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

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

Bill Simmons, Joanna Robinson, and Mallory Rubin head to Thailand to recap the Season 3 premiere of ‘The White Lotus.’ They discuss why the Ratliff family is a perfect set of travelers for this series, the intriguing dynamic between the trio of longtime friends, and what connects this season to the previous two (1:46). Along the way, they talk through a few early theories and the major character reveal toward the end of the episode (27:08). Later, they close with a handful of predictions for what’s next (01:00:18). Email us! [e-mail] Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of ‘The Prestige TV Podcast’ and so much more! Try Coffee mate Creamers Now: http://coffeemate.com Hosts: Bill Simmons, Joanna Robinson, and Mallory Rubin Producers: Kai Grady and Donnie Beacham Jr. Video Supervision: John Richter Additional Production Support: Justin Sayles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 bro up two new flavors, Thai ice coffee and pinia colada flavored creamers. They're available for a short time only. So for the love of coffee, go try them now. Hi, everyone. It's Amy Poehler, and I'm launching a new podcast. called Good Hang. In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and

give me some advice. Just be yourself and the guests will come. Don't be the celebrity that this is their like sixth thing they're doing. I love true crime and cooking podcast. 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 trying to lighten it up a little. This episode is brought to you by Boershead? What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli? Well, Boar's Head just did that. Bursing with flavor, perfectly seasoned with that indulgent taste that usually means pointing your whole day around it. Presenting the Friars Turkey Breast only from Boar's Head. The backyard tradition now available behind the counter. Visit your

local deli today. Discover the craftsmanship behind every bite. Borershead committed to craft since 1905. Way Lotus, Season three. I can't 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 incredible in-person podcast. I'm going to go watch some porn. Oh no. Wait.

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? I said, you know, pussy, money, freedom, respect. Listen, he's just dropping knowledge.

Patrick Swartz. Orchinaiger, 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 matter. I mean, there's one thing that matched up.

Yeah, there's most part. 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 connected tissue.

And then there's Greg. Surprise Greg drop at the end of his episode. So you're not our rewatched the first two seasons to get the mood. I spot rewatched, 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 going to miss an excuse to revisit our time with your guy Albi in

Sicily? My favorite guy, Alby. Your favorite character, Alby? In Sicily? Of course not. 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?

Fun. You know what? Really like Coach Taylor's wife just being back in there. Yeah, Tim Taylor? A little Siddy Sweeney? Yeah. After watching season one Friday night lights, I was excited to spend more time with her. But yeah, it's...

The Mossbocker family. 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 rat lifts.

We have the fancy cougars. We have Gagins and his girls. I said to my notes, Bill's going to call them the cougars. But the fancy cougars, they like that he really did. The fancy cougars. Can you say it the way that he said it? Cougars with relish. You got to play the numbers, lock.

You got to. What do we call the unit for Gagins and his lady? What would you call them? For Rick and Chelsea? I said the strange couple. All right. We'll call them the strange couple. Melinda, and maybe it seems like her son Zion who starts.

Yeah. Yeah. And then the staff. Yeah. So that's really what we have. 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.

Is, like, 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 Watt. He was really, like, Mike White just created a character for Mallory. Yeah, it was just specifically. She, 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 wild. Locky. Three of the most just like... I was going to say it's actually Lucky.

Yeah. So it's Saxton, not Saxon. Saxon. Saxon, Piper, and Locky. Yeah. Timothy, Vicky. My wife asked me actually, did we ever, for our son, was Saxon Simmons ever in the mix? And we both remembered, no. But Lachlan Simmons. Locky Simmons. Maybe as a dog, like calling a dog, Locky? Locky.

All right. So, Joe goes for the Ratlifts. What do you have, Mal? No question. And I'm with Joe. Like, Gagins 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 bat in a thousand, the ratlifts in the premiere.

I, 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 Chelsea. So I do eagerly await Joanna's accent corner thoughts. But hearing Jason Isaacs, Lucius Malfoy himself, say, what decision you got into Duke is a light highlight. Is a light 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 nipick for this episode. Are you not enjoying what she's doing? She's flurring her way. I watched her episode three times. I think I'm enjoying it.

