’s just the more important out of the two to me, but there is a scene I want to talk about. Before s3 this would have not been considered a lottieshauna scene to me, but now with the context we were given from the latest season, it 100% now is. Adult Lottie is talking with her “therapist”, which turns out to be just a hallucination. But the therapist morphs into the faceless antler queen in the garb. We now know that Shauna was the only one of the queens to wear that outfit in its complete look. So adult Lottie is practically seeing Shauna. We all know that Lottie by the end of s3 practically worships Shauna because she sees the wilderness in her; shauana is the physical embodiment of it to lottie. Amazing scene with the context we now have.

Now you know what’s next ? The beating. The absolute climax of their s2 dynamic. This will probably be so lengthy so stretch your legs and get a snack because I will be delving deep.

The scene is not black and white, and I will not treat it as if it is. There are so many different sides and angles to look at; different motives, reasons and thoughts going through both of their heads. Courtney once said in an interview that she personally believed that part of the reason Lottie offered herself to Shauna was suicidal ideation. Which I believe. Courtney also said that she also does these kind of things out of Lottie’s own version of love and care. Which I also believe. And the fact that Lottie wanted to protect the rest of the group. As I’ve said, not black and white, and many truths that co-exist. But I believe there are even more truths that lay below the surface.

The scene starts off with Shauna hearing Misty hum a certain tune that triggers Shauna, she ends up decking Misty in the face. nat, tai, and van try to stop Shauna and calm her down. Shauna is fighting and thrashing against the two that are trying to hold her back, Shauna only stops when Lottie steps in front of her. An immediate stillness from Shauna. That it until Shauna throws that first hard punch directly on Lottie’s nose. Lottie doesn’t react conventionally with how most people would react to being assaulted like that; she’s calm and readjusts herself upright. Her nose is bleeding, and she says calm and evenly for Travis to take javi out of the room.

Lottie then puts her hands behind her back and grips her own hands tightly. She knows what’s going to happen, she knows that Shauna will give her the worst beating of her entire life - she wants it. And Shauna can’t believe what she’s seeing. I think Shauna’s original intention was to fistfight with Lottie - to get her to fight back and give Shauna any reason to throw another punch; but Lottie gave her something even better. Full submission, full permission to let her anger out. Lottie then says:

“Shauna i need you we need you, let it out”

And so Shauna does.

Shauna then throws two blows to her head and Lottie falls to the ground. Shauna starts to kick, and kick hard. I could only imagine the true force of a soccer player kicking your back and sides. But Lottie makes no sound, no cries, no attempt at begging or pleading. She takes and takes and takes it. Shauna then grabs her flips her on her back, straddles her and continues to throw devastating blows. It progresses to where Shauna starts using both hands to brutalize her. I’ve noticed this before, but Lottie keeps her eyes open, it’s hard to see especially when the camera keeps cutting to different angles and cuts to shots of the adult timeline, but there is a moment where you can see it. Her eyes are open, she wants to watch this unfold. Shauna continues until her own body gives out from the exertion and falls down next to Lottie with heavy breathes. Shauna takes a few moments to regain her control and to steady herself.

Shauna then sits up and notices Lottie isn’t moving, she’s still. She says Lottie’s name twice. The first is more assured in a way, but the second is where you can hear panic rising in her voice. Shauna for a split second thought that she actually killed her. Lottie remains still for a few moments, then coughs and moves her head. Shauna rolls her eyes. That’s always been interesting to me because Shauna was clearly starting to freak out when she thought Lottie was dead, but the moment she knows that Lottie is alive, she reverts back into that annoyance of Lottie. But we saw it, there was a crack in her facade. she was worried and she didn’t want to actually kill her.

There’s this deleted scene that’s been confirmed by Sophie Nelisse, she’s actually the one who talked about it in an interview where she said there was this scene in episode 8 where Shauna goes to Lottie after the beating, and tells Lottie:

“I’ll do anything”

I personally don’t like to harp on these kind of things when something has been taken out or deleted bc then it’s really not canon, but…with this i do feel like that’s a very in character thing for Shauna to do after what she’s done to Lottie. But we are gifted with a little glimpse of the sudden turn around and regret in the next episode.

