The White Lotus: Hide or Seek

March 9, 2025 7:23 PM - Season 3, Episode 4

Jaclyn's resort getaway with friends falls flat when the destination proves less exciting than expected. Meanwhile, Piper seeks support for a family announcement aboard a yacht, and Rick reveals his past to Chelsea.

"'Hide and Seek' felt like half an episode—or, more generously, like the opening salvo to a wild two-parter. We boarded Gary’s superyacht but didn’t make it to the full-moon party. The girls found a club with a vibe but no one’s made any bad decisions. After breakfast, Rick and Amrita bid each other fond adieu, but that man is still kicking around Samui. Piper’s parents are sitting at the dinner table, but she hasn’t dropped the bomb. More menacingly, Timothy Ratliff has stolen Gaitok’s handgun from the hotel security booth, but he hasn’t pulled the trigger…as he must."—from Amanda Whiting's 3-star recap for Vulture

posted by bcwinters (14 comments total)

Were we just introduced to the heist team?

Jaclyn loses her shit pretty easily. In previous episodes, we'd seen the other two deal with their own unique insecurities and issues. I'd been thinking the dynamic among the three would be that Jaclyn would set Laurie up for a fling and end up snatching the prospect away to take top prize. She may still do it. But it was interesting for her to so aggressively seek out action for the three, first by ditching the elder pleb set, and then getting into a younger dive. Wonder if she'll come to the realization that kids there may view her the way she viewed the previous crowd.

I'd made out Gaitok to be clueless and innocent and over enthusiastic, and he's not letting me down. And just when Mook is starting to warm up to him. If he somehow manages to retrieve the pistol and save innocents in the process, maybe he could redeem himself. But as of now, he's a sweet, but serious, fuckup.

Papa Ratliff is running out of time. I don't know if he's going to off himself, since it seems too easy. But I can't think of anything else he's able to do with the pistol that'll keep him out of prison, or allow him to save face in front of folks back home. He might also regret stealing Mama Ratliff's benzos, if it means he has to listen to her become increasingly coherent and verbal. Yet another reason to eat a bullet.

I was almost expecting Papa Ratliff to be inappropriate with Piper on the boat, because the whole family gives off some creepy, way-too-familiar-with-each-others-sexuality vibes. Relieved it didn't go that far. Not sure I want to see something like that.

It's nice to see Lachlan be comfortable around other people. He's probably better at it than anyone really gives him credit for, and I'm getting the feeling Saxon is the one who'll end up shitting himself in public somehow because he's all about bullshit appearances. Which also makes him a natural successor to Ma and Pa.

If Piper doesn't have the guts to tell her parents, I'm kind of hoping her meeting with the monk will end up being a fail/warning, him saying something like "go home and grow up first", allowing her to go home and be a Ratliff. Which would kind of follow a theme from the previous seasons, of characters reconciling with privilege.

I'm still not really buying Rick and Chelsea as a couple, except out of some kind of convenience. His story interests me the least so far.

And I'm still hoping that wasn't Belinda floating in the water in Ep 1.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:14 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

Please note that Lochlan’s cute crocodile shirt is called Reptile Dysfunction, which could have been an alternate name for last week’s episode.
posted by bcwinters at 5:52 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Felt like they kept teasing that someone was in (or had been in) Belinda's room, which ratcheted up the dread. Maybe that's still to come? Greg's getting desperate.

Are we taking any bets on whether or not the guy Rick wants to see will turn out to be his father?

I think things are going to get weird next week.
posted by jquinby at 7:47 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

This was the first episode where I checked how much time was left and was glad there was more to go. Those first few were just too much of a slow burn, but who knows, maybe it really set the tee for this swing coming up because bcwinters summed it all up - a lot of crap is about to go down.

When Gaitok left the pistol out I was just DAMN IT GAITOK. YOU HAD ONE JOB. I legitimately thought he was going to accidentally discharge or something the way he was handling it. As much as I liked the guy, I feel he is either a) going to end up shooting the wrong person or b) end up dead because he tries to be the hero for Mook or something.

Papa Ratcliffe is the scion of a great and wealthy family, burdened with tarnishing the family name and leaving his wife and kids destitute. I think he one hundred percent plans to kill himself as an attempt to limit this as much as possible. However, I'm leaving open the possibility he is interrupted before this happens or even loses the gun somehow. I'm also wondering if there's going to be some incident of Thai law enforcement coming to arrest him on behalf of a international warrant and that leads to some of the gunfire in the opening episode.

I really like the idea that the Russians are behind the heist and also throw them in the gunfire mix, too.

I suspect that Greg/Gary is going to poison Saxon with the fruit seeds or attempt to after seeing him and Valentina be so chummy. It's the fruit seeds, in the blender, in the bungalow suite.

I also like the idea that Piper gets shot down by the great and honorable monk and dejectedly goes home, as that feels like a White Lotus ending. It's the opposite of the first season of the rich kid staying behind, wherein there the kid kind of found a true connection in what he was doing. Here, Piper is the Buddhist via tourism. Not someone who ultimately is 100% sincere so much as 100% believes she's sincere.

Her mom is just the worse, but in a way, I think she's handling everything pretty well by being her worse. Lochlan hits up the booze and becomes the life of the party. How? He does magic tricks, meaning he's an expert at projecting one thing and actually doing something else. I wonder if Saxon won't catch Lochlan kissing another man or something and flip out during the moon party.

What's bonkers is that this is an 8 episode season and we're just halfway through it.

Whatever happens in Bangkok, Rick won't leave happy. I appreciate Chelsea dropping the Princess Bride reference.

