Diese Woche bei The White Lotus hatten wir eine Pause vom Inzest auf unseren Bildschirmen – aber es gab immer noch starke Hinweise auf, äh, familiäre Beziehungen, dank einer Enthüllung, die Chloe über Greg-Gary macht. In dieser Folge sehen wir, wie mehrere Männer mit ihren Beziehungen zu ihren Vätern oder mit Männlichkeit im Allgemeinen zu kämpfen haben (armes Gaitok!). Dies könnte erneut auf Mike Whites Untersuchung der westlichen Religion in dieser Staffel zurückzuführen sein. In Folge 4 kritisierte Jaclyn die von Männern dominierte Natur des Christentums. Es scheint kein Zufall zu sein, dass einige Charaktere nun mit patriarchalischen Figuren in ihrem Leben konfrontiert werden oder sich mit ihnen auseinandersetzen.
Rick und Frank (unter dem Pseudonym „Steve“) setzen sich endlich mit Sritala und ihrem Ehemann Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn) in ihrem Zuhause zusammen. Endlich sieht Rick den Mann, den er für den Mörder seines Vaters hält, von Angesicht zu Angesicht. Während andere Mitglieder der Gruppe sich bei Gary zu seiner großen, mysteriösen Soiree versammeln, eskalieren die Spannungen weiter. Victoria kreuzverhört eine junge Frau über ihren älteren Freund: „Warum bist du mit diesem mittelalten Weirdo zusammen? Hat er viel Geld? … Hast du Angst vor ihm? Ich kann dich da raus holen.“ Zum gleichen Zeitpunkt fordert Saxon seinen Vater Timothy auf, ihm zu sagen, ob etwas am Arbeitsplatz nicht stimmt. Timothy’s several drinks and Lorazepam pills deep, by the way. His entire career is tied to his father’s, so if something is awry, he wants to know about it. ‚I put my whole life into this basket, your basket,‘ Saxon says. Without it, he’s nothing. ‚I can’t handle being nothing.‘ My dude, please get yourself a hobby! Timothy insists nothing is wrong, but his son’s words only make him feel more guilty. Fabio Lovino/HBOGary pulls Belinda aside to have a private chat, and she sits at a distance from him, clutching her purse and fearing for her life. He’s aware that she recognises him and that she knows of Tanya’s death — which he claims he had ’nothing to do with,‘ rather unconvincingly. So, he offers her some hush money: $100,000 (£73,000) to start her own spa business in memory of Tanya, in exchange for her keeping quiet on his whereabouts. He claims he just doesn’t want the headache of legal issues and paperwork involved with the investigation, and he would rather live his life in peace out here in Thailand. He also pulls at Belinda’s heartstrings, saying Tanya felt guilty about leaving her hanging. But Belinda is too righteous to take the money and run. Instead, she asks for time to think about it and rushes out of the party with her son, Zion. Back at her hotel, Zion urges his mother to take the deal, but she worries it’ll make her an accomplice to murder. Can’t Belinda please just get a break?In Jim Hollinger’s den, Rick’s investigation takes a turn as he begins to reveal his real intention behind this meeting. He shares he lost his father due to Jim’s business in Thailand decades ago, and he knows it’s true because his mother, Gloria Hatchett, told him so. ‚Gloria Hatchett?‘ Jim asks, in either pure confusion or with a hint of recognition. (I’m leaning towards the latter. What if this man didn’t kill Rick’s father, but he is Rick’s father? Maybe he was the one doing shady business in Thailand and stayed to start a new life.) None of that matters to Rick as he rushes to Jim and holds the gun to his head, ready to enact his revenge… but he can’t do it. He lurches to hit him, but as the old man holds up his arms, he can’t do that either. Instead, he pushes Jim’s chair over, simply knocking him to the ground, and runs out. He scoops up Frank from watching Sritala’s old films, and they rush out of the house together. Rick even alerts the security guards that the old man fell over in the den. They speed away in their boat, and when they get to safety, Rick disposes of the gun. He got his closure. Now, they party. Fabio Lovino/HBOMook and Gaitok’s date continues with a muay Thai fight, which Mook uses as a teaching lesson. See, she tells him, it’s human to fight! (Mook being pro-violence wasn’t on my personal list of White Lotus predictions.) Elsewhere around the ring, Gaitok spots Laurie there with Valentin and his friends. Then he makes a startling realisation: Those friends, Vlad and Aleksei, were the men who broke into the hotel and robbed the gift shop. And Valentin had intentionally distracted Gaitok at the gate as the perps drove in. Gaitok doesn’t do anything then and there, but I can see the wheels turning. Another theory: With Mook egging him on and his boss questioning his killer instinct, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gaitok tried to impress the former and prove the latter wrong by killing Vlad and Aleksei (and maybe even Valentin). Last time we checked, the gun was in his possession too. Was he responsible for those gunshots in episode one in an attempt to bring justice? Over at the Buddhist monastery, Lochy has a change of heart during his overnight stay with Piper. He would like to stay here with her. ‚I don’t feel like going home, like, ever,‘ he says, and we all know why. Piper seems uneasy about the news; she wanted to do a solo eat, pray, love journey. Now she has to do it with her little brother?Fabio Lovino/HBOAs if things couldn’t get weirder with Gary, Chloe approaches Saxon with her own proposition. You see, Gary has a kind of sexual fantasy where he walks in on his woman sleeping with another man. It stems from a moment in his childhood when he overheard his parents in bed together and watched them from the slightly open door. Would Saxon be down to sleep with Chloe, so that Gary could watch and then barge in? Fulfilling that fantasy would be ‚like winning his mother back from his father,‘ Chloe says. Saxon, who is still recovering from the fact that his brother jerked him off last night, has had enough weird sex for the week. (And maybe ever?) He refuses Chloe’s proposal, and he and Chelsea leave. On the walk home, Saxon wants to prove Chelsea wrong; he can be in touch with his spiritual side, if she teaches him. She shows him how to meditate in her room, but when he starts touching her hands, she jolts away and starts to literally throw books about spirituality at him and kicks him out. Meanwhile, Rick and Frank are in a club in Bangkok with topless women and dancers.Fabio Lovino/HBOWhile Laurie is out, Kate regrets how they treated her, but Jaclyn does not; that drives a wedge between them too. Laurie has another problem to deal with though. She goes home with Aleksei after the match (finally! go Laurie!), but their night goes awry when their post-coital pillow talk turns into a grift. He laments for his sick, elderly mother in Russia, whom he’s unable to visit due to his expired visa; it would cost him $10,000 (£7,300). He asks, would Laurie give him the money? She’s rich, isn’t she? They are literally still naked in bed, and he is asking her for ten grand via Venmo or CashApp. Luckily for Laurie’s bank account, another woman (likely Aleksei’s girlfriend) starts banging on the door looking for her man. Laurie shimmies into her clothes and hides in the closet, passing the stolen jewelry and snake necklace the armed robbers took from the hotel shop. She’s just about to slip out the window when the woman finds her and whacks her on the head on her way down. Once Laurie is in the clear, she hails a taxi back to the hotel. Timothy is once again wrestling with his guilt, especially with Victoria’s aversion to poverty and Saxon’s devotion to his career replaying in mind. He goes looking for the gun in the drawer where he hid it and realises: It’s gone.And thus, the scene is set for The White Lotus’s season three finale next Sunday. Will Timothy go looking for the gun again? Or will Gaitok use it for a heroic act? Will Belinda turn Greg in? Is Rick really free? We have one more week left in Thailand to find out. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.Related StoryRelated StoryErica Gonzales is the Deputy Editor, Culture at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.
