In Defense of White Lotus Season 3...

Want to be the one who's always in the know about the game, the scores, the plays? Here's a tip. The Apple Sports app. Just pick your favorite teams and get automatic live updates without even knowing their schedules. And when your team scores, it shows up right on your iPhone lock screen, making it easy to check in anytime. So rule the group chat and download Apple Sports for free on the App Store or find it on your new iPhone. For decades, a shadowy organization called the Lemonati has kept lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Look around. Lemon-forward sodas. Even lemon-forward songs. We ran the tracks, slowed them down, reversed them, and squeezed out the truth. That's lemon propaganda right there. But now, 7-Up is fighting back with their new lime-lemon soda. Join the 7-Up rising. Flip the sip. Season 3 of The White Lotus is by far the best season because Mike White's genius is his ability to articulate these very deep emotions through simple dialogue. Even normal conversations at dinner become these deep statements on female friendships, the wealthy versus the working class, age gap relationships, spirituality, or compromising your morals in order to get what you want. How experiences with other people bring out our own deepest instincts. And while I very much miss Jennifer Coolidge, my favorite thing about this season is that every storyline was interesting to me. There were no static characters. Everything felt so dynamic. And the people that they were in episode 1 versus episode 8 could not be more different. What's fascinating is that they were all tied together through this idea of toxic relationships and this very toxic relationship they have with their self-identity. Very early on in the show, the monkey even says to, Identity is a prison. People develop this mindset, if I can't be this person, if I don't have this thing, this wealth, this relationship, this whatever, then I can't be the person I want to be. I can't be happy. And we trick ourselves into feeling that way at the detriment of our own joy. We become a victim of the expectations that we set for ourselves. And this happens all throughout the show. Some of the best moments of the entire show are in the way. It explores these very simple dynamics. A family on a vacation, being in a three-person friend group, feeling left out, this sort of age gap and experiences in relationships. Mike White intentionally reuses these tropes to make it feel like the show is almost satirizing itself sometimes, or rather in a conversation with itself. Exploring the discourse in these relationships that we all have. And what I love about this is we'll constantly see. These tropes reappear, like a family on vacation in every single season, yet the way these families interact with each other could not be more different. However, we always feel ourselves reflected in them in some way. The entire essence of The White Lotus as a show is exploring this. It is exploring our relationships with wealth, with loved ones, with our family, with society and culture as a whole, to make us introspect and think differently about the way we interact with our very own family. With our loved ones, with our family, with society and culture as a whole, to make us introspect and think differently about the way we interact with our very own family. own friends. There was no greater example of this to me than, again, this season with moments like these three girls and the dialogue they had, this feeling of competitiveness to the way that this family interacted with each other, to the way that wealth has really come across, you know, this entire series with narratives like Belinda spanning all three seasons. I think that this was by far the best season of the show. And my goal with this episode is hopefully to prove that point to you. I really want to walk through all of these characters one by one and sort of the narrative arcs that they go on to really explain, one, what was my thoughts and feelings, but also why this show is so good at making you explore your own emotions, your own relationships with these things that we've all experienced in some way, yet we can always kind of feel ourselves personified as one of the people, but not always that person, or sometimes it even switches. So with that, welcome back to Nicky and I. I am your host, Nicky. I could not be more excited to talk about season three of The White Lotus. I have been obsessed with this show. And honestly, like, again, this season really did it for me. I think that the characters were so interesting. I know this is a very not common take. A lot of people online really love the first two seasons a lot more. Also, I just know that I felt like this void of Jennifer Coolidge in the show felt like it was going to be impossible to fill. Because one, she's just so iconic. And two, she really just like was perfect. In that role, you know, really felt like the first two seasons was Jennifer Coolidge, the show. But again, what I think really White Lotus is as a show is this exploration through these ideas of wealth, class, and the relationships that we kind of form with our family, friends and loved ones around those things. And I think it was very interesting to see some of these tropes reappear in the first two seasons, but also a much different twist on them. I also got to go to this like first ever, my first. First ever brand trip thing, which was crazy. It was this past weekend. It was at the Four Seasons Hotel. HBO invited me and they did this entire thing about White Lotus, which was so cool because this was a show I've like actually been talking about online all the time. I have just absolutely been obsessed with it. Honestly, like I think it is so fascinating. The dialogue, the writing, everything about the show is so interesting to me. I've done a lot of research about Mike White also and like some of the things he said when crafting this season that I'd really like to share with you all. And also, I tried to do a lot of research on Mike White. I tried to do a lot of research on Mike White. I tried to do a lot of research on him. I tried to vlog this thing. We'll see. Maybe it is up or not at this point. I'm terrible at vlogging. I have no idea how to do it. It was very social anxiety inducing for me. So, you know, we'll see. Maybe I'll like voice it over and do some commentary that makes a little bit more sense for you guys. But that is coming