You know, I'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. Oh, she's just a happy, drugged up mom that's. It's just trying to stay out of the way. It's just like a deeply functional drug addict.

Could I stay to clerages. Fantastic. There's a shot after they like settle in. After, after Jason Isaacs as, as the patriarch has said like, Pam, you're a wonderful person. Pam, you're a wonderful person.

How wonderful for you. How wonderful for you. But he like, 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 the, 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 love working. And I'm like, wow, it's me and Bill. Oh, so Mallory is Saxon. 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, something pool, look around for like, who to confirm?

I'm going to after this. That was probably my favorite camera angle of the entire episode. 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. 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 on 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 goal. Golden Boy. His character in Gen B, 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. Golden Boy. Do you think Arnold's proud of him? Do you think he's like, I watch by Lotus? 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 swing, like in Terminator 1? or it's like, oh, you're just doing the back? You're not doing the front too? Well, we got a little, we did get a little front reflection. We get a little bit of reflection. Oh, I figured. So I was going to ask you if you're on the lookout.

There's a little, there's a little bit of a stem action. In the second season, Mao had like, was standing next to her TV. Yeah. Squinting. Well, I didn't need to swim. I didn't need to squint because that. You had camera prosthetic. That was a huge day.

No, no, but like, very memorable. At the premiere. Is 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, Bukaki 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 artie? Indeed. I think the way he said Bukaki was a new way to say it, and I enjoyed it. It was like, Bukaki! Wild moment. Wild moment. He is, so there's shades of what's his face in season one who is married to Dadario. Jake Lacey's.

Jake Lacey. There's some Jake Lacey. But this guy's way more alpha-e. 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 Cowboys 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? She did. Just for the Jerry Jones? No, for all of it. Well, Joe likes TV. I would assume that would have been like a tour to force for her. I think we met her limit at last with Landman. Oh, really?

No, no, no. We had a great time. Did her great time? Not even see episode six? Lily Bob's amazing. Yeah. He's so good. All right.

But it's like his Friday Night Lights methadone, right? Like when you just rewatch 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 rat lives. So I have a different answer. Oh,

than the rat lifts. I love the fancy cougars. They're great. I loved every second with them. They hate each other. I always judged 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 got just kind of like this. 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. So we should mention all of us made it packed. We're not watching it. No. We have not watched ahead. My wife was infuriated by this. She was like, just watch. Just got on 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 we had watched it. I didn't tell you anything. Not even like it was okay. I haven't watched one. You didn't even tell us that we were going to get to see part of Patrick Schwarzener's dog. You really held out on us, man. Good.

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. But she's like, thank you. Oh my God. Michelle Montahan, as Jacqueline, is tremendous stuff because she is so fake humble.

She's like, oh, I would sleep in a tree. I would sleep anywhere. You guys know. They're like, of course, you were. Why would I be the face? Right. Like, her, they have all been history. She's paying for everything.

She's paying for everything. They're going to pay for their own treatments. They're going to pay for their own treatments. Yeah. And, yeah, Carrie Coon being cast as like the frumpy one. Oh my God. When she has that shot where she walks towards kids. camera in that gold bathing soon.

She looks amazing. 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. Yeah. 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. Yeah. Just the basics. It's a maintenance. She says, uh, just a maintenance. And your daughter seems like she's really turning into a cool girl. They hate each other.

So they know, so they know and she's just the only. other since age nine. Yes. Yes. And then they all went different paths. So our guess is the 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. This is good for her. 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 man. Did a spread? Yeah. She, the way that she, Kate, her character, Kate is like, everyone in Austin knows 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 Lori, 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... No, but there are these little looks between them. Oh, yeah. A little long and fake smiles.

But then when they're all having the watch. at the end and Carrie Coon is slamming white shardine or whatever. She's slurping the shard from the moment. She opens that bottle. She's just, yeah, because she's already been on long, like, plane ride with them or whatever. No, it's just the, I love that it's three of them. Yes. It's the perfect dynamic for two of them to roll their eyes at the third one, no matter what.

