The White Lotus Recap | S3E3: The Meaning of Dreams

All right, welcome back to the White Lotus.

Thailand.

Are we there right now?

You know what Sheer said to me?

Because.

So just for context, we have been watching the episodes together on Sunday night, so you're gonna hear, like, some of Sheer's commentary, because she does have very good commentary.

The episode launched, and we were like, thailand.

And she was like, let's be real.

This.

This is not Thailand.

Love it.

I'm so jealous that you were able to watch it on Sunday night.

It just was not appearing for me on Crave at all.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I'm not watching it on Crave.

I'm watching it through prime somehow, which is maybe Apple tv, I don't know.

Okay, you're definitely not illegally streaming it, though, for sure.

Definitely not.

No.

I'm not gonna lie.

I'm not above that.

The episodes don't come out fast enough when you do it that way.

Okay.

So I will be canceling the subscription the second the show is over because I am not subscribing to US Media providers at the moment.

Yeah, I'm right there with you.

Okay.

What were your thoughts on this episode?

How do you feel?

Okay, so when the episode ended, Shir and I were both like, that was kind of a dud episode.

Yeah, I felt the exact same way.

It's just like, not that much happened.

Like, things happened, but it just didn't have the same, like, pace that previous episodes have had in previous seasons.

But on further reflection, I do think that despite that, not a lot seemed to happen.

It's just like.

It's kind of like the previous episodes.

Still groundwork Lane.

It was a very ominous episode, I will say that.

And, like, some intriguing things did happen.

It just didn't have the same, like, kind of, like, pulse to it that other episodes have had.

Like, I find with White Lotus previous seasons, every episode you sort of feel the tension build faster and faster.

And I'm not feeling that pacing.

This still felt like a slower episode.

And usually by episode three, I feel that, like, the pace is getting, like, pretty fast.

So.

Yeah.

What do you think?

Honestly, I have no other words to include.

I am totally on par with you.

I think this season is definitely a slow build, and this episode seemed to just still slowly unraveling stories.

So we got more context around some stories and what might happen next.

But, for example, we are teased in this episode that everyone's going to be on a boat party on Greg's boat at some point.

I was like, that's gonna happen this episode.

It didn't happen this episode.

But I think that's gonna happen.

I think that could be the bulk of the next episode where it could just take place on the boat the entire time.

It could.

Yeah, the entire episode.

And it's just sort of everybody's dynamics.

And I have high hopes for this because historically, the boat scenes in White Lotus are really iconic.

Yeah.

The scene in season one where Jennifer Coolidge is releasing her mother's ashes, it's down mystery is one of my favorite scenes of all time in television.

It's our exotic artwork.

I've never howled like that in my life.

Like, I just thought it was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life because it was so dark, but also so funny.

Oh, funny.

So I have high hopes for this scene out on the high seas.

Yes.

Okay.

I think.

I think the opening of this episode.

And I'll just get into the summary then.

The opening of this episode, I think, is very representative of, like, how this episode sits in the entire series.

It opens with Victoria in a dream sequence.

She's standing on the beach out in front of, like, her family home, which I guess so happens to be in Thailand.

In her dream, she's holding her bottle of lorazepam.

And she looks over and her son, her kids are on the beach.

And her son Lachlan says to her, this is what it looks like before a tsunami.

To me, that is the essence of this episode.

It's not the tsunami yet, but this is what it looks like right before.

And then in that moment, we see Victoria walking into the water as massive waves crash down upon her.

And the next morning, she wakes up and tells her kids and her family about the dream.

And Piper says to her that her dreams could be a warning.

So to me, this is, like, the essence of this episode.

Everything that happens in it is just a warning of what's to come.

What do you think?

I think that's probably a pretty likely reading.

Yeah.

Okay, great.

It's just some major foreshadowing.

And actually, yeah, like, the more I think about that, that could explain why it felt like such a slow, quiet episode.

Because that is what it is like before a tsunami hits.

Yeah.

Which I think we should talk a bit about because this tsunami is referenced a couple times in the episode.

I happen to know about it because I love reading about natural disasters.

Don't ask me why.

I've been doing it since childh.

I think natural disasters are what made me realize, like, my mortality as a kid.

Yeah.

I don't know if it's healthy.

Though this is where I really identify with Lachlan.

Just looking up traumatizing videos like, so, yeah, that the.

It was a massive earthquake that happened out in the Indian Ocean and then created the tsunami which hit all these countries in the region.

It's considered one of the worst and deadliest tsunamis of the 21st century, although some people argue ever there were hundreds of thousands of deaths.

And in Thailand, the impact was really bad.

They didn't have an early warning system in place, so there was essentially no warning that this was coming.

And this is what he's referencing when he says it's always calm before the tsunami, because after the tsunami, there was a lot of education around what the signs are.

And one of the signs is that the ocean pulls out.

So if you're ever down at the ocean, really anywhere in the world that tsunamis are a risk and you notice that the ocean has pulled out further than it should, that's not a good sign because apparently when it happened at resorts in Thailand were commenting on this, like, noticing why.

Why has the water gone out so far?

Because just people didn't know, especially foreigners.

I think, like, a lot of people that live in regions like this, like, are aware.

But if you're a foreigner and you're not used to tsunami warnings, you wouldn't know what that means.

Interesting.

Okay, so then, was that the video that was showing?

I don't know if that's hitting with the tsunami.

I don't know if that's a legitimate video or if that's just, like, part of the show universe.

But there are, like, a lot of videos like that online, which is why I say, like, it's spooky.

It's spooky to watch.

Like, definitely content warning there.

If you look up this tsunami.

So later on, everyone is at breakfast.

