‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Premiere With Bill Simmons, Joanna Robinson, and Mallory Rubin

This episode of the Prestige TV podcast is brought to you by Coffee Mate.

Coffee Mate has been searching the globe for flavors that pair perfectly with coffee. So when they heard that the new season of HBO's The White Lotus was set in Thailand, they were inspired to grow up two new flavors, Thai iced coffee and pina colada flavored creamers.
They're available for a short time only. So for the love of coffee, go try them now.
guests will come. Don't be the celebrity that this is their sixth thing they're doing.
I love true crime and cooking podcasts. Is there any way you could combine the two?

Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast. So join me for Good Hang.

It's rough out there. We're just even remember how long ago season two was.
It was so long ago that Joanne Robinson and I have never done a podcast in the same room together. This is our first in-person podcast.
I'm going to. Oh no, wait.
I'll watch you. Are you going to close the bathroom door? Yeah, I'll watch you watch some porn.
Does that sound like something we should do? I mean, right before you came in, Joe asked like, what do I even, what do I even want? And I said, you know, pussy. Yeah.
Money, freedom, respect. Listen, he's just dropping knowledge.
Patrick Schwarzenegger, our guy.

It's White Lotus season three. I don't remember

when season two happened. I know you did a rewatch,

Mal. I don't...

Are you a rewatch before the next season?

Because these seasons don't really

kind of match. I mean, there's one thing

that matches. Yeah, there sure is.
Well, there's two.

There's more than we thought there was.

Greg and Belinda. Greg shows up

at the end. Well, Belinda, I guess.
But yeah, Greg was the big surprise. We thought Belinda was going to be the main connective tissue.
And then there's a surprise Greg drop at the end of this episode. So you're not a rewatch the first two seasons to get in the mood.
I spot rewatch, but I didn't rewatch the whole thing. Mallory is the A plus student here.
Just for the sheer pleasure of it in this case, because obviously this isn't like necessarily or at all the plot continues. I mean, we will have some tether to where we left belinda in season one and obviously the fact that greg is here gives us reason to assume that everything that happened with tanya will come into play this season but it's mostly the vibes i'm like am i gonna miss an excuse to revisit our time with your guy albie in sicily my favorite guy your favorite character albie Of course not.
Yeah. I only watched season one.
I felt like I had seen season two enough that I felt comfortable. But you did a season one rewatch.
I did a season one rewatch. How did that work? How did that work? Fun.
It's great. I really liked Coach Taylor's wife just being back in there.
Yeah, Tim Taylor. A little Cindy Sweeney.
Yeah, after watching season one Friday Night Lights, I was excited to spend more time with her.

But yeah, it's-

The Mosbacher family.

Yeah.

It's such a different show in a lot of ways,

that season one versus this show.

But some of the DNA is the same.

I want to go through-

Well, first I want to go through the units of people.

Yes.

Absolutely.

And we can decide.

You guys can power rank your favorites.

We have the Ratlifts.

We have the Fancy Cougars.

We have Goggins and his girls.

I said in my notes, Bill's going to call them the Cougars.

But the Fancy Cougars, I like it.

I'm sorry. can power rank your favorites.
We have the Ratlifts. We have the Fancy Cougars.
We have Goggins and his girls. I said in my notes, Bill's going to call them the Cougars.
But the Fancy Cougars. Can you say it the way that he said it? Cougars.
Cougars with relish. You gotta play the numbers lock.
You gotta. What do we call the unit for Goggins and his lady? What would you call them? For Rick and Chelsea.
Boy. The strange couple.
All right. We'll call them the strange couple.
Yeah. Melinda and maybe it seems like her son Zion who starts.
Melinda and Zion. Yep.
And then the staff. Yeah.
So that's really what we have. Yeah.
So Joanna, what was your favorite? Out of the units, what were you the most excited about? It's the Ratliff family. Like, obviously.
I love Walton Goggins. He's one of my favorite of all time.

And I think the Fancy Cougars are great. I'm a huge Carrie

Coon fan, but Jason Isaac

and Parker Posey, like, slathering

on those Southern accents.

One of them more successful than the other.

What Parker Posey is doing

in her sort of, like, drug-addled

matriarch state, I think is absolutely wonderful. And then Mallory's new favorite person on earth, Patrick Schwarzenegger, is here.
But the names on these kids. Can you save that for like 20 minutes in? Don't shoot your wad now.
Just save it. Save all your Schwarzenegger spots.
Hold on to your wad. He's really like Mike White just created a character for Mallory.
Yeah, it's just specifically. I'll refrain from commenting.
I've sent Joanna some text messages. Yeah, I've received some messages about this.
The names are Saxton, Piper, and Lachlan. Lachlan is just three of them.
Lachy. Three of the most.
I was going to say it's actually Lachy. So it's Saxton, not Saxon.
Saxton, Piper, and Lachy. Timothy, Vicky.
My wife asked me actually, did we ever, for our son, was Saxton Simmons ever in the mix? And we both remembered, no. But Lachlan Simmons.
Lockie Simmons. Maybe as a dog, like calling a dog Lockie.
All right, so Joe goes for the Ratlifts. What do you have, Mel? No question.
And I'm with Joe. Like Gogginsgins is one of my favorite performers, and he was the one I was looking forward to seeing in the show the most.
But start to finish, Batten 1000, the Ratlifts in the premiere. Every single thing that came out of any of their mouths, I thought was, like, incredible.
And they also just, they dominated the episode. Like, I didn't actually clock the runtime, but it felt like we were with them certainly more than we were with rick and and chelsea so um i i do i i eagerly await joanna's accent corner thoughts but hearing jason isaacs lucius malfoy himself say what decision you got into duke is a life highlight is a life highlight Also, I mean, college basketball comes to White Lotus.
We have a Duke-UNC rivalry on the show. Like, this is your dream.
Pretty exciting. So I'm still trying to figure out what Posey's doing.
That would be my nitpick for this episode. Are you not enjoying what she's doing? She's like flurring her way.
I watched this episode three times. I think I'm enjoying it.
You know, I'm'm trying like, I'm around the age range of the parents. So I'm trying to think of even people in my life who are like this or people I've heard about that are like this.
And it's a little exaggerated, but I think when she fell asleep at dinner, it clicked into place for me. That was remarkable.
They're just like, oh, she's just a happy, drugged up mom that's just trying to stay out of the way. Just like a deeply functional drug addict.

Could have stayed at Claridge's.

Fantastic.

There's a shot after they like settle in, after Jason Isaacs, as the patriarch has said, like, Pam, you're a wonderful person. Pam! Pam, you're a wonderful person.
How wonderful for you. How wonderful for you.
Good stuff for Pam. He, like, stands and looks at the place they've booked, and he's just like, he has never felt like more of a man in his life.

Oh my God.

Then like, look what I have provided.

Look what I have conquered for my family.

And we know from the phone calls from the press that it's all about to go downhill.

I loved that initial to like, I did my research in Saxon looking at him like,

God, you're always right.

Right.

And then he feels compelled to say, I don't need a vacation. I working and I'm like wow it's me and Bill I don't know which one of us is Saxon yeah I love working I don't need a vacation do you do the apocalypse now just under the surface of the pool swimming pool look around for like who's going to be my favorite camera angle It was amazing.
I really liked how they did that and how they presented him. I mean, he's obviously the winner character of the first episode, Saxon.
No question. So what's our history with Patrick Schwarzenegger? Oh, so I assume that we've talked about this, so I know you're not a Gen V enthusiast, but you, I assume, have never watched any of the boys or Gen V.
No, I know those are the two things. He was also in a movie, right? Like, there was one thing that I feel like I intersected with him.
He's been in some stuff, but he, so he played Golden Boy. His character in Gen V, his superhero character, is Golden Boy, which is just perfect.
So he just knows. Yeah.
Yeah. He just knows exactly what he is.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Golden Boy.
Do you think Arnold's proud of him? Do you think he's like, I watched my little list. He was doing press.
I thought you look great. Yeah, he was doing press.
He's like, oh, my son did a nude scene. Like, Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
He's like, I also don't get a good enough pump if I'm not listening to music. Do you think Arnold advised him to actually walk toward the camera with his dong swaying like in Terminator 1 or he's like, oh, you're just doing the back? You the front two well we got a little we did get a little front reflection we get a little front reflection so I was going to ask you if you front frame this there's a little there's a little bit of a stem action well I remember Theo James in the second season Mal had like was standing next to her TV squinting I you were at the premiere.
I didn't need to squint because that camera prosthetic, that was a huge take. No, no, but like— Very memorable.
At the premiere, was this on the big screen? You got to see Schwarzenegger at work on the big screen. Yes, yeah.
You know, we moved quickly from on the gigantic screen at the Paramount Theater, Saxon asking Lockie, what kind of porn do you like? Hot teacher? Bukkake?