In the beginning of episode eight, we see a scene where the group is waiting for Mari’s “belt soup”, we see Shauna suddenly come into the frame and take a blanket from Gen. Gen says something to Shauna and Shauna replies with:

“You’re not using it and Lottie’s cold”

This is all just speculation of course but i think the deleted scene came after this scene that was left in. Shauna gets the blanket from Gen, takes it up to the attic and probably covers Lottie. Then she’d maybe apologize in some way only Shauna does, and says “I’ll do anything”. Truly such a shame for that scene to be cut because it would’ve really propped up this small blanket scene.

Later in the episode we hear Shauna admit something out loud for everyone, and the audience to hear. Misty comes down from the attic to let everyone know that the situation is not good, and that Lottie said to make use of her body if she died. Van suddenly says that she couldn’t imagine being in the wilderness without Lottie, then Shauna says:

“Me neither”

Shauna admitting out loud that she couldn’t imagine being there with out Lottie shatters the anti-lottieshauna narrative that it’s one sided. Or that Shauna doesn’t have this deep hidden care for Lottie. All of those scenes where Shauna is pushing Lottie away or showing animosity is kind of confirmed to be bullshit in my eyes. A front. Now that’s not me saying that Lottie didn’t annoy Shauna or push Shauna’s boundaries at all, because she did, but I’m saying that she DID in fact care for Lottie the whole time.

The care and love - yes i said love, has always been there in my opinion. From s1 where Shauna saw Lottie taking medication and didn’t say anything to embarrass her or Shauna being the first to try and see what was wrong with Lottie at the séance, or in s2 during those small but intimate moments when Shauna was mourning Jackie, and to now this, Shauna admitting that she does in fact need Lottie. That she does care.

In the last 14 minutes of the episode, the group decides to offer a sacrifice for Lottie, and ends up doing the draw. Shauna is a participant, she lays her butchers knife on the animal skull, and she’s the one to light the flame for the candle. Shauna’s attitude towards the spiritual elements is now changing, before the beating she would’ve absolutely not participated in something like this, but everything’s changed now. Lottie’s life is on the line, and Shauna feels that she owes Lottie this.

Now i love this next little scene. Lottie had healed enough to be able to walk down the attic steps, so she does and the moment Lottie steps down into sight, the group all stands and goes to hug and surround Lottie; Shauna’s face when she’s sees Lottie is so full of relief and almost reverence. There’s this little silent exchange between the two when Lottie is being hugged my Mari, Lottie is staring dead into Shauna’s eyes, she’s really paying no mind to the crowd that surrounds her. And to be honest, Lottie’s expression is something I can’t read. Her face doesn’t convey what she’s thinking, but Shauna is smiling.

If anyone can give their insight on what they think this expression reads as then I’d genuinely be appreciative.

The last notable material we have for them in season two is Lottie giving up her position as the leader. Lottie gives a speech about not being able to hear or receive revelation from the wilderness anymore and says that a new leader has been chosen by it; tai, Misty, and Shauna are the ones who seem to sit up straighter, thinking they have a chance at leadership, but none of them get chosen - Shauna isn’t chosen. It’s interesting that Shauna believed that Lottie would choose her, though it’s not ever stated out loud on why Shauna specifically wasn’t chosen, we can take some guesses as to why she thought she would be, and why she wasn’t.

Lottie’s demeanor change is also stark, I don’t even believe that the beating itself is what caused her to not want leadership anymore, but the fact that javi died in her name, and for her life to be saved. I’m sure this is just a fail of continuity in the writers department, but putting that aside and just focusing on the show, it’s interesting how lottie went from saying “shed blood” and “let the darkness set us free” in season one, to her not wanting any part of it in the season two finale, but also now in season three, Lottie being so desperate to hear the wilderness again; resorting to using and over-drugging Travis and Akilah so they can tell her what it wants, to wanting a hunt and everything that happened with Mari. I know this last part that I’m talking right now isn’t necessarily about Lottieshauna, but as I’ve said way in the beginning of this post, it’s good to note the individual changes with the two of them so we can better understand them together as a pair.

