S03.E06: Denials

[snarts]

34 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

Why do we know that?  I looked back at the opening scene from the first episode, all we see is someone face down with dark hair floating in the water.  You can't see their skin color, and they may possibly be wearing a shirt similar to the White Lotus uniform Belinda wears.  

If it had been Belinda, I'd expect Zion's reaction would've been much different. My guess is Mook.

[RunningMarket]

37 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

Why do we know that?  I looked back at the opening scene from the first episode, all we see is someone face down with dark hair floating in the water.  You can't see their skin color, and they may possibly be wearing a shirt similar to the White Lotus uniform Belinda wears.  

The way Zion (who finds the floating body) reacts does not seem to indicate it's his mother.

[txhorns79]

16 minutes ago, RunningMarket said:

The way Zion (who finds the floating body) reacts does not seem to indicate it's his mother.

He looks terrified and tries to get away from the body as bullets are flying.  That seems like a pretty normal reaction (i.e. shock and self preservation), even if the body was that of a beloved parent.  How is he supposed to be reacting?  

[RunningMarket]

5 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

He looks terrified and tries to get away from the body as bullets are flying.  That seems like a pretty normal reaction (i.e. shock and self preservation), even if the body was that of a beloved parent.  How is he supposed to be reacting?  

YMMV, as they say, but it's not an uncommon theory that's it's not Belinda, given his reaction. I guess most (myself included) would think there would be a more gutteral reaction, even if he's trying to stay quiet.

[txhorns79]

1 minute ago, RunningMarket said:

I guess most (myself included) would think there would be a more gutteral reaction, even if he's trying to stay quiet.

I don't know who "most" are, but I think that's more of a tv and movie trope (think Superman finding Lois Lane's dead body after she is buried alive, letting out a guttural yell, then immediately turning back time to erase the event) than anything else.  It's obviously entirely possible it might not be Belinda, but I don't think anyone, aside from Zion, with dark hair can be ruled out at this point.   

[Pi237]

I think Jacklyn wouldn’t have wanted Valentin if she didn’t know someone else wanted him first. Get Laurie to chase him, but ultimately be the one he chooses, thus, validating her superior attractiveness.  The way Laurie said she always does this and how angry she became shows it’s a pattern repeating, that it had to be Laurie specifically because she makes Jacklyn feel insecure in some way. Of course, didn’t hurt that her younger husband ghosted her for the night. And the phone was dead excuse is ridiculous. There are phones Everywhere. He could easily have called or text her from someone else’s to check in. 
 

How strange would it be if it ends up one of the women shooting..? I doubt it but that’d be a twist I didn’t see coming. 
 

 

[peeayebee]

I just rewatched, too. I can't say it's definitive one way or the other. He sees the body and is shocked, scared, horrified. You'd think that he'd move toward the body if he recognized it as Belinda, but he could just be in shock. 

I noticed that the woman with Zion in his mediation said, "Let us calm our chattering monkey minds." In this past ep when Lachlan and Piper are there, the monk says, "Let's shut down our monkey mind." Maybe that's a common expression in Buddhism, I don't know, but with the attention to the monkeys on the islands, this is probably significant. Maybe it's just the show comparing humans to animals. The monk also said (to Tim, IIRC) that some people lose a connection with nature, but we need to quiet our monkey minds? 

Edited Monday at 08:58 PM by peeayebee

[magdalene]

For all those telling themselves that a hand job isn't "really" sex. Oh yes it is sex.

I wouldn't put it past Saxon to poison his brother with one of those fruit drinks he keeps making. He is a douche but I felt for him in this episode.

[Makai]

1 hour ago, snarts said:

If it had been Belinda, I'd expect Zion's reaction would've been much different. My guess is Mook.

I agree but that doesn’t mean the body Zion finds is the only death. 

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I noticed that the woman with Zion in his mediation said, "Let us calm our chattering monkey minds." In this past ep when Lachlan and Piper are there, the monk says, "Let's shut down our monkey mind." Maybe that's a common expression in Buddhism, I don't know, but with the attention to the monkeys on the islands, this is probably significant. Maybe it's just the show comparing humans to animals. The monk also said (to Tim, IIRC) that some people lose a connection with nature, but we need to quiet our monkey minds? 

