The White Lotus continues to slowly build to whatever wild conclusion is in store for us, but it sure is taking its time. I say that not to be critical of Season 3’s pacing, but I am a little surprised that there hasn’t been a bit more cross-pollination between the story lines at this stage of the game. That looks to be changing soon enough, however, with a big dinner party schedule for our ritzy guests. And, of course, there are now three guns in the mix. Spoilers ahead.
The Guns And The Gunmen
The big question on everyone’s mind remains the same as the start of the season. Who is the shooter and who is the victim (or victims)? As I noted, there are now at least three guns we know about that could be the murder weapon. With that many guns, it’s possible this isn’t just a shooting, but a shoot-out. The guns currently in rotation belong to:
Gun #1 has left Timothy’s (Jason Isaacs) possession, and not a moment too soon. The episode opened with a pretty explosive headfake when we see the troubled Ratcliff patriarch shoot himself in the head. His wife Victoria (Parker Posey) finds him in a pool of blood and starts screaming as their daughter, Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) runs into the room. It’s all just twisted fantasy, however, the first of two. In the second, he imagines shooting his wife first before taking his own life. This follows her telling him that she’d rather die than become destitute.
In any case, luckily for Victoria this is a lot less likely to happen now that Gaitok has retrieved the handgun from the Ratcliff suite, after a long and almost fruitless search. He does so just in time. When he returns to the guard station, his boss has discovered the weapon is missing. Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) lies and says he just had it on him, which earns him a mild dressing down but nothing like the trouble he’d have been in had he not found the weapon. They head to the shooting range, where he proves to be a pretty good shot. But does he have what it takes? his boss asks. Everyone likes you, he says, but you need a killer instinct in this line of work.
That’s a question that Frank (Sam Rockwell) has when he agrees to help Rick (Walton Goggins) in Bangkok. This is where Gun #2 resides. Last week, before his wild sex-addict monologue, Frank passed Rick a bag. Inside was the second gun. After Rick explains his backstory to his friend, Frank is reluctant to help him. But Rick tells him he doesn’t plan on killing his father’s murderer. He won’t even bring the gun. So Frank reluctantly agrees.
They travel to Sritala’s residence under false pretenses. Rick has told Sritala (Lek Patravadi) that he’s a movie producer and Frank is playing the role of director. It’s unclear at this point whether or not Rick was lying to his old friend. Is the gun with him? I suspect he did leave it behind, but will he take it with him back to The White Lotus?
The other big question in this storyline is whether Sritala’s husband really is the man who murdered Rick’s father. I continue to suspect a twist. Could he actually be Rick’s father, and the story of his murder was just something his mom made up?
We spotted Gun #3 during the gift shop robbery. I’m 100% certain now that this was carried out by Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) and his friends, Alexei (Julian Kostov) and Vlad (Yuri Kolokolnikov). Alexi was the masked man and he brandished a firearm when he stole the jewelry. This gun is likely not still at The White Lotus, but the thieves are clearly very close by and they undoubtedly still have the gun, which could easily make its way back to the hotel. I would not be surprised if other guns exist that we don’t know about yet. Could Greg/Gary (Jon Gries) have one up at his sprawling mansion? It would make sense for a man who works in “this and that” to have one.
The Sins Of The Brother
Of course, the most shocking moment in this episode is something that’s been setup from the very first episode. There have been some very weird, very disturbing incest vibes in the family Ratcliff, and incest very much occurred in tonight’s episode. Well, it took place the night before, when Lachlan (Sam Nivola) and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) return to the yacht with Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) high and drunk, for an orgy.
Chelsea, thankfully, does not participate. When Saxon asks her why, she tells him that she has a boyfriend who is also her soul mate. “And you have no soul,” she says. It’s quite a damning sentiment, though it’s far from the worse thing the elder Ratcliff son hears. When the two are joined by Chloe, the talk turns to Greg/Gary and how he knows Saxon and Chloe hooked up. But he’s not jealous, she assures him (I’m not entirely sure she’s correct) and he’d like them to come over for a big dinner party this evening.
“Maybe he wants to have a threesome,” Chelsea suggests, which makes Saxon uncomfortable. “What, you’ve never had a threesome?” the women ask, to which Saxon replies, “Never with another dude.”
