By Dan Heching, CNN
(CNN) — While most episodes of “The White Lotus” roughly follow one day of vacay for the hapless luxury travelers, episode 5 of the third season of this sprawling Mike White-created series lingers on the night of the Full Moon party in Thailand, with Saxon and Lochlan Ratliff getting dangerously close to some pretty icky territory.
No one signed up for this game of spin the bottle
The Ratliff boys accompany Chloe and Chelsea – both solo, since ‘Gary’ had to stay home to “do something important,” and Rick headed to Bangkok for similarly nefarious-sounding reasons – to the party, where bucketloads of drinks abound and Chloe scores some party drugs. Saxon at first resists the narcotic temptation, much like his father did, but soon gives into peer pressure (…much like his father did too, to woeful results). After an inebriated night of dancing and sky gazing, the foursome are back on the boat, where a bottle of alcohol is passed around and we see Chloe and Chelsea urged to kiss. Then it’s Chloe and Lochlan’s turn (this, after Chloe previously mentioned her interest in the “little magician”). Then… Lochlan and Saxon are urged to kiss, at first with a peck. Somehow that’s not good enough, and the peck becomes a real kiss. NO! But yes, it happens.
The partying extends to the traveling ‘blonde blob,’ who are back on Koh Samui with White Lotus staffer Valentin and his Russian cohorts. After some alcohol-fueled clubbing, the group ends up back at the resort, where they all jump into the pool in various states of undress. After Laurie drunkenly begins venting about her life – which includes troubles at her law firm and the fact that she has to pay palimony – the night ends for everyone except Jaclyn, who surreptitiously summons Valentin back into the villa and into her bed (THIS, after spending the first half of the season valiantly urging her single friend Laurie to be the one to bed him). That’s low, Jac.
Meanwhile (and it’s a big meanwhile) in Bangkok, Rick meets up with his old buddy Frank, played by Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell in a surprise cameo. After he hands Rick a bag containing another gun (lots of those this season!), Frank launches into an absolutely bonkers monologue about his sexual compulsions and how he got off the “never-ending carousel of lust and suffering.” You gotta hear it to believe it.
Let’s see, what else? Oh right, there’s Belinda, who is getting increasingly freaked out by Gary/Greg’s interest in her, and rightfully so. While Fabian dismisses her panicked attempt to call “all the police” in Thailand, the US and Italy, Pornchai is more attentive to her needs… to the point where he stays over in her villa, and her bed, to help her feel safe. That’s right, almost everyone gets a piece in this episode.
Best lines
“Confidence, Loch. That’s how you get people to do what you want. Because most people don’t know what they want, and a lot of them – here’s a little secret – they just want to be used.” ~the world according to Saxon Ratliff
“What if this life is just a test, to see if we can become better people?” ~Lochlan’s response to his brother’s piggish worldview
“He’s like my child.” ~Chelsea to Chloe about Rick, to which Chloe responds, “He’s 50.”
A toss-up between “You want to live in Taiwan?!” and “I don’t even have my Lorazepam. I’m going to have to drink myself to sleep!” ~Victoria to her daughter Piper, after the latter reveals her desire to move to the monastery
“My parents are dead, and my sister is a bitch. That’s why I like my friends, they are everything for me.” ~Vlad to the blonde trio
More on that religion theme
We haven’t even mentioned Timothy and that other gun yet! Gaitok manages to deduce that the Ratliff patriarch was indeed the thief of his firearm thanks to surveillance footage, but he can’t bring himself to fully confront the hotel guest and retrieve what’s his (Tayme Thipthamthong, who plays Gaitok, admitted to CNN at the “White Lotus” season premiere that he wouldn’t trust Gaitok with his safety, and we’d have to agree). The episode ends with Tim contemplating suicide. His wife Victoria interrupts him, and he manages to shrug her off and usher her back to bed – at this point, it’s also more than evident that she is willfully ignoring the major red flags her spouse is waving. When he is alone again, a supremely raw and vulnerable Timothy Ratliff clasps his hands together and prays (or pleads, which is sometimes the same thing?) to God, “Tell me what to do.”
It’s a stark reminder of the themes White said he wanted to explore in this darker season. Let’s see if any of these wayward souls find the light.
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO, with the episode available to stream on Max. HBO and Max, like CNN, are owned by the same parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
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After a long night of partying, things get WEIRD for the Ratliff brothers in ‘White Lotus’ episode 5 News Channel 3-12.
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