Mike White’s entrenched us in a muggy morass of inscrutable social clues once more. Two episodes in to this season of The White Lotus, which takes place in Thailand, and it remains anyone’s guess as to which of our ensemble was among the cold-open dead in the show’s initial sequence. Which is just how we like it, right? No one’s yet gotten tired of the I.V.-drip horizontal storytelling after episode two? Because folks have sure been quick to call Severance self-indulgent at moments this season. I worry we’re all losing our tolerance for subtext, even with all the episode two recaps pointing to sure volcanic action in short order.
Don’t fall into the tired trap of impatience! Folks want you to stop getting excited about prestige television with reserved acting performances, and we’re not going to. Because we’ve got what’s likely to be a fulcrum episode of The White Lotus this weekend, and I’m here to get you prepped for it.
Not just me, though. Many of us here at DKNetwork are moths to the Mike White flame. Here’s our spectacular do-everything correspondent, Meghan Townsley, with her thoughts on the season so far:
Season 3’s installment of The White Lotus has us geared up for a wild ride. From the blatant competition of the girlfriend-trio waiting to self-destruct, to the incredibly uneasy interactions of Saxon and his siblings, Mike White has captivated my attention and…I fear this season might blow the previous two out of the water.
Let’s hope episode three makes a splash, if only for Meghan’s viewing experience on Sunday night. Here’s why I think it will.
The White Lotus episode three: how and when to watch, what to expect
As always, The White Lotus airs on HBO Sunday night at 9pm E.T./6pm P.S.T. It’s also available to stream on the Max app at these times as well. Folks who miss out on the initial airing—or avid rewatchers, like yours truly—can tune into the episode throughout the week on the app, as well.
Where we left off
On the precipice of action for two of our male leads, is where. We now know that Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) got himself involved with Kenny in a money-laundering racket in Brunei. Kenny’s about to off himself, because the FBI are conducting the search, and Tim is absolutely implicated in the eventual evidentiary findings. There is, of course, nothing he can do. He runs on the treadmill. He rages about the weather (in this case, the time zones). And, I’ll tell you this—he will likely not continue this holding pattern for three full episodes.
Rick (Walton Goggins), on the other hand, is headed off to Bangkok. His intrigue in Sritala’s (Patravadi Mejudhon) husband is about to reach a head: Rick overhears Sritala tell Jaclyn (Michelle Monhagan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (the incomparable Carrie Coon) that she’ll be visiting her husband in Bangkok the next few days. After an eerily kindred dinner between Rick, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon), and Greg (Jon Gries), Rick tells Chelsea he’s leaving for a few nights. Chelsea, having just herself survived an armed-robbery ordeal at one of the resort’s high-end clothing stores, acquiesces.
Jaclyn, Kate, and Laurie take turns sniping at each other behind each others’ backs. More on that later. Most importantly, though: it seems Laurie might be the most vicious of the three, and Jaclyn heard several of things Kate and Laurie were saying about her. Jaclyn, however, chose not to act.
The most chilling moment of the episode, perhaps, comes when Kate finally places how she recognizes Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey) at lunch; they had met during a bachelorette weekend! Victoria cold-shoulders Kate like no other, and her kids, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) all act like they’ve never seen this side of their mother before. Victoria dismisses it by saying she simply wanted to enjoy her vacation with her family, not some floozy she met at a party.
Oh, and as for the Ratliff kids? It’s just sex. Saxon’s still on the hunt for a bed partner, Lochlan’s staring at Saxon’s bare ass in bed, Lochlan’s confronting Piper about her rumored virginity, Piper’s strangely stung that it was Saxon who accused her of chastity, and won’t let it go how disgusting he is. Etc.
Belinda’s still going through the Thailand tutorial with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), and she seems to be developing an eye for his abs. Her son is not yet in the picture. And, though she sees Greg at dinner, she can’t place where she remembers him. Yet.
Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) works up the nerve to tell Mook (Lalisa Manobal)—if a little forcefully, might I add—that he has feelings for her, and she only seems to show any reciprocation after Gaitok’s near-miss with the aforementioned burglar who ruined Chelsea’s and Chloe’s days. It seemed another staff member was in on the operation, however—the entire dynamic with the staff at The White Lotus: Thailand is totally up in the air.
Where we’re headed: rapid fire thoughts
Too many early similarities between Rick (Goggins) and Greg (Gries). Storytelling intuition says to me that we’re going to very soon discover he’s not a hitman, nor is he anyone with remotely-fatal intentions. His business with Sritala’s husband in Bangkok just can’t be murder.
I’m overwhelmingly impressed with the way the writers have captured the dynamic between Jaclyn (Monaghan), Kate (Bibb), and Laurie (Coon). Bibb’s performance as the friend who plays both sides is convincing, and not altogether in a sinister way. Bibb doesn’t play it like a villain. Friends who erode at each other in this way aren’t all nefarious. They just might be situationally toxic. If anything, though, Coon’s Laurie might emerge as the most vicious as the group. We were, after all, set up to believe that she’d be the victim in this tripod. But Kate’s and Laurie’s collective teardown of Jaclyn was far crueler in sentiment than anything Jaclyn said about Laurie. And Jaclyn heard some of it!
We’re all on high-alert re. Victoria (Posey), and should be. No one that platitudinous is this obtuse. Is she just reprising her role as Jane from Amazon Prime Video’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Is she about to expressionlessly extinguish someone’s life? All this makes me feel like she’ll, at the very least, be very happy to be Tim’s Jane to his Dick, a la Fun with Dick and Jane. This doesn’t seem like a woman who’d sprint in the opposite direction if she heard her lifestyle was supported via illicit methods.
I have to imagine Belinda’s son will soon enter the picture, and with it, we’ll get a bit more action with regards to a string of petty crimes committed (or at least aided and abetted by) several of the staff at The White Lotus. This likely imperils Gaitok, who seems to be on his way to a first date with Mook.
As for the Ratliff kids, again? I think we’ll finally get a face-off this episode between Piper and Saxon. I’m not sure I have any idea what that’s going to look like, or into just what exactly it might devolve if it gets bad. But we need to get those two together in a pressure-cooker.