soon. Also, just want to say it feels so good to be back. Oh my God. The last three episodes that you guys saw were all guest episodes, which was very, very fun. It was so cool that I never done a guest episode. So it was very interesting and an interesting muscle to kind of like flex and try out. I would like to make it clear. My goal with this is never to be an interview show, but a show that does interviews. Like, you know, there are like interview shows like Call Her Daddy. It's like always an interview. You know what I mean? But I don't know. A lot of my favorite shows, I think, are the ones where they can do that and can bring people on to explore some topics. But also like this relationship that you have with the host. And also, I just love to talk. Like, I love to do the research and think about the thing and present the information the way that I see it. So thank you for bearing with me. And also, you guys left some really instructful, insightful comments about my tendency to interrupt people, which is a problem I have in life. I'm working on it. I'm very self-aware about it. Interviewing is hard. It's an entire muscle that I have not really flexed creatively in this way, at the very least, in a very long time. So I am excited to do more of it and stay tuned. Also, random other life update. Got a big haircut. Literally like a month ago. But again, I had filmed all these episodes in a row back to back. So y'all didn't know for a month. So anyways, I feel like a different person sitting here, which is very interesting, crazy. But this is why you should follow me on Instagram. If you follow me on Instagram, you knew. If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen all the cool pictures from me at the White Lotus Hotel and all the cool things. So make sure to check that out. And also, guys, we are like, I think, 600 away from 10K followers on Spotify. So please, please, please, please, Manifest, Manifest, Manifest. Get in there. You have a Spotify account already. You can just hit the follow button and you can listen to all these episodes on your car right to work at the gym, blah, blah, blah. So with that, I think that's it for my intro. Let's dive into this season of the White Lotus. And there's a few things I really, I think, like, want to hone in on, like, why I like the show as a concept before I go through, like, each of these, you know, like the rat lifts and like the dynamics and the characters in the show specifically. What I think is so fascinating about Mike White as a writer is that he came from reality TV. He had years of experience watching the way people actually interact with each other in these very petty, awkward and interesting social dynamics. And I think that has made him an incredible writer of scripted television and how that made him so brilliant at writing this very simple dialogue. I felt like there was no greater example of that this season with really the three girls. Like their storyline is really primarily dialogue. Like they don't actually do that much, but what they do in the conversations they have carry so much meaning. To quote Mike White, old friends can create suffering for you just by existing because they went one way in life and you went another way. So it feels like you have to defend your choices just by being in their presence of someone who you came up with. I think like this is so fascinating and also very, very powerful. And I think that's something that I think is really important to try to tie into the speech that Laurie, Carrie Coon's character gives at the end, like this incredible monologue. But I just felt like this idea of like old friends make you suffer simply by existing, not even necessarily because of anything they have done, but because their life makes you reflect on your own choices, right? It's why you kind of feel sad sometimes like going to a friend's wedding when you haven't gotten married yet, or you see all these amazing things. Maybe they had a family and you didn't have a family. And even if you don't regret those choices, those decisions, it makes you turmoil over them. It makes you feel kind of insecure, anxious, or whatever. And I feel like that was really very intentional with these three women. You know, like they were very meant to be like three people came from the same place that went entirely different ways. Even down to the thing how he's like, one lives in LA, one lives in New York, one lives in Austin, Texas, right? He's like very intentional with picking three different sorts of paths in life that they go on. And when even going to, again, like this monologue at the end with Carrie Coon to quote it, she says, I never had any real belief system. Work was my religion, but then I lost my belief there. And then I tried love. And that was just a painful religion that made everything worse. Being a mother, that didn't save me either. And what's fascinating to me about her dialogue is we always look for things outside of ourselves to feel more like ourselves, right? I will feel good about myself when I do this job. I will feel more like a woman when I am a mother. And what's terrifying to me is that something outside of you can never fill this void that is within you. I think this is also something we see in Rick's character reflected a lot with him constantly trying to go after this feeling of love and this denial from his father and how this person did this bad thing to him while ignoring this person who actually genuinely loves him the entire time. And want to be the one who's always in the know about the game, the scores, the plays? Here's a tip. After the color of lemons, not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now Seven Up is fighting back with their new lime lemon soda. Now lime comes first. Seven Up, flip the sip. At the end of her monologue, she says, I don't need religion or any God to give my life meaning because time gives it meaning. And time is such a fascinating measure. Of where friendship and relevance comes in. To quote Mike White again, these old relationships, they're not always the deepest friendships, but there is always something deep about reconnecting with those people. Everyone has their own religion, but there is something inarguable about how time creates meaning. And I think that this was so interesting to you about how, you know, like these are three very isolated women. Geographically, they don't talk to each other that often. They're really just kind of holding on to