It all began with a dead body, before the HBO hit flashed back to a week earlier. Now satirical spa drama The White Lotus is set to solve all its mysteries in the third season finale, titled Amor Fati (which translate as “love of fate”, Latin fans).
The Thailand-set series opened with Zion’s meditation session being interrupted by gunfire. As the panicking student waded through the resort’s ponds to look for his mother, Belinda, an unidentified corpse floated past him face-down. Who was it? Who pulled the trigger? And will anyone squat over a suitcase?
The internet is awash with speculation about how creator Mike White will wrap up his wellness whodunnit. Book yourself in for a stress-relieving massage as we round up the wildest theories and most compelling predictions …
1. A Ratliff will shoot Tim when they realise he’s bankrupt
As Saxon said: “If I’m not a success, then I’m nothing. And I can’t handle being nothing.” Unravelling Ratliff patriarch Timothy (Jason Isaacs) is hiding from his legal and financial troubles at the bottom of a lorazepam bottle. However, the family’s phones will soon be switched back on and news of the scandal will break. Douchebag son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) has threatened a meltdown if they lose social status. So has his mother, Victoria (Parker Posey): “I honestly don’t know if I’d want to live.”
Tim has fantasised about shooting the money-mad pair before turning the gun on himself. This has surely been too signposted to come true. Instead, a confrontation could escalate. Either Saxon (already shaken by that incestuous threesome) or Victoria (suffering withdrawal because Tim stole her pills) could gun Tim down.
2. There’s more to Mook than meets the eye
Surely you don’t cast K-pop star Lalisa Manobal (AKA Lisa from Blackpink) in her debut acting role only to consign her to the sidelines? As health mentor Mook, she seems angelic and innocent. Yet there have been hints at a steely side. She can clearly handle spiky hotel guests and constantly encourages lovesick colleague Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) to become a gun-toting henchman.
Could Mook’s girl-next-door act conceal darker intentions? Is she flirting with Gaitok to keep him occupied because she’s in cahoots with the bodyguards or the Russians? Don’t be surprised if one of the cast’s headline signings has a bigger part to play.
3. Not one but three deaths
Another trending theory predicts a hat-trick of murders in the finale. The number three has loomed large all series. This is the show’s third season. Chelsea keeps saying how “bad luck comes in threes”. The three Ratliff children were shown in the opening episode resembling the three wise monkeys.
There are three toxic female friends, three Russian party boys and there was a pivotal threesome. Tim stashed the stolen gun in the suite’s cabinet in the third drawer from the left and three rows down. It all parallels the Three Marks of Existence, a fundamental concept in Buddhism. Could the theme continue with three deaths, perhaps perpetrated by three different killers?
4. Greg will kill Belinda (or vice versa)
It’s the plot thread tying all three seasons together. Greg AKA “Gary” (Jon Gries) is the only character to pop up in every series. Spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) has rumbled him as the gold-digging husband of her late friend Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) and wants justice. Gary has offered her $100K to stay silent but Belinda seems set to refuse his blood money.
Will Gary get to Belinda before she can alert the authorities? After all, the series did begin with her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) hearing gunshots and fearing for his mother’s safety. Or will Belinda become an avenging angel and kill Greg?
5. Rick’s dad is alive but Chelsea will die
Irascible Rick (Walton Goggins) had an ulterior motive for coming to Thailand. He’s seeking revenge on resort co-owner Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), who he believes murdered his father. Their eventual confrontation was freighted with meaning. Jim called Rick “my kind of drinker” when he downed whisky, like a chip off the old block. He repeated Rick’s mother’s name, Gloria Hatchett, as if shaking a memory loose. What if Jim is Rick’s long-lost biological father? It would make Rick’s reluctance to kill him more poignant. No burying the Hatchett here.
Viewers last saw Rick achieving closure and smiling beatifically, which doesn’t bode well for his survival. We also fear for his hippy-dippy girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), who’s been begging Rick to let her help him. “We’re in this yin and yang battle,” she said in the penultimate episode. “I’m hope. He’s pain. Eventually one of us will win.” Will she die to save Rick? After being held at gunpoint and bitten by a snake, she said: “Death is coming for me. This could be some Final Destination-type shit.”