This is where we see Sitala Sritala leaving.

Fabian is having breakfast with her, the general manager, and he said he's actually written some songs and wants to sing for the guests while she's gone.

At some point, she doesn't seem, like, super interested.

And he's so quiet that it's funny.

He has this inner diva inside of him.

But as I was looking around at just articles about this, I saw him, his character described as the diva.

And it's just funny that we haven't seen this yet.

So I think it got mildly spoiled on it.

I can see it.

I Can see it.

It's in him.

I also just.

Slight aside, I'm starting to feel like Fabian may end up in the crossfire.

Ooh.

Yeah.

He's like, he's a candidate for me.

He's a candidate.

He's a good candidate.

So in that morning, Rick is just trying to figure out when Sritala is going to be in Bangkok.

He goes over to her and says he loves her singing.

It was so magical.

And that he's actually a producer and he wants a director that he's working with to meet her.

This director happens to be in Bangkok.

Oh, yeah.

And so he asks how he can contact her while she's in Bangkok.

This is a pretty clever move, I gotta say.

And then there's a funny back and forth, as I just hinted at, about, like, how to pronounce Sritala's name.

And it kind of comes to as a shock to Fabian that, like, he hasn't really been pronouncing it correctly this whole time.

And this follows him, like, all day through, like, the rest of the episode.

He's driving around, like, trying to figure out how to pronounce her name.

I wrote it down as, like, Sitala or It's like the R doesn't actually kind of exist in her name.

But it's different when you, like, read it versus how you hear it said.

So.

Yeah, I had it as Sitala.

Yeah.

I feel dumb.

It does.

This does happen.

Like, this has been an experience for me when I'm trying to learn words in languages that are really, really different from English.

And you just say it so many times that, like, through the repetition, it just starts to, like, your brain just is like, okay, now it's just imploding now.

I just don't know it all now.

Everything.

It's like kind of like when you say a word that you're very familiar with over and over and over again and it starts to sound wrong.

Yeah.

Like, it just.

It's almost like you overthink it.

Yeah.

Like, my friend, my.

My bestie Phil, his partner Tom, is British, and he's always trying to explain to me how to explain how to pronounce things British.

And then I just overthink it and they come out as, like, Comes out just completely weird.

Sheer was like, mook is famous.

Did you know this?

And I was like, no.

And she was like, she has, like, a lot of followers on Spotify.

And I was like, oh.

And I went and looked and I was like, oh, my God.

That's because she's a Member of blackpink.

And I was like, she looked familiar to me, but I couldn't place it because, like, I know K pop, but I wouldn't say I'm a K pop fan.

Like, yeah, same.

I'm interested in it.

Like, I'll watch K pop videos, but I'm not, like, part of the fandom.

Yeah.

So, like, I knew I had seen her before, but I told Cheer.

I was like, she's like, mega famous.

Mega famous.

Ooh, That's a cool, fun fact.

Love this.

For anyone who doesn't know, blackpink is a South Korean girl group and they are extremely famous.

Iconic.

They are very iconic.

Yeah.

What's their song?

How you like?

It was like, all over TikTok at some point.

That's like my one song that I know from them.

Just because it was hammered into my brain on from the algorithms.

It will never leave my brain.

Okay.

So also at breakfast, we see Valentin going over and talking to the gal pals and we find out more about him.

He is from Russia.

He says he worked in shipping and he didn't come to Thailand when he moved here with his.

With any sort of family.

As this is playing out, there's, like, a lot of sex noises happening in the soundscapes.

I don't know if you caught this.

A lot of, like, moaning and just, like, breathing and that kind of thing.

And he walks away.

The gals tell Laurie she needs to make a move on this man.

But to me, from Russia, worked in shipping.

I think Valentin is probably in some sort of, like, smuggling business.

To be real, now would be a good time to recapture what Sheare had to say when Vladimir appeared on screen.

Yes, you're a criminal.

So I think this, like, basically, as if the previous episode of the robbery didn't already confirm it.

He's definitely some sort of criminal, for sure.

I'm with sheer on this one.

So he has, like, a red circle around him in my books where it's like, look out for this guy.

Definitely sus.

He is definitely sus.

Highly sus.

Also, I just want to mention, because I love looking up geography.

When he mentioned Vladivostok, the first thing I did was Google, like, where is this place?

And interestingly, it's in, like, the extreme east of Russia.

So it's actually like, quite close to Thailand.

It's kind of right above North Korea.

Okay.

And that always blows my mind, like, how big Russia is that it literally, like, stretches into Asia.

So he's actually.

He didn't have to fly very far to get to Thailand.

Russia is the largest country in the world.

You know what the second one is?

It's us.

It's us Canada.

Yeah.

There's a whole song about it by some comedians called the Arrogant Worms.

Okay, so also, though, we missed something about Rick that I think is worth mentioning.

We get our first weed mention, and this will, like, become more prominent throughout the episode, but I just noticed it because there's the reference of the weed in the opening sequence.

So, yeah, Rick.

Rick announces to Chelsea that he needs to have some weed today.

Okay.

So it moves over to Timothy, whose phone is absolutely blowing up.

Piper is super annoyed about this.

And it turns out that there are two men from the FBI who are looking for him.

They're at his office, they have a warrant.

And Timothy is on the phone with.

I think it was his lawyer.

I didn't catch who it was, but he's advised not to talk to anyone.

So that to me, tells me it's his lawyer.

Back at the room, back at the suite, Timothy's office is still calling him and he's getting tons of calls.

So this is when he finally decides that, you know what?

I think we should all give in our devices.

And he tells his family and encourages his family, like, come on, guys, everyone just hand in your cell phone.

