What in the world just happened in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3?

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet for the past eight weeks, it’s a safe assumption to say you’ve heard the theories, reactions and analysis of the third installment of the HBO Max comedy/drama, “The White Lotus.”

Each season of the show welcomes characters (mostly new, but some returning) to the beautiful resort chain known as the White Lotus. Season three welcomed us to the lush, picturesque White Lotus in Thailand. 

Creator Mike White is a master of character building that revolves around social dynamics we can’t always quite name. This season was certainly no exception. 

There’s Rick (Walton Goggins), who we learn is in Thailand on a mission to avenge the murder of his father, and his young girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), merely there to spend a nice, relaxing vacation with her boyfriend. 

Next, we have the Ratliffs, who are practically North Carolinian royalty, with parents Victoria (Parker Posey) and Timothy (Jason Isaacs). Timothy has made it big in the business world through means we and the rest of the world find out to be illegal, causing him to spend the rest of his vacation spiraling and abusing his wife’s sleep medication. Oh, the lorazepam. 

Their kids include post-grad frat boy Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), attempted voice of reason Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) and finally Lochlan (Sam Nivola), the seemingly innocent youngest child, caught between his siblings’ fight over who he should take after. 

Childhood friends Laurie (Carrie Coon), Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Kate (Leslie Bibb) are on a girl’s trip. These three take turns talking about each other behind the other’s back, or sometimes even right to their faces, with snide jabs at the respective city they chose to live in, their failing (or already failed) marriages and even voting habits.

Fans recognized Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) from season one, where she was the spa manager at the White Lotus in Maui, and returned this season to learn about the company’s location in Thailand. 

Each season also begins with the premise that by the end of the vacation, a murder will take place. Many of the theories around the show revolve around looking for clues about which character will face their demise by the end of the season. 

So, who was the dead body we saw floating in the water in episode one? 

Fans were shocked to find this season had not one, but three — almost four — unlucky victims. After Rick returns from Bangkok, where he went to kill his father’s killer but decides to back out, he changes his mind again. We watch Rick shoot Jim (Scott Glenn) in a fit of fury in front of Jim’s wife, where she then proclaims, “He is your father!” 

Completely shocked by this, Rick panics, making a run for it with Chelsea. After a shootout with hotel security in which Chelsea gets caught in the crossfire, Rick is shot down, carrying his love in his arms. Truly living out when Chelsea said, “If you go down, I go too.”

His death is at the hands of Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), the hotel security worker who has struggled with his manhood the entire season. He has now “won” that manhood, but at the cost of his gentleness and peaceful attitude — not to mention his Buddhist religion.

The Ratliff’s avoid death by the skin of their teeth two separate times. After seeing almost everyone in his family say they could never live poor, Timothy decides he cannot stand to see what awaits his family in terms of legal trouble when they arrive home. He makes them poisonous piña coladas with the deadly fruit from outside their hotel suite, just to slap them out of his family’s hands, for what he says is on account of “bad coconut milk.” *Que Victoria’s accent.*

The next morning, Lochlan uses the leftover piña colada in the blender for his morning protein shake. He throws up, and practically sees the light with his dad tearfully holding him in his arms, just to wake up completely fine? Still confused about that one. 

While the shootout was a bit much, and a few plotlines a little less resolved than I’d like them to be, this finale kept me hooked the whole time. Goggins’ performance was second to none, and I’m heartbroken to say goodbye to Chelsea — who is maybe this show’s only redeemable character. I dread the fact that I have to wait two years to experience another “The White Lotus” season. Until then, maybe no piña coladas for a while. 

This story was written by Annie Goode. She can be reached at annie.goode@marquette.edu.