Into his dick swinging in the mirror reflection.

Cameron's prosthetic in season two,

the Cameron Harper scene,

also a mirror reflection bathroom scene.

I'm like, wait, how arty?

Indeed.

I think the way he said Bukkake was a new way to say it,

and I enjoyed it.

He's like, Bukkake!

Wild moment.

Wild moment.

He is, so there's shades of what's his face in season one who is married to Daddario? Jake Lacey. Yeah, Shane.
There's some Jake Lacey. Oh, for sure.
But this guy's way more alpha-y. There's also some really fun father-son stuff, which we get in sports all the time.
He's clearly like the guy being groomed to take over the business. Like he could easily be, you know, the cowboy's owner grooming his son Saxton.
And then eventually appearing on Landman in a deeply emotional and moving scene. Right, in the most moving TV scene of the year.
Do you know I made her watch Landman? Just for the Jerry Jones? No, for all of it. Well, Joe likes TV.
I would assume that would have been like a tour de force for her. I think we met her limit at last with Landman.
Oh, really? No, no, no. We had a great time.
You had a great time? Not even see episode six? Billy Bob's amazing. Yeah.
He's so good. All right.
But it's like Friday Night Lights methadone, right? Like when you just rewatched Friday Night Lights and it's trying so hard to be Friday Night Lights. Crossed with Yellowstone.
Yeah. All right.
So we'll go back to the Ratlifts. So I have a different answer than the Ratlifts.
I love the Fancy Cougars. They're great.
I loved every second with them. They hate each other.
There's so much going on. I always judge too.
Like I sneak peeks at my wife to see how engaged she is. And when she's like fully 100% engaged, her jaw drops and she goes, she's kind of like this.
And I was like, oh, you're're making the face every time they were on yeah there's so much going on yeah I love the idea I can't believe it even took till season three to have an actress for Mike White to go so I don't know where it's got because so we should mention all of us made a pact we're not watching it no we have not watched ahead my wife was infuriated by this she was like just watch just go to the second one they'll never know and i'm like you don't even tell us what you thought of the first one before i didn't tell you anything not even like it was okay i haven't watched not even tell us that we were going to get to see part of patrick schwartznale but so we deliberately didn't watch ahead yeah and so the actress I'm really excited to see where that goes. Because I know there's like a ton of Hollywood stuff that he's going to pack into this.
This is my favorite line is when your favorite character of all time, Saxon, is at the pool. And he's like, I recognize you.
You're on TV. And she says, thank you.
Right. And I'm like, that wasn't a compliment and then he says cool yeah yeah it's super over yeah oh my god michelle monahan as jacqueline is tremendous stuff because she is so fake humble she's like oh i would sleep i would sleep in a tree i would sleep anywhere you guys know they're like of course you're why would i be the face right like her they have all this history she's paying for everything she's paying for everything they're gonna pay for their own treatments they're gonna pay for their own yeah yeah and yeah carrie coon being cast as like the the frumpy one oh my god when she has that shot where she walks towards camera in that gold bathing suit she looks amazing so they So they're actually trying hard to make her look like

the frumpy one

out of the three.

Well, it's just like

inside of their dynamic.

Because Kate is hot.

Yeah, of course she's hot.

They're really working it.

But they're having

like Leslie Bibb

and Michelle Monaghan's

character, Kate and Jacqueline,

just compliment each other

and they're like,

oh, and you look great too.

Yeah, who's your doctor?

Yeah, yeah.

Just the basics.

Just the maintenance.

Just the maintenance.

And your daughter

seems like she's really

turning into a cool girl.

They hate each other.

Yeah, it's a cool girl. They hate each other.
So they've known each other since age nine. Yes.
And then they all went different paths. So our guess is that Leslie, Leslie Bibb, by the way, who I feel like has never been in completely the right thing.
Like she was in the mix. She's in a lot of movies, TV shows.
This is probably the best look she's had i think right this is good for her her character i don't even know what i remember her from but i know she's been around for 25 years iron man where she worked for vanity fair iron man yeah that's probably her biggest thing did a spread yeah um she uh the way that she kate her character kate is like everyone in austin knows about about Dave's business everybody knows about Dave's business she's got all these houses so like she's really successful in her way and Jacqueline's really successful in her way and we don't know about Laurie about Carrie Coon's character she's like a corporate badass so everything seems fine even though we know they hate each other but then then... No, but there are these little looks between them.
Right, there's little long and fake smiles. But then when they're all having the wine at the end and Carrie Coon is slamming white chardonnay or whatever.
She's slurping the chard from the moment. She opens that bottle and she's just...
Yeah. Because she's already been on a long plane ride with them or whatever.
No, it's just that I love that it's three of them.

Yes.

It's the perfect dynamic for two of them to roll their eyes in the third one no matter what.

And for that to always switch.

For that always is one.

Totally.

They can't pair off.

Yeah.

They can't like do two and two.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which of them is going to fuck Valentin and which of them is going to fuck Saxon?

Russian, the Valentin.

Laurie.

Massage therapist.

I think the answer is both.

I say Carrie Coon.

Fucks them both.

At least Valentin. Yeah.
That's what I's what i say yeah so he's everyone's favorite because he's handsome these three have baggage though so what's the baggage because again this is the advantage to us not watching head so i don't know that it has to be anything further than just sort of like we all grew up together and one of us got really famous and the other one is really rich and the other one is doing something else. But somebody had to have taken

something from somebody.

Two of them were acting in high

school and one made it. There's got to be some sort

where somebody took somebody's husband or

something. That's interesting.
Like the Olivia Paula

season one equivalent of just like, if you see

I have something, suddenly you want it.

That aspect of it. But I kind of

agree that this feels like

the, no, part of what we're interrogating

part of the commentary is that actually just

normal relationships are

Thank you. aspect of it.
But I kind of agree that this feels like the, no, part of what we're interrogating, part of the commentary is that actually just normal relationships are fractured and flawed. And the people who are like nominally your closest friends are maybe going to be the people you resent the most.
And the question is going to be when that bubbles to the fore and you scream it at them instead of like finding a way to maybe discuss it calmly. Whereas like Rick is on an active hunt tracking Jim Hollinger across the globe.
Timothy Ratliff is about to be embroiled in scandal in the Wall Street Journal. So I actually think we need a quieter contrast to that, which the trio of friends provide.
It's a really cool concept of these three people, their lives seem like they've turned out differently, but not badly for any of them. No.
But that whole concept of these people you know forever and then circumstances change. You don't see each other as much.
Some people are doing a little better than others. And then how does that all manifest itself when you're in Thailand? And the thing that, yeah, the thing that White Lotus, now that we're in the third season, like I feel like when you and I were covering the the second season I felt like I'm not sure I know exactly what the show is yet

