The following article contains spoilers for season three of The White Lotus.
Nothing is certain in life but death, taxes, and the demise of a beloved character in Mike White’s The White Lotus. While we’ve known from the beginning of the show’s third season that someone would meet their end in Thailand, the mystery surrounding who it would be has propelled its slow suspense.
As we checked into the hotel’s antics every week, the subtle tells, tensions and emerging plots fuelled many storyline possibilities. But though fans threw around some truly outlandish theories, we admit the finale unfolded with a shocking turn of events.
What happened in The White Lotus season 3 finale?
Though it seemed Rick, the tortured Scorpio played by Walter Goggins, had finally put his revenge-seeking ways to bed after confronting Jim Hollinger, the hotelier’s arrival at the White Lotus—and mother slander—spurs a vengeful relapse. A tearful Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) tries fruitlessly to pacify him, but it seems there is no going back for Rick.
After attempting to seek immediate therapy, only to be told to wait in line, his pain proves too potent. As he watches Hollinger—who he believed killed his father and thus robbed him of a childhood and family—pose for photos with guests, he surprises him, taking a gun from the old man’s jacket and shooting him to death. As his wife holds him, she reveals to Rick that Hollinger did not, in fact, kill his father because he was his father—very Darth Vader.
Naturally, this sets off a shootout between Rick and Hollinger’s bodyguards, which results in a tragic bloodbath.
Elsewhere, Timothy (Jason Isaacs) probes his family’s ability to live without the creature comforts he has provided them, and decides that Lochlan is the only one that can survive without him. His solution? Mix up some poison fruit-laced pina coladas for everyone but his youngest son.
But as Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) begins slurping down the concoction, he slaps the glass from his hand and pours the drinks down the drain—forgetting about the mixture still in the blender.
The next morning, Victoria (Parker Posey), Saxon and Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) head to breakfast as Lochlan uses the rest of the poison mixture in a protein smoothie.
Though scenes play out as if the youngest Ratliff has met his end, he is ultimately spared death—most likely thanks to a near-immediate puking session after downing the deadly drink.
Who dies in The White Lotus season 3?
As she chased Rick down and begged him to stop, sweet Chelsea fell casualty to the deluge of bullets being shot around.
After discovering his dying lover, a devastated Rick carries her body away and is ultimately also shot down by security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong).
We knew there was death on the table from the beginning. Still, many fans have rallied against White’s choice; wondering why Chelsea had to meet such a tragic end. But as we’ve come to learn, the show is known to illuminate the darker parts of humanity and modern living, making Chelsea, whose whimsical sense of hope grounded the show in an uncharacteristic lightness, a ripe victim.
Explaining his decision in a post-finale video, White defended the choice.
“Chelsea has this kind of romantic fatalism about their relationship, and you want to buy into it,” he said. “She tells [Rick], ‘Stop fixating on the love you didn’t get. Think about the love that you have. I’m right here.’”
“It’s a classic theme of Greek tragedy, of somebody killing the thing that they love [while] trying to get some revenge,” he explained.
[Having] her be this kind of woo-woo into astrology…because of that, there’s this idea that maybe in their tragic ending, there’s something that feels a little like some kind of hint to a life beyond, that love transcends this life,” he continued. “Like even as they’re wheeled out to the plane together in their symmetrical coffins, that their love transcends this in some bittersweet [way].
“[She has the mentality of] ‘I’ll follow you in the next life and the next life’….So I like the idea of giving her a lot of kind of prattle that seems like nonsense, but that ultimately you’re like, ‘Oh, maybe.’… At the end, she talks about the groups working to this divine goal. So, whether I believe all that, it’s nice to have a voice of that, because she has this deep sense of belief and amor fati, and like things happen for a reason that maybe somehow that takes off the edge of the sadness of her death in some way, because it feels like she has some kind of, I don’t know, higher power to what happens next.”
As far as what we can expect for season four? He imparts a simple message: “There’s always room for more murders at The White Lotus hotels.”
Watch Mike White’s full finale breakdown below.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA International.
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