As season three of “The White Lotus” passes its halfway mark, fans continue to craft theories about how the season will pan out.
The HBO hit series typically follows different groups of White Lotus hotel guests and staff as their stories begin to intertwine, leading up to the death of multiple characters. This season takes place in Thailand with a few returning characters: spa worker Belinda from season one, played by Natasha Rothwell, and season one and two Tanya’s love interest, Greg, played by Jon Gries.
Most of the fan theories this season surround the Ratliff family, a wealthy family of five from North Carolina. The father Timothy, played by Walter Isaacs, is a financier involved in a money laundering scheme who will most likely suffer impending legal consequences. Some believe that his wife Victoria, played by Parker Posey, is trying to play the role of an overly medicated housewife to hide the fact that she is secretly prepared for the financial fallout of Timothy’s actions.
Fans found it suspicious that Victoria did not want to be recognized by fellow resort guest Leslie, denying that they met at all. Victoria also mentions how the family typically vacations in the Caribbean, leading guests to believe this is a hint that she had been moving money into an offshore account given the popularity of Caribbean banking for its financial privacy, low tax liability and asset protection. In episode four, she pointedly shared her disgust for “con artists and tax evaders” who have to flee the country in a conversation with her husband and daughter, Piper.
Piper Ratliff, played by Sarah Catherine Hook, is the reason the family is in Thailand as she was supposed to interview a Monk for her thesis on Buddhism. However, it is revealed in episode four that this isn’t true and she actually wants to move to Thailand and live at the meditation center in order to connect with her spirituality.
Pipers and her brothers Saxon and Lochlan, played by Patrick Schwarzenenegger and Sam Nivola, have a very strange dynamic that sparked many incest rumors at the start of the season.
An interesting fan theory suggests that this family represents the 13th century “Pied Piper” folktale involving a piper whose music lured rats into a river and later led the town’s children out of town. Fans noticed a connection between Piper’s name and leading her family, the Ratliffs, to Thailand. The tale also takes place in Saxony, a connection to her brother Saxon. Additionally, early in the season, Lochlan shows a video of Tsunami to his family which causes Victoria to have a dream about a Tsunami coming towards her family on the beach. In combination to the drowning of the rats in the folktale, fans take this scene to be foreshadowing of what could be the family’s demise.
Of course, there are plenty of other theories relating to the other characters and plot points in the season. Some even think that previous fan favorite Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, could be reborn as a monkey in order to take revenge on her ex-husband, Greg.
Tanya was often paired with a money motif, an animal who is shown frequently around the Thailand White Lotus. Episode one’s title, “Same Spirits, New Forms” references the Buddhist belief of soul transmigration, tying the theory to the season’s location.
While there is no lack of fan theories and engagement, many fans believe that season three is moving a lot slower than other seasons. The season will only have eight episodes and many agree that episode five was by far the most exciting episode so far. The first few episodes spent a lot of time establishing the new characters but didn’t make much progress plot wise. With only three episodes to go, fans are left hoping that there will be a big enough payoff during the finale to feel satisfied with the season.