this friendship of what they want to do. And they're not just in their youth. And, you know, carrying that meaning with them, even if they're not actually that close anymore, even if they have very deep ideological differences, like we see in this conversation about politics and whatnot, or when, you know, Jacqueline is, you know, going after the guy that Lori also wants, like, they are very different people, yet time has created this meaning for them. The fact that they have been through so much, the fact that so many people have been in and out of their lives. And yeah, they didn't always grow in the same direction. But the fact that there are these moments that they could share and reconnect and intertwine once again, and just feel like this ability to pick up right where you left off, even if you don't know everything about each other, if you don't spend all this time together the same way you used to, is so beautiful. And I felt that way about some friends in my life, too, where, I mean, I don't get to see them at all anymore. And, and we used to, God, we used to be so close. Like, I knew everything about me, I would tell them everything, I would go on a date, and they were the first FaceTime I called. And it's not that I have anything against these people, it's not that they have anything against me, it's just life took us in different directions. And despite that, this time that we have spent knowing like, hey, we're not talking a lot, we're not seeing each other. But like, that doesn't change the love I have for you. And if you ever needed me, or when I'm in your city, nine months from now, I will make time to connect with you and see you. Like, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That is so beautiful. There is this almost inescapable element to how time really cements things, relationships, especially. And that, I think, was a really cool piece of this monologue. And what's even more fascinating, I think, about these three girls is really when they are fighting. The dialogue of these three women is flawless. And it really shows how friends can make you feel insecure unintentionally through things like just this concept of being a three-person relationship. And how she has these moments of seeing the two of them talk to each other or laugh with one another and how that makes her feel so sad and insecure. And it's not because they're doing anything to her, but it makes her reflect on herself. And also with this idea of like this competition that they all feel towards each other, not just in terms of like little things. And they talk about their lives and their choices and how so-and-so dedicated their life to a job and how this person's an actor and she's famous. And they talk about their lives and their choices and how so-and-so dedicated their But this other person has a really beautiful family and a nice home, blah, blah, blah. Like, it's almost inadvertent the way that they are not trying to compete directly, but the comparisons they draw between themselves is inevitable. And that is because they all grew up together. When you have this idea of we all started from the same place, there's always this element of like, could that have been me? Did I choose wrong? Did I do this? Blah, blah, blah, blah. And again, that is such an interesting. I think dynamic to explore. And I also think we see this with a lot of the flaws, especially in Jacqueline when she's like trying to hook up with Valentin. And what's fascinating is like, Jacqueline doesn't want the boy, she wants to win the competition. And you will meet a lot of people like this in your life, where in order to feel better about themselves, they have to bring somebody else down. And a very easy way to do that is they just manufacture a competition, even if they're not interested in that boy, or whatever. If they can say, okay, we are both going to go after this boy, and he's showing interest in you, but I can pull that interest away from you onto me, in my head, somehow, it will prove that you are here, and I am here. I'm just a little bit better because this other person, outside source, validated me in this way that I can't get on my own. And what's so sad about that is it doesn't fix your own insecurities. Like that entire line of thinking is rooted in this idea of insecurity, this idea of like, feeling like you need to look at yourself and look at something outside of yourself to feel more like yourself. Like, I only feel beautiful and desirable when somebody else is desiring me, yet that doesn't change how you look yesterday or how you're going to look tomorrow, right? Like, it is just this feeling of that gratification that we need. And what's so fascinating to me, and I think this happens in female friendships a lot, from the way a lot of my female friends have described it, but also just all friendships, is how that turns into this concept of competition, again, like, even when not directly expressed. You know, I think what's interesting about Jacqueline's character is, like, I think she genuinely doesn't view the situation and the argument like she did anything wrong. Because that is the way a lot of these people think when they have this inadvertent, like, nature of just doing it to validate themselves. And again, we see how this is, like, really at her own detriment. Like, she has this very loving, boyfriend back home that we see her, her husband, that we see her on the phone with, blah, blah, blah. And how everything she said about how crazy they were for each other is so true. And that, I think, was very, very interesting to explore. I also think, loved when they kind of, like, were always kind of talking shit about each other a little bit, or at the very least, like, expressing discontentment with a lot of the choices or, like, things they said. And I actually read this there is a study that says that, like, friends who are comfortable kind of, like, roasting each other or insulting each other to their face generally have longer-lasting friendships. And I think it's very much because of things like this. Because when you don't feel this ability to, like, express those things fully, they fester within you. And when you don't have a place to, you know, like, put that, seek that out, it turns into, again, this resentment, this competition, this rage. And that is where these three women are kind of constantly at one another in different ways. You know, two of them are talking shit about the other girl's political