The monkey mind is a common metaphor in Buddhism but it also deliberate symbolism from the show. 

The monkey mind = a state of restlessness, capriciousness and a lack of control of one’s thoughts

I’ve also seen multiple people point out that the Ratliff children were framed in a previous episode to represent the three wise monkeys (aka see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). 

[Snapdragon]

15 hours ago, Harvey said:

What's everyone's opinion on this ultimately being damaging to the LGBTQ community, like Grace Randolph said? I feel like they've brought a homophobe's idea of a gay person, especially a family member to life this episode.. Definitely for the first time in mainstream media I believe (GOT is not present day).🤔

Saxton being disgusted, seemingly non-consensual, and his brother being guilty. I would hate a homophobe to watch this with a gay son or brother. It's not a great representation. It'll be interesting to see how this episode plays out online this week.😬

Look, I like Grace Randolph (and watch her videos regularly), but she has some wild takes.  That scene had absolutely nothing to do with gay people and the fact she thinks it does says way more about her than it does the writers or the audience.  Personally, I find the entire incest storyline distasteful.  There's nothing edgy or sexy or scandalous about it.  It's just horrifying and gross.  The fact that Chloe and Chelsea were so smug about it is even grosser.  

I find the "every season starts with a death" gimmick really boring at this point, so I have no guesses as to who's getting shot at the end or who's doing the shooting.  I wish they'd just drop that going forward, as I feel it paints the writers into a corner.

Overall, I felt this episode was just kind of "meh".  I did like the part with the frenemies, but even that felt like it was treading water.  I believe this was the final episode given to critics, so I'm curious as to whether things are going to really explode in the next episode or two.

[skotnikov]

So what part was the "incest"? Saxon j*rking off when his brother has sex, or (obviously) his fantasy or false memory that his brother might j*rked him off? Incest is usually regarded as a sexual act between male and female members of the same family. Technically petting is not "incest".   

[iMonrey]

3 hours ago, magdalene said:

For all those telling themselves that a hand job isn't "really" sex. Oh yes it is sex.

But is it assault? From what we were shown, Saxon was awake and conscious of what was going on. He could have pulled away the second Lochlan touched him. I'm not saying it wasn't weird, gross, or whatever. It certainly was. But I don't feel like I have enough info on how this all came to be. Clearly Saxon is wigging out after the fact, but didn't seem to be during it.

[sweetandsour]

The women are the only group who don't yet have physical violence in the mix, so I wonder if that's to mislead into thinking one of them is not the shooter.  I don't know how Mike White would escalate, with only 25% of the series left, their behavior to get them there, though.

What I wouldn't mind seeing is an escalation of their active dislike of each other, continuing to progress from their passive-aggressive 2-on-1 shit-talking.  It gets worse and worse until the end, when they all get reminders of the younger women back home they feel rivalries with and they have no affinity with whatsoever.

Like Jaclyn sees pap shots of her younger husband with some younger model and gets a call from her agent, giving her the unfortunate news she didn't get a role she was desperately wanting.  Producers think she's too old to play Kevin Bacon's wife and they cast Amanda Seyfried instead.  (Who I think did recently play a married couple in a movie.)

Laurie checks her work e-mail or her office assistant texts her that a junior female attorney at the firm is getting a lot of the credit for a deal they worked on together but Laurie masterminded, or is being fast-tracked to partner because some existing partner (a man, of course) is now mentoring her.

Kate, I don't remember if she works or how old her kids are.  But I can imagine something like, her kids don't pay much attention to her and they only care about what some younger female influencers are saying.  Other moms in the PTA pooh-pooh Kate's ideas for fundraisers in the group chat.  (Kate had never used the app they wanted to use for communication and had to install it to begin with.)  The other moms are younger and they have jobs, which leads them to have different suggestions that are more modern and social media savvy, which Kate knows nothing about.  The only other part of her identity back home is "wife," but her husband is never around and always working.  She falls in line with his beliefs and attitudes to try to get him to like her more, or at least not give him another reason to ignore her.  His work-wife already gets way more of his time.