And for that's always switch. For that always is swat. They can't pair off. 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, massage therapist? I say, I say Carrie Coode. Fucks them both. At least Valentine. Yeah. That'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. 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.

I agree. But somebody had to have taken something from somebody. Like they were two at two of the. them were acting in high school and one made it went. There's got to be some sort or 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 a, 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 Rath is about to be embroiled in scandal in the Wall Street Journal. So actually I 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 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's sort of bases on Survivor, except he's like... David versus Goliath, great season. 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 concept, on some level being like, let's go to beautiful places and make six to eight episodes. television, obviously just on that level. The concept is brilliant. But the concept, 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 constant 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 into a given hotel. I will say, though, I don't know if you wanted to get to this later, but let me just say, I would simply not vacation at the White Lotus at this point. Because there's been too deaf? Too many fucking dead people at the white lotus. Death's at the end of the vacation, too. So it's like day six, we should leave a day early before somebody dies. Exactly.

Or I would leave the day. Five days. But let's say, like, what's your favorite hotel to stay in Mallory? Like, do you have a chain that you like? I can't remember. Well, what's your favorite hotel to stay? I don't think there's an answer. Depends where you like for our location.

Let's just say we love the four seasons. We love to stay in New York and the first season. And I do after watching White Lotus because you're beautiful. Or whatever. Are you at any given time, a way? of how many murders have happened out of four seasons over the over several years. It's a fair counterpoint.

Like Cabo's like that. There's always stories like you read on Apple News. It's like tourist dating 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

in this mere months after Maui White Lotus manager Armand was found next to a mound of his own shit stabbed in the pineapple sweet. 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. And how long did it take him to lock her down? Yeah, but that's another year. Two years. Two years. Sure.

In my head is at least two years. So I'm just saying three deaths over the course of five years. You've convinced me. Let's put her a vacation. Go. The villas look lovely. The additional layer in this season of like the spirituality aspect. Yeah.

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 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. Oh, sure.

Is that a word, Mel? Not exactly the, not exactly the way you said it. Ominicity. There's an ominous quality. There's a specter of doom. I used to write once on time. 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.

Well, and they want you to put your phone away and no Wi-Fi. It also sounded delicious. I was excited for that. I would eat that. Right. I was excited. I know why they were crappy on that. Digital detox.

The music was like 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. Like even like they said in the production, it was I think a little different than just let's go to why.

It's like you're in 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 Shepherd getting his ill-advised tattoos in law? I was lost. Is Broke Down Palace? Was that in Thailand?

How can you top lost, though? I mean, Claire Dane's is a good way to try. Wasn't that Thailand? Broke down Palace and Jack and the tattoos are my two. Jack. Here's my run out of like ominous items. Wait, can you hold that? Yeah, of course.

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All right, Joe's going to do her ominous thing in a second. We didn't talk about the other unit of weird, strange couple. We're still going to go back through the rat left. We're going back. We're dabbling back. But the third unit is the, and I'm like you guys, I was like, oh, Gagons, can't wait. Can't wait to say how they in least him. His 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 Gagons we know and their 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-shaped little norther 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 hair is his hair power. 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 shows up, he looks like bedraggled. Yeah. 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. I love Chelsea. Amy Lee Wood from sex education. I think she is really fun.

And I think she's going to be really good energy. Megan Fahey, who we loved in season two, it's giving that kind of energy to me. That's 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 of all of all right. Yeah. Yeah. She's the one you're like, all right, don't anything happen to her.

Exactly. Belinda from season one, who I think some people felt like was borderline MVP season one. Oh, she was tremendous. 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's 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 on fresh out, like walks out. That's her very powerful exit from the show, right? Like 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 happened. 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 what we don't know, the information we don't have through one episode is like, did word of Tanya's death? Which, Belinda. Because once again, it's a death every few years. It's just a fairly... A fairly reasonable average.

But like, you know, obviously part of Greg's scheme was because of the pre-knop, 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. 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 days 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.

Or just celebrating his riches. Yeah. But that's too easy. No, I think he's... Is he hiding out? That's the thing. Like, is he living freely or is he hiding up the matron? Yeah.