6. The frenemies kill each other
How many more pass-agg meals can they have? TV star Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) took childhood pals Laurie (Carrie Coon) and Kate (Leslie Bibb) on holiday but there’s trouble in paradise. Fuelled by wine and jealousy, tensions between the toxic trio have boiled over. Kate has already been outed as a Trump voter, so White might make a political point by having her go postal.
7. First incest, now fratricide
Saxon and younger brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola) have both had queasy flashbacks to their incestuous tryst after the Full Moon party. However, with Lochlan staying overnight at the Buddhist temple and Saxon back at the resort, the pair have yet to be reunited.
There might be festival-style fireworks when they meet again. Could Saxon murder his own brother in a fit of revulsion? Could Lockie kill Saxon in self-defence? The brotherly power balance has already shifted. Lochlan told his big sibling: “One day, I’m gonna take you down.” Maybe he meant fatally.
8. Chloe and Gary are a con artist duo
Fans have questioned why socialite Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and boyfriend Gary frequent the White Lotus so much when they have a superyacht and swish house. Some say they’re only hanging around the hotel to scam its minted guests. Gary keeps throwing parties and inviting old dudes with age-gap “sugar baby” girlfriends. Is he looking for marks to relieve of their money, like he did to dead wife Tanya?
Eagle-eyed viewers have also spotted Chloe wearing a Maggie Simpson necklace. Don’t forget it was the dummy-sucking Springfield infant who shot wealthy, bald villain Mr Burns. An omen that Chloe will soon do the same to Gary? (*Steeples fingers* “Eeexcellent.”)
9. Gaitok will shoot Valentin to prove himself
Sweet security guard Gaitok is keen to demonstrate that he has what it takes. What better way than becoming a have-a-go hero by gunning down a villain? At the muay thai fight, Gaitok realised that yoga teacher Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) deliberately distracted him so his Russian buddies could commit armed robbery on the hotel jewellery store. Meanwhile, Gaitok’s date Mook is urging him to show killer instinct. Could Gaitok catch the baddie and get the girl?
10. Tim will find spiritual enlightenment
What if that wild monologue from Frank (Sam Rockwell) – “Maybe I want to become one of these Asian girls” – foreshadowed Tim’s future? The Bangkok expat spoke at jaw-dropping length about finding sexual and spiritual enlightenment in Thailand. Meanwhile, Tim has considered not returning to the US to evade arrest for fraud.
He seemed enchanted by his audience with the chief monk, saying he “seems like the real deal”. Could he follow the path of daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) and join the Buddhist monastery himself? His wife Victoria’s reaction would be priceless. “Tim, no!”
11. Laurie’s daughter is Portia from season two
There have been several references to Laurie’s “cool daughter” back home. Physical similarities led some fans to speculate that this daughter might be season two’s Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) – longsuffering assistant of high-maintenance heiress Tanya.
Laurie and Portia have similar curly blond bobs, while sharing a taste for chilled rosé and unwise holiday hook-ups. With Tanya’s husband Greg making a surprise Koh Samui comeback, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that her PA could too. Portia could even help Belinda unmask Greg as a criminal, neatly closing the narrative circle.
12. The pong pong tree is key
Call it Chekhov’s fruit. It was mentioned in episode one that the fruit of Thailand’s native pong pong tree has toxic seeds. Will someone fall victim? In the teaser trailer, Tim Ratliff seems to be showing a lot of interest in the plant ...
13. A monkey gets the gun and fires it
It’s the internet’s favourite theory. Regular shots of wild monkeys in the trees around the resort, along with mentions of how dangerous they could be, has fuelled talk of a simian grabbing a gun and pulling the trigger. During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Monaghan debunked the idea: “Guys, the monkeys did not do it! People have gone apeshit thinking that.” But perhaps she protests too much and a monkey will indeed go bananas.
