Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season 3 of “The White Lotus.”
Fans of “The White Lotus” had been picking up on strange vibes between the Ratliff siblings since the first episode of the new season of the show. In Episode 5, brothers Saxon and Lochlan share a shocking kiss.
Patrick Schwarzenegger, who plays Saxon on Season 3 of “The White Lotus,” tells TODAY.com that Episode 5 is when “everything starts to unravel.”
Schwarzenegger credits the hit HBO show’s creator Mike White with how he shot and filmed the kissing scene to create a sense of unease among viewers.
“He wants to leave that up to the interpretation of the audience of what is happening,” Schwarzenegger says of White. “Was a power shift happening? Is there a different power dynamic between him and Lochy? Is Lochy coming on to him? Is it the drugs? Is it the girls pressuring him? What is it? So, I think he leaves that open-ended for the audience to try to decipher.”
Schwarzenegger hints that the scene could signal that there is more to come for his character as the season progresses.
“One of the themes really is you enter the White Lotus as one person and you leave as another,” he says. “Who are you when everything that you thought you were is taken away?
“And I think that’s something that’s really relevant and prevalent for for Saxon. Him walking into the White Lotus as the most confident and sure person of who he is, and everything gets completely questioned in his experience there,” he adds.
The startling kiss between the brothers comes after a long day of partying. After an epic time on Greg’s yacht, Saxon and Lochlan stay behind with Greg’s girlfriend Chloe and her pal Chelsea to go to the Full Moon Party on a nearby island.
While the group had a rager at the Full Moon Party, it’s when they return to the yacht that things really start to heat up. Chloe tells Chelsea she wants to have sex with Lochlan, and the group starts partying, drinking and dancing together again.
Ominous music begins to play, and Saxon appears to ask Chloe and Chelsea to kiss. They do, and Saxon screams and high fives his brother — then points to Chloe and Lochlan, and the pair make out. This time, Saxon gives his brother a double high five.
Chloe then seems to suggest that Lochlan and Saxon should kiss, and Lochlan spits out his drink. After Saxon wipes his eyes, Lochlan leans in and gives his brother a peck.
When Lochlan pulls away, Saxon shakes his head, and then Lochlan goes back for another, longer kiss — this time with his hands around the back of Saxon’s neck.
Chelsea appears shocked, while Chloe bursts out laughing. Saxon seems to be trying to make sense of what happened while Lochlan takes a swig from a bottle of alcohol.
This isn’t the first time there have been questionable relations between family members in “The White Lotus” — back in Season 2, Tanya catches Jack having sex with his uncle Quentin (though it is unclear if the pair were actually related, or if they just said they were nephew and uncle).
And there was plenty more kissing going on back at the resort — after Valentin recruits two of his friends to party with Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate, the group returns back to their villa to continue the fun.
Once Valentin and his friends leave, the women appear to go to sleep — until Jaclyn’s phone starts vibrating. She runs out to the front of the villa, where Valentin is waiting for her.
Jaclyn brings him back inside and they hook up. It’s in a shocking act of betrayal, since she’d been the one telling Laurie to hook up with Valentin in the wake of her divorce.
And when Pornchai chases a lizard out of Belinda’s room, she asks him to stay the night, and of course, the pair share a kiss.
But it’s not all fun and games at the hotel — Tim was writing a suicide note and had security guard Gaitok’s gun to his head when Victoria wakes up and starts to come into the living room of their villa. Tim hides the gun and Victoria asks him why he can’t sleep.
After sharing how much pressure he’s under, she returns back to bed and Tim starts to pray, asking God to tell him what to do.
In Bangkok, Rick meets with a friend (played by Sam Rockwell) who gives him a bag with what seems to be a gun inside as they prepare to meet with the hotel owner’s husband, whom Rick says killed his father before he was born.