because we only had

that one other example

now that we've seen two seasons

I'm like

oh

bad things happen to good people

bad people never get

their comeuppance

like that's the world

we live in

and that is fine

and also that

this is always just

going to be a pressure cooker

like

because

Mike White loves Survivor

and he sort of

bases on Survivor

except he's like

David versus Goliath

great season

the other

the idea is not like

Thank you. hooker like because Mike White loves Survivor and he sort of bases on Survivor except he's like David versus Goliath great season the other the idea is not like what happens when you put people on an island and turn up the heat to 11 it's like what do you give them everything they're in the absolute lap of luxury and all of this ugliness will come to the surface anyway the con the the the concept and on some level being like let's go to beautiful places and make make six to eight episodes of television, obviously just on that level, the concept is brilliant.
But the concept that that core driver, the setting will change, the particular characters will change, the thing that they're arguing about or unhappy about will change, but that concept of like, you can escape your ship, but you can't escape yourself is like a just ever-renewing resource. Like no matter who they put in a a given hotel i will say though i don't know if you want to get to this later but let me just say i would simply not vacation at the white lotus at this point because there have been two deaths too many fucking dead people at the white location too and so it's like day six we should leave a day early before somebody exactly or i would leave five days but let let's say what's your favorite hotel to stay in Mallory like do you have a chain Mallory doesn't leave her house I can't remember it so what's your favorite hotel to stay in I don't think there's an answer depends what you like for our location let's just say we love the Four Seasons and we love to stay in New York and I do after watching White Lotus and Paris the Four Seasons or whatever Are you at any given time aware of how many deaths have happened out of four seasons over several years? That's true.
It's a fair counterpoint. Cabo's like that.
There's always stories like you read on Apple News. It's like, tourists dead in Cabo.
The Tanya. That's the only time I'm aware of it.
The deaths in season two would have been huge news, I think, right? Because that was like a number. It wasn't just Tanya.
It was like all the dead bodies on the boat. And so I feel like there's a paragraph in the story about that that's like, and this, mere months after Maui White Lotus manager Armand was found next to a mound of his own shit stabbed in the pineapple suite.
Well, this has been, so this has been, thanks for that season one recap. I think we're going to be around.
No, but like, was it mere months? I mean, so it's been a year at least since White Lotus season two. Because Greg and his girlfriend have been staying.
It's been more, right? It's been two years. Has it been two years? Yeah.
In the real world. But you're saying in the story time.
Right, because Greg and his girlfriend have the house. They've been there for a year.
They've been there for a year. And how long did it take him to lock her down? Yeah, but that's another year.
I think in my head it was at least two

years.

So I'm just saying

three deaths over the

course of five years.

You've convinced me.

Let's book our vacation.

The villas look

lovely.

The additional layer

in this season of

like the spirituality

aspect is like

extra delicious

because like, yes,

this is sort of a

rinse and repeat

formula, but on top

of the luxury of

Hawaii and Sicily,

we have like, we're

here to find

spiritual enlightenment Thank you. extra delicious because like yes this is sort of a rinse and repeat formula but on top of the

luxury of hawaii and sicily we have like we're here to find spiritual enlightenment is just really tasty yes it's going to be really good i think it's spiritual enlightenment but there's also like a level of ominousness is that a word well uh not exactly not exactly the way you said there's a specter of doom

I used to write

I used to write word? Not exactly the way you said it. Ominous quality.
There's a specter of doom. I assume what you're talking about on the ominous front is that the menu consists mostly of coconut rice balls and gluten-free food.
And that they want you to put your phone away and no Wi-Fi? I was excited for that. I would eat that.
I was wondering why they were crappy on that. Digital detox.
The music was a little like. Yeah, of course.
The spooky music. And also Thailand just in general.
Beautiful. I don't think it's beautiful on the right day.
On the wrong day, it's like a monsoon. Even like they said in the production, it was, I think, a little different than just let's go to Hawaii.
It's like you go to Thailand, you're getting bit by mosquitoes. You have to shut down the set for three days because it rained.
What was the most formative Thailand pop culture experience for you guys? And why is it Jack Shepard getting his ill-advised tattoos and lost? I was lost. It's Broke Down Palace.
Was that in Thailand? How can you top Lost, though? I mean, Claire Danes is a good way to try. Wasn't that in Thailand? Broke Down Palace and Jack and the tattoos are my tip.
Jack. Here's my rundown of like ominous items.
Wait, can you hold that? Yeah, of course. Because we got to take a break.
All right, Joe's going to do her ominous thing in a second. Yeah.
We didn't talk about the other unit of weird, strange couple. Wait, we're still going to go back through the Ratliff's the rat lifts.
We're going back. We're dabbling back.

We have to go back.

But the third unit is the,

and I'm like,

you guys,

I was like,

oh, Goggins.

Can't wait.

Can't wait to see how they unleashed him.

He's the best.

Hair looks terrible.

He's smoking.

He seems like a dick.

I'm like,

oh,

they're really,

they're stripping us down

away from the Goggins we know

and they're created

in this new altar,

sleazy Goggins.

They let Jason Isaacs do whatever you want to call that southern accent and they made Walton Goggins do like ship-shape little northerner vowels. Right.
Yeah, so no drawl. Right.
We get like knocks on his hair. He's bald like I feel like Walton Goggins like cares a lot about his hair and I love that for him because his hair is a superpower.
Do you think they took stuff out? I almost feel like they put like patches in it. It felt like they were intentionally making it look bad.
Well, when he first showed up, he looks like bedraggled. Like sweaty and he's been on a...
Chelsea does recommend a gentleman's facial to him. Rick, the woman at the airport thought you were my dad.
Brutal. I love Chelsea.
Amy Lee Wood from Sex Education. I think she is really fun and I think she's going to be be really good energy.
Megan Fahey, who we loved in season two. It's giving that kind of energy to me.
That sort of like bubbly in a way that you like. Yeah, she's my favorite.
I hope she doesn't die during the season character. Yeah.
She's the one you're like, all right, don't let anything happen to her. Exactly.
Belinda from season season one who i think some people felt like was borderline mvp season one she was tremendous um pretty boring first episode slow start yeah i'm not sure where they're going with her yet so i think this gets into the question of how much of the connected crime actually is going to be present in this season because Belinda and Tanya share a season one storyline, right? Tanya is going to invest, encouraging her to start her own wellness retreat and then just gets swept up in her romance with Greg, completely bails on Belinda and devastates her to the point where Rachel is sitting there crying and Belinda says, you need advice? I'm fresh out, and walks out. That's her very powerful exit from the show, right? Enough of trying to make you all happy.
What about me? It was amazing. Tanya and Greg, obviously Greg is in season one, but Tanya and Greg, and everything that happens there with Quentin, the boat, Belinda knows that Greg was with Tanya.
So. If she sees Greg.
If she sees Greg. Yeah.
Like the question of. She'll remember.
Yeah. And like the, we, what we don't know, the information we don't have through one episode is like, did word of Tanya's death reach Belinda? Because once again, it's a death every few years.
It's just a fairly reasonable average. You know, obviously part of Greg's scheme was because of the prenup, Tanya had to die so that he could get her money.
I think we can presume based on the fact that he's living in a house in a beautiful area that he got the money. Did Portia never go to the cops to talk about Greg? Go backwards on that because for people who don't really remember, Greg was the big reveal of this first episode.
Got a big, whoa! LBHs, losers back home! So, last time we saw him, incredible, great stuff. Second season, maybe around the fifth episode, he bounced.
All of a sudden, he was gone for the last two, and Jennifer Coolidge had gone to that crazy house. Yeah, these guys are trying to murder me.
And we never knew what happened to Greg, and now he turned up and he clearly cashed in the money and now he's on some sort of scheme so again we don't know anything we're just celebrating his riches yeah yeah but that's too easy now i think he's is he hiding out that's the thing like is he living freely or is he hiding out yeah like did porsche go to the cops and say you gotta look into this greg guy i think no yeah that's fucked up man no but that's White Lotus yeah bummer like the shitty couple stay together the people when we go back to the Ratliff family or I can just say it's now like there's this war over Lockie oh yeah in many respects there's like the female side of the family the male side of the family you know which college is he gonna go the pool? Or is he going to go to, like, the temple? Why is he checking out his older brother on the way to the bathroom? Yeah, we got a lot of questions about that. A lot of questions left with Lockheed.
In previous seasons, I would be like, which way is he going to go? Having seen two seasons of White Lotus, I'm like... He's going to pick Saxon.
Yeah, he's going to pick Saxon. Some serious Targaryen incest vibes with the three siblings in general.
Especially, yeah, because your sister's really hot. I'm sure you've noticed she's really hot.
Yeah. So Mike White was just on the taboo list and he's like, oh, gay incest.
Oh, okay. I mean, Saxon's talking about how hot his sister is.
Lockheed's watching his brother go walk over to watch porn and masturbate in the mirror. There's a lot going on.
They're totally normal families. Normal families.
You'll see. Very, very uncomfortable.
How wonderful for you. How wonderful for you.
Pam. And then the staff.
Yes. The only one that really jumped out was the young, attractive, smiling one who seems like she's soaking in a lot.
Mook. Yeah.
Good stuff from Mook. Big Mook fan.
I'm a big Pam fan, honestly. Pam ruled.
Then there's the guy who works the gate who's got like a crush on Mook. Yeah.
Yes. liked him a lot.
I'm a big fan of him. Yeah.
Moped guy. Yeah.
Moped guy. Gate talk.
Gate talk. So, and the owner.
And Amarita, who's running the sort of. Yes.
The sort of. Yes.
Virtual thing at the beginning. Fabian, the manager who seemed absolutely panicked about the dish being placed or removed prematurely from the table.