“What about last night?” Chloe says. Saxon has been remembering bits and pieces of the previous evening, much to his dawning horror, but he’s in denial when Chloe tells him what actually happened. Both Ratcliff boys slept with Chloe, but Lachlan also . . . gave Saxon a helping hand, so to speak.
“I don’t remember that!” Saxon blurts. “I was blacked out!”
“Well I wasn’t, so . . . ” Chloe replies. Saxon wants them to drop it and she agrees, but only if he comes to the party. Saxon blames the drugs. “There’s no amount of drugs that would make me hook up with my brother,” Chelsea replies, reassuring him that she’s not judging. Everyone has their thing. “It’s not a thing!” Saxon says angrily. Sure, buddy.
Meanwhile, Piper, Lachlan and their parents have made their way to the Buddhist community so that Timothy and Victoria can speak with the monk, Luang Por Teera (Suthichai Yoon). Victoria is still distraught over her daughter’s desire to live in Thailand for a year and insists that he better be “the best Buddhist in China” proving once again that she’s this season’s most consistent source of comic relief.
She tours the grounds while Timothy sits with the monk. He asks him a question: What do you think happens when we die? The monk replies that we are like drops of water. When we’re born, we rise up above the ocean, little isolated droplets separated from the collective whole. When we die, we fall back down into the waves. Death is a happy thing, he says. Like coming home. Timothy is clearly trying to reconcile himself with all the suicidal thoughts he’s been having.
Victoria tells Piper that she’ll support her decision if she spends one night with the monks to see what it’s like and whether it would actually be something she could handle for a year. Piper happily agrees, and Lachlan offers to stay with her. We next see them in a meditation session with Luang Por Teera. He tells his students to clear their minds of all their worries, to let go. As they sit and meditate, Lachlan finally remembers the night before. Like his brother, he’s horrified.
The family Ratcliff is on the verge of total meltdown. Timothy still hasn’t told anyone about his legal troubles. The boys now harbor a terrible secret of their own. I suspect that Piper will not have the amazing time she’s hoping for at the retreat, as she has lead an awfully pampered life up to this point. Victoria is doing surprisingly well without her benzos, but how will she react when she learns the truth? Could she be the gunman?
The Gossip Girls Implosion, Stage 1
Speaking of meltdowns, the trio of old “friends” I’ve been calling the Gossip Girls are starting to crack at the seams. Kate (Leslie Bibb) spots Valentin leaving Jaclyn’s room early in the morning and, naturally, can’t wait to share the dirt with Laurie (Carrie Coon) who, she thinks, will “just laugh about it.”
This is not Laurie’s reaction. As I pointed out last week, Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) appears to be the kind of person who gets off on taking what isn’t hers. Remember Cameron from Season 2? Ethan was right about him. He was the same kind of person. If Ethan had something, Cameron had to take it from him. This extends all the way to Ethan’s wife, Harper. That’s a lot worse than Jaclyn sleeping with Valentin, obviously, but it’s the same instinct.
So Jaclyn puts the idea in Laurie’s head that she should hook up with Valentin and then pushes that idea over and over again and then takes Valentin for herself, just to prove to herself that she’s the prettiest and most desirable. It’s not even really to hurt Laurie since she didn’t expect her to find out. It’s all part of her terrible, insatiable need for attention.
And Laurie pretty much tells her all of that, much to Kate’s horror. Nor will she let it go. When she tries to get the others to go with her to the Muay Thai fights later, she dangles a carrot for her celebrity friend: Valentin will be there. Jaclyn is upset. She heads back to her room where Kate tries to pass it off as Laurie being drunk. “Do you know how much gossip I have to deal with?” Jaclyn says. “And now I have to deal with my friends talking behind my back?”
Forget Muay Thai, someone throw this woman a pity party! She’s done plenty of gossiping with the other two, first with Kate while Laurie was in her room and later with Laurie when Kate was away. They all gossip relentlessly. Laurie, now adopting her own holier-than-thou perch, is just as bad. But there’s no doubt that Jaclyn has taken it all a lot further by being so manipulative with Laurie, not to mention cheating on her husband. Now she’s playing the victim card. Oy vey.