Like, did Portia go to the cops and say, you got to 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. Yeah.

The people, when we go back to the Ratliss family, or I can just say it is 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 going to go to? Is he going to go scope out baby to the pool? Is he going to go to, like, the temple?

Why is he checking out his older brother on the way of the bathroom? Yeah. We got a lot of questions about that. A lot of questions left with Lockie. In previous seasons, I would be like, which way is it 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 Targaryan 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. So Mike White was just on the taboo list and he's like, oh, gay incest. Oh, okay. I'll grab that one. I mean, Saxon's talking about how hot his sister is. Locky'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 family. Normal family. You'll see. Very, very, very uncomfortable. How wonderful for you. Damn.

And then the staff, hard, 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 for Moog. Big Moog 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 Moose.

Yeah. I picked her up. I liked him a lot. I'm a big fan of him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then.

And the owner. And Amarita, who's running the sort of. Yes. this sort of, yes, spiritual 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. 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? Well, she wasn't ready yet. Got a curse the vet. No. Everyone's on her terms.

Tell them the cruise of the bay. So the key with her is that her husband, who our guy Goggins was looking for. Scott Glenn. Got sick. Stick is here. Off somewhere. 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 in Phuket and he's not here. Like, I have to pursue him now.

Is Theory Corner? Yes. 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's illegitimate son? And he just like me. Resent. Yeah. Or like, yeah, he, because 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 in Thailand. Everyone in Bank. So like he's a person of consequence and status. He's Jim Hollinger. He's a huge guy. He's sick. But like. 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, could be business. Like, did he fuck him on a business deal or something? 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 some... He has something borrowed. Rick barely works. But they can afford to be at the White Lotus. They could travel everywhere, but they don't usually travel like this. Because Chelsea says, we should always live like this. But are we sure they're banging boots? Oh, yeah.

She's like, you want to get into 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 know, tantric vengeance. 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 there are any relationship. No, they travel a lot together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm prepared for anything with that relationship is my point.

But Greg's lady. Yeah. Seems like, yeah. For hair. Might have been, might have been better on Raya. All right, do your omen's thing. Okay, my ominous, this is an incomplete list. I'll tell me from 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. By the way, that's where you know Patrick Schwarzenegger from, the staircase. Right.

Good call. Forgot that. Poison's fruit. Wait, hold on. Go back to monkeys. Okay. I'm happy to spend all the time on the monkeys. Great sentence.

You love animals. I love an animal. I love an animal. Are you pro monkeys? Yeah, I think these monkeys seemed really chill and super great. I thought the lizard seemed also great. 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 a murderer this season. I do not believe the monkey is going to be the murderer the 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, the counter. Wow. A bunch of monkeys. It's not interesting.

It's like murder on the express, but it's monkey. I think they get aggressive and territorial and they throw their own poop. Those are two negatives. and by my... I don't know if on vacation.

I'm like, oh, cool, there's three monkeys. Everybody seems like a little alarmed and then trying to be delighted, but like mostly a little bit alarmed. You know what I mean? By the monkeys? Because the staff isn't saying, like,

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 that the monkey has a gun. I'm just saying... Well, we don't make weight.

We'll do the feces thing. What does the monkey to 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. Joe, I like where you're going. Number two.

It's a beautiful start to Theory Corner here. Number two, poisonous fruit. Yeah, this was Chekhov's poison seeds. No question. They very, very carefully threw that in the same. Tossing it up. Pam, an authority. Yeah.

It's like, no, it like, yeah, 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? Oh, that's really good. 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 ratlifts. While we were taking down journalism in season three of what loaded. 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? Yeah, get rid of the fucking fruit. It's toxic fruit.

What do people bring their kids? Keep the monkeys. Keep a monkey. Well, the toxic fruit, that's like a, that's an immediate out. 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 looked 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. Goathe 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 cold. I think it needs to be a cold lotus. Oh, yeah. Oh, exciting. Cold Lotus for season four. for. It's time. Let's go to a ski resort, please. Cold Lotus, like, 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 bongong tree, that is not an authentic experience. And if they're asking you for a digital detox. But if it's a one lawsuit, I think that's a thing. 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. They don't give a shit.