So the women have some big final blow-up only to get these unpleasant reminders of what's going on back home.  Combined with whatever happens with the shooting, they are ready to bury the hatchet.  Not because they are true friends or were ever true friends, but -

They live far away from each other so it's easier to curate the perception of their lives being great.  Easier to prop up the illusion than with people back home.

They know how to manipulate the dynamics of the group to feel good/superior about themselves when they want to.

They have a shared history and do in some ways kind of like each other.  It's better than what they have with the other women at home they compete with.

As they get older and struggle more with various failures and difficulties in life, they at least know the other women are dealing with similar things.  The inevitable comparisons are on a more level field than with others.

When they leave the resort, one of them says to the group, "Well, it's been fun, ladies.  Let's do this again in a couple of years?"

"Yeah," another replies.  They aren't aware of what each other is really going through in their real lives, but you can see it on their faces.  "I don't know what I would do without you as friends."

"I heard The White Lotus in Italy is great," says the third one.

[chaifan]

I'm not sure if Lochlan qualifies as a "predator", but I do think he is very intentionally fucking with Saxon.  Last episode, when they were partying in the street, Lochlan said to Saxon "One day, I'm going to take you down."  I am among those who thought Lochlan spit out the drug, and now I'm convinced of it.  He definitely wasn't as fucked up as Saxon the next morning.  And he was obviously lying when he said he was.

I have no idea what to think of Lochlan giving Saxon a hand job while he was fucking Chloe.  I would have been happy to just have Lochlan messing with Saxon without actual sexual stuff going on.

My current theory...  we now have more than one gun, because Rick has one.  So maybe it's not the security gun being used.  I'm thinking Saxon gets the gun and goes off on Lochlan.  I wouldn't be surprised if Piper tries to stop him and ends up getting shot instead.  

 

[RedHawk]

12 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Chelsea might be becoming my favorite character this season. The stereotype of her character would have hooked up with younger, hotter Saxon by now. But she’s genuinely standing by her man. Speaking of Rick, when did his mother die? Is this just a recent event? I would think that Chelsea being this emotionally connected to him means they had a lot of good times together, and Rick being this sullen was just a recent development.

I keep thinking that the joke is going to be that they've known each other less than a month, yet Chelsea is talking as if she knows him so well and they are "soulmates". But she's also serious, like she knew from the first meeting that she was what he needed, and maybe he was right for her also. I love them. Broke my heart when Rick called her from the hotel room and she didn't answer.

10 hours ago, SFoster21 said:

The opening scene of Ep 1 with the shooting is followed by a chyron reading ”one week earlier.”  

has not been a week, ok???

Longest week ever!

 

Edited Yest. at 01:58 AM by RedHawk
Spelling

[lovett1979]

1 hour ago, skotnikov said:

So what part was the "incest"? Saxon j*rking off when his brother has sex, or (obviously) his fantasy or false memory that his brother might j*rked him off? Incest is usually regarded as a sexual act between male and female members of the same family. Technically petting is not "incest".   

Lochlan was the one doing the jerking, as confirmed by Chloe. Saxon's memory might have been hazy at first, but this confirmed it for him (and us). Also hand jobs are absolutely a sexual act, and I don't think the genders of the people involved should matter when defining it as incest.

Chelsea's reactions in the scene where Chloe tells him were the highlight of the episode.

Did anyone get a read on Belinda's reaction to her guy (don't remember his name) suggesting they go into business together? Maybe she's too distracted by the Gary/Greg thing, though this is before he confronts her, but she seems bothered by the idea of this hot guy who she has great chemistry with wants to join her in her dream of independence and ownership. Any thoughts?

