Spoilers below.
Chelsea called it from the start: Bad things come in threes. This was surely on many fans’ minds as they whipped up their theories ahead of The White Lotus’s season 3 finale. And sure enough, Mike White brought it home with a trifecta of major deaths (and a fake out) in “Amor Fati.” Three seasons in, what surprised me wasn’t that the HBO satire concluded with multiple deaths; it’s who ended up dying.
But before we get to the highly anticipated shootout in this hour-and-a-half episode, we begin with Rick waking up in Frank’s hotel room after going out in Bangkok post-revenge. He realizes he needs to get home, even though Frank, clad in cheetah-print briefs, begs him to stay.
Back at the resort, Jaclyn and Kate wake and realized they still haven’t seen Laurie after their fight at dinner. Extending a olive branch of sorts, Jaclyn comes to Laurie’s room and invites her to breakfast, having no idea about her bender from the night before. Jaclyn apologizes about Valentin; she wants to remain friends.
Meanwhile, Lochlan is still determined to stay in Thailand with Piper, but she’s turned off by the idea. When they reunite with the rest of their family, Piper begrudgingly reports back that she did not enjoy her stay at the monastery. The food wasn’t organic and the mattresses were soiled. She hates being this spoiled, knowing there’s so much suffering in the world. But Victoria beams with pride—there’s the Piper she knows. She tells her daughter that they might as well enjoy their privilege; it wouldn’t be fair if they didn’t. Their unbreakable attachment to wealth only sends Timothy into a deeper panic. How can he take this life away from his family?
Elsewhere, Lochy and Saxon are awkward with each other, both now knowing what they did together that night. Lochy tries to explain his actions: “I’m a pleaser. I just want to give everyone what they want.” Saxon just wants them both to forget about it. Forever.
Gaitok begins the morning on a high after his first date with Mook. He tells her he knows who robbed the hotel and he plans to report it, which impresses her. But he later runs into Valentin, who knows that Gaitok is aware of his and his friends’ involvement with the robbery. He begs Gaitok not to tell anyone, because otherwise he and his pals will get deported and their lives will be over. The confrontation leaves Gaitok conflicted. He tells Mook he might quit, he’s not cut out for this life. She’s disappointed and turns down his dinner invite. Fabian had also told Gaitok and Rick that the Hollingers will return to the hotel tomorrow morning.
Just as I start wondering, “Should someone tell Rick?” He returns to the White Lotus and has a romantic reunion with Chelsea on the beach. They run into each other’s arms at golden hour! It’s cinematic! They walk hand in hand along the shore, like the soulmates they are. Saxon is left behind on a beach chair, rejected again.
While Victoria and Piper are at the hotel shop, Timothy speaks to Lochlan one-on-one. Do you think you could live with no money? he asks. Lochy says he can. Timothy believes him. When he’s alone later, he remembers the poisonous pong pong trees in the yard. Pam, who stops by with the Ratliffs’ phones, reminds him: The seeds of the fruit are so toxic the locals call it the “suicide tree.” (Hm!) When Pam leaves to put their phones on the boat, Timothy rips the fruit open with his hands and pops as many seeds as he can into the blender.
Meanwhile, Zion and Belinda continue to go back and forth on whether she should take the hush money Greg’s offering. Zion convinces her that she could finally use the riches to start the spa business of her dreams. She agrees to meet with Greg just to find out how much they can get. Zion, who’s studying to get his MBA, by the way, smooth-talks his way through the negotiation, telling Greg his mother deserves $5 million for her business and peace of mind. Belinda gets up and leaves, but it was just a ploy to get Greg to think she would walk out on the deal. “He wants us to be scared, but we gotta make him scared, okay?” she says. Zion goes back to close the deal. Later that night, we find out that he did not close. Greg is thinking about it, but Zion gave him Belinda’s account and routing number for when he makes his decision. (Kind of a crazy, trusting thing to do with a dangerous man???)
Laurie finally joins her friends for dinner, during which she tells them she went home with Aleksei. Though the ice has been slightly broken between the trio, their back to their fake facades again; Kate saying she’s felt like she was “in bloom” all week and Jaclyn saying she’s been on cloud nine. Laurie gets real: “All week, I’ve been so sad.” As you get older you need to justify your life and choices, she says. When she’s around her friends, all her mistakes become so transparent. She’s tried finding meaning in work, motherhood, and love, but she realized that after all these years, time gives her life meaning. “We started this life together. … And I look at you guys and it feels meaningful,” she tells her friends through tears. She loves that they share a history together, and that even if they’re talking about inane BS at the pool, even that can feel deep. She believes that even though they’re working through their lives together, she loves her friends’ flaws and the things they insecure about—for Jaclyn, her face; and for Kate, her beautiful life. This is what these ladies needed from the start: some honesty! They whisper “I love you” to each other and agree to let their guards down. Oh, and Carrie Coon, your Emmy is waiting.
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At another table, Chelsea and Rick are having dinner together and celebrating the fact that he’s finally “free.” She tells him about the concept of “amor fati,” that you have to embrace your fate, good or bad. She adds, quite ominously, “If a bad thing happens to you, it’ll happen to me.” She believes they’re going to be together forever. Rick says “that’s the plan.” Chelsea is moved to tears. Protect this woman!
After dinner, Timothy has arranged for the whole family—except Lochy—to drinks piña coladas to celebrate their last night. The drinks, of course, were made with the poisonous seeds. Timothy nearly sends his family to the next dimension before snapping himself out of it and knocking the glass out of Saxon’s hand, saying the coconut milk is “off.” They clean up the mess, drink some wine, and go to sleep.
