\u201cThe White Lotus,\u201d Mike White\u2019s black comedy anthology series, is back on HBO for a third season. Times staffers love an escape, but since we can\u2019t take a trip to Thailand to stay at a luxury resort, the next best thing is to immerse ourselves in the new season. Follow along with us for each episode as we discuss theories, observations and our favorite moments leading up to the finale. (Read our recaps: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, and Episode 6.)<\/p>\n
The knockout blows and roundhouse kicks of Muay Thai fighting hit \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d this week \u2014 with flashes of a fight spliced throughout the episode \u2014 but the more intense combat was happening outside of the ring for our gaggle of rattled characters.<\/p>\n
The episode picks up with Rick (Walton Goggins) and Frank\u2019s (Sam Rockwell) arrival at the Bangkok home Sritala (Lek Patravadi) shares with her husband Jim (Scott Glenn) \u2014 Rick\u2019s target in the plan to avenge his father\u2019s death. And it\u2019s as hilariously unplanned as you\u2019d expect from two dudes who can make a catch-up session between friends feel like a fever dream. Wearing a baseball cap with the Lowe\u2019s logo, Steven (Frank\u2019s alias as the fictional director in this Hollywood movie scheme) is totally winging this meeting. What has he directed? Uh … \u201cWhat haven\u2019t I directed? Mostly action films. \u2018The Enforcer.\u2019 \u2018The Executor.\u2019 \u2018The Notary\u2019 \u2014 that was a trilogy.\u201d What\u2019s the role in this so-called movie that he wants Sritala to portray? \u201cShe is a former prostitute, now a madam, and she owns a popular bordello.\u201d Wait, isn\u2019t the role supposed to be based on her? And has he seen any of her past work? Name \u2018em!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder Frank quickly ditches the herbal tea and requests whiskey for the improv work he has to do. But was giving up his sobriety worth it? Then, when Chelsea\u2019s 50-year-old child Rick does get Jim alone, he doesn\u2019t make use of the gun he swore he wouldn\u2019t bring. But closure can take many forms. An affected Rick carries out his revenge by simply knocking back a seated Jim to the floor. With that out of the way, Rick and Frank, who is ditching his performative Buddhist mindset for the evening, party. Chelsea\u2019s calls, meanwhile, go unanswered.<\/p>\n
Back in the hills of Thailand, Greg\/Gary\u2019s (Jon Gries) bash is unfolding. With some encouragement from her curious son, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) makes the most insane decision ever and willingly places herself inside the home of the man she believes may be responsible for Tanya McQuoid\u2019s death. Greg\/Gary asks to speak to her in private, where he insists he isn\u2019t involved in Tanya\u2019s death. Really! To prove how much of a non-murderer he is, he offers Belinda $100,000 \u2014 because Tanya would have wanted that \u2014 to help fulfill her dream of opening a spa and in exchange, she\u2019d honor \u201chis peace.\u201d Belinda tells him she\u2019ll think about it. (To quote the great Oda Mae Brown: \u201cYou in danger, girl.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Other party-goers were experiencing their own internal conflicts. Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), flying solo while his siblings are spending the night at the Buddhist center, is there with his parents. After receiving a reality check from Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) about his future as a loser back home, Saxon pulls his dad aside to figure out why he\u2019s been acting strange. Saxon asks whether things are OK at work, emphasizing that he has nothing else going for him because he doesn\u2019t have any interests or hobbies \u2014 sorry you had to hear it from us, blender \u2014 a medicated Tim, knowing his wife would rather be dead than poor, says everything is fine. Meanwhile, Victoria (Parker Posey) tries to rescue a woman dating an LBH (loser back home) at the party, inviting her to North Carolina.<\/p>\n
