The White Lotus: Denials

March 23, 2025 7:18 PM - Season 3, Episode 6

In the wake of the festivities, Laurie finds herself feeling deceived by Jaclyn, while Saxon tries to bury what happened the night before.

"By the end of the episode, “Denials” looks less like the tail end of a storm and more like the eye of it. On the docket for the coming evening are at least five separate occasions with the potential to be calamitous...And that’s where The White Lotus leaves us: on the cusp of more suffering. The players have been so carefully positioned on the checkerboard that it’s hard to believe next week isn’t the finale. Historically, Mike White doesn’t start killing off cast members until the night before check-out, but perhaps the patterns that once proved pleasurable are ready to be interrupted. Season three has been darker; it stands to reason it might be deadlier."—from Amanda Whiting's 4-star recap for Vulture

posted by bcwinters (27 comments total)

Why....why would Belinda even consider going to Gary/Greg's house?

As Gaitok was leaving the Ratliff suite I thought "oh no eye contact don't look at them man" but of course they didn't so much as give him a glance.
posted by jquinby at 6:01 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]

I also wanted Belinda to tell her kid what’s going on! Maybe she did, outside the restaurant. Also, she has the staff dinner as excuse not to go!

Gaitok’s invisibility to the Ratliff’s was incredibly well done.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:10 AM on March 24 [5 favorites]

Another episode where for the most part, I enjoyed every moment of it.

I needed Gaitok to get a victory there, which given the boss' "are you THAT type of person" comment to him at the range makes me feel like our guy is going to hesitate and get killed as a result. I like the idea of the Russians being the bank robbers, so they'll be involved in some kind of heist gone wrong that connects everything.

As Gaitok was leaving the Ratliff suite I thought "oh no eye contact don't look at them man" but of course they didn't so much as give him a glance.

I was thinking Timothy probably wouldn't even recognize him even if they did glance over.

And oh...the brother threesome/incest theory was not the one I wanted to be right about, but there you go. I'm not as sure about my idea of Lochlan palming or not taking the drug, but he seemed significantly less affected than Saxon and during the mediation at the end at the temple, I couldn't tell if he was recalling the night for the first time or just remembering it again.

Given Saxon's state of not being, Chelsea's not too kind dismissal of him as someone without a soul, and Saxon's alleged concern about his siblings futures; I have this horrible feeling now that he's going to poison them and himself, as being flawed individuals or something to that effect, with those wonderful fruit seeds at the beginning of the show. Then there's the other murder suicide that Timothy is planning after Victoria expressed a desire to rather die than be one of the poor. How will that go down?

The three friends storyline is probably the one I would pretty easily just cut out and toss as being one I'm not really interested in and find extraneous for the story (outside of the probably Russian criminal action referenced already).

I also am getting murder vibes from Greg/Gary, but I could be wrong.
posted by Atreides at 7:13 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

The fruit seeds! Saxon’s shock and horror at their actions! Whoa. Excellent points, Atreides.

I bet he’ll use the blender, maybe to poison his family. That noisy blender has been running way too much to only be about mixing protein powder.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:30 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]

Also, do we think Rick will do anything with the husband?
posted by bluedaisy at 7:30 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]

New theory: it’s going to be some sort of Romeo and Juliet type thing with the Ratliffs. Tim and Saxon both see themselves as patriarchal protectors (Saxon keeps talking about feeling responsible for Piper). Someone is going to be doped up on whatever that drug is, maybe Tim, and Saxon will think it’s a suicide (?), and Saxon will also get his phone back and find out what’s going on from his coworkers at his dad’s firm and then make a position protein drink. Maybe Saxon will kill
himself first with the poison and then Tim will find him and take out the rest of them. Maybe Piper and Lochlan will be safe at the monastery. The blender will be involved, and the poison fruit. I think all three - Victoria, Saxon, Tim - end up dead maybe.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:44 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]

I needed Gaitok to get a victory there, which given the boss' "are you THAT type of person" comment to him at the range makes me feel like our guy is going to hesitate and get killed as a result.

I think he’s going to try to be a hero to prove everyone wrong and win over Mook, and will end up either being killed or killing an innocent person. My money is more on the former, given that the body in the river in E1 was wearing a uniform that looked like his.
posted by bluloo at 8:08 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

OH NO. NOT MOOK. OR PORNCHAI.

I'm...okay with Fabian.

