Daylight robbery, gossip girls, tense breakfast chats and plenty of new revelations all make up this week’s episode of The White Lotus. One thing this show does very well is combine a slow burn with a constant sense of rising tension. Mix that with plenty of awkward moments and some ribald humor, and this is already shaping up to be yet another terrific season of one of HBO’s best shows. Spoilers ahead.
Guns Blazing
Season 3 is doing one thing differently than the past two seasons: Playing with guns. Sure, guns were drawn in the finale of Season 2, but we’ve already had two episodes with guns in Season 3. The season premiere opened with a shooting at the Thailand White Lotus. This week’s episode introduces an armed robbery at the swanky White Lotus gift shop. Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and her new friend Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) are there shopping when the crime takes place, though Chloe is in the dressing room. That may not be a coincidence.
There will be lots and lots of theories as to who the masked man and his accomplice(s) are after this episode drops. The masked man could just be a criminal hiding his identity, someone we haven’t seen yet. But I have a feeling it’s someone we know, because this reeks of an inside job. We only get a glimpse of the driver when the first opens the drop down barrier and is confronted by security. We don’t get enough of a look at this second thief, but I have some theories.
My first instinct is Greg (Jon Gries) who we learn is going by the name Gary this time around. Greg is the only character to show up in all three seasons. In Season 2 he was married to Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) and was very obviously involved in the attempt to kill her and steal her money. It seems likely that he inherited her fortune, but it’s just as likely that he’s spent the bulk of it already.
When he and Chloe meet with Chelsea and Rick (Walton Goggins) for a very awkward dinner, Gary tells him that he’s retired. When Rick asks what he did before, he says “this and that.” Rick says that’s what he does, too. A very lucrative line of work. Something many people around here are involved in, Gary says. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
There’s little doubt that Gary’s up to no good, whether or not he’s part of the pack of thieves. I’ve paused the episode on the moment the driver gets out of the vehicle and I just I can’t tell if this bald man’s pate matches Gary’s. Is the ear shape right? Is Greg/Gary’s hair a little too long on the sides? Would he be reckless enough to show his face?
Which brings us to our third accomplice. This isn’t a two-man job, it’s a three-man job at the very least, and it’s very obvious at this point that the third man is Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius) the wellness coach assigned to the Gossip Girls: Kate (Leslie Bib), Laurie (Carrie Coon) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan). For one thing, Valentin is clearly not a trustworthy person. He tells both Kate and Jaclyn that their body-scan numbers are superb, and feeds them the same line that they have the numbers of a woman half their age. The more glaring reason he’s a suspect is that Valentin tricks the affable security guard, Gaitok (Tayme Thaphimthong) into leaving the security dropdown bar open so that the thieves can drive through without inspection. He distracts Gaitok with the promise of tickets to a fight as he drives out of the lot and the black SUV zips in.
This leaves us with the masked gunman. He’s clearly younger and more physically fit than Greg/Gary (or whatever his real name is) because he quite easily overpowers Gaitok, who was clearly not prepared for such a brazen assault. I’ve paused the episode on the moment he enters the building where you get a little glimpse of his forehead, brow and eyes but it’s just impossible to tell if he’s white or Asian or if it’s someone we’ve already met this season or not. It’s entirely possible this is a new character. My theory is that we’re dealing with at least four thieves: Greg/Gary, Chloe, Valentin and the masked gunman, though if the driver wasn’t Greg/Gary that means there could be more. And it’s also entirely possible that I’m wrong about Chloe. If so, we only know Valentin is dirty for sure, though even that could be a red herring.
I should note at this point that Julian Kostov has been cast this season, though we don’t know who his character is yet. He plays arch-villain Vladimir Makarov in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and comparing his eyes and eyebrows with a still image of the masked gunman . . . well, I think it’s a safe bet it’s him. And it makes sense that the Russian wellness coach, Valentin, would have a Russian accomplice (we know the Bulgarian Kostov plays a Russian character but not much else).
To review the timeline: Chloe enters the gift shop, gets the lay of the land, goes into the dressing room and texts Greg/Gary that there’s no security. Greg/Gary then contacts Valentin who hops on his bike and leaves, stopping at the gate to chat up Gaitok so that the thieves can drive through unmolested. Chloe exits the dressing room when the masked man is gone, acting shocked and dismayed. Valentin has already left the premises and can’t be pinned to the theft since he has an alibi. Notice that Greg/Gary is not in the lobby when Rick comes down to console Chelsea. But enough of the robbery. There’s plenty more to discuss. Or gossip about.
The Gossip Girls
The episode opens on two of the three Gossip Girls (as I’ve come to call them) doing what they do best: Gossiping about whoever isn’t in the room. This begins with gossiping about Laurie and her troubles with work and her daughter, but is interrupted when she bangs loudly on the glass, scaring both her “friends” and probably some viewers in the process.