So that concludes my season two dissection and analysis. Next is season three obviously, but I have decided to condense this next part a little. Mainly because I already did a season three Lottieshauna post a bit ago which you can find under the tag lottieshauna on my blog. I’m just gonna be sort of repeating what i said on this post for this one, but shorter.

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Season 3 wilderness & adult tl:

Season three was fucking amazing in terms of Lottieshauna, and right off the bat, we get a little insight into those “lost” months of what their dynamic was like that unfortunately, we will never get to see.

S3 for them opens up with lottie talking to Travis about grief, In which naturally, the conversation steered in the direction of shauna. Though it wasn't in depth or long, we get a line from lottie where she says, "I tried to talk to her, but she kinda shut me out" and lottie telling us that shauna also said sometime that "needing a shrink doesn't make you a shrink" (not sure if that's worded correctly but it was along those lines) so there we are confirmed with tension; longing on Lottie's part, and regret. And also what seems to be bitterness and a cold shoulder from Shauna. One can assume it's because shauna can't handle or regulate her emotions properly, so with her it's either lash out or be completely avoidant. And in this case, it seems to have been both towards lottie at some point in time. We can also safely assume it’s at least 50% being because Lottie didn’t choose her as the new leader.

Now let’s quickly move to episode two and three. Lottie shows up at Shaunas house unannounced. What I love about this is that Lottie chose to go to Shauna’s, not out of necessity, but because she wanted to. She could’ve gone to someone else, possibly van, or she could’ve just gone back to her expensive penthouse in NY like she had been apparently doing beforehand. Lottie chose Shauna.

Now we go to the period of Lottie’s death. The bedroom scene is my favorite lottieshauna scene at this current moment ( who knows what s4 will bring)

Shauna is affected by Lottie’s passing, she’s the only one who seems to be truly shaken, and the only one besides Misty who was actively trying to figure out who killed Lottie. But Shauna’s desire to find out who killed Lottie seemed way more personal and intimate compared to the reasons of Misty. Idk that’s just how I saw it.

The bedroom scene. The bedroom scene of Shauna having these very specific flashbacks of her in Lottie's room screamed of intimacy.

Shauna is alone in her bedroom, there is no one to perform for or put a front on for, she’s genuinely mourning Lottie; her face conveys it all. She has these flashbacks of lottie smiling at her, and also smiling at others around her, she sees a flashback of lottie at her compound, she sees lottie on the night of doomcoming with her antlers looming, and lastly, we see lottie covered in blood, from what we now know is when Shauna returned to the camp/ village with Hannah and saw lottie, a sight that stuck in Shaunas mind for 25+ years. And after those visions, we see one of the most caring and thoughtful things l've ever seen Shauna do. She eases Lottie's fathers pain, and vicariously talks to Lottie's father as if she's lottie herself. Do you know the kind of understanding, care and love, yes LOVE, that takes for someone to do? And to accurately Portray yourself as someone like lottie to her actual father ? Discussing Lottie's mental illness, saying to Lottie's dad that it wasn't easy for her, and questioning Lottie's father, 'are you really trying?' 'Did you really try and understand your daughter?' Such a beautiful and devastating scene.

Now we move to the trial episode. Two scenes in that episode I need to talk about; the voting scene and the scene where Lottie notices what’s going on between Shauna and Melissa.

The voting scene was so charged. Charged with so many different things, so many undertones to it. Every look between them is explosive, and this voting scene is where this new found alliance starts. Some people say Lottie only raised her hand because she was “scared”. You know what I call that ? Lottieshauna erasure. Lottie voted because she saw her god in Shauna. She saw the wilderness, the swaying of the trees and the whispers of the wind was the writers telling us that it wasn’t her just be persuaded because of fear, but because she sees something in Shauna. She sees it.

