Five Million Dollars and Mike White's Brilliance
My White Lotus Finale Feelings!
OK, I know I said I was going to write this and send it out Sunday or Monday and now it is Tuesday but you know what? We all needed a day to process and catch up. We needed to read the think pieces and interviews and laugh at the memes and tweets. We needed to see Jason Isaacs wear a Duke shirt to a finale event after Duke’s complaints. If you're not caught up on White Lotus, stop reading.
There are only spoilers ahead.
I simply have too many thoughts so I'm going to categorize them by each storyline. But first I’ll say this: I love. I loved it. I know there are a lot of people who hated it and felt like they were loose and or didn't like that the Ratliffs made it out largely unharmed, but I think he wrapped it up so well.
One thing that I think confused viewers who were looking for this sort of “Jennifer-Coolidge-falling-off-a-boat-the-gays-are-trying-to-kill-me” moment are missing is that Mike White really doesn't do sensationalism. He was never going to have a monkey scratch somebody's eyes out. If you've seen Enlightened, you'll know that his work is often cringy and dark, but grounded- not flashy and sensational. It wasn’t boring; it was real. Sometimes the good person dies. Sometimes the bad person gets away with doing bad things. Sometimes the good person has to do the bad thing.
To me, this season finale felt like it was saying “vacation ends.” We go home. We can’t live in the bubble of paradise. You don’t get to be an anti-violence security guard forever. You stop dreaming of opening a business with a hot healer. You’re faced with the reality of your own choices and how you navigate the friendships that reflect them back to you. You can’t just kill your whole family because you have to face the reality of your actions. You can’t always heal someone by loving them- if you could then you’d be able to stay in that vacation forever. The White Lotus Resort is a place you leave- alive or dead.
Babygirl if you thought that was a rant- strap in!
The Staff
I’ll just start by saying the storylines I cared the least about where the Russians and Gaitok. I obviously see how they were necessary to move the plot forward, though. I didn’t care that Fabian’s music career storyline was dropped because I do think it was intentional that the show focused less on the staff this season because, as I believe, it's more about vacation ending than the lives of the people at this resort (although you could say that Gaitok’s way of living ended). Also Lisa is charming as hell and mesmerizing to look at (even though her character’s toxic masculinity was upsetting!).
The Ratliffs
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
If Jason Isaacs doesn't get an Emmy, why do we even have award shows?! His expressions showing so much loss, grief, sadness, regret, then love and relief- my god he’s good. He so perfectly captured that sick feeling of knowing how badly you’ve fucked up and that you can’t fix it. The accent, the Duke shirt, the Lorazepam. Every step he took was perfect. Parker Posey, too. The look of satisfaction at Piper’s evolution, the way she spoke about the responsibility to live well, the“Have you ever heard of wine?!”. Give The Ratliffs Emmys!
Now look, I’m glad Lochlan lived but maybe he should have died after not cleaning out that *Raven Symone voice* nassssty blender. Who does that?! Remember that show 1,000 Ways to Die? Where they just sort of laughed at people dying in stupid ways? Well, not cleaning out poison seeds and leftover alcohol from a blender is one of them. But I was happy to see him live. The pain of knowing you’d accidentally killed your son- the only one you’d wanted to spare- and then having to forever hide it from his family would have been such a heavy weight to leave Tim Ratliff with. He would have had to lie, make it look like Lochlan did commit suicide, which Saxon would’ve blamed himself for (after ya know, the incest stuff) and Piper would’ve blamed herself for (after shutting him down for wanting to stay with her at the monastery).
Lovvvved Piper’s wrap up. I thought they laid this out in such a subtle way. When she first arrived to the monastery and acted surprised nobody was there to greet her, they didn’t make a big deal about her wanting to come, then her looking so uncomfortable during the meditations. The slight look of disappointment when her father seemed like he was okay with her going, taking away some of the fun of her rebellion. I just loved it.
I loved Saxon’s growth, too. Just like every charming southern asshole, he won me over by the end. The look on his face when he realized that Chelsea wasn't going to love him because she loved Rick so wholly and completely was devastating. It seemed like he was sad she didn’t love him, but also affected by her ability to love so deeply. She’d accused him of not having a soul, but in a way that grew one in him. He connected with someone when even he didn’t think he could. He’d been embarrassed by her books, hiding them in the couch at first, but then openly reading it on the boat home. I loved it.