Edited Yest. at 02:04 AM by lovett1979

[RedHawk]

23 hours ago, QQQQ said:

Omg, I always scroll past the (seemingly) dozens of photos posted in each weekly episode forum, but this week I did so with my eyes closed lest someone decided to post stills from the brothers' encounter.  🙈🤦😩

Could definitely do without all the screenshots. The huge amount of photos plus the ads make this site impossible on a mobile phone.

[peeayebee]

Yes, when we first see Saxon's memory of that night, it appears that he is jerking off while Lachlan and Chloe are having sex. But then we see that it was Lachlan jerking him off. And of course that is a sexual act. 

It's my take that until Lachlan and Piper are in the monastery together with the monk saying to let their thoughts emerge, Lachlan hadn't remembered what had happened. 

[chaifan]

8 minutes ago, lovett1979 said:

Did anyone get a read on Belinda's reaction to her guy (don't remember his name) suggesting they go into business together?

I got an "uh, oh, oookaaayyyy" type of vibe from her.  The thing about Belinda's earlier plans was that she had a wealthy investor lined up.  I think Belinda knows that without someone with a lot of money backing her, the spa idea is not going to happen.  But Pornchai is right - it would be easier/cheaper to do in Thailand. 

 

[RedHawk]

9 minutes ago, lovett1979 said:

Did anyone get a read on Belinda's reaction to her guy (don't remember his name) suggesting they go into business together? Maybe she's too distracted by the Gary/Greg thing, though this is before he confronts her, but she seems bothered by the idea of this hot guy who she has great chemistry with wants to join her in her dream of independence and ownership. Any thoughts?

I also thought that Belinda seemed less than thrilled, and like maybe Pornchai was suggesting that much too soon. They just hooked up last night!

She's already been burned by one potential partner she thought she connected well with backing out on her, so not getting excited by his offer seems wise. Why DID they choose her for the "internship" or whatever it's called? Is Pornchai trustworthy?

[Rabithed]

36 minutes ago, lovett1979 said:

Lochlan was the one doing the jerking, as confirmed by Chloe. Saxon's memory might have been hazy at first, but this confirmed it for him (and us). Also hand jobs are absolutely a sexual act, and I don't think the genders of the people involved should matter when defining it as incest.

Chelsea's reactions in the scene where Chloe tells him were the highlight of the episode.

Did anyone get a read on Belinda's reaction to her guy (don't remember his name) suggesting they go into business together? Maybe she's too distracted by the Gary/Greg thing, though this is before he confronts her, but she seems bothered by the idea of this hot guy who she has great chemistry with wants to join her in her dream of independence and ownership. Any thoughts?

My read on Brenda’s reaction to Pornchai suggesting they go into business together is that he is looking at her the way she saw Tanya. A rich benefactor who is willing to fund her dream of starting her own healthcare business. I was expecting him to give her a business plan as she given to Tanya. She’s unsettled possibly because she feels used. The shoe is on the other foot. She is now the “Tanya” to Pornchai. 

[Cheezwiz]

39 minutes ago, RedHawk said:

Could definitely do without all the screenshots. The huge amount of photos plus the ads make this site impossible on a mobile phone.

Seconding (or thirding?) this! Why are there so many screenshots under each episode heading? Could we limit it to just a couple? They make navigating the page a real chore, even on a regular laptop computer. They are unnecessary and take forever to load. Glad others have mentioned it, as it's super annoying.

[skotnikov]

58 minutes ago, lovett1979 said:

Lochlan was the one doing the jerking, as confirmed by Chloe. Saxon's memory might have been hazy at first, but this confirmed it for him (and us). Also hand jobs are absolutely a sexual act, and I don't think the genders of the people involved should matter when defining it as incest.

Chelsea's reactions in the scene where Chloe tells him were the highlight of the episode.

Did anyone get a read on Belinda's reaction to her guy (don't remember his name) suggesting they go into business together? Maybe she's too distracted by the Gary/Greg thing, though this is before he confronts her, but she seems bothered by the idea of this hot guy who she has great chemistry with wants to join her in her dream of independence and ownership. Any thoughts?