And then the manager.

The owner. Here's my question.

So what are we calling her?

Owner lady? The matron? What's our

nickname for her? Have you ever asked someone

to just circle

the bay while you're getting ready? No, she wasn't ready yet.

Gotta cruise the bay.

Everyone's on her terms.

Tell them to cruise the bay. So the key with her is that her husband, who our guy Goggins was looking for, got sick.
Stick is here. It is daredevil season.
Scott Glenn. He's off somewhere.
Bangkok, yeah. So he's coming back.
Well, I think Rick is going to go looking for him, right? Because he's following him. So he's like, God, I came here.
I'm here. I'm in Phuket and he's in...
He's not here. I have to pursue him now.
Theory Corner. We have not watched ahead.
No. Is he Rick's dad? So that's my leading guess.
See, this is why Joe makes the big bucks. The Jim Hollinger is Rick's father seems like the leading theory.
There's just like... Couldn't you just see it? Scott Glenn, the Goggins, the bone structure.
So either like a son that got shoved to the side or somebody who, an illegitimate son. And he just like resents.
Or like, yeah, he, cause he's disappointed. Yes.
That that guy's not there. Right.
That Hollinger's not there, But also just sort of like has, is looking at his wife in a way

that just makes me feel like

you chose her,

you abandoned my mom for her,

something like that.

She used to be like an actress

back in her day.

What's the story there?

Yeah.

So yeah, that's a theory.

Yeah, and we learn,

like we hear that Jim Hollinger

is like a very important man.

Yeah.

Everyone in Bangkok knows him. So like he's a person of consequence and status.
He's Jim Hollinger. He's a huge guy.
He's sick. So he owns all of White Lotus.
Or is it like a franchise? Rick, obviously, my guess is that's his dad. Could be like a former, it could be personal, it could be business.
Did he fuck him on a business deal or That's, I think, at least a possibility. But presumably he is after either some sort of emotional currency or actual currency, money.
But Rick clearly has money. Unless he's living off something borrowed.
Rick barely works. But they can afford to be at the White Lotus.
They can travel everywhere. But they don't usually travel like this.
Because Chelsea we should always live like this but are we sure they're banging boots oh yeah she's like you want to do tantric later she doesn't seem that interested in really anything with her though well I think he's distracted by his pursuit of his missing dad you don't feel like she's playing the part of a girlfriend and they're not actually boyfriend-girlfriend? Oh, interesting. Just like a hired gun, basically? Hmm.
I'll think about that. Possibly.
Hooker slash sex worker for the weekend? Nothing like that? No, I think they're in a relationship. No, they travel a lot together.
Yeah, it's a question maybe of the depth of the connection. I'm prepared for anything with that relationship is my point.
But Greg's lady seems like, yeah. For her.
Might have been, might have met heraya. Yeah.
Alright. Do your omens thing.
Okay. My ominous this is not an incomplete list.
Mal, tell me a few other things. Okay.
Monkey motif. Right? The monkeys are everywhere and at one point someone says monkeys can be aggressive.
Bill, do you remember when we covered the staircase and there was the owl theory? Oh yeah. Because we know that gunshots went off at the beginning of this episode, but we don't know that, like, the body in the water is because of the guns.
Does a monkey do it? Is the monkey the killer in season three of White Lotus? There's a lot of guns. There was a lot of guns.
No, guns are going off. There was, like, 40 gunshots.
By the way, that's where you know Patrick Schwarzenegger from, the staircase. Right.
Good call. Forgot that.
Poisonous fruit. Wait, hold on.
Go back to monkeys. Okay.
I'm having to spend all the time on the monkeys. Are you...
Great sentence. You love animals.
I love an animal. Are you pro monkeys? Yeah, I think these monkeys seemed really chill and super great.
I... I thought the lizards seemed also great.
The... Like Belinda, I thought the rustling of the leaves and the prospect of something falling on your head in the dead of night was not for me.
But yeah, the fact that you could just go out on your deck and hang out with a monkey, wonderful. Would it offend you if a monkey does it this season, if the monkey is the murderer this season? I do not believe the monkey is going to be the murderer this season based on the sheer volume of bullet spray that we got.
But I love that you're keeping an open mind. Counter on monkeys.
Okay, you're in. You're in on...
No, counter. I have some counters.
A bunch of monkeys. I was not interested.
It's like murder on the right express, but it's monkeys. I think they can get aggressive and territorial, and they throw their own poop.
Those are two negatives in my mind. I don't know if on vacation, I'm like, oh, cool.
There's three monkeys. Everyone seems a little alarmed and then trying to be delighted, but mostly a little bit alarmed by the monkeys.
The staff isn't saying, don't directly make eye contact with any of the monkeys. They're not warning them.
Because they'll either throw their feces at you or shoot you with the gun. I'm not saying the monkey has a gun.
I'm just saying. When we don't make weight, we'll do the feces thing.
What does a monkey just startle someone into the water? Does that still count that the monkey did it? I think you would be able to at least claim that you were right. Okay, great.
I like Joe. I like where you're going.
Number two. It's a beautiful start to Theory Corner.
Number two, poisonous fruit. Yeah, this was Chekhov's poison seeds.
No question. They very, very carefully threw that in the scene.
In his hand, tossing it up. Pam, an authority.
It's like, no, it will kill you. It's toxic.
You will die. So here's my poison fruit theory.
Because I think like the fact that it's in Saxon's hand and he's associated with it. And we know that his father is about to be embroiled in scandal.
Do we think that Saxon will use the poison fruit at some point to try to take out somebody who's coming for his father? He would. Yeah.
Wouldn't he? And then probably end up poisoning himself. And then lead to...
So the Wall Street Journal reporter comes to Thailand? Yes. And it goes wrong and then somehow sparks a series of events that leads to retribution against the Ratliffs.
Wow. We are taking down journalism in season three of Void Lotus.
It's like, why are season five? Here's my question with this fancy resort that's one of the most expensive places in the world. Why are there poisonous fruit trees there? Yeah, get rid of the fucking fruit.
It's toxic fruit. Why do people bring their kids? Keeping them monkeys.
Why are my five-year-olds eating the fruit? Well, the toxic fruit, that's like a- It's a no for you. That's an immediate out.
Okay. Get rid of the fruit.
I think they're going for, because of the wellness, the central pitch here is the wellness retreat, which I would like to say. This looks beautiful.
I will be looking into, I assume we're going to see a similar spike in rates like we did at the Four Seasons in Sicily. We'll be looking into this, as you guys both know, as two of my dearest friends.
I haven't been on a vacation in a decade, but I'll look at it just to think about the future. Shout out to Anaheim once.
Should we podcast about this from Thailand? I think we should consider it. But season four, let's go to wherever they're filming.
I hope season four is finally a couple. I have a Thailand take after your take.
Oh, yeah. Exciting.
Cold Lotus for season four. It's time.
Let's go to a ski resort, please. Cold Lotus.
It's time. Oh, interesting.
Everyone looks great in their bathing suits. It's wonderful.
Let's get on a ski resort. Okay.
Because they're doing the wellness, I think the part of the pitch is like you are truly communing with nature. You are in the elements.
So if they go in and they take out the poison fruit of the bong bong tree, that is not an authentic experience. And if they're asking you for a digital detox.
But if it saves you one lawsuit, I think that's a thing. lawsuit i think the one is thriving despite dead bodies of plenty the only thing that they have more of than the cocktails on the menu are corpses what if they don't give a shit they might be governmentally protected i don't know maybe you can't like cut down these trees they fall to the ground you can pick them up collect them and put them somewhere else that a good point.
There should be a daily fruit scoop situation. Daily toxic fruit scoop.
Yeah, exactly. Maybe keep those out of the freaking hotel.
That's a great one. What's your Thailand take? Yeah.
I'm just never going. Why? It looks beautiful.
I think movies and pop culture have really ruined it for me. It's Claire Dance.
What was the Naomi Watts movie? Was that Thailand too when they with the tsunami oh no no it was in the far east somewhere though it was definitely yeah the one with Tom Holland and Ewan McGregor really good movie by the way really great movie I don't know something about the far east I just it's like a stay away for me seems beautiful I can't do it it seems great my wife is upset and I'll end up, she'll make me go at some point. Will you be mad

if we go? No, I think you should go.

