Tamal Kundu
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the Showtime series ‘Yellowjackets’ revolves around a group of teenage soccer players from a New Jersey high school who get stranded in the Ontario wilderness after the plane taking them to the nationals crashes. Trapped in a hostile environment, the survivors take drastic measures to ensure they are alive when the rescue eventually comes. Among other things, these measures include cannibalism.
Portrayed by Kevin Alves as teen and Andres Soto as adult, Travis Martinez is an important character in ‘Yellowjackets.’ He is one of the three male survivors and one of the people who made it out of the wilderness alive. As the second season of ‘Yellowjackets’ begins, many of you might be wondering about Travis’ fate. Here is what you need to know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
What Happened to Travis?
The son of Bill Martinez, the head coach of the WHS Yellowjackets, Travis accompanies his father, his younger brother Javi, and the Yellowjackets to the nationals, even though he has nothing to do with the team. After the crash, Travis discovers that his father was impaled on a tree branch and killed. Even though their relationship was less than perfect, Travis grieves for his father in his own way and embraces the role of being the guardian of his younger brother. During this period, Travis also grows close to Natalie (Juliette Lewis as adult and Sophie Thatcher as teen). What neither of them knows yet is that their tumultuous relationship will last decades.
Travis feels insecure after learning that Nat was sexually active before they all got stranded, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it as he is a virgin. During the Doomcoming, Travis has sex with Jackie under the influence of magic mushrooms that Misty put into the food. The other girls, also intoxicated by the mushrooms, nearly kill Travis, believing him to be a prey, before Nat and Jackie stop them.
With Javi missing since the Doomcoming, Travis desperately searches for his brother in season 2. The others, including Nat, believe this to be futile. There is snow everywhere they look, and Javi can’t possibly survive in this weather. However, Lottie Matthews (Simone Kessell as adult and Courtney Eaton as teen) assures Travis that he will see his brother again.
In the present day, Travis lives off-grid in Wiskayok, New Jersey, but Misty finds him and travels to Wiskayok with Nat. There, they locate the ramshackle house Travis has been living in. Nat and Misty get arrested for trespassing on Travis’ property. The girls later discover Travis’ lifeless body hanging from the rafters of a ranch. Misty tells Nat that she found a note in the shack that states, “Tell Nat she was right.” Believing that foul play was involved, Nat begins investigating.
Travis’ Death Ruled as Suicide
Although Travis’ death appears to be suicide, Nat refuses to believe it and continues investigating with Misty’s help. She gains access to Travis’ case report, but it doesn’t tell her much. She learns that traces of candlewax were found underneath Travis’s body. If connected, they form the mysterious Symbol from the cabin.
As some of the Yellowjackets are being blackmailed, Nat comes to believe that it is connected to Travis’ death. Unfortunately, that turns out to be incorrect. The real blackmailer is Shauna’s husband, Jeff, and his reasons are as mundane as financial troubles. Nat herself turns into a blackmailer and forces her former narcotics anonymous sponsor Suzie to look into Travis’ bank records.
As Nat has found nothing in her investigation that can support anything contrary, Nat is forced to conclude that Travis has committed suicide. Just as she is about to take her own life with a gun, a group of people break into her motel room and kidnaps her. Meanwhile, Suzie calls her phone to tell her that she has looked into who emptied Travis’ bank account and asks who Lottie Matthews is.
In season 2, Nat wakes up in captivity of the cult that Lottie has set up after returning from the wilderness and spending a considerable time in a mental health facility. When Nat tries to attack Lottie, the latter placates her by claiming that she has a message from Travis.
In the past, we see Lottie’s words giving Travis hope. It’s possible that he also found solace in her words in the present. The wilderness broke all of them in one way or another. Lottie couldn’t prevent him from taking his own life but managed to give him a modicum of peace before he took that step.
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