If you hated The White Lotus season 3, you’re missing the point
This article contains spoilers.
This is keenly felt in the Ratliff family’s final day at The White Lotus. We have suicidal father, Jason Isaacs’ Timothy, nearly killing off every member of his family, bar his hapless son Lochlan (Sam Nivola), with a poisoned pina colada to spare them the pain of being poor after his secret bankruptcy.
After their first sips, panic clouds Timothy’s face, and he smacks the drink out of their hands. Except the next day, Lochlan unknowingly drinks from the spiked cocktail and collapses by the pool.
It is great TV and I won’t hear otherwise. All the elements are there: A ridiculous family murder-suicide plot, death by a darkly hilarious means and a father’s anguish at unwittingly killing the one person he sought to save.
Yes, Lochlan eventually survives, but his near-death is a gripping narrative device. He is the ultimate red herring for the real deaths to keep viewers guessing until the final moments.