They might be governmentally protected. I don't know. Maybe you can't cut down these trees. If they fall to the ground, you can pick them up, collect them and put them somewhere else. That's a good point. There should be a daily fruit scoop situation. Daily toxic fruit scoop. Yeah, exactly.

Maybe keep those out of a freaking hotel. That's a great one. What's your Thailand take? Yeah. I'm just never going. Why? It looks beautiful. I think the monkeys and pop culture have really ruined.

it for me. What was the Naomi Watts movie? Was that in Thailand too with the tsunami? Oh, no. It was in the Far East somewhere though. It was definitely, yeah, the one with Tom Holland

and Yom Greger. Really good movie, by the way. Really great movie. I don't know, something about the Far East, it's like a stay away for me. It 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? Yeah, we'll go and carry. Let's go. The elements are too much of a wildcard for me. But I love that, like, 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 things are supposed to have this hint of danger to them. Yeah. So take your seatbelt off vacation. Yeah, yeah.

All right. What's your next one? Guys with guns. We've got the Hollander 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. Yes. 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 water. So it might be a guy shooting at one person. But no, it's not like a mass shooter situation. It could be. So the two. the two Hollinger guards who we see charmingly flirting with MOOC.

Yeah, maybe our guy gay talk is like, well, apparently I do need to Maybe he's had enough. 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. Refrescue from drowning.

On the safe list, it's Chelsea number one is gay talk number two. And MOOC 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, I want Chelsea to remain alive and well, but she literally said out loud, even if it kills me. That's on my left. 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, here's all the information we have. We have Zion, who we believe is Belinda's son. Yes. He's in the water. Briefly pays, 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 frame the body to see if it was male, female, old, young, and anything? As usual, you can't tell. They didn't really. They did a good job. Couldn't tell anything. I think the only thing we could say with maybe certainty is that it's not Belinda, because if it's, if it is, it doesn't mean that there's not more than one body. It's not a Marita.

It's not a Rina. It's not a Rina. It's not a rita. 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 rewind it. You can't see anything. 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 couple, like particularly the jostling of the offering. That made me really nervous. That was like, you're 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 arrangement. Yeah. But then like the jostling and the like the sound change.

Then we got a careful and that made me nervous. 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. And the other thing is- Because I won my argument with my wife, and I'm positive you can't.

How'd that feel? Good. It was great. And I was like, and I got, I told you it wasn't Bolinda. Yeah. And that was it. It was great.

That does feel great. We also don't know just from the opening because like, 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 Loda 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. Like, he is directly connected to the crime. Yeah. But in season two, we opened with Daphne. Yeah. Well, what I love to have this. Who has nothing to do ultimately with what happens with time. No, so it doesn't mean anything.

It doesn't, 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. Yeah. 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 were watching.

Yeah. is a candidate. Except for I would agree, Belinda, but we'll see. It would be tough. Any other moments? That's it for right now. 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.

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So would you call it a lagoon, the body of water in the middle? Or like a pond? Yeah. This is another argument with my wife. She said it was a man-made lagoon. How big does it have to be to be at 12? 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. Whatever this. We get a cigarette argument. Nice to have the Sigs in the first episode. Gagons just blowing smoke. My wife was like that. She thought the family was totally right to say something.

Yeah. It's just rude. We're on a 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 was 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. Yeah, I assume so. A little bit of them.

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 lock his strategy for hitting on women. I mean. It's a numbers game. It's a numbers game. You gotta play the numbers. But 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. 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. They're 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. I would say Leslie, babe. Oh. Oh, this is good.

Yeah. Yeah, because we're, 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 fando put some bonds 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. She sobbed by herself in her room for no reason. I mean, come on. Well, that moment has cried much longer and much better at other shows.

It was 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 am inclined to say the rat lifts are 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 knew 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're nine. No, I think the rat lifts 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. Always.

And yeah, the three bays. The ratlifts have the most plot shit that can go variety 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 Rath in that moment. And he seems so genuinely disappointed. And clearly these parents have given their kids everything. And it's like you couldn't just do this one thing. Though I would have been, I for sure would have been Piper in that situation.