It's going to be messy, whatever happens with the Ratcliffe's. I kind of feel bad for Parker Posey in all of this, as she seems to have been given the flattest character arc - no arc - through the whole show. The entire time she's just been exactly the person who we met from the get go. Posey has sold the heck out of it, but I guess she's just the flotsam on this current of horrid entitled rich people flowing through the resort.

This episode was entitled, "Denial," so I viewed a lot of the interactions through that prism. Clearly the biggest denial was Saxon in incest city followed by Jaclyn in "I didn't cheat on my husband, what are you talking about."

I really enjoyed Jason Isaac's acting this episode when he was having the Q&A with the leader of the temple, too.
posted by Atreides at 10:40 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]

I really enjoyed Jason Isaac's acting this episode when he was having the Q&A with the leader of the temple, too.

Agreed. What he puts across with few or no lines is Severence level stuff.
posted by jetsetsc at 10:55 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]

I kind of feel bad for Parker Posey in all of this, as she seems to have been given the flattest character arc - no arc - through the whole show. The entire time she's just been exactly the person who we met from the get go.

I haven't rewatched early episodes, but she seems a lot more clear-headed since Tim stole the Lorazepam. She was always dopey and nodding off in the early episodes; now Tim looks drowsy or doped up all the time, and she is parenting. She did the tour at the monastery and told Piper to stay overnight before she decided. There's clearly a strategy (I presume the dorms aren't exactly comfy cozy). She's still rich and racist, but I do think you'd see a contrast from the early episode character to now.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:59 AM on March 24 [6 favorites]

If this season is true to form, whoever dies is someone with complicated karma. So for me, that takes Belinda and Pornchai off the table, as well as Mook. Gaitok is a bit ambiguous at this point. But then, following previous seasons the victim also needs to be a bit of an audience favorite, like Tanya and Armond were. I certainly found them both fascinating, anyhow. Definitely both were exploiters as well as exploited. Who is that person in this season?
posted by nanook at 11:14 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]

Laurie seemed to enjoy that.

I'm wondering how Tim finding the gun gone factors in. I can't imagine him thinking, "I could swear I put it here somewhere. Oh well..." and the story just going on.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:56 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

Gre-Gary would be an audience favorite to kill off AND he was wearing tan pants at one point (I think)...
posted by armacy at 12:35 PM on March 24 [2 favorites]

Incest threesome was not on my bingo card, despite the weird incestuous vibes we've been getting from Lochlan from the beginning (I also got some weird incestuous vibes from Saxon early on, but they were directed toward Piper).

Like, that kiss last episode, going back for more after the initial "joke" peck...I'm not surprised, but I still definitely did not expect things to go down that way.
posted by asnider at 12:41 PM on March 24

I haven't rewatched early episodes, but she seems a lot more clear-headed since Tim stole the Lorazepam. She was always dopey and nodding off in the early episodes; now Tim looks drowsy or doped up all the time, and she is parenting. She did the tour at the monastery and told Piper to stay overnight before she decided. There's clearly a strategy (I presume the dorms aren't exactly comfy cozy). She's still rich and racist, but I do think you'd see a contrast from the early episode character to now. -bluedaisy

This is great point I completely overlooked. I wonder if this clearer insight as a result of getting off the drugs will lead her to puzzle through what's really going on with Timothy.

I forgot to mention in my thought about "denial," and I wonder if Rick is going to be confronted with the fact that his horrible life was either a) something created from his choices and not the absence of his father or b) like someone mentioned earlier, the denial is that his father isn't dead, but simply chose to abandon Rick and his mom - destroying his father is a good man myth.

Did Rick actually bring the pistol? I know there seemed to be a moment on the boat where he opened his jacket and his pal gave him a look - but it seemed like the shot was intended to be ambiguous. Could it be a pistol in a holster? Seemed so? But maybe not? A character shooting one of the the richest men in Thailand seems a little ambitious for the show - that billionaire dying naturally right as Rich gets there unable to extract his declaration or whatever, more likely.
posted by Atreides at 1:00 PM on March 24

I did wonder about the thing-in-Rick's-jacket that could be a pistol. But it also struck me that is the kind of thing bodyguards (many of who they passed on the way in) would be expressly looking out for.
posted by Sparx at 1:22 PM on March 24 [1 favorite]

Did Rick actually bring the pistol? I know there seemed to be a moment on the boat where he opened his jacket and his pal gave him a look - but it seemed like the shot was intended to be ambiguous.

I interpreted this shot as Rick did bring the gun, and Frank was giving him a displeased look because Rick had promised not to.