Okay, let's go.

The elements are too much of a wild card for me.

But I mean, I love that that's part of this.

It's like there's monkeys in the trees,

there's poisonous fruit, and that's sort of

the whole White Lotus vibe

is just sort of, to your point, the sinister music,

it's like, I don't think Mike White is saying,

don't go to Thailand, it's dangerous, you shouldn't

go there, but like, all of

these fantasy escapist

Thank you. It's just sort of, to your point, the sinister music, it's like, I don't think Mike White is saying, don't go to Thailand.
It's dangerous. You shouldn't go there.
But like all of these fantasy escapist things are supposed to have this hint of danger to them. Yeah, it's a take your seatbelt off vacation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, what's your next one? Guys with guns.
We've got the Hollinger security team. We do.
And they are strapped. Yes, they are.
Yes. If someone's going to shoot off a bunch of guns, I mean, it's a lot of guns.
So it's not one person with a gun in this cold open, right? It's a volley of guns. So it's a shootout.
Yes. And so I'm just saying like, yes, there's definitely going to be a shootout.
It's definitely not monkeys firing the guns. But I'm just saying we don't know that the shootout is what results in the body and the water.
So it might be eight guys shooting at one person. But no, it's not like a mass shooter situation.
It could be. So the two Hollinger guards who we see charmingly flirting with Mook.
Yeah, maybe our guy Gay Talk is like, well, apparently I do need to work harder to take out the competition here. It's not enough that I'm still receiving letters from my pen pal in Belgium.
No, no. I rescued him from drowning.
On the safe list, it's Chelsea number one is gay talk number two. And Mook number three.
Those are my safeties. I don't want anything happening to them.
But Chelsea got in some ways, Chelsea got the clearest. Like, I also agree, I want Chelsea to remain alive and well, but she literally said out loud, even if it kills me.
That's on my list. Which is very worrying.
She's like, I'm going to save you even if it kills me. It's not great.
It's incredibly concerning. Gay talk.
Yes. Once saved a man from drowning.
Very sweet. Yeah.
Is he going, like, because here's all the information we have. We have Zion, who we believe is Belinda's son.
Yes. He's in the water, briefly prays and then gets pissed immediately when it doesn't pay off so looping into our spiritualism question but like we get a there's seemingly a body in the water yes we don't know if that person's dead right did you freeze friend the body to see if it was male female old young as usual you can't tell you can't tell anything I tried couldn't tell anything I think the only thing we can say with maybe certainty is that it's not Belinda.
Because if it is Belinda, it doesn't mean that there's not more than one body. It's not Amarita.
It's not Amarita. Zion would run toward his mother, not away from her.
So I feel like that's a stranger to him. The floating corpse.
So my wife was like, oh yeah, and then his mom's the one floating. And I was like, that's not true.
And then we had one of those arguments you have when you've been married too long. And I was like, that's not what happened.
It is. Go rewind it.
and then we mom's the one floating and I was like that's not true and then we had one of those arguments you have when you've been married too long and I was like that's not what happened it is go rewind it and then we rewind it you can't see anything like I told you it could be her and he runs away in horror because he is saying like protect my mom make sure my mom is okay and I do think like every character ultimately gets like a harbinger of doom because we got to keep open all possibilities and definitely Belinda gets a, like particularly the jostling of the offering. That made me really nervous.
That was like, this. But I was thinking she was more safe than others because she was like participating in an offering ceremony more than like, say Rick who declined even the sort of like floral.
Yeah. Arrangement.
but then like the jostling and the sound changed and then we got careful and that made me nervous but I hope she's okay there's no way you can tell who's in the water I think you can't tell you can't because I won my argument with my wife and I'm positive you can't how'd that feel it was great and I get to go I told you it wasn't Belinda and that was it it was great that does feel. We also don't know just from the opening, because it's like, okay, what does it mean that we're starting with Zion? Right? And I think ultimately the answer is we can't say.
Well, that's how White Lotus starts. It starts with a hint of something bad happening, and then we go backwards.
But in season one, we open with Shane at the airport, and he is the killer. He is directly connected to the crime.
Yeah. But in season two, we open with Daphne.
Yeah. Who has nothing to do ultimately with what happens with Tanya.
No, so it doesn't mean anything. So we can't tell anything from that.
Well, what is really smart is like with Daphne and Shane, like we were new for certain a few people who were surviving. Yes.
Zaya's not even there yet. He's not even getting there until later in the week.
So everyone we're watching is a candidate. Yeah.
Except for, I would agree, Belinda, but we'll see. It would be tough.
That would be really sad. Any other elements? That's it for right now.
Okay. I think monkeys and poisonous fruit and guys who are strapped with guns is what we have going for us right now.
Taking one more break, coming back with some highlights from the episode, then we'll go into theories.

So would you call it a lagoon?

The body of water in the middle?

A pond?

This is another argument with my wife. She said it was a man-made lagoon.

How big

does it have to be to qualify the lagoon?

This is what we were arguing about. So this is what the

White Lotus does to you. You have to pause

the thing so you can get in another three-minute argument.

Reflecting pool? Reflecting pond?

We get a cigarette

I don't know. what we were arguing about.
So this is what the White Lotus does to you. You have to pause the thing so you can get in another three minute argument.
Reflecting pool? Whatever it is. We get a cigarette argument.
Nice to have the cigs in the first episode. Goggins just blowing smoke.
What a time to be here. She thought the family was totally right to say something.
Yeah. It's just rude.
We're on vacation. We're on a nice boat.
They didn't even ask him to put it out. They just asked him to move to the other side of the boat.
And he is a dick. So it's immediately established he's a dick.
The plastic surgery combo, I haven't done anything. Just maintenance.
Except a little, you know, the basics. So what are the basics? A little Botox? A little Botox? Yeah, I assume so.
A little Botox? Peel. A lift? Yeah.
None of them have had like buckle fat removal or anything like that. Wow.
You've lost me completely. I stand in awe as always.
Just a nip and a tuck, I would say. They all look great.
Saxon explaining to Locke his strategy for hitting on women. I mean.
It's a numbers game. It's a numbers game.
You gotta play the numbers. What I love about Saxon, who is objectively a very good looking dude, is that none of the women are interested in him at all.

Yeah.

But he's like so unfazed

because he's such a cocky asshole

and that arrogance,

that entitlement

is just so perfect.

The way that Chelsea

literally rolls over

and gives him her back.

How do you get a drink

in this place?

You fucking go to the bar

and ask for one.

You miss 100% of the shots

you don't take.

It's true.

Listen,

it just wasn't his time

in episode one.

It was the three older friends

wanted to stay together

all older than him

and I'll see you next time. 100% of the shots you don't take.
It's true. Listen, it just wasn't his time in episode one.
It was the three older friends wanted to stay together, all older than him. And then Chelsea already had a boyfriend.
No, he will fuck one of those women. It's probably going to be Carrie Coon.
How is it, Leslie? Oh, this is good. Yeah, I think so too.
You don't think the actress is in play? Maybe if she starts feeling insecure enough. Well, what if- Oh, this is great.
Yeah. Yeah, because she's, oh, you found the man of your dreams.
Can I Fandle put some odds on this? I feel like whoever has sex with him is feeling deeply insecure and needs validation. That's Carrie Coon.
Well, they want us to think that, right? Because they're positioning the other two- Because she's sobbed by herself in her room for no reason i mean come on well has cried much longer and much better on other shows one really powerful whale that was heartbreaking like that moment where she looked down at them and they're still there and they're talking and they're chatting and this like i really loved this maybe you're right i mean i i am inclined to say they're at theifts were my favorite, but there was a strength and an impact in that friend group that was really powerful. Like, you're there and you have to keep saying out loud.
These fake compliments. We're the best friends in the world.
We've known each other for so long. To tell everybody who's listening.
We're so happy to be here. We've been best friends since we were nine.
No, I think the Ratliff's made like the biggest best impression.

