Looking for a recap of season 3, episode 7? Check in here.
I’m about thirty minutes removed from watching The White Lotus season 3 finale, and I’m once again thinking of Esquire’s interview with Jason Isaacs (the actor who plays Tim Ratliff) earlier in the season. Teasing the episode we just watched, Isaacs said, “It’s not like [series creator Mike White] kills people who deserve it or people who don’t deserve it. There’s no pattern to who he decides dies.”
Cut to Chelsea’s stupefied gaze as she dies from a bloodshot wound—one that was a direct result of Rick’s decision to choose violence in this season’s final moments. Chelsea, who was brought to life by the phenomenal Aimee Lou Wood, was second only to Gaitok in terms of moral purity. (We’ll talk about him later, but between Gaitok and Chelsea, we have a true die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain scenario.) Chelsea repeatedly begged Rick to move on instead of seeking revenge for his father’s death—which we now know was a fallacy in and of itself—and he chose the latter. The universe punished him for it. But it took Chelsea, too.
So what does it mean? What is White trying to tell us by who lived and died in season 3? Well, it goes back to the monk’s speech in episode 7: “Remember this: Every one of us has the capacity to kill. Buddhist scripture condemns violence in every form. Violence, aggression, anger stem from same source. Fear. The only good faith response is to sit with your feelings. Violence does spiritual harm to victim and to perpetrator. Buddhists believe always nonviolence.”
Violence begets violence. Trauma and pain pass on to the next generation. And at the beginning of the season finale, the monk, Luang Por Teera, extends the thought—and it’s almost like he’s speaking directly to Rick:”Sometimes we wake with anxiety. An edgy energy. What will happen today? What is in store for me? So many questions. We want resolution, solid earth under our feet. So, we take life into our own hands. We take action, yeah? Our solutions are temporary. They are quick fix. They create more anxiety, more suffering. There is no resolution to life’s questions. It is easier to be patient once we finally accept there is no resolution.”
What about the characters who make it through the finale unscathed? Save for a couple exceptions, they’re the ones who grapple with their deepest pains. By the time they sail home, Tim and Laurie find something close to enlightenment. Gaitok, Belinda, and Rick? Not so much.
Gaitok uses that gun after all.
Carrie Coon Emmy Moment Alert
Congrats, reader—this is the last time you have to read my criticism of the ladies’ trip storyline. The TLDR is: Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, and Carrie Coon all deliver standout White Lotus turns. It often felt like the three were off in a corner doing their own thing, far away from the other vacationers and even the themes of the season. And after witnessing their slowest-of-slow-burn beef escalate over eight episodes, they… suddenly hug it out and make up? The trio have another Awkward Vacation Dinner, where Jaclyn and Kate offer a few more of their signature platitudes. Then, Laurie storms in with a pretty remarkable monologue about aging, false idols, and the darkest parts of staying friends with your high-school crew.
“I just feel like, as you get older, you have to justify your life, you know?” Laurie says to the group. She adds: “I don’t need religion our God to give my life meaning, because time gives it meaning.”
I think this is a beautifully complex statement—one that is expertly acted by Coon—but this group was just fighting over Valentin an episode ago! It just feels a little too oout of step with what we’ve learned about the dynamics of this trio. Most of all, I wish it had come earlier! Then we could’ve witnessed how Laurie, Jaclyn, and Kate even attempt to rebuild their friendship after this breakthrough.
HBO
I have a feeling that this isn’t the last time we’ll see Greg.
I’ll Never Look at a Blender the Same Way Again
“It’s an offense to all the billions of people who dream that they can one day live like we do.” Never change, Victoria.
Anyway. When the finale begins, we see that Tim has indeed Lorazed his last pam. His insanely turbulent arc this season finally bumbles to a close. But I don’t think any of us had “unwilling suicide pact with my entire family” on the list. The proud Duke alum (maybe not so much after the Blue Devils blew that lead last night, but I digress) decides to make some piña coladas for his clan with a special ingredient: toxic seeds from a local fruit. It seems as if he is genuinely thinking that this will protect them from what he views as the worse outcome, i.e. poverty.
Obviously, this would have been ridiculously bold—admirably bold, actually—of White to actually go through with this moment. His skewering of the rich would’ve outright peaked with a depiction of a man who would rather kill himself and most of his family instead of live a day without his excessive wealth. And it would’ve marked a poignant ending for Tim. After lamenting his cycle of generational pressure and expectations, he chooses to eradicate his lineage save for the one person who can actually build a truly virtuous legacy for the Ratliff name. Instead, it’s Lochlan who nearly dies at the hands of the suicide fruit. Thankfully, he barfs enough out to save his own life.
