Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for “The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 6, “Denials.”
What’s that saying? Here’s to the nights you barely remember, and the disturbing details you can’t forget! A perfectly accurate expression for Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) in “The White Lotus,” who wake up groggy in Episode 6, “Denials,” and go on to remember that they partook not only of drugs and alcohol but also incest.
Mike White‘s series might start and end with a death every season, but the show is and always has been a social satire, with both family and sexual dynamics included in that commentary — so why not combine the two, and on the top network for incest? Episode 6’s revelations put the viewer very much in Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and Chelsea’s (Aimee Lou Wood) POV, assessing the brothers’ overall dynamic with morbid fascination. Is this the result of Saxon’s confusing sexual energy? Is it a younger brother’s drive to make everyone happy? Is it just the drugs and the booze and the moon? And most importantly of all — will they ever talk about what happened?
Sexual revelations (and denials) abound in this episode. Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) wakes up in bed with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), only for her son to open the door, and Kate (Leslie Bibb) sees Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) sneaking out of Jaclyn’s (Michelle Monaghan) room early in the morning. The former goes as well as possible, with Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) laughing it off and expressing happiness for Belinda — a single mother who Rothwell said is “his everything.”
“There’s a real friendship there, but there’s also this unending love, where they will fight for each other, fight with each other, and fight together,” Rothwell told IndieWire ahead of Season 3.
As for Pornchai, Rothwell said, “It’s pretty special to be able to find someone who sees you. It’s not uncommon for there to be workplace romances, and because when you’re doing something that you love, and someone else is doing that same thing, and they also love it, you feel validated. I think he gives to her. He wants to support her. I think she spends the better part of her life giving to other people, supporting her son, working at The White Lotus in Maui, and there’s a depletion that happens. She comes to Thailand, and he wants to fill her cup — in many ways.”
The morning news goes down less smoothly in the ladies’ villa, where it rankles Laurie (Carrie Coon) to start saying the quiet parts out loud. She calls Jaclyn “pathetic” (not to her face) for thriving on male attention, judges her marriage, and barely conceals her resentment while asking her friend to dish about Valentin. The three actors deliver sharply subtle performances, from Laurie’s passive aggression to Jaclyn’s actual aggression and Kate’s dismay as the de facto mediator.
“I think her life has felt very stressful and unsatisfying for a long time, and so she finally is having the girls trip she was hoping for,” Coon told Indiewire. “But then, of course, it’s ‘The White Lotus,’ so you’re not gonna end on a high note, and it’s really painful.”
“She asserts that this is something Jaclyn has always done, and whether that’s real or her perception of what Jaclyn has always done — in some ways, it doesn’t matter,” she added. “The storytelling is the storytelling, and she believes it, and it’s the thing that is affecting her most.”
“But also she doesn’t admit it!” Coon said. Bibb, seated next to her, piped in quietly in true Kate fashion: “Is it that big of a deal?”
Only time (and the next two episodes) will tell.
Superlatives
- Most likely to die: Congratulations to our girl Belinda for getting a week off, but Greg (Jon Gries) inviting her to dinner is absolutely terrifying. However, he may be more inclined to kill someone else at that soirée: Saxon, the guy who slept with his girlfriend.
- Least Likely to die: Free space this week because Zion showed up and we know he survives.
- Horniest: Chloe, for hooking up with not one but two Ratliffs.
- The Dr. Amrita Award for Emotional Growth: I want to give it to Timothy (Jason Isaacs) for his conversation at the monastery and his exploration of ego, death, and fear. But if I give you this award, Timmy, will you promise not to hurt yourself or anyone else?
- Best line reading: Wood for the combo of “I don’t judge” and then “WHAT?!”
- This is not an award, but I feel a responsibility to share that “guru” is not pronounced GOO-ROO, but a short “gu” like “good.” #themoreyouknow
New episodes of “The White Lotus” air Sundays at 10 p.m. EDT on HBO.
