Diksha Sundriyal
With its sixth episode, the third season of HBO’s ‘The White Lotus’ stirs the pot that is already tense with drama and conflict. Only two episodes remain in the season, and this episode cleverly sets the stage for the tension that has been bubbling up so far. Almost every member of the Ratliff family is dealing with a crisis that could change everything for them. Jaclyn, Kate, and Laurie had been snaking their way towards a confrontation that is a long time coming. Rick is on the edge of having the revenge he has dreamed about for so long, and Belinda is creeping closer to a mystery that has already put her in danger. The events of the full-moon party put everyone on edge, creating more excitement about what’s to come. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Ratliff Family Grapples With the Idea of Death, Enlightenment and Incest
The last episode of ‘The White Lotus’ ended with Tim Ratliff almost killing himself. This episode begins with him imagining the aftermath of his suicide, and it would be full of screams from his wife and daughter. This isn’t the only time that he imagines such a scenario. Later in the episode, when Victoria tells him that she’d rather die than be poor at this age in her life, he thinks about killing her while she is napping and then shooting himself in the head. Fortunately, he doesn’t get to play out of any of these scenarios as the main focus of the day is on meeting with the monk under whose tutelage Piper wants to stay for a year.
Before the three of them can leave, Saxon and Lochy arrive. Both of them are still hungover, and while they both claim to have blacked out the events of the previous night, Saxon has a feeling that something happened that shouldn’t have happened. When he wakes up in the boat that morning, he is greeted with the view of his brother’s naked butt, which mirrors Lochy’s view from the first episode (a clever way to show how the tables have turned). Saxon is too fazed and tries to keep remembering the events of the previous night. He knows that Chelsea didn’t have sex with him and that Lochy and Chloe had sex while he masturbated right next to them. Lochy, on the other hand, can’t seem to remember any of that yet, but he does feel a shift in his brother’s behavior.
Before leaving, Piper asks Lochy to come with them, and because he hadn’t been there to support her the previous night, he agrees to join them. At the monastery, the monk agrees to talk with Piper’s parents, but only Tim gets to meet him as Victoria busies herself, looking around to figure out what kind of place her daughter wants to live in. The conversation with the monk moves highly to Tim, who asks what happens after death. The monk tells him that it’s like a drop of water meeting the ocean and becoming a part of the whole again. It’s like coming home, and Tim finds comfort in that thought, and that doesn’t really bode well for him.
Convinced that the monk is a very wise person, Tim gives Piper permission to stay in Thailand, but Victoria is not convinced. She tells Piper to stay the night in the place, believing that the ways of the monastery are too difficult and would dissuade her daughter from her plans. To support Piper, Lochy decides to accompany her. He later joins her for a meditation session where the memories of the previous night resurface, and he remembers jerking his brother off while having sex with Chloe. Around the same time, Saxon meets with Chelsea, who tells him that the reason she didn’t have sex with him is because he is a soulless person, and Chloe, who tells him that she, he, and Lochy had a threesome last night, which confirms what Saxon had been trying not to accept since he woke up that morning.
The Rift Deepens Between Kate, Jaclyn, and Laurie
The wild nature of the night before creeps into the already shaky friendship of Kate, Jaclyn, and Laurie. In the morning, Kate sees Valentin leaving Jaclyn’s room and later shares this information with Laurie, who is visibly upset about this. While she claims to be laughing it off, it is clear that she is disturbed and disappointed by Jaclyn’s behavior, though not entirely shocked. While Kate tries to diffuse the situation by telling Laurie not to speak about it, she still confronts Jaclyn, who lies to her face and says nothing has happened between her and Valentin.
It also turns out that the reason Jaclyn’s partner, Harrison, wasn’t returning her calls is because his phone ran out of battery, and he never got around to charging it. The shoot ate up all his time, which is why he couldn’t call back Jaclyn, whose insecurity had already led her to cheat on him. But, of course, she doesn’t reveal this to him. Later, when Laurie asks her about the night with Valentin, Jaclyn makes her out to be the villain and chides Kate about talking behind her back. The women agree to spend some time alone and meet for dinner at seven, but it is clear that the facade of politeness has come down, and the next dinner will be explosive.
Meanwhile, Gaitok manages to sneak into Tim’s room and finds the stolen gun, and he is lucky that he did because the moment he returns to his post, his senior talks about the missing gun. Later that evening, Gaitok goes to the gun range to practice, and the whole debacle about the gun being stolen for one whole day feels like a nightmare that he is now out of.
Greg, aka Gary, Puts a Plan in Motion
While Chloe was busy partying the night away and having sex with the Ratliff brothers, Greg/Gary was busy coming up with a plan to deal with Belinda. The next morning, he confronts Chloe about having sex with one of the brothers, and he mostly suspects Saxon, but then, he tells her to bring him over for dinner. But that’s not the only person he extends the invitation to. He later sneaks up on Belinda, literally jumping out of the bushes, to tell her that he is having a house party and would like her to be there. When she makes an excuse, he offers her to come up to his house anytime so they can have a chat.
If Belinda isn’t already scared, she is made so by interacting with Greg. Earlier that morning, she woke up with Pornchai next to her and her son, Zion, arriving earlier than expected. The encounter was a little embarrassing, but nothing the three of them couldn’t brush over. With her son by her side, Belinda feels a sense of comfort, but with Greg right in front of her, a feeling of terror takes over her, and more than herself, she fears for the safety of her son. Additionally, she also gets an offer from Pornchai about opening a spa together, but that means that she’d have to live in Thailand. And following the conversation with Greg, it seems highly unlikely that Belinda would want to stay there a minute longer than she needs to.
It remains to be seen what Greg is cooking up, but he is not the only one who wants to settle things from his past. Rick, despite being warned by Chelsea, sets up a meeting with Sritala at her house with the excuse of arranging a meeting with a big Hollywood director. While Frank shares Chelsea’s concerns, he has no option but to go forward with his friend’s desires. In the end, Rick finally comes face to face with his father’s alleged murderer in his own house. Though he has claimed repeatedly that he doesn’t intend to kill him, there is no denying that the whole thing will turn out badly for everyone involved.
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