It all boils down to don't mess with Belinda or her son. (Or staff of the hotel)
posted by Atreides at 8:22 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]

I think Saxon is the one who’ll wind up shooting (likely at law enforcement agents) because he’s a toxic sociopath. My partner thinks it’s Victoria, because Tim housed all the lorazepam that tamps down her rage.

I’ve been cool on this season because it seemed too slow a burn—a lot of the character’s motivations and desires were being kept too obscure. This episode turned it around for me.l, though. It felt like the first part of a rollercoaster ride where you’re clacking up the big hill.
posted by ejs at 11:16 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]

I really hope that's not Belinda in the water too. The show seems to follow patterns from season to season and if it does so in this regard, the victim should be a lot more weird and out there, like both Armond and Tanya are. Or something else the two have in common which I haven't figured out yet.

Tim Ratliff is so very similar to Thomas Ravenel of Southern Charm fame. The accent and now, with this episode, the details of his life. Has White based any other characters so obviously on specific reality show figures? Maybe Ratliff is working his way up to be that off-the-hook character who dies. I'm thinking less eating of bullets and more hiring of those Russian guys.
posted by BibiRose at 2:17 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Anyone watch the Staircase? Peterson’s adopted daughters had the last name of Ratliff, Patrick Schwarzenegger was in the Staircase dramatization, and their Petersens are from Durham. That’s a lot of coincidences.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:07 PM on March 10 [3 favorites]

Patrick Schwarzenegger was in the Staircase dramatization

Parker Posey, too.

What’s the implication? A Ratliff's death gets caused by a monkey but another Ratliff takes the fall, as an ironic riff on the failed “an owl did it!” defense from The Staircase?
posted by bcwinters at 7:45 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

That's great about the Ratliff thing! Not sure it leads anywhere specific though; a lot in this series doesn't seem to. I think it's intentionally random so the "solution" (who gets killed and who does it) will not send any clear message. Lots of breadcrumbs strewn around. Interesting to me that there are now two echoes of reality-based media (and location-specific stories) in the show: this one, and the way Timothy is (by Jason Isaacs's own account) based on Thomas Ravenel. I feel as if White just kind of plays around with this stuff.

That being said, Valentin is really reminding me of Armond with the manic glitter in his eyes as he arranges those weird activities for the three ladies. Make me wonder if he'll be the one to die-- or one of them. Both Armond and Tanya were sympathetic on one level but they were very off the hook. Valentin is shaping up to be another candidate, in that sense.
posted by BibiRose at 5:07 AM on March 11

I like slow burns as much as the next fella, but this is getting ridiculous. Nothing ever happens.

As for Mook, I'm miffed by how little they're doing with objectively the biggest star they have acting on the show.
posted by signal at 1:32 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Did something uncharacteristic and rewatched the episode. A few more takes:

Turns out there's a security camera system, presumably anybody could see Gaitok get pistol whipped, but nobody notices Valentin's possible involvement in robbery?

Then again, not only did did Gaitok leave the gun out in the open, he leaves his post, with the gate open, to walk Mook back. The guy's like a puppy dog. Really needs to find a different line of work if he doesn't end up in jail for the missing gun.

Is Lachlan, the magician, additional code for gay? I think there was some speculation about this earlier.

Gay or not, he's certainly weird, a characteristic for the family. Piper asks Lachlan for support during dinner, and subsequently reveals to him that she's going to leave for a year or more. Lachlan seems distraught at the thought of being abandoned by sister, in a way that's kind of creepy/weird. He kind of has the tone of a 7th grade boyfriend who's just been dumped. Perhaps the decision to stay on the yacht with Saxon is his revenge, abandoning his sister the way he feels he's being abandoned.

Papa Ratliff turns out to be a nepo baby in a long line of nepo babies. This revelation also displays the privilege he expects to have, as he thinks his malfeasance could somehow be mitigated by his lawyer. The notion that he not only might lose the house, but actually go to jail, has him floored.

By all rights, he should be dead already the way he's been slamming those whiskeys with the benzos.

Another possible explanation for gunshots: Papa Ratliff shoots his family before himself, sparing the whole family the disgrace. Yeah, way too dark for The White Lotus.

Rick's Father? Never knew him, takes moms deathbed testimony, because you don't forget shit like that. Hmmm. The way Rick describes his mother's story reminded me of Ben Kenobi explaining to Luke Skywalker how his father died.

In the google search, Belinda discovers Tanya was found drowned, with others dead on a yacht, but curiously no mention of how the others died-no mention of gunshots. Wondering if this means something? Also noted a very creepy sound effect being played during this sequence.

Finally, Saxon (and to a lesser extent, Jaclyn) does a "lets party wooo!/shit's about to get crazee!" kind of declaration as the evening's festivities begin. Maybe it's just me projecting, but that's kind of amateur hour stuff, somebody who does that before they're really shitfaced has no idea what's about to go down. I think we can count on the evening revealing some juicy stuff.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:01 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]

Someone smarter than me: Rick didn’t have a dad, papa Ratliff is a nepo baby, White casted two nepo babies as the sons of papa Ratliff, Parker posey I don’t think is a nepo baby and one of the funniest people to ever walk the earth: that’s all connected right?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 7:53 AM on March 12

I feel a little sorry for anybody who does not have the chance to experience The White Lotus without some kind of surround sound. Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s compositions - and the general sound mixing - are really something to behold. The sound design of this show is like a key character in terms of its importance; absolutely no background noise, music or other sound is without meaning.
posted by rongorongo at 12:50 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

Mod note: One comment deleted. No need to correct someone’s grammar.
posted by loup (staff) at 9:45 AM on March 18