What if this is just unreliable narrative? They both can remember wrongly. If we have Tim's and Victoria's fantasies intertwined with reality, why can't both guys also just fantasize about what happened? And Chloe just messes up with them. She was under drugs too, so she too may not clearly remember what actually happened.   

[Sailorgirl26]

56 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I got an "uh, oh, oookaaayyyy" type of vibe from her.  The thing about Belinda's earlier plans was that she had a wealthy investor lined up.  I think Belinda knows that without someone with a lot of money backing her, the spa idea is not going to happen.  But Pornchai is right - it would be easier/cheaper to do in Thailand. 

 

Ooh, maybe Belinda lets Greg buy her silence in order to fund her own spa. She ultimately gets the money Tanya said she'd give her. . . remember, she told her son one had to get gangster . . . ultimately, why should she care if Greg gets Tanya's money and gets away with her death? She doesn't actually know these people, and its a "payback" to Tanya for bailing on her in the first place. 

Edited Yest. at 03:09 AM by Sailorgirl26

[Makai]

I hate the incest storyline but I do like that Victoria is so focused on her daughter being corrupted by evil, outside, Godless forces and completely blind to fact that every male member of her has been corrupted by their own actions. 

On 3/24/2025 at 7:01 PM, RedHawk said:

Could definitely do without all the screenshots. The huge amount of photos plus the ads make this site impossible on a mobile phone.

You can use the ignore feature in that situation. I appreciate that certain posters do that level of research but they crash my phone browser every time. 

On 3/24/2025 at 7:12 PM, RedHawk said:

Why DID they choose her for the "internship" or whatever it's called? Is Pornchai trustworthy?

It’s basically an employee training program. She manages the spa at the White Lotus in Maui and is in Thailand so she can learn new things to take back with her. 

On 3/24/2025 at 7:42 PM, Rabithed said:

My read on Brenda’s reaction to Pornchai suggesting they go into business together is that he is looking at her the way she saw Tanya. A rich benefactor who is willing to fund her dream of starting her own healthcare business. I was expecting him to give her a business plan as she given to Tanya. She’s unsettled possibly because she feels used. The shoe is on the other foot. She is now the “Tanya” to Pornchai. 

Pornchai and Belinda are on pretty equal footing professionally so I can’t see that being the case. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Makai

[lovett1979]

4 minutes ago, skotnikov said:

What if this is just unreliable narrative? They both can remember wrongly. If we have Tim's and Victoria's fantasies intertwined with reality, why can't both guys also just fantasize about what happened? And Chloe just messes up with them. She was under drugs too, so she too may not clearly remember what actually happened.   

That would be an awful lot of unreliable narrators, and to what end? Are you saying nothing actually happened? Then why are we, the audience, shown and told in multiple ways that it did. Where does that take the plot of the show?

Every fantasy sequence we've seen have been defined as such immediately afterward. It would not make sense, as a piece of writing, to give the audience multiple reasons to think something happened, allow that belief to be sustained through (and beyond) an entire episode, and then have it revealed to not be true.

[Cheezwiz]

2 hours ago, Makai said:

You can use the ignore feature in that situation. I appreciate that certain poster do that level of research but they crash my phone browser every time. 

How does one do this? I wasn't aware there was a feature that would allow us to skip the photos.

[Corgi-ears]

5 hours ago, skotnikov said:

So what part was the "incest"? Saxon j*rking off when his brother has sex, or (obviously) his fantasy or false memory that his brother might j*rked him off? Incest is usually regarded as a sexual act between male and female members of the same family. Technically petting is not "incest".

Don't take this personally, but I think I'm glad to not be part of your family.

[Conotocarious]

10 hours ago, chaifan said:

I'm not sure if Lochlan qualifies as a "predator", but I do think he is very intentionally fucking with Saxon.  Last episode, when they were partying in the street, Lochlan said to Saxon "One day, I'm going to take you down."  I am among those who thought Lochlan spit out the drug, and now I'm convinced of it.  He definitely wasn't as fucked up as Saxon the next morning.  And he was obviously lying when he said he was.