Later, they talk about their body-scan results, comparing notes in the cringiest way imaginable. Jaclyn mentions her hot, younger husband and his rockin’ bod, and tries to console Kate over her “average” results by telling her that Austin, TX probably doesn’t have that many healthy food options, to which Kate replies that she eats lots of healthy food. Chicken, she says, and beans. Oh my.
Later, they watch Sritala (Lek Patravadi) and the staff of the White Lotus perform an upbeat song, replete with dancers and a full band. This follows a hilariously awkward conversation with Fabian (Christian Friedel), the hotel’s general manager, about the upcoming performance and his own foray into songwriting and piano playing. “You should play!” they tell him, and he demurs. “I’m the boss,” he says. And then: “Maybe. Someday.” He scuttles off, but later we see him mouthing the words to the song, a little smile on his face.
When the ladies return to their suite, Jaclyn heads to her room, and the moment she’s out the door, Laurie turns to Kate and the gossip kicks back up. It’s always some combination of compliments (“She’s so funny, I love her so much”) and backstabbing (“She’s so competitive! What’s with the husband?”) We have yet to get Laurie and Jaclyn alone, but no doubt they’ll dish on Kate until they slake their bloodlust.
The Family Ratliff
The family this season is an interesting mirror image of Season 1’s family. The Mossbachers included a high-powered businesswoman and her perpetually anxious husband (in a state of constant existential crisis) along with their kids and their daughter’s friend. This was a more outwardly liberal family from the West Coast, whereas the Ratcliffs are southern and conservative. Timothy (Jason Isaacs) is the high-powered businessman and Victoria (Parker Posey) is his pill-popping country club wife. She is not in any sort of existential crisis, mind you, but she sure is something. When Kate introduces herself to them at breakfast and says she met Victoria at a mutual friend’s baby shower, Victoria’s reaction is bizarre. She smiles a bit, barely responds to anything Kate says, and then sits there in awkward silence until Kate makes her exit.
The youngest, Lochlan (Sam Nivola) asks her why she acted so rude, and Victoria waves it away. She doesn’t really know this person, she tells him, and they’re on vacation, so who cares? Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) points out that Kate’s friend Jaclyn is a celebrity actress. “Am I supposed to be impressed?” Victoria says, picking at her food. “Actresses are all just prostitutes. If they’re lucky.” The Ratcliffs laugh. “Am I wrong?” Victoria asks, and Timothy smiles, shrugging. Only Piper (the Ratcliff’s black sheep) seems put out by any of this.
Victoria goes on a long speech later at dinner about family and the importance of family, but she hardly comes across as a “family values” mother. If anything, she enables all of Saxon’s worst traits. When he complains that his massage didn’t end in a “happy ending” she laughs along with him, while Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) frowns in disbelief. (This follows a super awkward massage scene where Saxon is clearly aroused by his massage therapist). Saxon is clearly the apple of Victoria’s eye and no matter how disgustingly he behaves, she just chortles along with him. Lochlan is mostly just a puppy dog, not really joining in but not really bothered by his family’s excesses, either. He’s yet to be molded. Will he follow Saxon’s example or his sister’s?
When Victoria warns her children about scammers coming after their money, the camera cuts to Greg, sitting at dinner with Chloe, Chelsea and Rick.
Meanwhile, Timothy has bigger fish to fry.
Only $10 Million
During last week’s episode, Timothy Ratcliffe was contacted by a Wall Street Journal reporter digging into some shady past business dealings. He’s been waiting for a phone call from someone named Kenny Nguyen ever since. He learns this week that a “very aggressive” Washington Post reporter is also trying to get hold of him.
When he finally gets a call from Kenny (voiced by Ke Huy Quan of The Goonies and Everything Everywhere All At Once fame), his business partner is not happy. He’s rambling about 20 agents raiding his office, about how he’s going to kill himself, about a whistleblower employee going to the press. Timothy is angry. “You told me this would never happen!” he says. Now he’s caught up in some kind of money laundering / bribery scheme that they were involved in years ago. “I only made $10 million” from the scam Timothy seethes.
“Am I implicated?” he asks, and Kenny confirms that yes, he’s very much implicated. They’ve taken all of Kenny’s computers, gotten hold of all the emails. Things are not looking good for Mr. Ratcliffe. He makes another call, this time to his lawyer.
There’s only been one character with a gun so far, so it’s a safe assumption that said gun and gunman will be the one firing the bullets from the season premiere, but I’d say it’s just as likely that Timothy will snap. He’s the only person so far to threaten to kill someone. Then again, it could be anybody at this point, at least anybody not shown in the opening scene. Speaking of which . . . .
