I am wondering the same. Poor Beate. If it’s a malignant separate entity, why does it already look like Lottie? (because John A wants to make the connection clear, that’s why, but there’s still a bit of room for other explanations) My guess is whether it’s possession or manifestation, when our mystery team in the present vanquishes EviLottie, we’ll see a flash of repentant Beate at the end. I’d say “a la [some trope]” here but I’m not as up on pop culture as I’d like.