beliefs. And the other two are talking shit about how the girl kind of is, you know, she doesn't look as good as she used to. And then the other two are talking about how, oh, my gosh, she's so obsessed with male attention, blah, blah, blah, right? Like, they're always just, like, nitpicking at each other. But again, like, what is so interesting about these three is that dialogue. What it's something I found fascinating was, did you know that the actors of the three girls in the White Lotus thought that their character were going to be the disappointment of the season? I was at this panel with HBO where a lot of the cast was there, and they were talking about this, how when they all got their scripts, they were reading through and were like, oh, my God, this other line has wealth, this incest, there's partying, there's Rick and Chelsea who are getting in gunfights, blah, blah, blah. Like, when they were reading all these parts, they all, three of these women, felt like theirs was so plain, so I think that made it so interesting, because we all felt like one of those women at some point in the thing, right? And they're all flawed for different ways. Jacqueline has this feeling like she needs validation from other people, from men, from friendships, whereas Kate is just this pacifist that can never really pick a side, never really wants conflict, kind of always sides with all people, and is very much this, like, a friend to everyone feels like a friend to no one. And then Lori just has this, like, really built-up feeling of self-pity and resentment that she really projects onto other people and onto other situations, and she's constantly blaming these things outside of herself or the way she's feeling or why she's this, why she's that. And what's fascinating to me about all of these three women and, like, the way their story ends is that they don't resolve these conflicts. What happens is that they just accept each other's flaws and decide, yeah, I still love you. And I think that is really important. It's a beautiful thing. Because everyone you're going to meet in your fucking life has some sort of flaw. It is inevitable. And if you really want to cherish that person and have them in your life for decades, every friend is going to have some sort of fatal flaw, and you've got to be able to look at that thing and be like, yeah, there's going to be sometimes we bite heads on this thing or the way you handle these sorts of situations really bothers me. But the other 99% of you is so great that I understand that. And I'm going to move past. And I'm going to cherish you because everything else about you and everything that we've been through in this time we spent together are so meaningful and significant to me. And that is what I loved about the storyline of these three. It wasn't, there wasn't a really big resolution to what is happening with the boy. There wasn't a big resolution to these arguments they had over political differences. There wasn't this resolution to, like, the way they would kind of talk bad about each other. They just decided that they were all happy to be at the table. And that they were. They were so happy to be with each other. And they felt that the time they spent was significant because they've been through so much and they love each other. And I think that's a very real thing to think about friendships. I also think it's a very real thing that, like, you're going to have friends that sometimes make you feel anxious or make you feel jealous of something happening to them or maybe insecure about, like, a thing they have or a relationship they have. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think that's a human condition. We all look at things of other people and then use that to reflect upon ourselves. And what I hope is that sort of this, those three kind of, like, make you think about your own friendships differently. Then we get to the Ratcliffe family. And Victoria is this personification of a superiority complex. Like, she is obsessed with wealth and status. Even blatantly telling their kids that no one else here is good enough for them because of their wealth. And this develops this mindset in the children that they kind of don't really see anyone else as real. Like, Saxon is very belittling to other women. Piper has this superiority complex herself, but feeling like she's more leftist and accepting than the rest of her family. And then Lachlan just becomes this people pleaser that doesn't know what to do because everybody's always fighting and he's trying to make it all okay. And what's fascinating, when they are told that these other people aren't real people and belittling them and their mother is forcing that belief kind of upon them, it should be no surprise. It's not a bad thing. But they get a little incestuous. While very crazy and weird, it is meant to exemplify, I think, the way that wealthy people get very, not literally, but incestuous with one another. And this idea that people of a certain wealth and class or whatever, they're not dating down. And this idea to date somebody who didn't go to this university or hire somebody out of this job that didn't go to Harvard or Princeton. There's this idea. There's this incestuous network of these very wealthy and privileged people. And I think that that is kind of what the sort of Saxon Lachlan thing is meant to represent. Victoria's monologue at the end is absolutely flawless because it so perfectly encapsulates the way wealthy, out-of-touch, entitled people cope with knowing that they are part of a rigged system that is rigged in their favor. They are the beneficiary of this mass, not equal distribution of wealth. And when she says things like, it would be an insult to the billions of people who don't we have to enjoy it. We live better than they ever have. Like, it is so crazy because that sentence acknowledges that she knows that the only reason she can have those things is because there's billions of people without those things. And I think we see this a lot with Piper when she sort of gives this. She gives this speech to her mom about how she felt like she could live this life but couldn't because these material things were actually so important to her. She only makes eye contact with her mom. If you really go back and watch that scene, like, she feels so much internal shame, yet the only person she knows she can look at is her mother who she knows is this out-of-touch and is kind of like, you know, not