‘The White Lotus' Creator Mike White and Team Break Down the Finale's Deadly Piña Colada Scenes — and Why Season 3 Made Him Feel Like a ‘Head Case'
Yes, 'White Lotus' creator and director Mike White put an implied incest scene in Season 2 — the two men turned out to be lying about their familial relation — then upped the ante in Season 3 to a hand job between real brothers. But he does draw the line somewhere: a man killing himself, his wife and his children, for example.
'As dark as we go in this show, that's too dark,' White says. That's why Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) can't go through with his plan to poison his family in the Season 3 finale, even though letting them live means they'll soon learn he's lost everything they have by getting caught in a money laundering scandal.
More from Variety
Jason Isaacs Champions Tom Felton Playing Draco Malfoy Again, Gives His Blessing to New Lucius Malfoy Actor Johnny Flynn: 'I Can't Wait to See What He Comes Up With'
Parker Posey Tells Lisa Kudrow to Star in 'The White Lotus' Season 4 as They Bond Over Sitcom Struggles and Why Phoebe on 'Friends' Was 'A Lot of Work'
Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan on 'The White Lotus' Cut Scenes: 'There Are Things You Won't See That Are a Part of Our History'
'You're showing the weaknesses of human behavior and how that can lead to deadly consequences. At the same time, there's hopefully enough empathetic humanism to offset all the acid. It's got enough of everything to be palatable, and yet, you still feel like you're doing something new.'
Timothy is partially based on French aristocrat Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, who was plagued by debt and allegedly killed his wife, four children and two dogs in 2011 before disappearing. A producer pitched White on writing a show about the murders, and though he found the idea too depressing, he never stopped thinking about that family.
'I kept thinking about how someone could lose the plot and kill the thing that he loves the most — this idea of somebody wanting to protect his family from hardship, and that they couldn't survive without all the creature comforts they're used to,' White says. 'I started thinking it'd be interesting to have a guy realize this at the beginning of vacation, so there's this public shaming that's going on back home, but they're ensconced in this paradise somewhere far away.' White's thought was, 'Well, that is so 'White Lotus.''
The Ratliffs' phones are taken away upon their arrival at the Thailand outpost, but Timothy eventually wrangles his back and finds out that the FBI is investigating him. Dosed up on lorazepam he stole from his wife, Victoria (Parker Posey), Timothy spends the rest of the season having visions of suicide, which broaden to murder-suicide as Victoria and their children inadvertently reveal how ill-prepared they are for poverty.
'It's not a fantasy; it's a plan,' Isaacs says of the dream sequences. 'I mean, it's a drug-addled plan, but even if he wasn't taking the drugs, there is no way to avoid the stuff going on in his head — the terror of the abyss.'
Rather than Dupont de Ligonnès, Isaacs' reference of choice was disgraced media mogul Robert Maxwell, who is now more famous for fraud, embezzlement and being Ghislaine Maxwell's father than for any of his business successes. Though Maxwell's 1991 death by drowning was ruled an accident, Isaacs sees it differently: 'He jumped off his yacht and killed himself rather than come onto land, and I thought about him a lot. I thought, 'You know, it's not a bad choice for Tim.' The only thing is, he starts roping in his wife when it becomes clear she can't cope. Then, my son can't. Then, my jewel, my daughter. He's such an alpha male patriarch. His daughter has a special place in his heart, and when she comes and says, 'I'm a princess. I couldn't bear to be poor,' there's a crushing disappointment knowing he has to kill her too.'
While visiting a monastery, a monk (Suthichai Yoon) tells Timothy that death is like being a single water droplet falling back into the ocean, saying, 'No more suffering. One consciousness. Death is a happy return.' Unsurprisingly, Timothy takes away the wrong message, deciding he can now justify his most depraved instincts. 'He's continually trying to find some other way,' Isaacs says. 'There's always someone to pay off, something to be done. And when there isn't, and the monk paints a picture of death that seems incredibly inviting to him, that makes it all right to kill.'
In their own ways, Victoria, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) all fail to prove to Timothy that they can handle a more humble life. So, in the finale, Timothy hatches a plan to blend the poisonous seeds of the resort's native pong-pong trees into piña coladas for his family to share — minus Lochlan (Sam Nivola), who isn't 21 and, crucially, is the only family member who passes Timothy's secret test and is deemed grounded enough to make it without wealth.
The images on screen slow and distort as the lethal cocktail comes together on the Ratliffs' last night in Thailand. Rum and coconut milk fall gently from Timothy's hands into the blender, the camera watching from a chaotic assortment of angles that make each ingredient appear close enough to get a whiff.
'We really wanted to put the audience inside of Tim's head,' says cinematographer Ben Kutchins. 'He's lost in this nightmare where no one loves him if he's not rich, and I was using various lenses, including these very old projection lenses, to show how disturbed his worldview had become.'
