Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 finale.
After eight episodes of second-guessing who the floating corpse from the premiere is, The White Lotus Season 3 has aired its finale, and it’s just as explosive as we expected. The fates of our hotel guests intertwine in this final installment of the season, told meticulously and thoughtfully through a feature-length episode. Each of their storylines draws to some resolution, whether sailing away with fond memories at hand, finding a sort of spiritual nirvana, or reaching a morbid death. But as the episode title, “Amor Fati,” suggests, the dice have been cast across the first seven episodes, and it is time to see where they may lie: “what will be, will be.” The inevitability of the characters’ fates is captured by the finale’s opening montage, filled with shots of the monastery and of each of the guests’ anxious faces as the monk’s words ring in the background about accepting life’s lack of resolutions.
‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Finale Kicks Off With Bribery

Image via HBO

It is the morning after Rick’s (Walton Goggins) confrontation with his father’s murderer, Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), in Bangkok. Frank (Sam Rockwell) is still partying when Rick firmly decides to leave for Phuket, despite Frank’s pleas about finishing what he started (breaking his sobriety, that is). In Phuket, The White Lotus guests are preparing for breakfast. Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Kate (Leslie Bibb) are concerned about Laurie (Carrie Coon), who is still sleeping in after her late night with Valentin’s (Arnas Fedaravicius) friend. Jaclyn tentatively asks Laurie to join them for breakfast, and she drowsily agrees, accepting the former’s apology about “stealing” Valentin as well. When Laurie does wake up, she watches her two friends in the pool taking pictures of each other and walks away thoughtfully.
After their night at the monastery, Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) walk home along the beach, where Piper lashes out at Lochlan’s decision to stay at the monastery, claiming she didn’t want to ruin his life. However, during breakfast, we find out that Piper actually regrets her decision. She realizes she cannot live without the finer things in life and, although she is conflicted about this revelation, she recognizes her reliance on creature comforts. While Victoria (Parker Posey) is proud of her daughter’s rejection of poverty, Timothy’s (Jason Isaacs) dread grows — the child he thought could handle their financial loss just proved she couldn’t. Meanwhile, Lochlan and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) have a minor confrontation at the villa where Saxon condemns Lochlan’s attempt at “worshiping” him on the yacht, while Lochlan tries to downplay it.
Leaving Lochlan to his own devices, Saxon heads out to the beach and finds Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) sunbathing. He talks to Chelsea about the book he borrowed from her, and they have a warm moment. However, it is cut short as Chelsea sees Rick walking down the beach, and she leaves her friends, racing into Rick’s embrace with the sun’s glare in the background. As Saxon tries to turn his attention to Chloe, she dismisses him as replaceable, cutting Saxon spiritually. Back at the villa, Timothy returns and finds his youngest son reading. He asks Lochlan if he thinks he can live without money. Timothy glows at Lochlan’s affirmative response and tells him to enjoy his last day at the resort. Afterward, Timothy finds the fruit that their guide Pam (Morgana O’Reilly) explained had poisonous seeds that were apparently often used for suicide attempts. Timothy gathers a few of the seeds and shreds them in the blender, hiding it away for later in the day.
After their date, Mook (Lalisa Manobel) encourages Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) to tell his supervisor about Valentin and his friends’ involvement in the armed robbery. Eager to prove himself to Mook, Gaitok agrees and subtly confronts Valentin about it. However, later on, Valentin returns to Gaitok and begs him to keep his involvement under wraps. He tries to appeal to Gaitok’s sympathy, claiming that if he and his friends get deported back home, they would die. The non-violent, Buddhist Gaitok can’t bear the thought of it. Instead of dealing with this moral dilemma, he tells Mook that he wants to quit instead and find a less violent job. In response, Mook deigns to have dinner with him, treating him coldly as she leaves the conflicted security guard alone.
Breakfast for Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) brings about a different set of ethical dilemmas as she weighs the options of standing on her moral high ground and rejecting Greg’s (Jon Gries) $100,000 bribe or accepting the blood money to open her own spa. While she is initially resistant to her son Zion’s (Nicholas Duvernay) insistence, when he asks her to negotiate a higher price, she reluctantly agrees. They both visit a suspicious Greg in his mansion, where Zion makes his sales pitch and lobbies for $5 million, much to Belinda’s surprise. She storms out, outraged by the unfolding events, and demands Zion follow her. But it turns out she is bluffing; Belinda is completely onboard with extorting $5 million from Greg. She tells Zion to go back and use Belinda’s unpredictable emotional state to strike fear into his heart and close the deal.
The Night Takes a Dark Turn in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Finale