forced but baked that mindset into her upbringing. Then we get to Saxon. Saxon is meant to be this personification with everything wrong with our society. This idea that happiness in our life equates to wanting things and getting them. And then if you get them, you're going to be happy. It is this oversimplification of what brings joy in life. And that actually makes him feel very unsatisfied by the end. Juxtaposed to Piper's journey where she goes in thinking she is going to seek spiritual enlightenment and she's so ready and excited. She's so ready and excited. To give up all these material possessions following this Buddhist philosophy. Yet at the end, she realized she is just a spoiled little girl and that she cannot live without this life that she had become accustomed to. And what's so fascinating about Piper and Saxon is that by the end of the season, their ideologies completely flip. Saxon meets people like Greg and he sees his own life play out. This philosophy of if you go after what you want and you'll get what you want. You'll get it. You'll be happy. So to him, the things he wants are wealth and a hot wife and the cool thing. And he sees this guy who has a multi-million dollar mansion, a yacht, this hot girlfriend. Yet he finds it pitiful. And that kind of breaks his mentality. And this is what Chelsea points out to him all the time. She sees right through him. So he has to re-examine his entire meaning of life and actually tries to find some deeper sense of existence and purpose. As Piper represents everything wrong about the left. That she spouts this ideas of equality and this feeling of moral superiority she has over her peers and her family. Yet the second she has to sacrifice any aspect of her own comfort, her own privilege, suddenly her ideology crumbles and it's not that big of a deal. And she seems to waver. She is meant to represent this irony of privilege. That people say that they want these social improvements and equality. But refuse to challenge the status quo. Because they are a beneficiary of that status quo. So they just rage into a void on the internet and get mad at their friends and get mad at this person without ever actually doing anything. And this is really, I think, a concept with like this neoliberalism and what has become of like the Democratic Party in general. Keep in mind, I say this as a proud leftist. Like I have very leftist beliefs. But I am not going to deny that. I am not going to deny to you that like the difference between someone like Nancy Pelosi and most people, most Republican senators is like not that far off. You know, like she's extremely wealthy and engages in insider trading. And you know what I mean? Like I think that is what Piper's character is meant to show. That people on the surface really spout these ideologies about wanting this social improvement. But only in this very blanket happy-go-lucky sense. And the second that it's like, okay, great. Like let's look at a real systematic. Let's look at a really systematic way that we can make a change, we can make with Piper. It's changing her own life with other people, it's actual systems, government systems, the way we spend money. And suddenly, all these things sort of disappear, you know? And that is what is so fascinating to me about Piper. I actually think she has one of the most very predictable storylines in the show. But it's very, very funny and well done. I think the way it perfectly juxtaposes Saxon's experience at the White Lotus. And then we get to Loughlin. Loughlin is this blank canvas. Loughlin is this blank canvas of the family pulled between two separate ideologies. His brother who values wealth and sex and money versus his sister who values spirituality and this deeper meaning to life. So because he is such a people pleaser, he does both, right? He spends that one night with his brother indulging in that life. They party, they drink, they do drugs. He gets with the girl. Quite literally fulfilling his brother's desire to get off in life by getting him off. However, that pisses off his brother. And makes his brother angry. So, Loughlin swings the complete opposite direction. He then spends the night with his sister at the temple, letting go of all these carnal desires. Spending the night pursuing this deeper meaning of life, trying to find spiritualism. And then when he tells his sister that he wants to spend the year with her at this temple, that also pisses her off. And I think what Loughlin's story is meant to show is that you cannot people-please your way into pleasing yourself. Because real happiness comes from within. And if you constantly spend your time trying to do things for someone else or impress somebody else, you are only using your energy for them which will result in your own disappointment. Real happiness comes from forging your own path. own path and finding what that means to you. There's things you're going to like and things you're not going to like. And that is not something that you can do for somebody else, be told by somebody else. Happiness is this own sense of morality, foundational, your job, your relationships, everything. Like it is not this one size fits all solution. And you cannot people please your way into feeling this greater sense of fulfillment. You're just giving your energy away to other people who are never going to appreciate it the same way you do, which is very much what happens with Lachlan. And then we get to the dad, Timothy Ratliff. And what's fascinating about the dad is he's really the only one that actually goes on any sort of spiritual epiphany. He starts thinking that his family is going to be absolutely miserable and die from this massive scandal that's about to happen to them. So he quite literally tries to kill them. But by the end of it, he realizes that his family is stronger than he thought they were. In fact, I even think he finds out that maybe he's a little stronger. When he stops them from almost committing suicide. And the dynamic between Victoria and the dad is so interesting because they never even touch each other once. No hug, no kiss, nothing. Like Victoria is so disassociated from him that she never even notices that he was the one who stole her lorazepam, despite constantly showing signs of it. He's like sleeping in all the time. He is this blatant incognito. He's not really present in any sort of conversation, barely even saying full sentences sometimes. And it kind of makes you wonder if they ever