While I’m happy that Tim seemingly comes clean about his impending jail time, it feels a little weaker than the outcome White presented earlier. “Things are about to change,” Tim says. “We’ll get through it as a family.” That’s all. Saxon, Victoria, and Piper are right about where they were at the beginning of the season—lost in their phones.
We All Know What Happens to Star-Crossed Lovers
Well, we should’ve known that Chelsea and Rick would not survive the season. Did Chelsea’s repeated warnings that “bad things happen in threes” not tip you off? For Chelsea, it was the robbery, the snake bite, and now good ol’ Rick shooting his own father. If only Rick had attended one of Luang Por Teera’s lectures. He would’ve known that he’d never find true resolution to the death of his father. And not because his father was actually alive!
All it takes is the sight of Jim Hollinger to totally unravel the peace Rick found in Bangkok. “I remember your mother,” Hollinger tells Rick. “Yeah. I knew she was a drunk and a slut. Didn’t know she was a liar, too. Wanted you to think your father was some kind of great man. She told you a fairytale, kid. Your father was no saint. You didn’t miss out on much. And that’s the fuckin’ truth.”
Hollinger’s words sends Rick into a sweaty, manic frenzy. He tries to find respite with the quasi-therapist he connected with earlier in the season, but she’s busy with Zion. Rick sees Hollinger again and he just can’t help himself. He pulls the gun out of Hollinger’s pocket and shoots him with it. As he dies in Sritala’s arms, she says, “He’s your father. He told me.” The dumbfounded Rick trades bullets with Sritala’s security guards—and one finds Chelsea. Rick is horrified. He tries to carry her away, saying, “We’re gonna be together forever, okay? Just like you said.” Gaitok comes up behind Rick, shoots right into his back, and kills him.
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“He Killed the Bitch”
Who knew that Belinda’s son had some Wolf of Wall Street in him? When the dust settles on this episode, I bet we’ll all talk about how much of a surprise Nicholas Duvernay (the actor who plays Zion) was as a talent late in the season. “I mean, what happens to a dream deferred?” So good.
Zion and Belinda concoct a plan to pull much more money from Gary/Greg than he originally offered. Instead of $100,000, they want five million bucks wired directly to Belinda. At first, Belinda is still resistant to the idea of taking Greg’s “blood money” and keeping her mouth shut about the real cause of Tanya’s death. But mid-negotiation, we see her heel-turn shockingly quickly. “We’ve gotta make him scared,” she tells Zion. It works. By the end of the episode, Belinda is a multimillionaire. She happily sails away with Zion, sadly leaving her budding relationship with Pornchai behind.
Even though the finale doesn’t exactly communicate this, it’s hard not to feel like Belinda turned to the dark side just a little bit. Season 3 had so much talk of false idols and the follies of excessive wealth! Since Belinda went against her own value system and promise of love, I bet White will reintroduce her later on as someone who pivots to full rich-asshole White Lotus character. This definitely isn’t the last time we’ll see Greg, either—his wink to Chloe was screaming Marvel post-credits stinger.
Gaitok’s Dreams Come True? Think Again.
In the end, Esquire does pay me to write these recaps for a living. So I am happy to report that I was right on one prediction, at least. In my episode 7 recap, I wrote that Gaitok would use the gun, but not see a hero’s ending. Instead, White would use him as this season’s ultimate cautionary tale. Gaitok wrestles with a job and a maybe-girlfriend that demand he comfortably resort to violence if he wants to amount to anything at all. This episode, he even tries to quit. He’d rather change careers than rat out Valentin, but he never has the chance to wrestle with the decision. He shoots Rick and his reward is a coveted spot on Sritala’s security team. Like Belinda, though, it’s at the cost of everything that made him one of The White Lotus‘s most morally sound characters.
I hate to end on a downbeat, but I can’t lose Chelsea and Gaitok (in spirit) and head to bed with a smile on my face. But if you’re already thinking about season 4, I hope you stuck around for White’s interview at the end of the episode. “For the fourth season, I want to get a little bit out of the ‘crashing waves against rocks’ vernacular,” he said. “But there’s always room for more murders at the White Lotus hotels.”
Sounds like those murmurs of snow and ski jackets weren’t so far off after all. Until then, my fellow vacationers—thank you for watching this season with me. I’ll see you all in Jackson next Sunday.