Put all your electronics away.

I actually, just to interject, I wasn't.

At first I thought it was because he was worried about his son, about.

What's the shitty one?

Saxon.

Yep.

Because Saxon is starting to get calls.

So at first I was like, oh, it's because he wants Saxon to not have his phone.

And then I thought, oh, but it's also because he's stressed out by all the phone calls.

But I didn't know.

I wasn't sure, like, what the real reason is.

I gathered that.

The real reason is that he's trying to avoid all of these phone calls and just, like, not be reachable.

And that means also making sure Saxon isn't reachable because they know to call his son.

Because they work together.

Yeah.

Because I will say, I think my theory that he's not going to tell his family what is going on is playing out.

Yeah.

Because he did go to lengths to make sure Saxon did not find out.

What is happening 100%.

So Saxon says in this moment, he.

He's like, but, Dad, I still need to be available for work.

I'm trying to build a client list.

To me, this is so funny because, like, trying to build a client list at your Dad's work tells me, you don't really do much at your dad's work, probably.

And he seems very desperate to be involved in, like, the goings ons of the business and, like, running the whole thing.

But I don't know if Saxa actually does much of anything at this company other than just like, be a face that.

Just a puppy that just kind of follows his dad around.

So he hands in everyone's phones, including Saxon's laptop, his watch and his phone, and Pam has them all.

Their butler, Pam has them all in this, like, burlap sack and starts to walk away with them.

But I feel sus about Pam.

And now I'm like, Pam's in on it too.

This is all part of an elaborate scheme.

Because you mentioned this before, this conversation has not been brought up by anybody else to, like, take away everybody's phones.

But no one else has their phone.

It's true.

So maybe it's just, like, we just don't.

They didn't show it.

I overanalyzed Pam's face in that moment where I'm like, you seem sus.

But maybe she's just genuinely pleased that everyone's hidden.

She seems so innocent to me.

But, I mean, it's all perspective, right?

Like, you could 100% be right.

This is like.

Actually, I kind of think this about Mook.

That, like, Mook comes off as like, such a kind, beautiful character, but I'm starting to wonder, like, what's really beneath the surface.

And she.

We saw her.

I realized that in the first episode, we saw her speaking with the security guards who are Sus.

And.

And I'm wondering if she's involved with some of the criminal activity happening.

Something has just based off that conversation.

Because I'm not finding, like, a full purpose for her character yet that is, like, her own.

And I can totally see that.

And so, on that note, let's go through Guy Talk's little journey here, because on her way out, Khun Sritala tells Gaitok that he's super brave for what happened during the robbery.

And Gaitok tells her that he would love to be a bodyguard for her.

And this is something that he goes on to tell Mook about later, to which she replies, are you sure you'd actually want to leave, though?

Leave the island?

And he says, well, he would do it if she came with him.

Very romantic.

And so eventually the bodyguards, though, confront Guy Talk later in the episode and sort of like, ask him, like, if are you trying to take our jobs?

And they Call him a turkey, they call him a pussy.

But to me, the, like, calling of a pussy and these guys being, like, super tough guys and walking around, walking away and all that.

To me, this signals guy talks, eventual journey to machismo ness, manliness.

And you know who I think is going to help him on this journey?

Saxon.

So I'm calling it now because, like, who's been the big manly guy this whole time?

It's Saxon.

Saxon.

Saxon.

Always talking about man stuff.

And now guy talk has, like, some sort of mission or, like, need to be more manly to impress Mook, probably and not be pushed around by these guys.

So I think he's gonna go on manliness journey.

I hate it.

I hate it too, because he's so sweet and innocent.

He's a good guy.

Got talk in Lachlan.

That's perfect.

I know.

Okay, so speaking of Saxon, we see Saxon at the pool later that day, and he says his new mission is to get Lachlan laid.

This is when Lachlan eventually just goes off to his, like, posture class.

And Saxon stays by the pool, runs into Chloe, and she's definitely into, like, him hitting on her, and they have, like, a flirtatious back and forth.

And I think it's at this point that he sort of secures a spot on Gary's boat the next day.

So this is the beginning of the.

The boat journey and Saxon's mission to get Lachlan laid.

That never is unpacked in this episode.

But that's another thing that's probably coming up in what I am considering a troupe of manliness.

Okay, so the meat of the episode is really Rick and Chelsea's story.

As you mentioned, Rick is desperate to get his hands on some weed.

But before he can do so, he has to go to his trauma therapy session again with Amrita.

And this is where she calls him out and says that he.

She's sensing a lot of anger.

But under anger, there is sadness and grief.

And Rick admits that he's done a lot of really bad things.

He says his father was a good man, but he never got to know him because he was murdered.

And he can't get his life back, but he can still get some satisfaction.

This, to me, is like, it has to be obvious.

Sritala's husband definitely murdered Rick's dad, right?

Like, yes.

Like, that's where my brain went.

But then I was like, is it too easy?

They're just, like, handing it to us.

I know.

I think it might be like, Rick also has just lived a troubled life trying to figure out this mystery.

He's not a young man, he's like.

But I'm also early 50s.

He has admitted to being involved with bad things.

So I imagine there's a lot of people he would like to kill.

Yeah, I kind of get the sense that maybe this is something he's been doing his whole life, is trying to find the guy that killed his dad or the person that killed his dad.

And he's probably fucked up a lot of people, a lot of the wrong people along the way, like innocent people.

And maybe this is like the bad things he's done or he's just manipulated people to get what he wants to find out the information he's trying to find out like he did to Sritala.

So I don't know.

I don't know.

I feel like it's too.

It's two handed to us.

It's too simple.

Also, it's just like not a very complex story.