But in terms of like

the long game,

we've got our eye on Goggins

because he's our guy

and we love him.

And yeah,

the three babes.

The Ratliff's have the most

plot shit that can go

a variety of directions.

I think the Fancy Cougars

have a specific dynamic

that I can't wait

to see play out.

I can't wait.

Here's something that

Mike White does perfectly

on these shows

is like the worst person

you've met

makes a good point.

And when Piper's dad is like, Pipe, you came all this way. He didn't even set up the interview.
I was like, no, he's right. I was really with Timothy Ratliff in that moment and he seemed so genuinely disappointed and clearly these parents have given their kids everything and it's like you couldn't just do this one thing.
I for sure would have been Piper in that situation. I'll hurry it out.
I thought the worst person in the world makes the best point was going to be when Saxon talked about how horny plane rides make them. A lot of hot women away from home, no one to answer to, acting all anonymous.
When you say that when you disembark from a plane ride you never take because you never go on planes, do you also grab your crotch aggressively while you're talking about it? The very natural flow. Getting out of the pool and just kind of like the way just the full like laundry cycle movement.
That was great. What did he say to the little brother too? Like, no, you're a good looking kid, man.
You got to get some muscle on you. Yeah, you're smart.
Good looking. smart good looking Lockie and then dinner poor Lockie the dad is like you know checked out the spa treatments they have one for posture posture that one hit me really hard I was like straightening up when he was talking about it so upsetting also I just want to say really quickly Patrick Schwarzenegger obviously we need like a clear nepo baby but Sam Nivola who plays Lockie is a stealth nepo baby he's Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola's kid and Emily Mortimer is also a nepo baby because her dad's famous anyway just I love a nepo baby there's nothing wrong with being a nepo baby I just like I just love it's on nepo baby I'm really glad you brought this up I'm gonna have a defense of nepo babies no babies.
No, no, no. No, no, just in acting.
No, no. Some of them are talented.
Just blanket. Mm-hmm.
Nepo babies actually make sense in acting and singing because you're half of your two parents. And if one of your two parents was super artistic and a great singer or a great actor or whatever, it would make sense to me that the DNA would then trickle down to the next kid.
And it's like beyond just, oh, they got an opportunity because of whatever. This is nature versus nature for you.
Patrick Schwarzenegger is half Arnold Schwarzenegger and he carries himself with like a swagger and a charisma that makes sense when you think his dad is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, no, I think on the physicality front for sure, but I just think that like

talent doesn't emerge

clearly along genetic

lines. And I don't think like if someone

But I think it might help in some cases.

I don't think if someone has a famous

parent, they obviously had a hand up, but

like, I don't think that should just qualify them

from being admired for their talent.

I just, you know, there's like a

slight asterisk on their name. Do you know? There's been some people who had whatever, famous dad, famous mom, that they're just good at acting.
Absolutely. And it's like, that just is what it is.
This isn't like, oh, they just got it because it's anyway. I just want to say that because I think he's good.
Patrick, yeah. I think they're both good.
I think he's better than Jake Lacey was. And I kind of like Jake Lacey in that season, but I think he's doing a better job.
There's more going on with him. I think it're both good I think he's better than Jake Lacey was and I kind of like Jake Lacey in that season but I think he's doing a better job there's more going on with him I think it's too early to tell on that front but I think that like I don't think being a Schwarzenegger qualifies you from being good at what you do it's just something that we're all constantly thinking about but I felt like when I heard he was going to be an actor I'm like oh give him a fucking break like of course like he's going to do this and people will hire him because, but I actually think he's good.
Been waiting for you to My defense of Patrick Shortsinger? I've just been sitting here for like, just waiting for you to take a cruel shot at Jackson Holiday while we're talking about Nebo babies. I've just been like recoiling in fear for the last couple minutes, but I avoided it.
I did not do that. Wall Street Journal.
Yep. Chasing down Ratliff? What do we think they're chasing down?

We did not discuss this yet.

What is the scandal?

A fund that he set up.

But what's the fund?

I don't know, but isn't this alternate Brunei?

Showkel.

Yes.

Brunei.

I wouldn't do anything involving the alternate Brunei.

2018.

I think it's like a housing thing?

Is it like a Bitcoin thing? Like where are we we going like an investment fund that was like shiesty in some way like laundering money money laundering but we don't know so that's going to be a thing we find out can I just say that there's a phone number for Bart Nixon and the Wall Street Journal and I did call it and it is the federal labor relations number in Washington, D.C. If you call 771-444-5801, it's the federal stuff.
That's me doing my homework. I love it.
I need our guy, Jason Isaacs. I need Timothy Ratliff to be smarter than this.
First of all, you can't take a call from a reporter without knowing what the call's about.

Insane.

Irresponsible.

He's supposed to be a hot shot.

Like, that's, no. He's funneling that to somebody underneath him.

Right.

There's, like, some, what is this about?

Okay.

Later when he says, send me your questions in the email.

That's where we should have started.

Yes.

He calls Ken Wynn.

No.

He calls him,ynn. No.

He calls him.

The guy, he's like, I haven't talked to him in years.

Can he?

Can he call me back?

And he left him a voicemail?

Yeah.

What?

Now, on the theory corner front, do we think Rick hears any of this and is going to be able to use it?

Do you know who heard it? Because he's there and Gay Talk. Gay Talk heard it.
Gay Talk heard it. I don't think Rick heard it.
He was too busy sucking down that Marlboro light. Really enjoying it.
We think Goggins wants to murder the hotel lady's husband or have some sort of showdown with him, but we don't totally know what it is. He wants something.
Vengeance of some kind. He wants some sort of something where there's anger behind it, but we don't know what it is.
There's always someone who's desperate on one of these trips, needs money, needs something, and is kind of pretending not to be. He's just doing the worst job of any of these characters to pretend like he's not.
Money or revenge. But my question is, would the White Lotus know who he is? Do they check the backgrounds of the people coming because there's not a lot of

people they don't even check for murder or poison fruit you know what's interesting about that's a good question because he chelsea says like you just woke we were supposed to go back to bali you just woke up one day you wanted to come here like i wanted to go to australia and what does he say he says i can't go to australia she's like would you be arrested so like it that does imply that he has an actual

potentially

googleable criminal to Australia. She's like, would you be arrested? So, like, that does imply that he has an actual

potentially

Google-able, like, criminal

history or something, but

I don't know. He, you know, was taking

a shit Googling pictures of his maybe dad.

So, he's really working through it.

Maybe he, like

some other famous people, took a

pet that he did not register to Australia

and he's not allowed back.

And then, Chelsea Thank you. some other famous people took a pet that he did not register to Australia and he's not allowed back.

And then Chelsea

talking to the lady

at the bar

who said she'd been

with our guy, Greg.

Really?

I feel like there's

a really interesting

recasting there

because so Charlotte Bon

is the actress

who's playing that woman,

Chloe.

She's Quebecois.

Originally it was a Thai actress that they recast with like a Quebecois actress.

And like, I don't have no, I don't know.

I just think that's interesting.

Like in a show where we have like, as White Lotus always does, there's like the locals

and the non-locals.