I have no idea what to think of Lochlan giving Saxon a hand job while he was fucking Chloe.  I would have been happy to just have Lochlan messing with Saxon without actual sexual stuff going on.

My current theory...  we now have more than one gun, because Rick has one.  So maybe it's not the security gun being used.  I'm thinking Saxon gets the gun and goes off on Lochlan.  I wouldn't be surprised if Piper tries to stop him and ends up getting shot instead.  

 

Well, the actor who plays Lachlan would completely disagree with all of this. He definitely took the drugs and his motivation was to try to connect and impress his older brother who was all about debauchery and sex. There are very informative interviews all over the internet.

And while they filmed many different takes, the take they went with was the one where Lachlan does not at all remember the night until he gets to the monastery.

 

eta: Also the “I’m going to take you down one day”is specifically asked about and the actor says Lachlan is just trying to talk like his older brother and imitate the dudebro vibes. 

Edited Yest. at 12:22 PM by Conotocarious

[cmfran]

The real shock of this episode was seeing Saxon make a smoothie while hungover. Barf. That's the last thing I'd want in that situation.

[Harvey]

Are we ever going to circle back to Victoria not recognizing Kate? I don't want to end the season without this being explained 😔

[cardigirl]

So does anyone else think Tim Ratliffe is going to pull a murder-suicide before the week is out?

[chaifan]

55 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

Well, the actor who plays Lachlan would completely disagree with all of this. He definitely took the drugs and his motivation was to try to connect and impress his older brother who was all about debauchery and sex. There are very informative interviews all over the internet.

Really?  Wow, I'm surprised.  Because that is not at all what I saw on screen.  I'll have to find some of those interviews.

But... what if the interviews are a misdirect, and my take on it is right?  hmmm...

just messin' with ya.  😁

[Harvey]

12 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

So does anyone else think Tim Ratliffe is going to pull a murder-suicide before the week is out?

Unlikely. The series wants to have some sort of social commentary. If it disparages white people in the process, even better. Tim committing suicide wouldn't have a huge message so I'm sure they will go in a different direction. 

[cardigirl]

5 minutes ago, Harvey said:

Unlikely. The series wants to have some sort of social commentary. If it disparages white people in the process, even better. Tim committing suicide wouldn't have a huge message so I'm sure they will go in a different direction. 

Hmm, okay, I guess he's just fantasizing about killing himself, but then his wife tells him she wouldn't want to live if they lost everything because she couldn't handle an uncomfortable life, and he starts thinking he can't leave her behind to face his mess. 

The ultimate protective thing he could do (in his drug addled and desperate mind) is to take her out of the situation.

Maybe the whole family will end up at the Buddha retreat.

[Natalie25]

On 3/24/2025 at 9:02 AM, slowpoked said:

Chelsea might be becoming my favorite character this season. The stereotype of her character would have hooked up with younger, hotter Saxon by now. But she’s genuinely standing by her man. Speaking of Rick, when did his mother die? Is this just a recent event? I would think that Chelsea being this emotionally connected to him means they had a lot of good times together, and Rick being this sullen was just a recent development.

I've been thinking about this because he tells Amrita his mother died when he was 10, so it's been decades. And since Chelsea has made comments about "when are we going to have fun again" & "why are you being weird" I wonder if was suppressing the situation with the hotel manager and just trying not to deal with it. And then when the guy has the stroke, Rick realizes he's out of time and just pivots to Thailand. So he's stressed because now he's got a limited window to confront the guy.

ETA: I think I saw an interview that said Rick & Chelsea had been together for ~3 years.

Edited 22 hours ago by Natalie25

[BC4ME]

11 hours ago, skotnikov said:

What if this is just unreliable narrative? They both can remember wrongly. If we have Tim's and Victoria's fantasies intertwined with reality, why can't both guys also just fantasize about what happened? And Chloe just messes up with them. She was under drugs too, so she too may not clearly remember what actually happened.   

It happened. Like others have said, too many people recalling it for it not to have happened. 