Things aren\u2019t any more relaxing at the resort \u2014 no matter how much Fabian\u2019s vocal cords worked to soothe guests. Our favorite trio couldn\u2019t smile through another dinner, and a passive-aggressive showdown, reminiscent of the recent season finale of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,\u201d begins. The conversation is particularly tense between Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Laurie (Carrie Coon). Laurie storms off, determined to go to the Muay Thai fight Valentin invited them to. While there, she cozies up to one of Valentin\u2019s friends and goes home with him, only to be propositioned for $10,000 post-coitus \u2014 to pay off the debts of his sick mom, you see.<\/p>\n
At the same fight, Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) \u2014 finally on his date with Mook (Lalisa Manobal), who expresses her disappointment at his indifference to ambition and power over dinner \u2014 has a light-bulb moment when he spots Valentin and his friends. He recognizes their features and tattoos as those of the masked men who raided the resort. Is this his shot to muster some courage and impress Mook?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s time for Greg Braxton, Mary McNamara and Yvonne Villarreal, platinum-status members of \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d frequent guest program, to break it all down.<\/p>\n
Who do we think is the corpse this week? Will Tim\u2019s realization that the gun is missing be more foreboding than Gaitok possibly leveling up as a security guard?<\/p>\n
McNamara: The corpse is me because I am done trying to pretend that it makes any sense at all that the Ratliffs are all still without their cellphones. I mean Chelsea is on her phone constantly so it\u2019s clearly not a resort rule and there is NO WAY that Tim and Saxon, who clearly knows something is up at work, would not have retrieved theirs. But I am now very worried that the corpse is Rick because there is no way Jim is going to take being shoved over lying down. I mean, did you see all those bodyguards? Still, I\u2018m sticking with Gaitok, particularly after his recognition of the wily Russians as the robbers and Mook\u2019s goading him toward violence. (Red flag, Gaitok. Big red flag.)<\/p>\n
Braxton: I\u2019ve been kind of non-committal for a while on the corpse question, but I will throw out a few theories. I think it\u2019s a pretty safe bet that Jim is going to return with Sritala to the White Lotus and track down Rick. He is not the type to take his wife being humiliated and deceived lying down, pardon the pun. When you pull a gun on a guy like him, you better freaking use it, or there will be payback. Also you don\u2019t hire Scott Glenn for one episode. Although he will want to kill Rick, he also might kill Chelsea, bringing to fruition her \u201cbad things come in threes\u201d prophecy.<\/p>\n
Villarreal: This week\u2019s episode also has me thinking Gaitok is surely the corpse. His desire to impress Mook is going to have a tragic outcome \u2014 or as our Greg loves to say, \u201cit will all end in tears.\u201d But how? I\u2019m not sure. I know there are a lot of questionable characters this season, but there\u2019s something about Fabian I just can\u2019t shake. And it\u2019s not just that he\u2019s a terrible hotel manager or that I\u2019d rather hear the sounds of Saxon\u2019s blender than be serenaded by him. The man seems destined to do something shady or stupid or both.<\/p>\n
The episode has left us with many questions and theories. Will Rick and Frank’s plan succeed? Will Belinda take the deal? And who will be the corpse? We will have to wait until the next episode to find out.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the name of the actress who plays Belinda?
\nA: Natasha Rothwell.
\nQ: What is the name of the actor who plays Greg\/Gary?
\nA: Jon Gries.
\nQ: What is the name of the actress who plays Mook?
\nA: Lalisa Manobal.
\nQ: What is the name of the actor who plays Gaitok?
\nA: Tayme Thapthimthong.
\nQ: What is the name of the actress who plays Laurie?
\nA: Carrie Coon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to The White Lotus Season 3, Episode 7 \u201cThe White Lotus,\u201d Mike White\u2019s black comedy anthology series, is back on HBO for a third season. Times staffers love an escape, but since we can\u2019t take a trip to Thailand to stay at a luxury resort, the next best thing is to immerse ourselves in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/Fabio%20Lovino%20\/%20HBO?w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11315,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11313\/revisions\/11315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}