If only Timothy could be as distracted by things as inane as bulking or Buddhism. Instead, he’s found his phone has become a ticking time bomb. He’s getting calls at breakfast and even Saxon is needing to field queries from back in the office. It’s what prompts the patriarch to finally take Pam (Morgana O’Reilly) on her offer to lock all of their devices away, leaving him finally free of the throbbing pressure of needing to answer those increasingly ruinous calls.
Saxon, of course, cannot imagine what he’s going to do now that he has no access to his phone. Sure, he’s still gently bullying his younger brother about becoming a man (“You wanna be neurotic your whole life and die a virgin?” as he puts it) and picking fights with his sister over who of the two is most spoiled. But mostly, he realizes he now has time to spend time by the pool once more where we’ll see him be his sweaty self in trying to win over the young women he’s unable to leave well alone.
Funnily enough, he does end up striking a nice conversation with Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) once Chelsea (Amy Lou Wood) leaves her on her own as she heads out with Rick (Walton Goggins), the ever-sweaty and increasingly shifty White Lotus guest, who’s had it with stress therapy and fresh fruit and is intent on scoring some weed.
Yes, it turns out Rick really isn’t here for any well-being. Instead, it’s clear he has his sights on Sritala (Lek Patravadi) and her husband. It’s why he’s headed to Bangkok the next day—but not before buying a spliff and deciding that there’s no better thing to do while outside the hotel than attend a live cobra show. And if you thought you’d seen him sweat before, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Clearly high and increasingly paranoid, Rick cannot let himself sink into the makeshift snake show. Instead, he gawks at those gawking at the snakes and begins to empathize with these animals, especially those in captivity throughout the store. Which leads him to do the craziest thing imaginable: set them free! That was never going to end well but I couldn’t have thought it’d lead to Chelsea getting bitten by a venomous snake and being carted off to the hospital. What luck that girl has! (Sidenote: that snake choker is starting to look like an omen, no?)
Speaking of snakes…I kid, of course, but you have to admit the friendship between Jaclyn, Kate, and Laurie (Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, and Carrie Coon) is starting to feel like an exercise in gritted companionship. Their trio keeps splintering in different ways. Jaclyn and Kate are clearly bonding over their vanity and their performative concern for divorced Laurie. Kate and Laurie are obviously bonding over their shared authenticity and their annoyance of Jaclyn’s sunny, happy-g0-lucky front.
It seems they may not be seeing eye to eye to eye anytime soon. Not with Jaclyn and Laurie secretly vying for Valentin (especially during their flirty yoga session) and definitely not once Kate admits that she, uh, now considers herself an independent (and won’t, it seems, commit to saying she didn’t vote for Trump). (Watching Leslie Bibb give an eye roll and a grimace to paper over the shame she anticipates she’s supposed to feel is a joy. Indeed, the way these three actors are perfectly capturing a very specific brand of white women whose toothy smiles hide more than they’d like to admit is becoming a highlight each episode.) Will politics tear them asunder? As Kate goes to bed overhearing her two BFFs talk about her behind her back, that may really be where we’re headed.
Not that The White Lotus would leave us on such a note. No, instead, we’re back with Timothy, who’s pacing around his room again, having slept the day away. And unable to stay awake with his thoughts, he rummages through Victoria’s things again and steals himself another sleeping pill and then quickly lays by her side, unwilling to meet her gaze.
“Tim, is something going on?” she asks, before White’s camera once more pans out and lets us sit with the enormity of what really is going on, both at home and at this hotel.
Stray observations
- • “What are you grieving?” I’m adding this to the ever-growing list of lines that may well serve as the season’s thesis. Rick isn’t too keen on answering (though it seems his Bangkok plot may have something to do with his murdered father, perhaps?), but that question could be posed to many other White Lotus guests.
- • As Chloe tells Chelsea, that’s now two brushes with death in as many days. Can she make it three for three when she heads out to sea on a yacht in next week’s episode?
- • My favorite throwaway moment? Rick telling Fabian (Christian Friedel) he hadn’t caught his name while the White Lotus employee’s name tag is visible for all, including Rick, to see.
- • Speaking of Fabian, might he really be angling to sack Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) after that armed robbery fiasco?
- • “Snakes are evil! Read the Bible!” (I’d have pegged monkeys to be the first animals to get some plot-related airtime but alas, they were beaten to it by venomous snakes.)
- • How hilarious was Chelsea’s “You break it, you buy it” tee featuring a cartoon of planet earth? Too on the nose?
- • Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) is clearly having the time of her life here, learning from and bonding with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), but will there be something there? And what, do we think, is making all that noise in her hotel room that so frightens her?
- • Speaking of Belinda… what is Greg—I mean Gary (Jon Gries)—hiding as he pretends not to know our favorite White Lotus masseuse?
- • Next week, it seems that we’re headed out to sea, what with that trip around the bay aboard Gary’s yacht. What could possibly go wrong?