I guess what I'm saying is this is a trope you see in movies all the time.

Poor person spends their entire life trying to find the person that killed their parent.

It's just such a recycled trope.

I'm just like, Mike White's better than this.

It's gonna be a better story than that.

I can actually imagine him going to Bangk and like actually meeting this guy and finding out that he didn't kill his dad or has no idea whose dad is.

Or maybe the guy is his dad.

Maybe his dad isn't dead.

He just fled because he was doing bad things.

This is what I'm saying.

I just feel like Mike White, like he's not gonna make it that cut and try.

So after the meditation, Rick and Chelsea head out of the resort.

Rick is mainly on a mission to find weed.

He finds it and Chelsea says to him, like, listen, you got your weed.

You've been grumpy this whole time.

I just want to have fun.

That's when they spot the snake show.

What was your reaction when you saw the snake show?

I'm just curious.

Cringe traveler moment was my thought.

These are a real thing.

Like you do see them in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia.

And I will say they're not a very responsible tourist thing to do.

But for the purpose of the show.

Interesting side quest for sure.

I also have a comment about Chelsea because I realized something about her this episode.

Okay.

We have now learned quite a lot about each character, including Rick.

Like, we know some of Rick's backstory, we know about his personality, we know A little bit about his sketchy past.

We know a little bit about every character except Chelsea.

Ooh, yeah.

What do we know about Chelsea?

All we know is that she is sort of, like Rick's soulmate, life partner, and that is, like, her identity.

But that's it.

We don't know anything about her.

And maybe that is, like, the point is that, like, in the context of their relationship, like, who she is and her story, like, doesn't matter.

But I do think it's interesting.

Like, we literally only know that she's British.

That's it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So they go to the snake show.

They're walking around sort of like the showroom before this.

The show starts.

There's all these snakes in cages and tanks and stuff.

And Rick looks genuinely sad walking around looking at all the snakes and the iguanas and reptiles.

He says, snakes shouldn't be in cages.

They have a right to live.

Live free.

So they head into the snake show, and Rick seems to be, like, tripping out.

He is heavily sweating, and he just does not enjoy the snake show.

He is, like, looking around at.

There's not very many people there.

Like, there's a couple other couples there watching the guy announcing and, like, talking about what's going on during the snake show.

Like, what kind of snakes these are.

Blah, blah, blah.

Doesn't have much pizzazz to him at all.

Like, he's just sort, like, saying the words and, like, Rick has this pretty obvious look of disgust on his face.

Just, like, looking at the people at the show, how the snakes are being treated and handled.

This is where I'm like, rick does not like animal tourism.

And I think in this moment, I crowned him our Conscientious Traveler Award for this episode.

I don't know about you, but I'm just jumping the gun and throwing it out there.

But however, he loses out when he leaves, leaves the show early and releases all the snakes.

He goes and touches all the snakes, which is against wildlife tourism responsibility.

Touches all the snakes, releases all of them.

This is when Chelsea catches him and is bitten by one, so she's rushed off to the hospital.

Later, Chloe points out that this is Chelsea's second brush with death in two days.

And Chelsea also later says in the episode that snakes are evil.

Read the Bible.

So there's so many thoughts that I have about this, mainly Chelsea's recovery from the snake bite.

Yeah.

You and I have done in our first season of this episode, or maybe the second, a whole episode with I forget our friend's name, but he got Bitten by a poisonous snake and his leg turned black.

It was a scary, scary moment for him.

And Chelsea returns with just a tiny little patch on her leg after this snake bite.

I did Google this because I also was like, like, usually you would be in the hospital for a while, and it could take, like, a couple weeks to recover.

Like, cobra bites are, like, you can survive them, but it probably wouldn't be, like, so simple.

I feel like her whole leg would.

Be bruised up potentially.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Okay.

Also, though, something about the weed, because Shir and I were like, oh, like, the weed must be laced.

And then Shir was like, okay, well, did you.

You smoke weed in Southeast Asia?

And I haven't.

Like, I don't really like smoking weed in other countries.

But she told me she had tried it and that she didn't find it very good.

And then I went to Reddit to see, like, how people talk about weed in Thailand.

And it is true that people say, like, weed in Thailand is very different than weed here.

And it's not always that it's been laced.

It's that it's just extremely potent or it's, like, different strains that we don't, like, have here in Canada or the U.S.

so I saw lots of, like, stories of people saying, like, it knocked me out, I didn't feel right, or just, like, didn't sit well with them.

So I think that's what happened to poor Rick.

Poor Rick.

I also feel like you and I talked about this.

If this is gonna take place since weed was became legal in Thailand, he walks into the store, gets it, and leaves.

I think we're now in the period of time where weed is legal in Thailand.

And that's a good point, because there's actually a theory floating around online that this is a prequel to the first two seasons.

And I think there's, like, multiple signs that this isn't true, but that would be one of them because it's, like, so recent that it wouldn't make sense that weed is legal if we're, like, sticking to a very accurate timeline.

Yeah.

Also, the whole Belinda reaction.

Yeah, I think it's, like, it's not possible.

Yeah.

Okay.

So Piper leaves the resort again.

She goes to see the monks, and she's there to meet a man named Buren to do an interview with him.

The monk says that he can't meet her today and to come back on Friday at 2.

And we also find out, like, she's maybe considering, like, studying there.

I didn't really quite catch, like, what it is that she's hoping to stick around for in the future.

But then I was like, maybe she's not actually there to do a thesis, and she's just there to, like, suss out the school that she maybe wants to attend once she graduates or something like that.

What was your.

What did you catch there?