Image via HBO

Night falls on the island, and The White Lotus residents are having their final dinners of their vacations. The gossip trio is served by Valentin, who asks them if they are available to take a picture with Sritala (Patravadi Mejudhon) and her husband the following day. But the air between them becomes cold when he walks in; he is met by silence and awkward nods until he leaves. After some small talk, where Jaclyn also admits that she loved every minute of the week, Laurie reveals how upset she was. In a cathartic release, she talks about how every endeavor in her life has left her unfulfilled, until she realizes that it is time that gives her life meaning, represented by how she and her friends had essentially grown old together. Jaclyn may have the perfect face, and Kate may have a perfect life, but Laurie is just happy to be at the table. The atmosphere warms considerably as the teary friends embrace their friendship once again.
Chelsea and Rick have their own heartwarming dinner, where, for the first time, Rick doesn’t reject Chloe’s romantic platitudes and actually reciprocates them. When he echoes her thought of being together forever, Chelsea tears up and is astounded — the newly free Rick doesn’t even mind that. Meanwhile, Belinda is agitated about whether Greg will accept Zion’s deal or not. When they left the mansion, Greg said he would think about it, leaving the two unsure of their future. However, later in the night, Belinda wakes up and checks her account. It is confirmed in the morning that Belinda and Zion are now millionaires, as Greg officially sent the money to their accounts.

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Please, ‘The White Lotus’ Needs To Break With Tradition and Give These Two a Happy Ending

Please let them sail off into the sunset!

The finale dinner sees the entire Ratliff family sitting at a table, celebrating their last night on the island. In the spirit of the last hurrah, Timothy requests ingredients for piña coladas to be brought to their room, so they can end the night on a high note. For everyone except the underage Lochlan, of course. Back at their villa, Timothy discreetly makes the cocktails and ensures there is a liberal amount of the deadly seeds blended into them (there is a little bit left over, though). He hands them to each family member who has expressed some sort of sentiment about not being able to live without money or success — so, everyone except Lochlan, who begrudgingly nurses a Coke. Everyone comments on the smell after his little toast, but he reassures them and encourages them to sip. They all take tiny sips before something clicks in Timothy. He lashes out, sending Saxon’s drink crashing onto the floor and earning bewildered looks from his family members. Using the excuse of the coconut milk being off, he revolts against his own idea, and instead, they spend their last night of wealth drinking wine.
‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Ends With Patricide and Poisoning