Like, I'll hear you're out. He's going anywhere. 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. You know, a lot of hot women away from home, no one to answer to you 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. Getting out of the pool and just kind of like the way he certain, just the full like laundry.

Can we give this? That was great. Very memorable. I say to the little brother too, like, no, you're a good-looking kid, man. You got to get you a little pumped. Yeah, got to get some pumps. Yeah, you're smart, good-looking. Locky.

And then dinner, poor Lockie, the dad is like, you know, checked out the spa treatments. They have one for posture. Poster. 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. It's Sam Navola who plays Locky is a stealth Nepo.

baby. He's Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Navolah's kid. And Emily Mortimer is also a nepo baby because her dad's a famous. Anyway, just, I love a NEPO baby. I love a NEPA. I just love NEPA. Can I? I'm really glad you brought this up. I'm going to have a defense of NEPO babies.

No, no. No, no, just in acting. No, no. Some of them are talented. Just blanket. Uh-huh. Nepo babies actually makes sense in like acting and singing because you're half of your two parents. And if one of your two parents was like super artistic

and great singer or 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. 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 like 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. No. 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...

I agree. is what it is. This isn't like, oh, they just got it because this, 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's too early to tell on that front, but I think that like, I don't think being a Schwarzenegger just qualifies you from being good at what you do is just something that we're constantly thinking about. But I thought when I heard he was going to be an actor. I'm like, oh, give him a fuck a break. Of course, like he's going to do this and people hire him. But

I actually think he's good. I've been waiting for you to take... My defense of Patrick Shorke. I've just been sitting here for just waiting for you to take a cruel shot at Jackson Holiday. We're talking about Nembo babies. I've just been like recoiling and 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. Oh, the scandal. Yeah. A fund that he said up. But what's the fund?

I don't know, but isn't it like this? Isn't this ultimate? Brunei in there? Shokal. Yes. Brunei. I wouldn't do anything involving a Sultan

in Brunei. 2018. I think it's like a housing thing? Is it a like a Bitcoin thing? Like where are we going? Like an investment fund that was like shesty in some way. Oil money.

Like laundering money. Yeah. Money laundering. Yeah. 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 labor. labor relations number in Washington, D.C. If you call 7-7-1-44-4-5801 is 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.

He, 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, he, that's, no. He's funneling that to somebody underneath them. Right.

There's like some, what is this? about. Later when he says, later when he says, send me your questions to be email. That's where we should have started. Yes.

He calls Ken Wynn. No. He calls him. The guy he's like, I haven't talked to him in years. Canny? Canny call me back? And he left him a voicemail?

Yeah. What? Now, on the theory of 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? Gay talk.

Gay talk heard it. Yeah. I don't think Rick heard it. He was too busy. Suck it down on Marlboro Light. Really enjoying it. So we think Gaggans wants to murder the hotel ladies' husband or have some sort of showdown with them, but we don't know what it is. 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, like needs money, needs something and is like 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 there. They don't even check for murder. Right.

Or poison fruit. You know what's interesting about that's like a question? Because Chelsea says like, you just woke, we were supposed to go back to Bali. You just woke up one day and 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, that does imply that he has an actual... I think it's almost too related to predict. But, I don't know. He, you know, was taking a shit, Google in 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 talking to the lady at the bar. Mm-hmm. who said she'd been with our guy, Greg. Really? I feel like there's a really interesting recasting there because, so Charlotte Bonn is the actress who's playing that woman, Chloe. She's Quebecois. Originally was a Thai actress that they recast with like a Kebacrois 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. I have no idea.

And then the other thing is the the two questions left are why do Carrie Coon start crying? Was it just she's at a tough point in her life? Is she hiding something that she hate these two people? Is she going to reveal something to them that she

didn't have the balls to reveal yet with 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 here. Oh, yeah, you're here.