By the way, the official show podcast is great! They’re going deep into all the Buddhist symbolism, including tying it in to season 1. And the cast interviews are really interesting; the one with Walton Goggins was fascinating! Highly recommend!
posted by bluloo at 8:05 PM on March 24 [4 favorites]

I bet he’ll use the blender.

Chekov's blender.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:09 AM on March 25 [6 favorites]

I haven't rewatched early episodes, but she seems a lot more clear-headed since Tim stole the Lorazepam. She was always dopey and nodding off in the early episodes; now Tim looks drowsy or doped up all the time, and she is parenting. She did the tour at the monastery and told Piper to stay overnight before she decided. There's clearly a strategy (I presume the dorms aren't exactly comfy cozy). She's still rich and racist, but I do think you'd see a contrast from the early episode character to now.

I think there may be a bit of a redemption arc for Virginia. She makes that comment about how she can't live with discomfort. She's been dealing with it by popping pills, so of course she can't tolerate it. There is a strong theme of addiction running through this show, which somewhat overlaps with the spirituality one.

I don't find it that plausible that she's even walking and talking, coming off that much Lorazepam, but with that being said, she seems to be coming around a little. I also suspect that she grew up with a lot of abuse. That story about her brother dangling spit in her face was not only abusive but had sexual overtones to me, but she acts like it's just hysterical. It takes a ton of pills (to paraphrase Chelsea slightly) to make that sort of thing OK.
posted by BibiRose at 8:02 AM on March 25 [2 favorites]

We paid closer attention to the intro on this one - the characters seem to pop up... but also an epic battle including monkeys with swords. Curious whether these are hints - is it going to be monkeys doing the shooting?

Definitely Chekov's blender.

We enjoyed the role of the buddhist monk and the monastery in this one. 'Spiritual malaise'
posted by mit5urugi at 8:08 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]

I don't find it that plausible that she's even walking and talking, coming off that much Lorazepam

I had a similar reaction to how instantly Tim seemed to become addicted to the stuff. I mean, he takes his first two pills ever, then just a few hours later he's gobbling them down like they're M&Ms. Dependency doesn't kick in that quickly, surely?
posted by Paul Slade at 9:37 AM on March 25

I think someone unintended will drink the pong pong *Googles...* suicide tree smoothie, and I don't know which Ratliff will mix it up. I could see Saxon and his dad in a suicide pact, but I still think someone unexpected will drink it.
posted by emelenjr at 9:53 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]

There have been a few recent pieces on lorazepam because of the show. This one from The NY Times (gift article) says it can provide immediate relief. Tim is a huge mess emotionally, so the relief from some stress could be compelling?
posted by bluedaisy at 11:14 AM on March 25

I agree, I think Tim discovered he could escape from his world collapsing to pieces around him and all the honor/respectability/patriarchal duties with it by popping the pills. He's trying to buffer intense pain, embarrassment, and failure, and will keep doing so until he either comes to term with it or ends it permanently. You know, with a blender or something.
posted by Atreides at 1:54 PM on March 25

I thoroughly enjoy how evil Chelsea and Chloe are. The three friends, on the other hand, bored me this episode.
Still aghast at how little they do with Mook/Lisa.
posted by signal at 6:14 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]

Chloe is pretty much amoral. She seems to be in it purely for the money, and the pleasure it allows. And she's not above preying on Lochlan, just because she can.

Chelsea seems to have a code. And a gift for reading people, though there may be a blind spot with Rick. Her reading of Saxon to his face was as devastating to him as much as it was truth. Saxon finds he not only has no chance with Chelsea, bad enough, but hearing why, in her own words, cuts pretty deep. And it was hilarious. To find he has no soul, regardless that he's never considered the possibility, trips him up badly. Then:

"Not a drug in the world would make me get with my brother.
But I don't judge..."

He's been exposed, to himself mostly, for the phony lightweight deviant he is, the type he usually would cruelly mock.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:10 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]

I cannot imagine Belinda going to Gre-Gary's dinner party. And the prospect of watching Gre-Gary 'host' a dinner party with 'the brother's' is enormously unappealing even if plot-wise it is necessary.

Have to give credit to the writer for writing that incest scene/plot-thread: ... when was the last time _that_ has shown up on 'mainstream tv?' - there was a bit of a Flowers in the Attic vibe to the whole thing: on the one hand all parties are behaving 'rationally' but on the other exactly what they're doing is completely *bonkers*. What Lachlan makes of his own actions, how he sorts them into his sense of self could end up being ... a lot of narrative labor - I hope he winds up meditating his way through it, giving it its rightful place in the greater span of his life. It's a crazy plot-wrinkle to have.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:12 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]