even love each other. And it's so interesting to me that this is not even a plot point or even brought up once. And it's not that they don't love each other. What they love is the life that they give each other. This idea of the perfect family and the wealth and the status that they have. And they get to pity everyone else and pity the people who doesn't have what they have. So if you're a dad, you're not going to be able to do that. They have to enjoy it. It's only right. It would be insulting otherwise. And this was one of my favorite dynamics of the show that a lot of people didn't talk about was that like this mom and dad are so disconnected from one each other. It honestly looks like they're almost completely platonic. Like if you didn't know that they were a family or whatever, like they do not touch each other. Nothing. There's no intimacy between these two. And I've actually met many people's parents who are kind of like this. Although it's interesting to me because this is a family is supposed to be like they're from North Carolina where I was born and raised in Virginia. So I've actually met some people who have this very like Southern wealth type thing going on. So I, you know, like I've seen, I've seen some dynamics like this. And that is what I think made the Ratliffs so interesting. They are so privileged yet live such an empty life because of that privilege. Like they've almost become trapped in this own life that they create for themselves. This, this beautifully gold encrusted prison. It's really what it feels like. Where none of them actually, it feels like are really experiencing real love, real intimacy, real connection. And instead are really focused on these elements of superficiality. What college am I going to go to? What things can I buy? What stocks am I trading? Whatever. And they feel that that's a meaningful life. Yet, is it a meaningful life? Like, do they really seem happier than some people like Rick and his girlfriend, Chelsea, for example. And Rick and Chelsea are really close. And Chelsea is another fascinating one. Rick could not appreciate the love he had more than the love he felt he was denied. So he goes out on this quest in search of closure, which then turns into revenge, which then blatantly kills him. And what's fascinating to me is closure is kind of a myth. It is a subjective concept that isn't really real. Like closer can't change the past, but acceptance does have the power to change the future. And even if he, you know, got some really amazing experience with that guy who ended up being his dad and all of these things like that is never going to change the experiences he had in his youth, right? He felt like he was denied this love and all these things he felt was wrong with him. And this is also just this like classic example of trauma and sort of confirmation bias. You know, when somebody had something bad happen to them, then anytime more bad things happen to them, they have to be like, it was because of this. This was this catalyst that set all these things in motions. And this is the person who's wrong. And you did this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, they guilt themselves and pity themselves. And by doing that, they kind of never examine their life. They never examine the things around them, the people around them. And that leaves Rick to completely just leave this girl who's so devoted to him and loves him and like really cares about him in this like deep level in ways that's kind of crazy, but interesting. Like these two were such a great dynamic of the show. And I think it's also very interesting that this is an age gap couple, which is a very common thing we see in White Lotus. But this is really one of the only times I see an age gap couple that like we want to root for. Like it's actually very sad what happens to them in the end. And it feels like this great tragedy where like he was so close to just figuring it out. And then it all slipped through his fingertips and then everything went to shit. And not only that, his Rick's self-destructive tendencies ended up being like, oh, well, I'm going to have to do this. And he ended up destroying the people he loved most, which is another thing you see a lot of the time with people who have these issues. They're spending this entire life in quest of some emotional experience they felt they were denied and they never find. And also another underrated thing I felt was super interesting was Rick and the therapist at the end. How Rick is like really like he's for the first time like excited and willing to talk to this mental health professional about the very real trauma and feelings of violence and depression and anxiety he's like experiencing. He needs her. She's not available, which is so interesting. And I don't know if Mike White did this on purpose, but to me, it was almost like a statement on the health care system. I don't know if any of you guys have ever tried to sign up for therapy, but the wait lists are often like three months. It is insane. And I say that it's like they're a wait list of three months. And I'm somebody who like has a job and like has insurance and like like I am very able and privileged to like be able to do that and like have that as an option to me. And what scares me and I thought about this a lot with just overall again, like things in in mental health and health care of like how I'm like if I was really going through something and like needed somebody and was, you know, contemplating self harm or something like I can't that that person cannot do a three month wait list. And it is really terrifying to me that we've just like normalized that and this concept of mental health, especially when these things are so urgent, and we see how him not being able to have that outlet to express to makes this entire thing blow up and it's when the shooting happens. And that I think is a very interesting thing. I don't know if that's what the statement was designed to be. That's very much the way I interpreted it. And I thought it was super interesting. Another interesting thing too, I felt about Rick was like, no matter what happens to him, and no matter how much he's going through, he cannot tell the one person who loves him most, he cannot confide in her emotionally in the same way as he can this stranger who's a therapist as he can one of his old buddies. And this is very interesting thing. I think honestly, a problem I experienced too, and you know that