I do know, like, I could be totally wrong, but I do know that, like, you can do, I guess, sort of like a residency at a lot of, like, temples throughout Southeast Asia.

Throughout, like, really, like, at Buddhist temples all over the world.

You can do them, like, I know you can do them in Nepal, India.

So I'm assuming it was something like that.

Like, kind of like a residency where you go and you essentially study under the monks to learn more about Buddhism.

That was my impression.

Okay, do you think she's actually there to do her thesis then?

Or she's just thinking about this, like, use this as a sneaky trip to check out the residency, maybe?

It strikes me as a sneaky person.

So.

Okay, I think she really is doing her thesis and that she really does intend to come back after school.

Okay, I'm reading into this too much.

It's hard with, like.

I've actually seen people comment this, like, in.

In videos that I'm watching with series.

In the comments, people are like, I think we're overthinking this.

Like, but it's because of the history of the show.

Right?

I know, I know.

Okay, so this leads into what I called, like, a travel magic montage.

And it's sort of like a montage of everyone at their respective activities.

And while they're showing this, there are, like, chimes and magic sounds happening over top.

So it shows Piper checking out the campus and seeing, like, current students in their element.

We see Belinda in a float cradled by Pornchai in the water.

We see Laurie getting a massage by Valentin.

And then we see Locke in posture therapy or posture meditation.

What was it called?

Just how I remember his posture.

I think posture therapy.

I'm just curious what you picked up from this sort of magicy moment here.

Did it raise any things for you or just was magical to watch?

I find it ironic, to be honest, because they're all on these wellness journeys, but we know that things are starting to implode in the background.

So I guess it's like this funny parallel of, like, they're here for wellness, they're on their wellness journeys, but meanwhile, all these very difficult things are coming to the surface in the background.

So, like, maybe it's a subtle commentary on the actual power of wellness.

We will see.

Yep.

Okay, so we cut to Lachlan in posture therapy, and this is where he's told that he sits in a defensive posture, that he's a people pleaser and he's protecting himself with his female side.

Obviously, the person who's he's not going to want to tell this to is his big brother, Saxon.

And to me, this is going to trigger his manliness journey.

And this is where I see a trio happening between Saxon, guy talk and Lachlan, all trying to go out and get laid at a moon party.

Full moon party.

What do we think?

I hope not.

I'm calling it now.

I'm calling it now.

We also get a glimpse into Timothy's new journey, which is his addiction with lorazepam.

So he is clearly losing his mind from stress, and he's just like, his mind is racing all over the place.

And so his wife Victoria comes over and offers him lorazepam, and she says they're not addictive.

She only takes it when she needs it.

Yeah.

Which is all the time, conveniently.

Yeah.

So he eventually sneaks a pill and just naps all day.

This is where I'm like, is Timothy going to kill himself with Larazpam?

He's going to overdo it.

Maybe.

Like, I don't know if you can kill yourself with it, but, I mean, maybe you can.

I feel like I do think, like, a meltdown is gonna happen because he's gonna become dependent and they're gonna run out of lorazepam.

And I'm kind of assuming that lorazepam is not legal in Thailand.

Let's Google it.

Let's Google it.

You can bring it if you are under treatment.

So it seems like.

So some countries you need, like, a letter or documentation, need this medication.

I don't know if Victoria brought that.

I'm willing to bet she, like, she has a full special purse for it.

It's so.

Yeah.

Okay.

Something is definitely going to go down.

With something definitely going down.

The new emerging lorazepam dependence.

This is the calm before the tsunami for sure.

A nap before things get wild.

Okay, there's two more major challenges chunks to this episode.

One being Belinda and Greg, we find out through Chloe talking to Chelsea what she knows and what Gary has said about Tanya in the past.

Gary told Chloe that Tanya was a real mental patient, that she killed herself because she was depressed by walking into the ocean and just never coming back.

Obviously, we know this is a lie, so.

So, yeah, this is what we know in A conversation between Pornchai and Belinda.

We find out her perspective.

And it's that Tanya, she says she was depressed before she arrived, or.

Sorry, Belinda says she was depressed before she arrived because her friend and boss died at work.

That she met this rich woman who was supposed to help her open up her own spa, which was her dream, but she flaked and ran off with this guy.

So we know each of their perspectives and what is going through their brains when they eventually do meet.

And that happens at dinner when Belinda approaches Greg, Gary, and she asks, like, hey, do I know you?

I'm pretty sure we met before at the White Lotus Maui.

She remembers his name as Greg.

And she asks, asks if he dated Tanya, and he says no.

And then this is kind of brushed off by his girlfriend Chloe, who says, like, all you bald white guys look the same.

But Belinda is not buying it.

She's like super sus about Greg's reply.

And so that is lingering.

Still, I don't think that has.

That chapter has certainly not come to an end here.

What are you thinking?

Yeah, I agree.

Okay.

At dinner also, Rick and Chelsea are invited onto Gary's boat the next day.

So stay tuned for the boat party.

Finally, we find out that Kate is a Trump supporter, possibly.

So Laurie gets her massage by Valentine.

It's intimate, it's sexual.

And she goes and tells the girls about it.

And this is when Kate says that, like, when it comes to New Age healing, she thinks it's either goofy or spooky.

Either way, it seems kind of witchy.

What is.

I'm just curious what you think about that.

Not.

That's not.

I wouldn't say a line with that thinking.

So this is when Jaclyn says that, well, hey, I like it because most religions are for men and because.

Hold on, just to back up, because I think the reason I really hated this is because, like, it is a little ethnocentric to say that it's like.

Because it's not like, like the religious practices, you know, it's like witchy.

And I know, like, there is a movement to, like, really embrace, like, witchiness.

And I'm on board with that.