Belinda wakes up to find $5 million in her account. Greg even called her to confirm, and to ask that she hold up her end of the bargain—and she agreed. She’s ready to leave Thailand, though. She doesn’t want to be in that man’s vicinity. “Can’t I just be rich for five fuckin’ minutes?” she tells her son. Yes Belinda, even more than that, honestly!
At breakfast, Rick is shocked to be confronted by none other than Jim Hollinger. Jim says he remembers Rick’s mother, Gloria Ratliff. Along with a few choice insults, he says Rick’s mother was a liar and his father was no saint. And in case he tries to kill him again, Jim reveals he’s got a gun on him. (A new weapon has entered the chat.) Chelsea’s eyes well up as she begs Rick to not do anything stupid, but he jets off and Jim sends his men after him.
In the Ratliffs’ villa, Lochy makes a protein shake for himself IN THE SAME BLENDER FROM LAST NIGHT WITHOUT CLEANING IT. The poisonous seeds are still grounded up in there! As his family heads to breakfast, he stays behind at the pool, keels over and vomiting. As his eyes close, he sees visions of his family, he imagines himself drowning in water with the silhouettes of four monks in the surface above him. Lochy, no! Tim wakes up late, sees the used blender, and then finally his son’s body by the pool. He starts screaming for help.
It’s whiplash as the next scene features Kate, Jaclyn, and Laurie meeting with Sritala and Jim for a photo op. Rick, waiting for his stress management session, looks on from the distance as his panic mounts. Just as he starts to approach them, Chelsea interrupts, but he tells her to “get the fuck out of here.” Rick walks up to Jim, takes the gun out of his jacket, and shoots him multiple times. “Fuck you,” he says as the bullets fire. “Why!” Sritala wails. “He killed my father,” Rick says, his face stone-cold. “HE’S your father!” Sritala screams back. “He told me!”
I knew it! Rick’s dad wasn’t a do-gooder helping vulnerable people in Thailand protect their land, he was the one taking the the land to begin with. How do you think Jim became such a successful hotel owner? Rick is now more confused than ever as the realization washes over him, but he doesn’t have much time to process as Sritala’s guards start shooting at him. He takes Chelsea’s hand and rushes for cover as he shoots back at the guards, taking them both down. But unfortunately, Chelsea—not our sweet Chelsea!—caught a stray. Rick turns around to find her on the ground with a bullet wound in her chest, and he begins to weep once he understands what he’s done. (Mr. Goggins, your Emmy is being engraved right now.) He apologizes to her, blubbering, and carries her in his arms.
On the other end of the resort, Gaitok heard the gunfire and snapped into high alert. He grabbed his gun out of the drawer and rushed to the scene of the crime—you could say he tapped into his “killer instinct” there. But by the time he reaches Sritala, Jim and their two guards are already dead and Rick, the only shooter left, had gotten away. Gaitok chases him, seeing him carrying Chelsea, and aims to fire. The nonviolent Gaitok still needs a bit of egging on to actually shoot. With his boss screaming at him to kill, Gaitok pulls the trigger and hits Rick in the back. He and Chelsea fall into the water, a dramatic end to their tragic romance. As devastating as their deaths are, they’re also romantic in a dark and twisted way; at least their souls can be together. They are soulmates, after all.
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But wait! Lochy’s not dead after all! His eyes open and he sees his father holding him. “I think I just saw God,” he says, to Timothy’s relief. On the boats back to the airport, Tim somewhat comes clean to his family as they get their phones back. “Things are about to change. We’ll get through it as a family,” he says. He doesn’t reveal his crimes outright, but as soon as Saxon starts reading his notifications, his expression changes.
The rest of the arcs come to a close too: The “blonde blob” seems closer than ever as they depart together. Gary and Chelsea enjoy another party at their mansion, perhaps looking for a third. Valentin and his friends remain unscathed and party with another group of girls. Frank is back to practicing Buddhism. Mook embraces Gaitok, who now has a new job as Sritala’s body guard. Two body bags are wheeled to an airplane (I assume they’re Rick and Chelsea’s, as Jim’s remains are likely staying behind in Thailand).
As for Belinda? She broke Pornchai’s heart a little when she revealed she’d promptly leave Thailand and decline his offer to start a business together. As she and Zion leave the resort on their boat, she wistfully waves goodbye to Pornchai and the staff, sailing into the next chapter of her life. It kind of makes you wonder, what will Belinda now do with her wealth? She was once on the other side of this situation, the spa employee being left behind by a wealthier acquaintance. But she named the price of her morals and her peace of mind when she squeezed $5 million out of Greg. Of course, she doesn’t have the kind of generational wealth that the Ratliffs come from, but even the beloved fan-favorite couldn’t resist. Gaitok, too, abandoned his spiritual beliefs to embrace an instinctual turn to violence.
In a “breaking down the episode” featurette at the end of the finale, showrunner Mike White reflected on the season, saying it featured a group of people wanting to better themselves—mentally and spiritually—but ultimately reverting to their inner animalistic side. Take Piper’s dream of studying Buddhism only to come running back to her rich life, or Rick’s desire for closure swiftly turning into bloody revenge in the end. It’s a bit of a pessimistic outlook, these failed attempts at transformation, but when is The White Lotus not a little cynical? That also explains all the b-roll of monkeys around the resort, by the way. Despite that wild fan theory, they didn’t end up shooting any of the guests, but what they symbolize was present the whole time.
The White Lotus Season 3, Episode 7 Recap