somebody loves you and really loves you unconditionally, you somehow develop this mentality of like, well, I can't have a genuine serious conversation with them about this thing, because they just love me and they'll be on my side no matter what, which is a very, again, like a very privileged and nice thing to be able to think but I have felt this way in the past too, where there's like some people where I'm like, I can't talk to you about this thing, because I know you're going to be on my side. And sometimes I don't want that. But what was so sad about Rick was like, that's all he could do to the point where he couldn't even talk with his girlfriend, the one who loves him most. And then that makes him have this violent act of rage and all the things start to happen. Another thing, interesting things about this season is Belinda and Zion. Mike White has actually said that the ending with Belinda was one of the first things that he thought of for this season, which I think is why Zion is the opening character. It's also this thing, this literary device that Mike White loves to use, I think it's called the Chekhov's gun, which is just this idea of, there was a writer named Chekhov, who I think popularized like what this terminology is in literary terms. But it's like when you introduce something into the scene that you know is going to have significance, but you try to do it very early on to plant the seed. For that big payoff moment, right? So a great example of this in the Chekhov's gun thing would be like, let's say somebody's at a diner, and a police officer walks in to get coffee and a donut. And in the writing, it just very briefly mentions that he's like, sets down his wallet, his keys and his gun on the desk. And just that mention of the gun on the desk, you know, eight chapters later is when some robber comes in and picks that gun up and uses it to, you know, shoot the guy or whatever, right? That is what the Chekhov's gun is. In this season, it was the blend blender. If you watch back to the early episodes, there's a lot of emphasis and conversation. Where's the blender? I need my blender, blah, blah, blah. And it seems like useless and kind of boring until the last episode, you really understand why that blender was so significant, right? Also, again, with the fruit, they talk about this very early on in the beginning. Also, Zion as a character acts as that, right? He's this character that we see at the beginning of the show. And until we know that like, okay, okay, when this guy is in the story, that is when the conflict will happen. And then when we cut to the beginning and see he's not there, we know we're in the exposition. We know that the climax is far away. And that also means that the episode Zion does show up as we're like, oh, things are really heating up. I think a lot of people that have complaints about this season is that it felt slow in the beginning. Whereas I actually think in order for the season to end as well as it did, a lot of these seeds had to be planted very early on. There had to be a lot of just these big dialogue moments between the three girls fighting. There had to be this showing of Zion as a character only to not show him. There had to be a lot of scenes of Saxon talking about a blender, right? Like that is what good writing is. It is setting expectation to then defy those expectations. That's how you get a good, exciting moment. And in order to do that, you kind of have to, that's what exposition in a story is. So then again, we get to the story with Belinda. And, you know, I think her entire point of the character, again, is to show this idea of injustice. And we live in an unjust world. And whether it's depressing or not, what happens to her is very accurate. You know, it's not, it's very movie, TV show fantasy to be like, oh, always the girl's going to get the big money and the big opportunity. And la-di-da-di-da, she was such a great person. It's so awesome that this good thing happened to her. And if good things happen to good people all the time, we would live in a much better society. But we don't. And that is a sad reality of the world. And I think that's interesting about Belinda. And then also, again, we see this moment where Belinda passes on the trauma that she felt from Tanya. And what's so fascinating is that in this moment, you can tell that Belinda is almost insignificant. She's like, oh, can't I just be rich for five minutes? Like, I just need to figure this thing out, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yet you see the pain on the face of the man that she had met and even been intimate with. And how much that deeply hurt him. And how he now has that exact same emotional turmoil that Belinda felt. Yet, to her, it was almost insignificant. You know, just, again, like a passing thought. And I think that is, again, so interesting to her. And also this idea of sometimes how wealth corrupts. Wealth corrupts people. Wealth is, you know, what people who have it become so addicted to it and feel like they have to hold on to it. Especially people like her who felt like they had to fight so hard for it. Has made her completely step away from the idea of sharing it ever and altogether. And again, I don't think Belinda is like a bad person. But that was an interesting thing that I think happened with her character that I found very fascinating. And another theory I have is imagine if Belinda opens her own White Lotus spa. And that is the plot of another. Like, she has this $5 million that she then uses to, like, pay for, like, the franchising fee. And then opens her own White Lotus spa. She can kind of, like, take the role of what the hotel manager was in the second season. And I think this would be such an interesting way to bring back so many characters. We could really explore Zion a lot more. We could explore any person from season one who was, like, around that hotel in Hawaii. You know, she can just be like, oh, Belinda liked them so much she hired them over here. Or whatever. Like, there would be so many interesting ways. To tie that into a narrative. I don't know if that's what Mike White intends to do. But I do love that that is kind of a seed that has been planted. And I love the idea of exploring, like, Belinda kind of becoming the thing that she resented. And her having to go on that own emotional journey of her kind of becoming what Tanya was as a character. I think would be so fascinating. And then another few, like, character