I just think in this context, it gave a little bit of ethnocentric vibes.

100%.

Jacqueline says most religion is for all men.

She can't get with the whole battle between good and evil.

It doesn't speak to her.

And this is when Kate says that as a woman, she actually gets a lot out of going to church.

She actually goes every day, every Sunday, When?

Since she's moved to Austin.

And Laurie and Jacqueline are shocked by this.

They kind of are like, wait, what?

And they're like, really?

Like, it must be super weird being around all these, like, ultra conservative people who likely voted for Trump.

But Kate says it doesn't get awkward being around these conservatives.

And she's very, like, stoic in saying this.

And then she says, well, she's an independent, but her husband Dave is a Republican.

And the girls straight up ask her, well, like, did you vote for Trump?

And she will not say.

And I think.

Which means she voted for Trump.

That means she voted for Trump.

Yeah.

To be honest, I don't know what it means to be an independent.

Hold on.

I'm.

I'm.

I'm googling this because I want to be.

Oh, no, it's a party.

It's a political party.

Party.

Oh, what's it say?

Or.

Or.

Okay, so it says there's the American Independent Party, which I've never heard of.

And then there is the concept of independent voter, who is often also called an unaffiliated voter.

They don't align themselves with, like, a particular party.

So, first of all, in the states, a lot of voters have registered with their parties, so that means she's not.

She's just necessarily not necessarily a registered party affiliate.

But this also reminds me, I don't think you're watching the current season of Love is Blind.

I am, actually.

Oh, my God, you are.

Kate.

Amazing.

And I love seeing the couples argue over politics.

Me, too.

Fascinating, too.

Finally, because I was gonna ask you this.

Like.

Cause Luke and I were talking about it.

I was telling him, like, in this show, there are these couples where they're like, they're different.

Like, one is Republican, one is Democrat.

And we were saying, like, how we could never be married to someone who had a different political stance.

Yeah, I think, like, maybe in the past, this was doable.

Like, my parents do say, like, 20, 30 years ago, the parties weren't so divided.

And so it was, like, more normal for people to sort of, like, sway people back and forth.

But nowadays, like, Luke and I were like, it's too much of.

It's.

It has.

It's too wrapped up in, like, your moral ideology.

Yeah.

Like, I just could not be married to someone who voted Republican.

Like, I just couldn't.

Yes.

So I 100% agree.

Mark and I had an identical conversation.

It's a values misalignment.

Yes.

Like, yes.

I.

I don't know how you can be married to someone who has such a Different view.

Yeah.

So I am wondering if Kate's identity as an independent is similar to Ben's from Love is Blind.

Right.

Ben is a man who, when asked how he feels about politics, says that he just stays out of that.

He just stays out of that kind of thing.

Because you're a white man that has privilege.

That's the only reason you can do that.

And this is sort of the impression that I get from Kate, which is just like, if it doesn't impact me because I have privilege, which is an unconscious thought, I'm just gonna stay out of it.

Cause I don't want to get into argument with people.

I don't want to, like, spread negativity.

And I think it's like an ignorance is bliss type of perspective where.

Yeah, if you're just like, I just want to stay out of it.

Which is wild for Ben because he is from Minneapolis where George Floyd died and says that when that happened, he doesn't know too much about it in his own city.

That's the kind of impression that I get from Kate.

I think the fact that she's going to church is also a clue, especially in Texas.

Like, a lot of these churches are literally preaching like.

Like to vote Republican.

And so it could just be like, she's hearing it in the church.

So she's like, this is what I should do because it's aligned with my religious views.

Yeah.

It's just kind of wacky to see how.

So I think it's clear that she's moved from LA to Austin and so the bubble that she exists in has completely changed.

And it seems like she's morphed quite quickly between the two.

So I wonder if she's kind of a chameleon in the communities that she exists in.

This is the sense that I kind of get from her where she's maybe not a people pleaser, but like, she will just morph to make people happy.

I guess that's a people pleaser.

Like, she wants to.

Well, maybe not necessarily to make people happy.

It could just be literally like, I have encountered people like this in my life who literally just like, don't care.

Don't care about politics.

Like, they do not matter, which is unbelievable to me.

But.

But there are people who are like that that I've noticed, like, just align themselves, like, with whoever surrounds them in that moment.

And I don't know if it's a people pleasing thing as much as it's just like they just don't care.

And it's like too much work to to, like, actually figure out which party aligns with you.

I guess, like, some people aren't that deep.

I don't want to say that politics is deep, but it does take work.

Like, being politically engaged does take work and it's stressful.

It's stressful politically these days, for sure.

Yeah.

But I thought this conversation was so interesting, like, in the context of what is happening in America and also just.

Just in the context of getting older.

Because I was gonna ask you, like, do you know anyone who has switched from being like a quote, unquote leftist in Canadian terms, liberal to right wing conservative?

No, I haven't.

I don't know anybody, but I think it might be my circle.

I know people who've gone the opposite way and who've gone from conservative to liberal.

Well, I asked this because, like, studies show that people tend to become more right wing as they get old.

It has to do just with, like, the way you view the world, also your experience of the world.

Like, people tend to have more, like, financial security the older they get, which tends to lean them more to the right.

And they'll also, like, potentially have businesses that they're investing in.

Just your priorities change as you get older.

I've heard the same thing, and I'm surprised but unsurprised that I haven't seen it personally, because I think it's just the bubble that I exist in.

Well, I was going to say it's, like, true for both of us.

We live in, like, literally the liberal stronghold of, like, Ontario.

Like, most people in the Toronto.

Well, not really where you live, but.

Like, not really where I live.

But most of your friends aren't from there.

Yeah, so.