Nothing Man
I have a few favorite characters so far this season. I really like Mook and Gaitok. They’re adorable and their scenes this episode were adorable. Gaitok tells her that he likes her, that their families know one another, and implies heavily that they should get hitched. Mook reminds him that they’ve never even been on a date to which he replies, let’s go one tonight. Let’s go on one every night. She tells him to stop being stupid, but she’s smiling. Later, after he’s assaulted by the thief, she visits him. He’s holding an icepack to his head where he was hit with the gun. She tells him she was worried, which makes him happy, and that she think’s he’s very brave, which makes him nod happily. Being assaulted could be the best thing that’s ever happend to Gaitok. Love is in the air.
I also like Amrita (Shalini Peiris) the Indian meditation guide who we first met during the opening of the season premiere, as she and Belinda’s son, Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) first heard the gunshots. Here, she meets with Rick, who I’m also starting to like more and more, though he doesn’t want to meditate or get help of any kind. Chelsea made the appointment, and he went grudgingly.
It’s a fascinating scene. Rick tells her that he’s pretty much at an 8 out of 10 on the stress scale all the time. “Weed helps,” he says, “but I don’t like to travel with it.” She asks him to think about a time when he was totally stress-free, but he struggles to, so she asks him about his childhood. He tells her that his mom overdosed when he was ten, and he never knew his father. His dad, it turns out, was murdered before he was born.
This could be a really important detail. We know Rick is trying to find Sritala’s husband, Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn) but we don’t know why. We know it’s very, very important to him. So important that he tells Chelsea he’s going to Bangkok after overhearing Sritala tell the Gossip Girls that she’s headed their to visit her husband, who was just in the hospital. It’s possible that Jim is, in fact, Rick’s father. Perhaps a long-absent father who Rick now lies about, telling strangers that his dad was murdered. Or perhaps someone involved with is father’s death. Scott Glenn certainly is about the right age and look to be Walton Goggins’ dad.
Amrita tells Rick that meditation can help by loosening one’s grip on the identity they’ve created for themselves, thus easing the suffering of such an attachment. But Rick says he has no identity. Amrita counters that even that can be an identity. He disagrees. When the gas tank is empty, the car won’t run, he tells her. And nothing comes from nothing. She seems, if anything, intrigued by this.
I like Rick also because he feels authentic in a sea of frauds despite his many mysteries and secrets. And despite their age gap, his relationship with Chelsea feels authentic, too. After the robbery, he shows up to comfort her in the lobby and he seems genuinely concerned. Later, in their room, they make love and he’s tender and gentle with her. He is rude and crabby and prickly most of the time, but he’s not cruel. He’s nothing like Greg/Gary, that’s for sure. He and Chelsea both have moved up to the top of my “Characters Who I Actually Like” list.
Piper is up there also. She may be a spoiled, privileged girl from a rich family, but she’s the only one of the Ratcliffs (with the possible exception of Lochlan) who seems like a genuinely good person. She calls the White Lotus “Disneyland for rich bohemians in Lululemon pants” which is both funny and accurate. She’s annoyed when Lochlan reveals Saxon’s discussion of her virginity, and perturbed when an LBH at her yoga class won’t stop ogling her. Maybe she’s just a new-age phony herself, but she seems to actually care. Then again, this show has a way of stripping people down to their core in less than flattering ways.
I also like Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) and her new wellness mentor/colleague, Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) who trade wellness specialty sessions this episode. When it’s Belinda’s turn to work on Pornchai, he walks out in nothing but boxers, and she’s clearly impressed and distracted by his physique, so much so that she trips all over herself when he asks how she’d like him. “On my back or on my stomach?” he adds. “On my stomach,” she blurts out. Oops.
Of course, Belinda is the second recurring character this season, and when she’s at dinner she sees the other: Greg. It’s clear that she recognizes him but she shakes her head, as though she either can’t place him or simply isn’t sure. It’s been a couple years since she would have run into him when he snatched up Tanya at the Maui White Lotus, dashing Belinda’s dreams in the process. I’ve no doubt she’ll have her memory jogged soon enough. And then what?
It’s time to wrap things up. I’ve spilled more than enough ink on this episode. But what a terrific episode it was! I had to watch it twice before writing my review and I’ve still left out plenty, I’m sure. Not much happens in an hour, but so much happens . . . if you know what I mean. So much character development. So many little infiltrations into each of these people’s lives and relationships. It’s fascinating. And my goodness, the shots are all so beautiful. There are times when monkeys and beetles move through the flora, or we’re treated to a sunset over the beach, or waves lapping in the night as lights flicker in the jungle, or the black-green fronds of palm trees sway gently in the breeze, that it feels almost as though we’re in a nature documentary. I half-expect David Attenborough to start narrating over the top of it all. “People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure,” he’d say, as we fade from a shot of baboons to Saxon walking past bikini sunbathers on the beach.
Or perhaps, instead: “We are a plague on the Earth.”
Read my Season 1 premiere review right here. Check out my weekend streaming guide here.
What did you think of “The Meaning Of Dreams” and of this season so far? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