dynamics I want to talk about before the end. We'll talk about Mook and Guy Talk. First, I actually want to talk about Chelsea and Saxon. Chelsea and Saxon are one of my favorite character dynamics in the entire show. Because this is the first time a woman has looked at him the way that he looks at other women. Like, she doesn't even see him as a real person. Almost just kind of like an object or a joke. And he is so taken aback by this woman in, like, a very large age gap relationship finding him pitiful. In his eyes, he's like, I have everything a person should ever want. I'm wealthy. I went to. Duke. I'm this man. I get girls. Blah, blah, blah. And how could she view me as less than this guy? And what's fascinating is, like, her doing that and so just brushing him off. Like, she's almost like she's not even trying to be mean to him. But just like, dude, like, I know you. I met a thousand of you. And, like, I know how your life goes. That that made him have to introspect on, like, well, why is that? Why can somebody feel that way about me? What does she value that I don't value? And that's when, you know, she intervened. She introduced him to all these books and stuff. And we actually start to see, like, a very interesting, good character arc for Saxon as a character, which I thought was fascinating. And, again, would have not guessed at all within the first four episodes. Like, they really do everything they can to make him as unlikable as possible. But her, you know, viewing him almost in this inhumane way makes him discover his own humanity, which I think is a very interesting thing. And kind of a funny thing that we see even, again, on this last scene in the boat when he's, like, reading this book. That, you know, he, going to Thailand for Saxon was seeing where his life ends. He was seeing all these rich, old, bald, white guys that accomplished everything that Saxon feels like he wants to accomplish and is entitled to accomplish. And when not only he starts to find those people pitiful, but all these people and beautiful women around him also kind of feels, view those people as pitiful, it's like, well, maybe I've got to re-examine the path that I'm on. And it actually makes Saxon have this very. Like, sort of redemption arc. At the very least, you see, like, growth as a character in him. And he's very dynamic. Like, he changes a lot. Again, like, Saxon and Piper are these people who start on completely opposite ends of the spectrum and then end on the completely opposite ends of the spectrum that they arrived on. Then last is Mook and Guy Talk. And I think Guy Talk's ending was a tragedy. He had to compromise his own morals in order to get the girl in the job he wanted. And he kind of sacrifices this piece of himself, this piece of. His religion and Buddhist ideology to obtain these worldly desires that he wants, which is, ironically, counterintuitive to the entire institution of Buddhism. And it's sad. Like, hard work didn't pay off. You know, like, him just being this honest guy, this honest employee, loving this girl, you know, really doing everything he can to make her want to be with him wasn't even enough for her. It had to be him being the badass and shooting the guy and being the savior. And what is sad, I think, about. What is sad about Guy Talk's story is it shows that in our society, being immoral is kind of rewarded a little bit. I mean, look at our president. But, like, you know, with Guy Talk, like, he spends all this time, you know, almost quitting his job, almost getting fired. And then when he's like, you know what, I'm just going to sacrifice everything I believe in to do the thing that I know I should do, it works out for him. And I think that's meant to be an interesting thing. You know, like, Guy Talk compromising his sense of self to get the girl. And isn't this examining of the way that our world works, where in order to get ahead often, you have to sacrifice a part of your idealism. You have to sacrifice a part of what you believe in to benefit the institution or whatever around you. And what's left of you if you keep doing that over and over again to get ahead? You know, maybe you just end up like Greg. And that's a very interesting thing. So what are my closing thoughts about this? I think that this is the best finale we've ever seen. I felt like it was so dramatic. So much happens. I felt like the deaths were kind of expected for me in ways that I feel like normally the first two seasons, the deaths were kind of unexpected. I feel like we always knew something was going to happen to Chelsea or Rick. The Lachlan thing was kind of a twist that I was into. But again, like the writing of the show, specifically the monologues we see with Piper Posey as Victoria and this like statement on wealth to these three girls and Carrie Coon's final speech about, you know, just being happy to be at the top. It was so beautiful. Oh, my God, it was profound. I've already I've literally already watched it on YouTube because it gave me so much chills of how, you know, we can always spend life wanting the thing or comparing ourselves to the other people. But at the end of the day, like if you're at the table with people who make you happy, you won, you know, and then maybe we don't need to think so deeply about what the table looks like or what food is being served on the table. And what's more important is who we are with at that table. And that's what's so beautiful about. Her journey and the journey of all these characters, these season, you know, like there's so many times we think that they're all going to hate each other or that things are going to blow up. And it never went the way that I expected. Really, truly. And I absolutely love that. I think that this is such an incredible show. I hope that I could change the mind of some of the people who were were haters about this season because I thought it was truly so profound. I loved it. It is such again, like I think Mike White is such an incredible writer, a director. Thank you all so much. We have a lot of exciting stuff coming. Hopefully I'll post that blog. I don't know. We'll see. But again, follow on Spotify. Please, please, please, please. We're so close. Don't forget to sub to the channel if you haven't. And yeah, I'll see you all next week. Bye. Here's a tip. So rule the group chat. And download Apple Sports for free on the App Store or find it on your new iPhone. For everyone. pick up some coca-cola at a store near you