Image via HBO

The next morning, Lochlan decides to make his own protein shake as per his brother’s previous retaliatory suggestion. He places a scoop of protein powder in the blender, not realizing the leftovers from the drinks from the night before are still in there. Shrugging, he continues to make his protein shake and enjoys it next to their private pool. When the rest of his family, barring a sleeping-in Timothy, go out for breakfast, they fail to notice how out-of-it Lochlan is. Soon thereafter, Lochlan starts throwing up, clearly poisoned after ingesting the remaining seeds from the blender. Passing out by the pool, he has underwater visions of himself struggling to swim to the surface of a pool while four shadowy figures stand above watching him. When Timothy finally wakes up and finds him lying by the pool, he immediately realizes what has happened, cradles Lochlan’s unconscious form, and wails in sorrow.
Meanwhile, Jim Hollinger makes his own entrance to the resort, which we see through the window of the security booth as Gaitok tries to convince his supervisor to let him go. His supervisor, however, suggests he think about it some more, on account of how good of a worker he is. During the final breakfast, Rick and Chelsea are still in their idyllic bubble until Rick runs into Jim. At first, he brushes the old figure off, rolling his eyes and saying he is taking the first boat back. However, Jim’s next words crack something in Rick. Jim has a gun and a more acidic tone, claiming he remembers Rick’s mother now and calling her a “drunk,” a “slut” and a “liar” while also asserting that his father wasn’t a good man. When Rick returns to Chelsea, he is restless and there is a fire burning within him. Chelsea is terrified he will do something erratic, but he assures her that he just needs to talk to Amrita (Shalini Peiris) again and races off to do so.
However, that morning, Belinda had booked a session with Amrita for Zion, and further insisted that he go to it. So, when Rick reaches Amrita, she is unable to see him until after she finishes her contractual obligations to Zion. She pleads for him to sit at the bench and wait patiently for an hour, promising to return. Incidentally, just down the path is where Jim and Sritala are having their pictures taken with Jaclyn. Rick is left alone, sitting on the bench, staring furiously at Jim, rage and grief building up with each painful voyeuristic second and each incessant giggle that came from that direction. He cracks. He stands up to confront Jim, but Chelsea arrives, trying one last time to get through to Rick. He refuses to listen, and she hangs back, watching the encounter anxiously. Rick strides up to Jim, quickly steals his gun from his coat pocket and shoots him twice in the chest. Shocked, Rick stands there silently as Sritala falls to the ground and holds her dead husband. She then reveals that Jim wasn’t his father’s murderer; Jim Hollinger was Rick’s father.
Rick doesn’t have sufficient time to react as Sritala’s bodyguards start firing back. He drags Chelsea behind a statue and joins The White Lotus shootout. Rick eventually wins, taking out both of Sritala’s guards, but while doing so, he doesn’t notice that Chelsea has also been also shot until it is too late. Chelsea bleeds out, leaving a distraught Rick muttering about forever and profusely apologizing. He carries Chelsea’s body, half-heartedly hoping to find help. This is when Gaitok enters the fight — he had heard the gunshots and ran to the scene with his own gun. As Rick limps away, Sritala pressures Gaitok to shoot him. After a long hesitation, Gaitok pulls the trigger. Rick and Chelsea go careening into the pond, their blood muddying the water as Rick’s body floats with his lifeless eyes facing the sky.
Who Survives ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Finale?

Image via HBO

After the fateful shooting that secured the death toll, The White Lotus gives us a sequence that cements the resolutions of the rest of the characters. Belinda decides that it is safer to put as much distance as she can between herself and Greg, so she leaves Thailand with Zion. Before doing so, she has to speak to Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) and let him down gently about severing their potential romance and starting a business together. However, the final scenes of her and Zion involve the two happily sailing away in a boat into the horizon. On the other hand, Greg has now fully assimilated into his role as Gary, where we see Chloe likely propositioning another man into a cuckolding experience and Gary winking back at them.
We also see the three long-time friends being carefree and as close as ever, enjoying their boat ride back home. Additionally, there is a brief scene where Frank is back on his road to sobriety as he is praying at a monastery. Next, we see that Valentin and his friends’ cons are still ongoing as they hang out with another group of women at a club. After shooting Rick, Gaitok finds himself with a new job as Sritala’s personal bodyguard, replacing those who had died earlier that day. Seemingly impressed with Gaitok’s new position and capacity for violence, Mook isn’t giving him the cold shoulder anymore, and it seems like they are dating.
Turns out, Lochlan did not ingest enough poison from the seeds to die, as we see his eyes fluttering open and Timothy exclaiming in delight. Lochlan claims he might’ve seen God, making Timothy laugh in even more relief and happiness. On the boat ride back home, the Ratliff family’s personal electronics are given back to them. Before they can truly start reconnecting with the online world, Timothy prepares them by telling them that their lives will be changing forever. But he also accepts that they will get through it as a family. At peace with himself, he stands next to the railings of the boat, staring at the sun and the water droplets that cascade from the boat’s wake, as the song “Lo, how a rose e’er blooming” starts playing. As such, The White Lotus characters who left this season in body bags were Jim, Rick, and Chelsea.
All episodes of The White Lotus are available to stream on Max.

The White Lotus

The White Lotus Season 3 finale is predictable, but still packs an emotional punch.

Release Date

2021 – 2024

Network

HBO

Showrunner

Mike White

Directors

Mike White

Pros & Cons

The feature-length finale is visually stunning, wrapping up cathartic storylines and darker ones in engaging ways.
Each narrative beat in the finale has emotional weight, a testament to how well the season works.

The major deaths of the finale are expected.
The show should’ve committed to its deaths. If you’re going to go dark, stand by it.