The next scene of the two from the trial episode is the exchange between Shauna and Melissa holding hands for a quick moment. Lottie was jealous. She was envious of that mental and physical connection that Melissa had been able to achieve. She wants that, she craves that with Shauna. She’s been trying to do so for three seasons now. But I think her time is coming up in season 4. I’ll get into that after I finish with a few other season in s3.

The axe scene. God that scene is also extremely charged and erotic. Yes, I fucking said erotic. Lottie axing Edwin and immediately casting her eyes to Shauna. Shauna gives her that wide wicked smile; approval and pleasure. The only one to do so out of the whole group. (They should’ve fucked after that)

Now we move to the scene where Shauna stays with Lottie, then tai. Again, that three way dynamic between them still stays and I love it. Shaunalottai for the win. But focusing on Shauna, she says that she’s not staying for Lottie but I call bullshit. We all know Shauna says things she doesn’t actually mean, and that she hides her true feelings to not show vulnerability. I will say that i don’t think Lottie was the only reason she stayed, I know Shauna stayed because of personal reasons - of not wanting to face what waits for her back home, having to try and act like nothing happened, having to face Jackie’s parents, ect. But apart of her, small or big, felt for Lottie and stayed for her in a way as well.

Now to the finale of s3s. The hunt. They were feeding off of each other and were so in sync with each other. Lottie wanted a hunt and Shauna made the hunt happen. Natalie tries to say no and walk away, but Shauna simply says her name and she returns. Lottie smiles to herself in satisfaction. Shauna starts the count and Lottie finishes it for her. They were the only two who were having fun; their violent and horrible desires bringing them closer, making them a unit, making them one.

So that completes my season 1-3 dissection and analysis. Now, finally, let’s talk about what I think will be in store for them in s4.

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Season 4 possibilities:

If you you’ve stuck with me up until this point, I just want to say thank you. Even though I did warn of the length of this post, it still is VERY lengthy and I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read my ramblings in its entirety. So finally, let’s finish this off with where I think Lottieshauna could go in s4, and it’s very real possibilities.

Season three has ended with both Shauna and Lottie at odds with the group. Lottie and her were the only ones who truly wanted the hunt, and who were enjoying the hunt; no one else seems to be on their level of insanity…. Yet.

I say “yet” because I think the possibility of the whole group going full animalistic cult mode is still a possibility, and I think Lottie and Shauna will be the spearhead of that descent. Walk with me on this.

We know that for some reason, Natalie’s call for rescue doesn’t get them saved right away, they still had to stay for months after. So what happens in those few months to bring the survivor count down to 8 ? My theory is this:

Somehow and someway Shauna regains control over the group with the help of Lottie, working side by side because they have the same desire and goal. I think the group ends up thinking that rescue is not coming for them, and they’ll start to think that they’ll really just be stuck there forever. They’ll lose all hope, and fall into full madness; Leaving all morals and inhibitions behind. Now that’s my theory for the main plot that involves everyone, here’s now what I think about Lottie and Shauna specifically.

It’s clear that the show is building up to something with them, from s3 being so centered around them, to the show putting out that giant ass billboard of Lottieshauna front and center in LA and/or New York, I think they are making it quite obvious actually. Now I’ve always said in my previous posts and asks when it comes to this, that I really don’t like to be far-fetched or unrealistic, but the thing is, i genuinely don’t believe it to be unrealistic in terms of the writers going down a more intimate route for them. Am I saying that Lottie and Shauna will be romantic picket fence lovers ? Absolutely not. What I am saying is that I think there is a real possibility that the writers could explore the unconventional with them. Not a relationship where they’re girlfriend and girlfriend, but where some form of unhealthy physical, and perhaps emotional intimacy can happen. Especially if my theory is correct with them becoming a full unit together when they think that rescue is not coming.

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END.

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