Yeah, but we do know one person that Luke grew up with who went very right wing and it ruined the friendship.

Like, we couldn't.

It became such a, like, thing where this person just, like constantly wanted to debate with us.

And it wasn't that, like, we couldn't be friends with them anymore.

Like, we do believe, like, especially when you have a long history with someone, like, you should try to maintain the friendship.

It just became impossible because they wanted to argue about it all the time.

Yeah, it's such a.

The scene is so interesting too.

Especially knowing that it was not filmed.

It was probably filmed like a year ago, maybe two years ago ago.

Just.

It's like a depiction of the conversations that we all know we should be having in some capacity where, like, we don't.

None of us likes that things are so divided politically and it's becoming more and more Clear that, like, there need to be respectful conversations between people to figure out where our values are aligned and.

And that we all want to see the world a better place.

Yeah.

See, like, this is where I was trying to go with this whole point originally, by the way.

I do think, like, for partnership you want to be aligned.

The way I put it is like, I want to feel safe in my relationship and I couldn't feel safe knowing that the person I'm with, like, votes against my basic human rights.

But in the context of a friendship, I do think it's worth trying to work through it with a friend.

Yeah.

Because like you say, things don't change unless people have these discussions.

Yeah.

And they kind of are in that conversation of them together.

It's sort of like you're literally watching what this conversation could look like in the real world and how, you know, this is how somebody could reply back to you in a realistic sense.

Just thought it was an interesting depiction of like, the reality of conversations around this.

Definitely.

Yeah, definitely.

And this is where the show sort of ends.

Timothy is officially addicted to lorazepam, but tells Victoria that he doesn't take drugs.

So he's already taken one that day and napped all day.

She has no idea.

And then to get to sleep, she offers him one and he says no.

Because he's already taken one.

Because he's already taken one.

Yeah, he's definitely not a communicator.

Yeah.

This is where the episode sort of ends.

I had some notes around the relationships and stuff going on, but mainly the main one is Pornchai and Belinda kind of becoming more lovey dovey.

They have dinner together, they get a little drunk and he says that he hopes they have sweet dreams about each other.

So it's cute.

It's really cute.

And then also I made a note about how at the end, Chelsea, in the beginning, she claims to be Rick's life partner and soulmate.

And then at the end of the episode, after all the shenanigans with the snakes happens, she calls Rick deranged for releasing the snakes and kind of claims that he was trying to kill her.

And she says, if you kill me, I'll follow you into the next life and the next.

You can never get rid of me.

I thought this was so funny.

She's so funny.

It's hard to tell how Rick feels about this, but this to me also is like, maybe Chelsea is the black cat of the season and she just will never Die.

Yeah, I could see that.

The one thing that makes me sad, though, is that I think she's having, like, fix you energy with Rick, which is always unfortunate to see in women, because that is something we do.

But I don't know.

Chelsea, you deserve better.

You deserve so much better.

Okay, so what was your top travel cringe moment of the episode?

I think going to the snake show.

Okay.

Yep.

Don't do that, folks.

Don't go to snake shows.

That was the obvious one for me.

I have a different one.

One.

Saxon gets his blender and his protein shake delivered to his suite.

Yeah.

And this brings me back to what you were telling me about the, like, the super bougie resorts last episode.

Yeah.

This is clearly where.

This is a good example of that, where, like, you want your blender, you want your protein shake, they will go and get it for you.

And he's like, oh, finally.

Oh, my God.

Like, it's so barbaric not having these things.

Things.

I thought that was hilarious.

And definitely a travel cringe moment.

I could never do that.

I could never.

Okay, who does your conscientious traveler award go out to, Aaron?

I don't know.

The, like, it's.

It's really hard.

It's really hard to give this award out.

Like, I think maybe Fabian, only because he really is putting a lot of effort into saying Sitala's name.

Right.

I think that's an excellent pick.

I think that is nice.

And you can tell that he's upset that he has it wrong, which I think signals that he cares to be, like, culturally aware and sensitive.

And even the fact that he's driving around in his little golf cart saying her name over and over again.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

He's keeping to himself and trying to learn.

And rather than being like, oh, wow, I finally know how to say her name to announce it into the world, I think it doesn't seem performative.

It seems very genuine.

Yeah.

Okay.

Any last things that you picked up on this episode that you want to point out?

There's one thing I wanted to point out because I think we could have pointed it out sooner, actually.

This is that we keep seeing shots of the three wise monkeys, which are those statues of the monkeys, where one has its hands over its ears.

Ears.

One has its hands over its eyes, and one has its hand over its mouth.

And this is.

There's actually, like, different ways that I see this, like, discussed.

Like, it is a Japanese pictorial maxim.

It's called.

It's, like, related to a Japanese principle or proverb, which is see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

But it is also connected to Buddhist tradition.

And basically, like, the proverb is to not dwell on evil thoughts.

And so we keep seeing this referenced.

And a lot of people have also mentioned that the three children, the Ratliff children, might be representation of this.

And I do think there's, like, legs to that theory.

Totally.

But, yeah, just wanted to call it out because it does keep coming up.

Like, we keep seeing shots of these monkey statues that represent this.

So it's definitely a theme in the show that I think we'll see played out in more detail throughout.

Yeah, I've seen theories about this, too, online, and, yeah, we should have addressed this sooner.

I'm excited to see this.

And there are shots where, like, the three of them are beside each other, sort of depicted in that way, which is cool.

Yeah.

Anything else you noticed?

I have one thing.

It's a bit of a stretch.

There's two other things I wanted to call out.

First is that I think the Ratliff family casting is so great.

Shira and I were just like, they, like, really look like a family.

They really do.