What does it mean that they took this character who was played by a Thai actress and decided

to make her, you know, French or French Canadian or something like that. Interesting.
The, I have no idea. And then the other thing is the, the two questions left are why did Carrie Coon start crying? Was it just, she's at a tough point in her life.
Is she hiding something? Does she hate these two people? Is she going to reveal something to them that she didn't have the balls to reveal yet with yeah like i think it's chardonnay plus all the microaggressions i think it's sitting around with two women who are like you're beautiful no you're beautiful no you're beautiful oh and you're also oh yeah you're here like you're here you're also here and then last but not least the uh the brothers and locky checking out his brother where where the hell is that going was it like sexual or was it weird it was weird i'm i'm just unclear if it's sexual or if it's it like he has the kind of body that i would like to have because i'm younger than scrawny do you know what i mean there was a curiosity to the look that seemed intentional i don't disagree with you yeah i'm just thinking how they wrote it in the script, how they were saying Lockheed should look. It almost feels like maybe a combo, right? It's like, oh, I'm studying.
Like, he literally, my older brother just told me, like, he's going to teach me. He's going to teach me how to get laid.
He's going to teach me how to get buff. He's going to teach me how to play the numbers game.
I'm watching him with interest. I'm learning.
And then, like, wait, am I, like, having a response to what I'm seeing seeing here? But again, they're just doing the full Targaryen with all three of those kids. Is he gay for his brother? Is there a threesome in play potentially with the two of them and one other person that could go sideways? All three of the children? So that was my last question before we get to predictions.
No sex in the first episode. But White Lotus always likes to throw in some sex.
of Tantric later hopefully yeah Rick seemed very uninterested in the sex which was which was sad for Chelsea yeah huh we're holding out hope that the Russian our guy Valentin our guy Valentin will come through it's a numbers game Saxon score eventually, right? One of the three ladies are hooking up with somebody. Yeah.
I think they will all have sex with somebody at some point. Oh, I hope so.
I love that for them. Saxon's definitely having sex with somebody.
But all of the women. And I think this is like a delicate, I think Mike White in White Lotus does this consistently well, but it is delicate to take the three mature women who are friends.

And you don't necessarily want fighting over a dude to be the thing that unravels them, but also that is actually does feel like a thing that totally could happen. And so that feels to me like very in play.
Are they going to be interested in the same person? is one of them going to pursue something with whether it's Saxon or Valentin or somebody else at the at the resort and then another person is like no I'm that's mine well there's also we have the possibility of somebody new joining for a second third fourth episode I mean Zion's going to show up the last couple episodes or the last couple seasons there's been people that have come in yes Tom Hollander showing up and changing the game in season two. Yeah.
So, yeah, I think who could join? And Zion should not be counted off the list. No, I don't know when he's getting there.
And also, like, he had that mysterious line about, like, he had been, you know, going through something, right? Like, there was obviously the talk of the finals, but then he also said, like, just finishing finals and some other stuff. So what is Zion looking for? What does he need? Also, in a creepy way, the question of Piper's virginity has come up.
Yeah. Is this like a sexual, is this like a stealing beauty sexual awakening journey for her? She's wearing this, like, I'm sure hideously expensive, but like, prairie dress when she goes to the temple, which is like, they desexualized her in the first episode.
It was such a weird thing to wear in Thailand, which looks hot. Interesting.
Because like, I think, so that feels totally in play. But then I thought, I was really struck by the moment where her mom, where the parents were talking, like she couldn't have like written her thesis about her own religion.
Like they don't know anything about their own kids. And so

I don't believe that Saxon is right.

As I said, the question of her.

Yeah.

And the fact that he's so judgmental

about it when he's talking to Lockie, not just

she's not having sex, as far as

he's concerned, but she's depriving

herself. Because of her interest

in Buddhism, she has no desire

and no passion. I had a moment.
There's no way

this is the case because the people,

the way that Patrick Schwarzenegger

I don a moment. There's no way this is the case because the people the way that Patrick Schwarzenegger I was like, what if he's a virgin? What if he's projecting? There's no way that he has gotten this far in his life without finding someone or paying someone, but like what if he's projecting? You're talking about Saxton? Yeah.
No, I think Lockheed's a virgin.

Yeah, for sure. Probably.

Yeah.

I think Saxton's having sex in episode two.

I would put my chips on the table right now.

I like that as a quiet theory.

It's a quiet theory, but no way.

He's too confident.

Yeah, at Duke, his number,

Justin, his four years at Duke is like dozens.

He's confident, but he's not.

He's so like rasping.

I think he's probably very bad at sex.

Yeah.

Deeply bad. Deeply bad.

Duke or UNC, is Mike White trying

to tell us something? Does he have

a side in this that hasn't been revealed yet?

Like, is it possible

he's like a big Leitner fan in the 90s?

When Parker Posey was

who do you think her favorite player is? She seems like maybe like a Tyler Hansen. Parker Posey was who do you think her favorite player is she seems like maybe like a Tyler Hansen Parker Posey yeah I don't know I don't know what he was trying to do with that okay did the accent which accent was worse out of the two oh it's Jason Isaacs who is a British man doing a southern accent I not super well on repeat viewing I thought actually Posey was worse yeah I agree I don't know what what state she's from I is she from Carolina where I will wait for the true southerners to wait and I am very curious but I feel like both were bad yeah both were wild did you did you guys watch Brotherhood when Jason Isaacs the former show that Jason Isaacs and Jason Clark did together where they have Justin Sayles will this.
I'm sure he's seen it because it's a crime show set in Providence, Rhode Island. And so nothing will really.
It's a star show, right? Nothing will match that. I wonder, I can't remember.
Wait, Isaacs is doing like a Rhode Island accent? That's the hardest accent we do. And so I do think the fact that I watched and really liked that show just means I'm immune to like the impact of him doing a slightly misguided accent.
The Rhode Island accent's like driving a stick. It's like you really have to know how to do it.
It doesn't bother me. I think they're both great, but like in a show where all I want is for Walton Goggins to have a Southern accent, it was a long way over in Dillaw.
It's the most disappointing thing of the episode for you. I, I guess a lack of a draw on Walton Goggins.

I didn't, I felt like it was a waste of Goggins in the first episode.

Yeah, yeah.

That was my biggest disappointment.

Not a waste, but like a wait and see.

A waste of him for what I was, what I had in my head.

It's like, oh my God, he's going to be.

And then it was like, all right, I've seen this character before.

So I'm interested to see how they flip it.

Yeah, yeah, I want to see how that goes.

Seven more episodes though.

I know. This is the longest season yet.
so we've got time. Disappointment? That Schwarzenegger didn't walk towards the camera.
Yeah, the cutoff, the vanity of the sink obscured, like, you know, I have some questions about what we're working with down there. I don't know if I had, like, one specific disappointing thing.
I guess, like, overall, I would say the first episode of White Lotus season is never my favorite episode of the White Lotus season. Good call.
And so there's always just, like, there are so many. The fact that it's a fun ensemble cast and that's part of that's the feature, like, is a little bit.
The hurdle's high in the first episode because you have so many dynamics to establish so there's always just that like acclimation period um can i give you my my my biggest disappointment was goggins the thing i want the most yeah just for random not like big ass thing thing i want the most is some episode where she's screening the dailies from like her new movie or her TV show and Mike White gets to do like some sort of fake like she's like doing some CBS pilot or she's got some sequel to some movie and they have fun with that somehow. I'm hoping they do that.
What sort of show do you think she's in? Is she a movie actress or a TV actress? Yeah, so it's like her new CBS show with Ted Danson. She's the daughter.

Some low winter sun energy.

Yeah, they're thrown in a house together.

Is she on a show?

Is sitcom or drama, you think?

Is she on a show that would be covered on this podcast?

No.

No, she's on The Walking Dead.

Oh, she's on like a zombie show.

People know her.

Or like a last people live show.

Yeah, she's famous.

She's famous.

She's legitimately famous.

So she's an IP.

So what's that?

IP of some kind. Interesting.
Something big that people are watching. Something, she's famous.
She's famous. She's legitimately famous.
So she's in IP. So what's that? IP of some kind.

Interesting.

Something big that people

are watching.

Something House of R would cover.

So like a Star Wars type show?

Yeah, she's in season four

of The Mandalorian.

No, I'm sticking with Walking Dead.

I like it.

She plays Maggie

on The Walking Dead.

She's starring in the

Star Wars show, Baka.

I just made that up. Yeah.
I don't know. Would that be a show? Could be.
Just drop the chew. Chewbacca's relatives? Yeah.
Baca. Okay.
Cleaner. Okay.
What's your Michelle Monaghan relationship? Monaghan? Love. Kiss, kiss, bang, bang.
I mean, she's an icon. Really strong.
Yeah. 20 plus year career.
Yeah. She's been in some big ass movies.
She's played a lot of different types of people yeah i'm never sad to see her like really good career but i would i wouldn't call her an a-plus lister either no no but like never unwelcome and what i love about this like the way they're i love that they pick of those three women that they pick michelle monaghan because like she was always giving sort of girl next door i mean she's stagglingly beautiful but she's not sort of like ice queen in a tower unattainably beautiful she's like yeah your friend from high school who was like who made it and now plays maggie on the walking dead like you know it's just sort of like i i just think that's a really interesting choice for that role all right predictions. Predictions.
Let's go. What do you got?