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, cardigirl said:

So does anyone else think Tim Ratliffe is going to pull a murder-suicide before the week is out?

I don't think so. When he stole the gun, he was having a panic attack. He couldn't see a way out. Then he imagined killing himself -- suicidal ideation -- and saw the terrible aftermath, i.e., Victoria and Piper screaming and traumatized. Maybe that got him to reconsider a bit, but then Victoria said she'd rather die than be poor, so again he imagined how he would kill her and himself. I think he kind of imagined himself out of doing it.

 

Maybe the monk saying what death was like -- no more suffering, a happy return -- made him think again about killing himself, but I think he may want to find peace like the monk has.  

[Haleth]

Gaitok’s boss asked him a couple times if he has a killer instinct. Surely he will have some role in the shooting to come. 

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, lovett1979 said:

and I don't think the genders of the people involved should matter when defining it as incest.

Well, technically, it does matter. It feels incestuous because we're talking about two brothers but it isn't technically incest if it cannot result in a pregnancy. That's what the word was invented for. It just happens we use the word more liberally these days.

[AstridM]

14 hours ago, RedHawk said:

I keep thinking that the joke is going to be that they've known each other less than a month, yet Chelsea is talking as if she knows him so well and they are "soulmates". But she's also serious, like she knew from the first meeting that she was what he needed, and maybe he was right for her also. I love them. Broke my heart when Rick called her from the hotel room and she didn't answer.

How would you feel if the sexes were reversed and it was a much older woman/younger man?

14 hours ago, RedHawk said:

Could definitely do without all the screenshots. The huge amount of photos plus the ads make this site impossible on a mobile phone.

I completely agree and and have even suggested to mods that those only be allowed in media threads, to no avail 😢.

Edited 20 hours ago by AstridM

[MamaMax]

On 3/24/2025 at 12:02 AM, txhorns79 said:

I presume Kate feels guilty because she kind of started the feud by telling Laurie what happened.  Jaclyn didn't help by lying when confronted.  Things probably would have cooled down instantly if she had just admitted to what she had done (not that she tried to encourage Laurie to have sex with Valentin, but she really wanted him for herself, but that she did sleep with the guy).

 

I read her urging Laurie to hook up w Val as a bit of a Rorschach test of the other two.  Would Laurie tell her to just go ahead and take him for herself? Jacklyn did qualify it as "you're the only single one"...was she waiting for Laurie to respond with "Hey, what we do on vacation doesnt count."

I felt that J wanted Val to want her, and wanted an excuse to go out with him and his friends in order get her ego stroked. I think if Laurie had taken Val to bed and one of the other Russians was still there, she would've hooked up with one of them.

 

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

When Lochlan first said that, I thought he was lying, but the way he opened his eyes at the monastery after remembering the previous night, I believe that he had forgotten, blocked it out, or blacked out. 

Yes. She's sort of an empty vessel, going whichever way the wind blows. One reason seems to be that she doesn't want confrontation. So if someone says one thing, she goes along with it. She wants everyone to get along. No conflict. 

I'm not sure what to think of her declining the shots the previous night and then basically not wanting to be partying anymore, saying she thought they should all just go to their rooms. She did seem to be having fun at first, so what changed? Was it getting too sexual for her? Is it the conservatism? Could there have been an incident in the friends' past that she's afraid of seeing repeated?

 

They are at a wellness resort -  Kate maybe expected some drinking and late nights but perhaps she really was expecting more yoga, massages, and girl talk by the pool than skinny-dipping, hammered, with strange Russian dudes. 

14 hours ago, RedHawk said:

I also thought that Belinda seemed less than thrilled, and like maybe Pornchai was suggesting that much too soon. They just hooked up last night!

 

Once bitten, twice shy? 

[Snewtsie]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Gaitok’s boss asked him a couple times if he has a killer instinct. Surely he will have some role in the shooting to come. 