Like, Saxon and Timothy, especially, like, they look like father, son.

Yes.

Anyways, just.

Good job.

Mike White, that.

Great casting.

And then the other thing I wanted to mention is, like, this is, like, not really.

Doesn't really have to do with the narrative of the show, but I don't know if you noticed.

It might depend on where you watch.

But when they have Thai characters speaking in Thai, the captions are in English, but behind, like, over the cap, the English captions overlay the Thai characters.

Yeah, we've noticed that.

I just think that's really beautiful.

I've never seen that done in a show or in a movie, and I really like it.

It's, like, really nice to see the Thai characters as well.

As you're reading, it looks really nice.

I think they did a really great job with the captioning.

Oh, and then also, I'm starting to think I might have mentioned this last episode, that Timothy, if he doesn't die, he's just gonna, like, stay in Thailand, never go home and face the music and become an lbh.

Yes.

I love this theory.

I could just really see, especially now that the drugs are involved, like, he's just gonna not care.

He's just gonna be like, you know what?

That was my past life.

It's not like he tells his family anything.

He doesn't really care that much about his family.

It doesn't seem like so he's just gonna like, wander off into the jungle, find some other LBH guys and just become like a lifer in Thailand.

Maybe Victoria dies and the kids all go back home and he stays.

Yeah, interesting.

I like that theory.

I don't like it, but I like it.

Yeah.

Okay, here's one thing that I picked up on, which was, so I saw a theory that the Ratcliffe family was based on a reality TV family.

This family from a show called Southern Charm.

Apparently Mike White sent this show to all the actors and told them to watch it to really get like a sense of who they are.

And apparently the mom and dad of in this show are basically identical to Timmy, to Timothy and Victoria's characters.

Like, they.

It's clear these actors, like watched the show and are like just perfectly, perfectly impersonating them in some way.

But that being said, Mike White, we know, is part of the cultural zeitgeist.

He was on Survivor.

Like, he loves reality tv.

And then so the more I started to watch and think back, I started.

I was like, the gal pals, they seem very familiar to me, to their characters, and they seem like possibly this is my personal theory, maybe their characters are based off of some of the characters from Selling Sunset, the Netflix series.

This is a show that takes place in LA where all these, like, sort of rich but middle aged, like, I don't know, late, like early 40s aged women are selling homes to celebrities.

And there's like all this, like, importance placed on material goods and money and fashion and all of this stuff.

But particularly Mary is one of the characters and she is married to a young man who's like 10 years younger than her.

And she gives me Jacqueline energy for sure.

And then we've got Christine, who is like sort of the bitchy character who definitely gives Kate energy and like secret Republican energy.

And then you've got Chrishell, who is sort of like the girl next door, and she definitely gives Laurie energy.

So I don't know, I'm just curious if maybe Mike White watched Selling Sunset and maybe modeled those characters off of some of these women.

I mean, they do say, like, writers are always drawing inspiration from basically everywhere.

So if it wasn't intentional, I could definitely see him just consuming these shows and internalizing these concepts of these characters and using that like, to sort of like create these new characters.

Like, it could have been a reference without really being a reference.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if he watches all these shows.

Like, he is very embedded in the reality TV space.

Yeah.

And it seems like he watches Deep Cut reality.

Like, I know a lot of people sort of watched Selling Sunset, but it's like a.

It's a different type of.

It's a Netflix reality TV show.

Like, it's a little bit different than the regular stuff out there about finding love and all these things.

So if he's watching Southern Charm, I'm sure he's watching Selling Sun.

Yeah, it's a different style of reality, which is funny because he comes from, like, the gamified version of reality tv.

But also, like, they.

They are just kind of like stereotypes, like, these women.

So that's why I say, like, it could have been referenced from there, but also, like, these are not unusual stereotypes of, like, women.

Yeah.

In America.

Okay, Any last words?

Hooties think is dead.

What do you think's coming up next week?

Yeah, I guess my, like, top contenders for dying are, like, Lachlan's in the mix.

I think Lachlan or Fabian.

A lot of people think it's Lachlan because in the opening sequence, the shot where you see a body floating, which we know is going to happen.

We saw it in the first episode.

That actor's name is on the screen.

Like, it's at the same moment as his credits.

So a lot of people think that that means it's Lachlan.

I think that's too obvious.

So I don't know.

But I do think, like, it could be, like, a character that is, like, quote unquote good.

That goes so, like, maybe Lachlan.

I also feel like it could be Fabian.

Could be.

Now I'm starting to almost think it's guy talk.

Like.

Like, I don't know why, though, but I'm with you in, like, the good guys dying.

Yeah.

I think Belinda's also still in the.

Mix, but she's definitely still a contender.

And I still think the monkeys are a contender for being the shooters.

So when they are at the snake show, there's a sign in the background with the name of the snake show and it says Koh Samui.

So this is not that relevant.

Just we know that they're on Koh Samui now.

Okay, great.

I just needed to know what island they were on.

That's the island, which is.

Actually doesn't make sense because the Lachlan says that the footage that he shows them of the tsunami is at that resort, which doesn't make sense because the tsunami didn't hit Koh Samui, so.

Oh, maybe that footage was some random.

That was a mistake.

It should have been Phuket, then it would have been accurate.

Get Aaron on the phone.

She's going to tell you how to cut it.

Sometimes.

Sometimes I think that, like, I should be a continuity consultant because I feel that I would be very good at it.

Great to chat with you.

I hope there's more exciting stuff to come.

I think shit's going to go down next week.

The tsunami will be hitting next week is my thing.

I think so, yeah.

All right, well, see you at the White Lotus.

Yeah, see you at the White Lotus.