Prediction.

We'll do season two, episode two prediction, and then big picture who the death is. Okay.
We'll do this at the end of every episode. Okay.
So be ready next time. Much to Joe's horror.
No, I love predictions. What's going to happen in episode two? Episode two, thing you're looking out for.
To Mal's point, I'm really curious if we get a, how much are they doing a Belinda-Greg collision? Like, how much are we considering this a continuation of the earlier story? Okay. Yeah.
What do you got, Mal? Yeah, I think episode two feels like a bunch of people need to see each other or try to see each other rick has to actively try to go pursue jim like does that mean he leaves the resort does he try to find out what his schedule is where he might be i think it we never leave the resort i know i know i'm like had one plate of pasta and clams with tanya but we did go on the wonderful ride with Tanya and Greg. Tanya, can't breathe.

I think that Belinda

has to see Greg soon.

That feels imperative.

Is there sex in episode two?

No sex in episode two,

I don't think.

But I think by episode three

we get sex.

100% sex in episode two.

There's some sort of sex

that it might just be

somebody by themselves.

Okay. We already got that.
No, we didn't get to watch. I know.
We didn't totally get that. Lockie didn't get to watch.
I know. Guys looking at porn on their iPads or computers in White Lotus, one of the great traditions.
As you know, my favorite moment. In an echoey, un-soundproof bathroom.
How am I going to jerk off this week this is crazy let's go to the bathroom Ethan jerking off after his run in season two uh yeah and Harper coming in and him somersaulting off the bed and standing up like dude what's up with the boner fair question I was jerking off I love you loved Ethan loved Ethan fair question fair question how about you what's your big what's your big prediction I think Saxon has to get involved with somebody in the hotel or at least set his sights on somebody and my guess much to both of your horror is we didn't see him interact with Mookie no leave her out of this that would be my would be my episode two where it's like, no, no. And maybe she likes him.
No, don't like this guy. And then we head that way.
This is what White Lotus always is. I'm always like, no, and then it happens.
That feels like the no relationship. There's going to be, we know there's going to be the musical performance in episode two, right? Because it's like she's going to be singing tomorrow night, the owner.
Pres i mean they're always all dining at the hotels typically but presumably everyone will be there will be a chance for the mingling between the different character groups and presumably because it's the owner performing all of the people aren't you glad we didn't watch episode two and we did this really screwed me up the last time so it's eight episodes are we doing we're doing roughly one episode per day because it's one week. The eight days kind of fucks up the math of the week.
Was it the last time seven or eight? It's been six, seven, and now eight. Yeah.
Wow. Yeah.
Oh, so we're definitely getting more characters. It's only one week.
I know, but people check in the hotel. We're definitely getting a couple more people.
Yeah, I think so. Could be Mal in episode five, Just checking in with Adam.
I'd love to. Her first vacation in 12 years.
We don't really. I would probably be going with someone else.
One of her friends from the fourth grade. Yeah.
I'd be going with an old friend. I was your feet.
I was your hands. You'd be going with your Syracuse book club.
I am going on a trip with them literally next week. We're going for a little weekend getaway to Charleston.
Why not change your plans to Charleston? I don't know if we can get there and back in two and a half days, but I'll look into it. I'll look into it.
Do you think Claire Danes, did she definitely steal the thing in Broke Down Palace? Absolutely. Okay.
They never really 100% made it clear. How many, what was the over-under on Broke Down Palace references before this podcast? Well, what are our big Thailand pop culture things? No, but I am deeply unsurprised.
That's an iconic Thailand movie. Yeah.
I'm deeply unsurprised. That's a real bill-coded movie, I think, is Broke Down Palace.
Well, because I, first of all, it was on a lot in the late 90s, early 2000s, but I always felt like I'd missed a scene. And it turns out after you watched it four times, you didn't.
You didn't. You didn't miss a scene.
On the sex and shipping front? Yeah. Are we shipping Belinda and Panchai? 100%.
Absolutely, right? They had real energy and chemistry between them right away. And he was very sweet and very welcoming.

And she's like on this exchange program where she gets to go to a different Lotus and study and learn.

She's there for multiple months.

Some Thailand movies.

Okay.

You were right.

The Impossible, the Naomi Watts movie.

There you go.

See?

100%. A Bridget Jones sequel.

Because they're basically doing a Brookdown Palace thing with Bridget Jones. Which Bridget Jones sequel was in Edge of Reason she goes to jail she has a wonder bra it's a whole thing wasn't Hangover 3 a Thailand movie Hangover 3 yeah definitely no part 2 part 2 is Thailand Ong Bak obviously but that's its own thing I'm looking for American movies set in Thailand not a lot yeah not a lot there's a Broke Down Palace 2 oh just Broke Down Palace.
Okay, great. Sorry, the poster has something that looks like Roman Numerals underneath and I got really excited for the sequel.
That sounds great. And then The Beach, of course.
The Beach. Oh, yeah, sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Oh, The Beach. That is one of my wife's favorite bad movies.
Classic. Yeah.
Really good one. Good Leo stuff.
Great. That's when Leo really established who he

was. He's like, what's your big movie

after Titanic? He's like, you know what? I want to go

somewhere. I can bring my friends.
I'm going to break up

Danny Boyle and E. McGregor and it's going to last

a long time.

All right. Last predictions before we go.

Who's dead? No, just yeah.

Like who's dead at the end?

I think we have to do this at the end of our episode.

Yeah, I think that's right. I think it should

be someone. It's not going

to be someone I want to die.

Thank you. like who's dead at the end who's dead at the end I think we have to do this at the end of our episode yeah yeah yeah I think that's right I think it should be someone it's not gonna be someone I want to die is usually the case it's usually someone like because like Aman and Tanya like we they weren't like good people necessarily but we did like them we weren't like rude for them to die or anything like that right it's like if if Rick is the behind whatever unfolds, if he's the driver of it, then Chelsea is the one who ends up dead in that scenario, not Rick or not Jim.
Yeah. If Timothy Ratliff is seeking to evade capture or detection or whatever, or Saxon's efforts to help his father, the driver, then Lockie or Piper end up dead.
Like that's the way. Well, by White Lotus rules, it has to be somebody from the first episode that's dead in the last episode.
Unless he switches the formula. We've only had two seasons.
So Scott Glenn is fine. Right.
But we do see him on a Google image searcher's alt. Does that count? I think it's Chelsea.
You think Chelsea's going to die? I think she's the body floating in the water. I'm going...
Only because she tipped it off with the thing she said. That raised my flag.
I'm going with they hope... That's a wink to us.
More than it is a heartburn. I think it's Victoria Ratliff.
Yeah. Death by monkey.
Victoria Ratliff. Death by...
Yeah, Parker Posey, death by monkey. Still jet lagged on day seven.
Lorazapam's out. Falls asleep in the path.
The entire person said a monkey bite. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's it. Lorazapam to the gills.
Death by monkey. The hope is that it's Greg.
Like the hope is that Greg ends up paying. No way.
But we can't. We can't receive.
Yeah. We can't receive that kind of gift.
No. He again find another woman we'll find out you can watch this on the Prestige TV YouTube channel which is called Ringer TV we can find a bunch of our good stuff you can watch this on Spotify every week as well thanks to all the people behind the scenes who helped us produce this one because we have a lot of people behind the glass screen over there.
We will see you every Sunday night right after the next episode. We put the episode up.
We tape it ahead of time. It's up.
And then Joanne on Wednesdays. Rob and I.
With our guy Mahoney. Yeah.
Busy time for Mahoney. NBA season.
Yeah. Severance.
Severance. A lot going on.
UNC versus Duke. I still haven't watched Severance.
You're missing out, man. You would really like it.

I know. A lot of people are...
I know I'm going to like it. I'm playing hard to get.

Okay. I'm like

Michelle Monaghan with Schwarzenegger.

I'm playing a little hard to get.

It's going to happen. Thank you.
Alright. Thanks, guys.