And Now For Some Gripes
We have just two episodes left in this season, and while I think it’s been absolutely fantastic for the most part, I have a couple of minor quibbles. The first is the aforementioned lack of cross-pollination between the guests. Season 1 didn’t have a ton of mixing, but there was such a great conflict established between Armond and Shane. In Season 2, we had pretty juicy conflicts brewing between the two couples and with the whole Tanya vs The Gays plotline (obviously this didn’t come to a head until the finale, but it was percolating much earlier).
The conflict at this point remains fairly anodyne by comparison. Yes, the Greg/Gary vs Belinda stuff is tense and interesting, especially since it ties into Tanya’s death and whatever her husband inherited, but the brief encounter between these two in tonight’s episode was, well, very brief. I’m having a hard time getting worked up about it, though obviously this could change depending on Greg/Gary’s plans.
Speaking of Belinda, her son Zion shows up this episode. We, of course, already met him in the opening scene of the season. It’s pretty hilarious that Belinda uses a Scarface line when talking to her son about money. “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women,” Tony Montana says in the movie. This is an interesting reference, calling to mind all the Godfather easter eggs in Season 2. It’s also an inversion of Greg/Gary’s strategy. First, he had to get the woman, then he had to kill the woman to get the power and the money . . . so he could get a younger model.
I digress. The other conflicts remain fairly muted as well. Timothy’s inner struggle is compelling, but it hasn’t splashed out onto anyone else yet, and with Gaitok retrieving the gun, some of that tension is gone. The incest storyline is gross and bizarre, but I’m not really sure it’s setting up anything. It’s already happened. And Rick’s mission, while certainly brimming with potential for violent conflict, has remained a sort of side-quest. We haven’t even really met the man he’s after yet, though he pops in briefly and mostly off-screen right at the end.
Again, this is a small gripe for now. It all depends on these final two episodes to see if it all pays off. Though I will add one thing: As of right now, this season feels less rewatchable than the last two, which I happily watched multiple times.
The other complaint is something I’ve been noticing more and more and which I will chock up to personal taste more than anything. I’m just not a huge fan of the use of so much shallow depth of field. The bokeh blur is intense in scene after scene. At times, these characters surrounded by the green and gold blur of jungle and sunshine almost look fake, or as if they’re being shot in a studio. Meanwhile, all these great locations and details are obscured constantly, muddled into blurry backgrounds. On the boat, you can barely see the ocean or the islands in the background. Just blur.
I’ve heard theories that this is intentional, meant to symbolize how little our rich tourist protagonists appreciate their surroundings, how self-absorbed they are. But I don’t think so. The shallow depth of field is present everywhere, including with the staff. I don’t mind some shots like this, but it’s just so constant that it becomes distracting. Like all cinematography techniques, overusing them can make them less effective. I was keenly aware of it in tonight’s episode. Others, I’m sure, will feel the opposite or not even notice and that’s fine, too.
I’m still loving this season, but the jury remains out until it’s over whether it will be as good as the last two. We shall see.
Scattered Thoughts
- Chelsea tells Rick that “bad luck comes in threes” worrying about him staying a third day in Bangkok. I suspect that’s a bit of foreshadowing beyond just their situation. Did I mention there are three guns? Will there be three victims?
- Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) is a sweet guy, but he’s also the second person to offer Belinda the chance at starting up her own wellness spa. The last person who did that is now dead. Ominous.
- I suppose Sritala has bigger things to worry about, but I’m sort of sad for her. It sucks that she’s been led to believe that a big Hollywood movie director wants to cast her in his film when we know this is all a lie.
- Fabian (Christian Friedel) invites Belinda to watch him sing later that evening. At this point, we have several events about to take place: Fabian’s performance, Greg/Gary’s party, the Muay Thai fights and Rick’s showdown in Bangkok. Things already got out of hand at the full moon party, and during the squirt gun festival. I don’t imagine they’ll go any better at any of these encounters.
- Aimee Lee Wood’s facial expressions are priceless. The looks she gives Saxon this episode were hilarious.
- Mook (Lalisa Manobal) only briefly makes an appearance but I am starting to think she actually has moved beyond the “friend zone” with Gaitok after the robbery incident. She seems very excited to see him and go out later, after he trains at the firing range.
What did you think about tonight’s episode? Are you enjoying the 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.