The incest thing I get was a step too much for people, but I never thought it would go further. I read some people thought he wanted to hook up with his sister at the monastery, but I never felt that. His brother was driven by his machismo sexuality, but his sister was driven by her desire to live at the monastery, so him wanting to stay there with her was sort of the equivalent of him sexually fulfilling his brother. I was chatting with friends about this and I knew it was never going to go further, because sexually, a hand-job is very low on the chart of sexual activity. It’s usually done as a favor. No person that has sex with men that I know is like “ooh yeah baby let me give you a handy”. So when Lochlan explained it like he just wanted to do something nice for his brother, it made sense. He’s a kid with absolutely no sense of identity, just living to please others, so it made sense that the line is so blurred when he just does what he thinks people want him to do. All that to say- I think it worked! Gross- but logical!
The Girlfriends
Okay I’ve only written about one storyline and I've already done way too much lol so I'll try to wrap up the women quickly. Just watch the damn scene. It’s so brilliant. I cried when Carrie Coon gave her monologue. Talk about Emmys! I saw someone I know on a Twitter rant about how this is typical white women shit1 and how we stay in toxic friendships because we have history with each other, but I disagree with that. She ended by saying “I’m glad you have a beautiful face” and “I’m glad you have a beautiful life” to give her friends the external validation that they need while getting the internal validation that she needs because she knows them so well.
The way they went from ripping each other apart, to meekly apologizing, to tearing up and being overwhelmed with love was such a beautiful representation of sisterhood and friendship. I've been there so many times with the women I love. I turned to my friend after the monologue and said “How did a man write that?!” It was such a glimpse into our psyches. They made mistakes, they lied, they hid, they disagreed, they were cruel and spoke behind each other’s backs, but you overcome those things because you love each other so deeply. It still feels very fucking deep. Also they're gonna be super, super trauma-bonded for life now that they watched a guy get murdered right next to them!
Chelsea + Rick
Chelsea and Rick. Wow. We saw it coming. We knew that Chelsea was too good to live. The “Stay Gold”2 necklace was the dead giveaway that she was the Johnny. Too sweet and kind for this world. Nothing gold can stay.
I also thought they did a brilliant job of capturing this type of relationship. I have thought I was the Chelsea with my Rick so many times. Basically from ages 17-25 I was desperate for that exact type of relationship and convinced myself I was in it so many times3. He has this tough, tortured exterior, but we’re connected at the soul and my love will heal his traumas! I’ll love him enough that he won’t need to be this way! It feeds the very mob-wife mentality that’s so alluring and romantic to me. So this was a triggering relationship for me. If I had a therapist I would have called her about my feelings when he was carrying off her body, but God, it was so so good. The fact that Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins both made Instagram posts4 of them set to Silver Springs felt like a personal attack!!
Also, I was incredibly frustrated that Rick’s father didn't just tell him he was his dad. What a fucked up thing to do! I'm not saying he deserved to get shot, but I'm not not saying it either. And Rick going back to the resort the man owned like “no biggie?” insane choice.
Belinda
Loved the way Belinda's story wrapped up. Her pulling that close-the-deal tantrum was perfect. I loved that she said almost word-for-word what Tanya had said to her when she bailed on starting a business with Pornchai. Love that she got hers, though I do wonder if the Feds will be suspicious of why she got a $5million wire transfer in Thailand the day three people were killed at the resort where she was staying. Hope we see more of her hot son in the future.
So overall, I loved it. That’s all I’ll say for now (lol she says after writing a novel’s worth of thoughts).
Was it a slow burn? Yes. Was it perfect? Far from it. But I enjoyed the edge.
It was, of course, a white woman tweeting.
Thank God a tattoo artist shamed me out of getting a “Stay Gold” tattooed on me when I was 17.
Turns out they were just drug addicts and alcoholics with mental health issues!
Walton’s was an 18-photo story post, meaning he chose the song EIGHTEEN TIMES.