Each family member elegantly slides in and out of fame as Timothy distributes the poison. 'We're doing this ballet with the camera and the actors as he's passing out the drinks in floating, dreamlike slow-motion,' Kutchins continues. 'Then we hard cut. Previously, this would have been where we reveal that this is just a dark fantasy. But this time, we see that Lochlan is getting a Coke, and everyone else has the piña coladas. This is real. This is happening.'
After an awkward speech about their 'perfect family' and 'perfect life,' the Ratliffs clink their glasses and take a sip. However, they notice that something tastes wrong but continue drinking anyway — until Timothy suddenly swats Saxon's glass out of his hand, shattering it.
'This was his solution, but instinctively, he bypasses his brain,' Isaacs says. 'On an animal level, he just loves them too much. There aren't completed thoughts, just terror, panic and the overbearing love for life.' Thus, the Ratliffs trade their piña coladas for chardonnay as Timothy mutters about the coconut milk being 'off,' and he eventually goes to bed understanding that his money problems are inescapable, but at least he has his family by side.
But the next morning, Lochlan makes a protein shake in the unwashed, poison-ladened blender and, in a way, dies. After vomiting into the swimming pool and rolling onto his back, he begins to hallucinate that he's deep underwater and trying to swim towards four shadowy figures who are standing over the surface. At first, he sees flashes of his family's faces, but the figures turn out to be monks.
According to editor and second unit director John Valerio, an earlier version of the finale script included Lochlan's body washing ashore at full moon party, where he watches a group of four monks using a flaming jump rope. White cut the scene before it was ever shot, but the idea stuck with Valerio.
'While I was shooting second unit, one of the transition shots we had for Episode 3 was this very low angle at looking up at the monks. That reminded me of Mike's original finale script,' he says. 'I was like, 'What if, when Lochlan is in the water, he can see the monks waiting to take him to the next world?' So we shot the monks standing over a mirror. We threw water on it to give it a reflective, watery surface, and I cut to it when Lochlan is dying. It was a more simple, personal, spiritual moment, rather than the wildbacchanal of a full moon party.'
Eventually, while being held and shaken by a sobbing Timothy, Lochlan wakes back up. 'I think I just saw God,' he says.
'Lochlan is a kid in search of firmer footing in the world,' White explains. 'He wants to be a believer, but he needs some kind of proof. He's so lost with what happens with Saxon' — the aforementioned sexual encounter — 'that I was like, 'Well, here's some catharsis for him. He's centered in a deeper way than he was at the beginning of the week.'
As the Ratliffs take a boat away from the resort, moments away from learning of their financial ruin, there's an almost-smile on Timothy's face. The water surrounding them recalls the image of death described to him by the monk.
'He thinks, 'This is exactly what we need: to be a drop of water in the ocean. To be part of common humanity,'' Isaacs says. 'It's actually the best thing that could happen. They will be humbled by this, and they'll no longer need to maintain this huge gap of superiority over the rest of the world. They'll recognize they are just like everybody else.'
'His friend Donald [Trump] could make a phone call and give him a pardon,' Isaacs continues, speculating. 'He could [evade] prison easily. Someone could change the law. But I don't think he wants to. I think he wants to embrace a new reality.'
Posey, for her part, imagines that Victoria will work to find her way back to her old reality 'I think it's going to be hard for her without money, but I have no worries about her finding her own wealth, she says. Victoria and Timothy have 'known each other since the seventh grade, and it's been very locked in for a very long time. But the karma of that is over, so I would love to see her fury. I'd love to see see her wake up, because she's delusional. So it's either that, or to see her with another wealthy man.'
Fans of the 'White Lotus' have their own theories about what happens next — as well as opinions about every other beat of the story. White, throughout the season, was vocal about experiencing significant anxiety over the two months that episodes of Season 3 were being released due to criticism he was receiving on the internet.
'Over time, I can digest all of that. But in the moment, sometimes it feels more than that you just didn't like this storyline,' he says. 'It feels like I came and took a shit on your lawn or I set your house on fire. The anger — it just feels like, 'Whoa.''
'I mean, I'm 54 years old. I'm not a kid. I've been on reality shows — I know what it's like to be criticized,' White continues. (He has competed on 'The Amazing Race' twice and 'Survivor' once, and is currently filming 'Survivor' Season 50.) 'But I was so excited about the finale and getting it out there, and it made me realize that some people just can't get past that [Lochlan] makes the shake in a dirty blender.'
Obviously, those feelings aren't keeping White from continuing to make the show the way he wants to; 'The White Lotus' was renewed for a fourth season before Season 3 had even premiered. 'The show is not built to win a popularity contest. It's built to be provocative, and it's not going to have a uniform reaction,' he says. 'So I need to suck it up. I'm just a combination of somebody who wants to, like, goose people, but then also you want people to embrace you. That's just human nature.'
