The White Lotus Thailand: Ep7-Finale
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
“I think I saw god.” - Lochlan
Identity vs Agency
The season premier of White Lotus Thailand rang a warning: identity is a prison. So how do we escape that prison? According to the season finale, through agency.
In White Lotus, there’s no clear cut line of “do good receive good.” There is no reward for abstaining or punishment for partaking. Characters who go for what they want—no matter what it “says” about them—get what they want. Characters who follow along—who remain trapped in a story of their identity—get what’s coming to them.
God helps those who help themselves.
“Amor fati. It means you have to embrace your fate. Good or bad. Whatever will be will be. And at this point we’re linked. So if a bad thing happens to you, it happens to me.” - Chelsea
Go Big or Go Home…in a Goddamn Body Bag
I’ll start with our dead bodies: Chelsea and Rick.
Neither sees beyond their story of identity. Chelsea believes she is a healer for soulmate Rick. Rick believes Jim ruined his life. Are these stories real?
I believe Chelsea and Rick love each other. I believe Rick is in pain from his childhood. There is validity to these stories. But Chelsea and Rick’s allegiance to story is ultimately what kills them.
First, story blinds them to reality.
Chelsea focuses on tender moments between herself and Rick as evidence they are soulmates. She ignores anything to the contrary: Rick calling her annoying and frequently yelling at her to get away. Rick ignoring her calls. Rick putting her in harms way. Rick not being honest with her. This isn’t to say they’re not soulmates, just that Chelsea’s view is selective.
Rick chooses a story of tragedy over the reality that he is loved. Chelsea flat out says he should put down the narrative of love-lost and accept the love in front of him. But he doesn’t. If he let go of his origin story, he would have to take responsibility for his unhappiness.
“Stop thinking about the love you didn’t get. Think about the love you have.” - Chelsea
Next, they take things too far.
Even when Chelsea knows Rick is going to do something bad, she chooses to follow him. If she looked at the reality of that situation, maybe she would have run. But if we only look at Chelsea’s identity, it’s clear why she follows him. She believes she can save Rick. She believes that if she gets hurt, it’s not because Rick was selfish or impulsive—it was fate.
Rick can’t resist killing Jim, who of course is his father. He can’t prioritize his girlfriend’s safety over his urge for redemption, so she gets killed. Who’s the bad guy ruining other people’s lives now?
I think Chelsea and Rick’s death is romantic in a Romeo-and-Juliet way. They’re soulmates. They love each other more than life. And their stories did come true…they lived the rest of their lives together. All eight minutes of it. The gods must have had a good laugh with that one.
Chelsea following Rick to her death, donut in hand.
I loved this story line. How many of us cherry-pick reality to pad an identity we really want to be true? That we’re heroic, or wronged, or deserving, or unlucky? How many of us use a self-serving narrative as a cop out for taking agency of our lives? If we let go of identity and looked around at reality, who knows what we’d see. Maybe we would find we’re wrong and face discomfort. Or maybe we’d see a loving partner smiling across the table.
We all have a choice. Grab the donut and run to our deaths, or grab the donut and run for our lives.
But either way, let’s be real we’re grabbing the donut.
In the first episode, Laurie says, “I look and you guys and it’s like I’m looking in a mirror.” In the finale, she says, “I look at you guys and it feels meaningful.”
Vanity vs Beauty
Thank you Mike White for letting our ladies fight, party, have sex…and come out stronger for it! The women are not doomed!
These ladies have been jealous all season. The antidote is gratitude.
Laurie sums it up in her monologue at dinner (while wearing a hilariously ugly shirt. I mean seriously what did Laurie pack for this trip???) She doesn’t want to compare anymore. She wants to be grateful for what she has, for what her friends have, for what they have together. Their friendship is flawed but it’s long-lasting.
Finally, the ladies find real beauty: time.
Laurie giving her beautiful monologue in her ugly shirt.
Time is poison to vanity, but soil for life. Time gives their friendship meaning. Decades-long female friendships are a gift, but we have to accept that gift.
When Laurie sees her two image-obsessed friends posing for pictures in the pool, she smiles. She’s not jealous. She doesn’t expect them to change. She accepts her friends for who they are. And she’s grateful.
All three girlfriends accept each other. I caught myself tearing up when they all laughed and hugged at the end. Their friendship is beautiful.
“Like the food. I mean it was vegetarian. But it, you know, you could tell it wasn’t organic.” - Piper
There’s No Place Like North Carolina
The Ratliff family is leaving paradise. Like the Garden of Eden or the Land of Oz, the lessons learned in this foreign land will (hopefully) help them back home. So…what did they learn?
Saxon gets in touch with his soul. He tears up when Chelsea and Rick reunite on the beach. A week ago, he would have snickered at that. But now, he can put his ego to the side and see Chelsea as a full person, not a potential hook-up. The beauty of Chelsea and Rick’s relationship affects him.
Piper becomes self-aware. She comes to terms with who she is—her mother’s daughter, a creature of comfort, not a student of Buddhism.
If Saxon got a heart and Piper got brains, that means Lochlan found courage.
Maybe my favorite TV quote ever.
When Lochlan sees god, it looks like his four family members staring down at him. But as those moving waters settle, we see it’s actually four monks. Lochlan no longer worships his family, like Saxon warned against. Maybe Lochlan gained the courage to forge his own path.
Now, it’s time for the Ratliff family to click their heels three times and go home.
For the first time, Tim is confident his family can handle the rough road ahead. We don’t find out, though. That’s the thing with transformational journeys—we watch characters travel the yellow brick road, but we don’t know how they’ll handle the next tornado.
I have hope for the Ratliffs. As Frida Kahlo said, “at the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”
“Nothing from Nothing” by Billy Preston plays out the end of season 3, as Belinda and Zion sail into the sunset.
Take the Money and Run
Gaitok and Belinda’s stories followed the identity vs agency theme.
World’s-worst-security-guard lets go of his Buddhist identity to get the girl. Sritala had to yell at him 85 times before he shot the gun, but finally he gives up non-violence. He keeps the “live and let live” mindset by not ratting out the Russians.
Belinda lets go of her identity as an honest woman to get the money. In fact, she manipulates that identity into a negotiation tactic. Bad-ass. And she even “Tanya-ed” Pornchai in a twistedly satisfying full-circle White Lotus moment. Turns out when you have money, it’s not so hard to crush people’s dreams.
So…is Belinda a bad person now?
I think that question misses the point. I don’t think Belinda swapped a good identity for a bad identity. I think she shed identity altogether. She looked at the reality in front of her and acted. Rick and Chelsea died for their stories. Belinda took the money.
Season 2 ended with our two Italian prostitutes skipping down the street $50,000 richer. There’s no greater send-off to season 3, than watching Belinda and Zion sail off into the sunset…$5,000,000 richer.
Bravo! Fingers crossed for a season 4!
“I’m showin’ ‘em my moves.” - Frank