You're also here. And then last but not least, the brothers and Lockheed checking out his brother. Where the hell is that going? Was it like sexual or was it? It was weird. I'm just unclear if it's sexual or if it's like he has the kind of body that I would like to have because I'm younger and scrawny. Do you know what I mean? There was a curiosity to the look that seemed.

intentional. I don't disagree with you. I'm just thinking how they wrote it in the script, how they were saying Lockish book. 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 how to get late, 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 having a response to what I'm seeing here? But again, they're just doing the full target area with all three of those kids. Does he just go? He gave for his brother. Does he just want to?

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. Promise of Tantuk later, hopefully. Yeah. Rick seemed very uninterested in the sex, which was sad for Chelsea.

Yeah. Huh. We're holding out hope that the Russian... Our guy Valentin will come through. It's a numbers game. Saxon has a score eventually, right? One of the three ladies are hooked 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. Saxons 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 like take the three mature women who are friends

and like you don't necessarily want fighting over a dude to be the thing that unravels them, but also that is actually that does feel like a thing that totally could happen. And so that feels to me 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 resort? And then another person is like, no, 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. So, yeah, I think who could join, and Zion should not be counted off the list. 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, Hyper'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 like 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 thing. about her own religion. Like, they don't know anything about their own kids. And so I don't believe that Saxon is right. Well, I said the question of her, yeah. I'm not saying.

She could have a full... And the fact that he's so judgmental about it when he's talking to Lockheed, like, not just she's not having sex as far as he's concerned, but, like, 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 sports or sports Schwarzenegger.

But like, 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 projected? You're talking about Saxton? Yeah. No, I think Lockhe's a virgin.

Yeah, for sure. Probably. Yeah. But I think Saxon's having sex in episode too. I would put my chips on the table right now. I like that as a quiet theory. I think he's a theory, but no way. He's too confident.

Yeah. I do keep his number just in his four years. at Duke is like dozens. He's confident, but he's not. He's so, like, grasping. I think he's probably very bad at sex. Yeah. I believe that.

Duke or UNC is Mike White trying to tell us something that does he have a side in this that hasn't been revealed yet? Like, is it possible as a big Leitner fan in the 90s? When Perker Posey was resized, don't know, who do you think her favorite player?

She seems like maybe like a Tyler Hans. Parker Pose. 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, is Jason Isaacs, who is a British man doing a southern accent? I'm not super well.

On repeat viewing. I thought actually Posey was worse. Yeah, I agree. I don't know what state she's from. Is she from Carolina? Where? I will wait for the true southerners the way, and I am very curious. But I feel like there's something like, yeah.

Both were wild. Did you guys watch Brotherhood when Jason Isaacs? the former show that Jason Isaacs and Jason Clark did together where they have Justin Sales will appreciate this I'm sure he's seen it because it's a crime show

set in Providence, Rhode Island and so nothing will really This is a star show, right? Nothing will match that. I can't remember. Wait, Isaac's doing like a Rhode Island accent That's the hardest accent for you. 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. Absolutely. It's like you really have to know how to do it. Like, 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 us up an accent, it was a long way over and delaw. All right. It's a most disappointing thing in the episode for you. Oh, I guess a lack of a drawl 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. 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.

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. It's the hurdles high in the first episode because you have so many dynamics to establish. So there's always just that like acclimation period. Can I give you my, my biggest point 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 Wakey gets 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 at?

Is she movie actress or TV actress? Yeah, TV. He's got a show. So it's like her new CBS show with Ted Danson. She's the daughter. Winter Sun Energy. They're thrown in a house together. Is she on a show? Sit home or drama?

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 in IP. So what's that? IP of some kind. Interesting. Something big that people are watching. Something has a bar would cover. So like a Star Wars type show?

Yeah, she's in, she's in, she's in, she's in season four of the Mandalorian. No, I'm sticking with Walking Dead. She's starring... She plays Maggie on the Walking Dead. She's starring in a Star Wars show Baca. I just made that up. Yeah.

I don't know. Would that be a show? Could be. Just drop the two. Herbalca's relatives? Yeah. Okay. Cleaner. Okay.

What's your Michelle Moynihan relationship? Monaghan? Love. Kiss Kiss, Kiss, Bing. I mean, she's a icon. Really strong. Like, 20-plus year career. Yeah.

She's been in some big-ass movies. She's played a lot of, different types of people. I'm never sad to see her. Like really good career, but I wouldn't call her an A-plus Lister either. No, 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 staglingly 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 it plays Maggie on the Walking Dead. Like, you know, it's just sort of like, I just think that's a really interesting choice for that role.

All right, 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 to end.

Much to Joe's horror. No, I love predictions. What's going to happen in season 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 Gregg 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'm still... We 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% of sex. There's some sort of sex that it might just be somebody. by themselves. Okay. Well, we already got bad. No, we didn't really know.

We didn't totally. I know. We didn't totally get that. Locky 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, like, soundproof bathroom? How am I going to jerk off this week? Oh, you go to the bathroom. Ethan jerking off after his run in season two. Yeah. And Harper coming in. him somersaulting off the bed and standing up and like, dude, what's up with the boner?

Fair question. I was jerking off. I love Ethan. You loved Ethan. Fair question. Fair question. How about you? 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 Mukki. No. Leave her out of this. That would be my episode two where it's like, no, no. And maybe she likes someone. And I'm like, no, don't like this guy. Well, we're right.

This is what White Lotus always is. I'm always like, no, and then it happened. We do know. 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. Right.

So presumably, 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 who work at the resort. 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?

Was it? It's been six, seven, or eight? It's been six, seven, and now eight. Wow. Yeah. Oh, so we're definitely getting more characters. But 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 now in episode five, just checking in. 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.

You'd be going with 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 to change your plans to Thailand? I don't know if we can get there and back in two and a half days, but I'll look at 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, who, what was the over under on Brog Down Palace references before this podcast? What are a big Thailand pop culture?

No, but I like, I am deeply unsurprised. That's an iconic Thailand movie. Yeah. I'm deeply unsupert. This is, 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 or the 2000s.

But I always felt like I missed a scene and it turns out after you watched it four times, you didn't. You didn't miss a scene. On the sex and shipping front? Yeah. Are we shipping Belinda and Ponsci? 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.

You were right, The Impossible, the Naomi Watts movie. There you go. See? 100%. A Bridget Jones sequel, because they're basically doing a broke down palace thing with Bridget Jones. Which Bridget Jones sequels? At every reason.

She goes to jail. She has a Wonderbraw, it's a whole thing. Wasn't Hangover 3 a Thailand movie? Hangover 3? Yeah. Definitely. No, part 2. Part 2 is Thailand.

Ungbock, obviously, but that's its own thing. I'm looking for American movie set in Thailand. Not a lot. Yeah, not a lot. There's a broke down palace. Two? Oh, no, no, it's just Broke Down Palace. Okay, great. Sorry, the poster has something that looks like Roman Nudin was 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.

Oh, the beach. That is one of my wife's favorite bad movies. Classic. Yeah. Really good one. Good Leo stuff. Great. That's someone with 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 you and McGregor. It's going to last a long time. All right. Last prediction before we go. Who's dead?

No, just, yeah. 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, yeah. I think that's right. I think it should be someone, it's not going to be someone I want to die, is usually the case. It's usually someone, like, because like Amon and Tanya, like, we like, we like, we like, we like, we 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 Rick is the one behind the crime, 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 detection or whatever or Saxon's efforts to help his father or the driver, then Lockyer-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.

Only because she tipped it off with the thing she said. That raised my flag. I'm going to, I'm going with, they hope, that's a wink to us. More than it is a harperger of doom. I think it's Victoria Ratliff. Yeah. Death by monkey. Victoria Brackett.

Yeah, Parker Posey, death by monkey. Still jet lagged on day seven. Lorazapam's out. Falls asleep in the past. The entire presence and a monkey bite makes it. Entirely possible. 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'll get away 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 at a 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. A lot going on.

UNC versus D. I still haven't watched severance. I think. Oh, 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 just, I'm holding, I'm playing hard to get.

Okay. I'm like Michelle Monaghan with, uh, with the Schwarzenegger. Putting a little hard to get. It's going to happen. Thank you. All right. Thanks guys.