With a laugh, White concludes: 'So, whatever. I'm just a head case.'Best of Variety
'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Andrew Schulz, ‘Podcast Bro,' Might Be America's Foremost Political Journalist
The comedian Andrew Schulz has risen to arena-headliner status on the strength of his irreverent, defiantly anti-woke standup. His material is a high-energy blend of gleeful raunch and precise observation, all peppered with ethnic jokes, slurs and smack talk. (Which, as much as such a thing is possible, generally comes across as good-hearted or, at least, not meanspirited.) But provocation is not the only trick in his bag. In Schulz's most recent special, 'Life,' which came out on Netflix this year, the 41-year-old moved into more vulnerable and narratively driven territory. It's about his and his wife's experience with I.V.F. (told in highly un-family-friendly language). Despite all his success with standup, Schulz has perhaps become even better known for his podcasting. His shows 'Flagrant,' co-hosted by Akaash Singh, and 'Brilliant Idiots,' co-hosted by Charlamagne tha God, are appointment listening for millions, not just for humor but for political discussion too. That relatively newfound breadth and Schulz's ready embrace of disparate subject matter — from politics to sports to theology to culture writ large — has led to him becoming a star of the so-called online manosphere. Although that term, or 'podcast bro,' or any other potentially reductive label one might apply, would most likely frustrate the entertainingly pugnacious Schulz. But whatever you want to call him or his corner of the online world, it's influential. Donald Trump went on 'Flagrant' last fall ahead of the presidential election, and progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg have been guests on the show this year. For me, that raised questions about what Schulz's bigger goals are, and what responsibilities might come with his growing influence. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio App In the last four or five years, you've really blown up. What has shifted in the culture to enable you to come to prominence? When I started posting stuff on the internet, specifically standup, things changed for me. I was trying to get an HBO special or, back in the day, Netflix is just coming to prominence, or Comedy Central. I was trying to get anything, and I couldn't get any motion with standup. So out of desperation, I filmed my own special, pitched it to everybody, nobody wanted it, and I was like, I'm going to put this online. At the time there was a sensitivity, especially in corporate America, about edginess and jokes. So my gamble was maybe if I put this out on YouTube, there will be an audience that likes this type of comedy. I put it out, and a weird thing happened: Everybody only watched 20 minutes. So I put out a 20-minute version of it, and the next weekend, I sold out a comedy club. The next weekend I sold out another one. I was like, Whoa, there's really something over here on the internet, and I can be my authentic self with comedy despite what the cultural sensitivity of the time is. You obviously have clear ideas about what works with audiences. Does that create a temptation to pander? If you actually are trying to create something authentic, you're going to make less money, but you maintain your integrity. Oftentimes what happens is you'll have an opinion that's maybe a little different, and you'll be rebuked for that opinion for years, and then people will start to come around. Then the same people that rebuked you will start echoing those sentiments with no accountability. We had Bernie on the pod, who I love. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
In its third season, ‘The Gilded Age' is as staid and sudsy as ever
'The Gilded Age,' by virtue of its focus on moneyed late-19th-century decorum, is the current HBO drama that hews most closely to network broadcast standards. Indeed, the show was originally tipped for NBC before it got a Bertha Russell-approved status glow-up to the premium cable streamer. But while it eschews the brutality of HBO's reputation-burnishing series such as 'The Sopranos' or 'Game of Thrones,' it induces similar ethical cartwheels in the viewer. We're invited to cheer the victories of an amoral robber baron and his Machiavellian wife, whose campaign to conquer the old-money battlements of 1880s New York forms the overarching narrative of the series.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Jay Ellis Considers Colson Whitehead His Literary GOAT
So far this year, Jay Ellis has played a basketball coach in the Netflix comedy 'Running Point' and a record-setting M.V.P. in the action movie 'Freaky Tales.' This summer, he's swapping free throws for freestyles as he steps into the role of a hip-hop star in the Off Broadway play 'Duke & Roya,' at the Lucille Lortel Theater. The drama finds him stumbling into a cross-cultural romance with life-threatening consequences. 'At first glance,' he said, 'there's no reason why you think these two people would ever hit it off.' He added: 'We're in a world where everyone yells, no one listens. Everybody really just wants connection, to be seen, to be understood, and I just loved the idea that these two characters do.' Ellis, 43, temporarily relocated his family of four to New York from their home in Los Angeles. One particular aspect of the local culture suits him well. 'I absolutely love pizza,' he said, name-dropping his latest find, Fini. 'My daughter took a bite and was like, 'Why don't we have pizza like this in L.A., Daddy?'' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
