'The White Lotus' Finale Was Devastating, Brilliant, and Mostly Pointless

The third season finale of Mike White’s White Lotus, alas, felt suited to the cultural moment we’re in. Or maybe every cultural moment ever. I don’t know if I appreciated, hated or admired it, or maybe all three, but it definitely left me feeling queasy.

Spoilers

Rick returned from his confrontation with Jim Hollinger — and a night of debauchery with Frank — a changed man. He felt free of the man he believed had killed his father. He felt reconnected with Chelsea and, over breakfast, told her he wanted to be with her for the rest of their lives: “That’s the plan.”

The plan succeeded. Unfortunately, the rest of their lives lasted only another hour or two. Jim Hollinger returned to the hotel (so Sritala could take a photo with Jaclyn), and when Rick spotted him, he decided to confront him again. Jim called Rick’s mother a slut and told him his father was a piece of shit and that he was better off without him. He flashed a gun from his inside pocket and told Rick to get lost.

Later, unable to exorcise his emotions through Amrita (who was meeting with Belinda’s son), Rick’s anger boiled over. He saw Jim again, walked toward him, pulled a gun from Jim’s pocket, and shot him. A shootout followed. Rick killed three of Hollinger’s bodyguards before Sritala confessed, just as many had predicted, that Jim Hollinger was his father. In the chaos, Chelsea was shot and killed. A devastated Rick began carrying her body back to the hotel, but at Sritala’s pleading, Gaitok shot Rick in the back. He and Chelsea fell into the water, dead.

In other words, the two characters we most wanted to see get a happy ending were the ones to die. All because Jim Hollinger refused to tell Rick the truth: that he was his father. Honestly, it all felt pointless, despite the season’s heavy foreshadowing. I hated it.

Before Gaitok shot Rick, he was feeling lost and unsure of himself. He didn’t think he was cut out for the job, especially since he couldn’t bring himself to rat out Val for the earlier robberies. Mook, seeing Gaitok wasn’t the man she hoped he would be, lost interest. That changed after Gaitok killed Rick. Mook’s interest returned, and Gaitok was promoted. One innocent, Chelsea, is dead. Another innocent, Gaitok, is corrupted. And honestly, that Gaitok/Mook storyline this season can go to hell.

As for the Ratliffs: After Piper told Lochlan she didn’t want him to join the monastery because she didn’t want to ruin his life too, she confessed to her parents that she wasn’t cut out for that life. She felt guilty about their privilege but ultimately reasoned that she couldn’t escape who she is; she’s a princess. That’s just who she is. Victoria encouraged her, saying she had a responsibility to enjoy their family’s wealth.

This sent Tim into another spiral. He ground up the seeds of the suicide fruit and made pia coladas for the whole family, except Lochlan (who had revealed to his father earlier that he could live without the money). But Tim couldn’t follow through with the plan to kill himself, Saxon, Piper, and Victoria. Small victories?

Unfortunately, the next morning, Lochlan used the same blender to make a smoothie — without cleaning out the suicide fruit residue, because teenagers, amiright? — and nearly died. The near-death experience made Tim appreciate his family more, and he decided to return to America with them and face the music. On the boat back, as everyone looked at their phones and saw the news of Tim’s scandal, he told them they’d get through it together. As a family. Their expressions suggested otherwise, but that’s where the story left them.

Elsewhere, Belinda and her son met with Greg and negotiated a $5 million payout, plenty to buy her silence. Another innocent person corrupted by greed. Belinda essentially ditches Pornchai and, at least for now, her dream of opening a spa. She just wants to enjoy being rich for a while, and she’s only rich because she agreed not to rat out Greg for killing her friend, Tonya. And, predictably, after 15 minutes of being rich, she becomes Tonya.

There are no good people here. Except Chelsea. Who is dead.

Finally, after a tumultuous week in which Kate, Jaclyn, and Laurie reconnected, fought, and reconnected again, they shared a heartfelt dinner and admitted how much they meant to each other. Carrie Coon earned another Emmy nomination for her tearful and beautifully written speech, and the three of them, after everything, left Thailand closer than ever. They’ll almost certainly return to the States and go another decade without speaking.

Again, I have tremendously mixed feelings about the finale. Mike White knows how to ratchet up the tension, no doubt, but the lives of these characters get lost in the constant question of who’s going to die. Each season seems increasingly dependent on a murder mystery, which overshadows everything else White might be trying to say, if he’s trying to say anything at all, except, of course: Rich people suck.

Memorable Lines

— “The coconut milk is bad!” Tim’s excuse for snatching away the suicide pia coladas from his family.

— “I’m a pleaser.” Lochlan’s explanation to Saxon for why he gave him a bro-job. He didn’t want Saxon to feel left out.

— “Stop worrying about the love you didn’t get.” Chelsea, pleading with Rick to let go of his anger toward Jim Hollinger.

— “When something bad happens to you, it also happens to me.” Chelsea, foreshadowing her and Rick’s deaths for the fifteenth time this season.

— “I just really can’t commit to anything right now.” Belinda, echoing Tonya, in rejecting Pornchai’s offer to go into business together.

— “Nothing is more important than family, right?” Tim to his family, which was met with this expression: