The Ratliff family is the picture of dysfunction in Season 3 of The White Lotus.Crave/Supplied
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains key plot developments.
The White Lotus ended on Sunday with a headspinning number of twists and turns. Rick emerged as one of the gunmen, finally getting the revenge he was seeking on his father’s killer, Jim Hollinger – only to find out that Hollinger was in fact his father all along. (An outcome that many predicted.) Gaitok springs into action in the ensuing shootout and kills Rick, emerging as a reluctant hero. But caught in the crossfire is Rick’s long-suffering girlfriend Chelsea, who dies. (RIP Chelsea, she was a real one.) Mook is happy, but Gaitok certainly faces an uncertain future; he expressed serious doubts about his ability to be a security guard.
Meanwhile, a panicked Tim Ratliff decides to poison his entire family (except Lochlan!) with piña coladas spiked with seeds of a pong pong, the deadly “suicide fruit,” only to chicken out at the last minute. The next day, Lochlan makes a shake with the remnants of the deadly piña coladas and has a near-death experience, snapping out of it at the last minute. “I think I saw God,” he says in a daze. The entire family heads home on the boat (including Piper, who decided she couldn’t survive at the monastery, where the food isn’t organic!) and are reunited with their phones, where they will most certainly learn of Tim’s misdeeds. (Tim warns them on the boat that “Things are going to change,” but they’ll survive as a family.) Someone please get Victoria a Lorazepam refill.
Belinda and her son Zion negotiate a $5-million hush-money settlement with Greg/Gary and leave the island to “be rich,” leaving poor Pornchai high and dry. (If this sounds familiar, it’s because Tonya did the same thing to Belinda in Season 1.)
And the three blonde friends have a heart-to-heart, with Carrie Coon’s Laurie delivering a career-defining monologue about her unhappiness. These three are the biggest winners, leaving the island shaken but unscathed.
Also coming away as winners: The Russians, who got away with the armed robbery.
Was your finale prediction correct? In case you missed it, here’s how Globe readers thought the show would end:
Praying for Chelsea: I am hoping Greg/Gary dies because I have not forgiven the show for how Season 2 ended. Nobody is allowed to touch Chelsea - I am Team Chelsea all the way! I think Rick will actually come to a zen moment and Rick and Chelsea will ride off together into the sunset. And the Sex and the City trio will just leave unhappy and unresolved a still claiming to be friends because - well, that’s how Sex and the City played out. - Philip Toop
Monkeying around: Monkeys - it’s always been the monkeys. Gaitok leaves his gun out and the monkeys find it and shoot Mook and Chelsea. Never trust a monkey! - Dave D.
Chekhov’s gun: The whole buildup with Gaitok’s gun will be the centerpiece of the finale. I feel it in my bones. Will he confront the Russians? Will Tim’s crisis come to a fever pitch at the same time, franticly trying to find the hidden handgun? Will Jim Hollinger’s bodyguards seek retribution for Frank and Rick’s visit in Bangkok? - Jesse Dubé-Smith
Rick and Chelsea, played by Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood, bickered their way through Season 3.Crave/Supplied
Fabian’s second show: I think the killer is Frank or Gaitok, one of whom will snap in some way. Tim will die in a freak accident, either Frank or one of the Russians will accidentally kill Chelsea and maybe Gaitok will kill to avenge Mook. The shootout will happen during Fabian’s next big performance, eclipsing it entirely. - Nilani Sabanayakam
April Fools: The FBI investigation on the Ratliff family is all one big prank being pulled by Tim’s coworkers. But, he won’t know until he already does something drastic. - Rudy Mar
Dads and smoothies: Gaitok is distracted by Mook during the shootout with the Russians and she gets shot. Rick has another confrontation with Jim Hollinger and finds out he is his father. Tim attempts to make shakes with the poison fruit, but Saxon and Victoria don’t drink it, so he drinks it alone. Belinda does take the money but also alerts the feds to the whereabouts of Greg/Gary. Jaclyn leaves a day early, leaving her “friends” to find their own way home. - Erin Dempsey
What will happen in The White Lotus season 3 finale? Our predictions for the ending
The play by play: Victoria, deprived of her drug supply, becomes fully sentient and, worried about Tim’s behaviour, phones home and learns the truth about her husband’s financial catastrophe. She informs Saxon, who becomes incandescent with repressed rage and confronts Tim at the bar. Security is called, and Gaitok rushes to the scene, brandishing the pistol. Lochlan misguidedly tackles him to the ground and the gun misfires, mortally wounding Chelsea. Rick has just arrived back to the compound, only to have Chelsea die in his arms. Belinda witnesses the whole thing, comes to her senses, and tells Greg that the hush money is $1 million. She leaves the resort with her son and her paramour, Pornchai. Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate are with Chelsea when she is hit and, shocked by the near-death experience, re-bond and slink back home in shame. The end! - Tracy Thiessen
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.