Yeah... I suspect Gaitok will turn out to be the unlikely hero who shoots/kills the active shooter, and winning the admiration from all.  I hope there's more to it than this, but that's what I am predicting.  The question will still remain who will become the active shooter?  I'm hoping Victoria once she learns Tim's business dealings have ruined her financial position & place in Durham society... but even with Parker Posey being an amazing actress, I am having a hard time seeing, too.  

[cardigirl]

17 minutes ago, Snewtsie said:

The question will still remain who will become the active shooter?  I'm hoping Victoria once she learns Tim's business dealings have ruined her financial position & place in Durham society... but even with Parker Posey being an amazing actress, I am having a hard time seeing, too.  

The sounds of gunfire in the first episode sounded like more than one shooter and also sounded like automatic weapons were being fired. To me it sounded like the resort was being overrun. It could be one person, I guess, but my thought from the first episode is that the resort is under attack.

[yesferatu]

My interpretation of Belinda's reaction to Pornchai's proposal was simply if she can trust him after what happened with Tanya. It would be so much easier to do with a local who is already in the business and they sure seem to get along. He is also not behaving in the weird and flaky way Tanya was from the very beginning. I know it's been under a week though so maybe he's secretly evil but he presents as very stable pleasant and respectful. 

[RedHawk]

4 hours ago, AstridM said:

How would you feel if the sexes were reversed and it was a much older woman/younger man?

I completely agree and and have even suggested to mods that those only be allowed in media threads, to no avail 😢.

Well, I personally don't jump to noticeable age difference automatically means "power imbalance" and someone being taken advantage of. My husband is 9 years younger than I am, and there was a big age difference between my dad and mom, and they had a happy marriage. LOL, I just realized they were Rick and Chelsea's ages! (How old IS Chelsea supposed to be?)

So IMO it depends on the people involved. Sometimes for sure it's not a good or healthy thing, but not always.

I like Rick and Chelsea together and don't see her as just being with him for his money, as is clear with Gary/Greg and Chloe.

Oh, and thanks for trying on the photos. 

Edited 15 hours ago by RedHawk
Added more

[KittyKat425]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Well, technically, it does matter. It feels incestuous because we're talking about two brothers but it isn't technically incest if it cannot result in a pregnancy. That's what the word was invented for. It just happens we use the word more liberally these days.

No. It is incest if sexual activity occurs with ANY immediate family member regardless of gender....period.

[magdalene]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

But is it assault? From what we were shown, Saxon was awake and conscious of what was going on. He could have pulled away the second Lochlan touched him. I'm not saying it wasn't weird, gross, or whatever. It certainly was. But I don't feel like I have enough info on how this all came to be. Clearly Saxon is wigging out after the fact, but didn't seem to be during it.

From the way it was presented - and I reserve the right to change my mind should more detail be added in further flash backs - it was sexual assault. Saxon was drugged out of his mind, could he really consent?   I also don't subscribe to the notion if it's "only" a hand job and no penetration it isn't sexual assault.

Anyways, Saxon has gone to the top of my list as a potential suicide or killer. This f*cked up thing happening to someone with a fragile male ego in combination with being called "soulless" -ouch!

 

Is Belinda really going to that psycho's house? Don't make it easy for him! If she gets bumped off by that *** I will be mighty pissed. Somebody more frightening needs to get the drop on psycho. Can I import a recent Eddie Redmayne character over for a work vacation at the White Lotus?

Edited 12 hours ago by magdalene

[peeayebee]

There are going to be a lot of people at Gary's house, so I don't think he will try to kill her...

... there.

[slowpoked]

2 hours ago, RedHawk said:

I like Rick and Chelsea together and don't see her as just being with him for his money, as is clear with Gary/Greg and Chloe.

At first I really thought it was going to be your stereotypical relationship that Chelsea is only with him for the money, and Rick liked having a trophy gf. But as more episodes go on, the more it’s revealed they have a real relationship. Chelsea had a lot of chances to cheat on Rick, especially as he’s far away on another town, but every single time, not only has Chelsea been even barely tempted, she has emphatically turned Saxon down every single time. 
 

Two things can be true at once - Chelsea loves the luxurious life Rick is able to provide for her, and she also truly loves Rick.