Warning: SPOILERS for The White Lotus season 3, episode 6!
Did you hear that? That was the sound of everyone’s brains collectively exploding after the shocking scene between Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) duringThe White Lotusseason 3, episode 6. From the very start of this season, it was clear something was off about this family, especially the siblings. Fans have just discovered that Saxon and Lochlan were part of a threesome — and, in case you forgot, they are brothers.
Considering that Saxon is walking around in a daze, and even denying what happened (to himself and to others), surely he is not correctly processing things. The way he has constantly been concerned about his siblings' sex lives had viewers thinking something like this was bound to happen eventually, but no one expected it to go this far. With just twoepisodes ofThe White Lotusseason 3left, no one can predict what will happen next. The series has already beenrenewed for season 4.
ScreenRantsat down with Patrick Schwarzenegger and Jason Isaacs, who plays his father Timothy, to talk all thingsThe White Lotus. Both Schwarzenegger and Isaacs revealed their reactions to reading that shocking scene in the script for the first time and seeing it all play out on screen. Schwarzenegger also teased the massive power shift in the Ratliff family, while Isaacs detailed howTimothy got into the embezzlement situationhe is in and why he has yet to “pull the trigger” on his suicide thoughts.
Patrick Schwarzenegger Explains How The Shocking Scene In The White Lotus Season 3, Episode 6 Changes Saxon
“He’s So Certain For The Whole Show And Then Suddenly He Doesn’t Know What The Hell To Do”
Schwarzenegger recalls reading that scene between Saxon and Lochlan for the first time, admitting that the script was a “page-turner"and that he was"waiting to see what was going to happen.“He reveals that when he discovered how it was all going to go down, his “mouth was on the floor.““I was kind of like, wait, what? I knew a little bit because during some of the audition scenes, it had some references to some stuff. I remember reading it the first time with my fiancé, we read it out loud, and then I looked, I was like, did that just say what I thought it said?” Schwarzenegger explains. “It’s a hilarious, absurd, insane scene.”
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Isaacs chimes in that he rather enjoyed the scene, as did his wife. “My wife shrieked. We watched yesterday morning in the hotel here. We were sent episodes four, five, and six. She shrieked and we were jet-lagged. So we woke up at dawn and watching it crack it off and she just screamed. And then she was bouncing up and down on the bed, just yelping and laughing for the longest time. It’s a great, great TV moment, isn’t it?”
After his encounter with his brother, something switches in Saxon, whether he wants to admit it or not. This is clear to viewers, and Schwarzenegger agrees. “It’s a total power shift for him and his character,” he admits. “He’s on the other side of what he would be doing to someone else before. It’s something that totally changes him and he’s no idea what to do next. He doesn’t know what to do with it.” Schwarzenegger says, Saxon is “totally flustered” and there is an “internal conflict,” before adding, “He’s so certain for the whole show and then suddenly he doesn’t know what the hell to do.”
Jason Isaacs Reveals That The White Lotus' Timothy Ratliff Has “Blurry Morals”
“I Know How He Got Into It And He Deserves Everything He Gets”
Viewers do not yet know how Timothy got into this embezzlement mess, but surely the answer will come by the end of the season. When asked about it, Isaacs explains that “you think he’s morally squeaky clean. No, he got involved in a dodgy deal somewhere because it was a profit for him that’s a favor to someone.” He goes on to detail that Timothy"shouldn’t have done it, but clearly he has blurry morals,” before revealing that he is pretty sure Mr. Ratliff does this sort of thing often.
“The fact is, people like this generally, huge scions of industry, get away with what they can get away with on tax and on corporate structures and on unions,” Isaac says. “He’s a Darwinist, survival of the strongest. If you can lead, and you can dominate, you should.” Timothy passed this on to his son Saxon, which Isaacs admits, “Look at Saxon, what he’s inherited. I know how he got into it, and he deserves everything he gets.”
With the power and money gone, who is he going to be?
Timothy’s immediate reaction to being found out is that he wants to commit suicide. He is sure that once this vacation ends, he is going right to jail. All of his assets have already been frozen and he sees no way out. When asked why he hasn’t done it as of The White Lotus Season 3, Episode 6, Isaacs reveals that he would have if not for his wife, played by Parker Posey. “I’m about to kill myself. I was pulling the trigger and she walked in the room, and I didn’t want her to see it.”
Isaacs thinks Timothy “struggles a lot with who might he be if all of his status and power and money is taken away and the shame that he’d have to go home with.” He explains that this man is a big shot around town, who comes from a lineage of wealth. “As far as he’s concerned, everything he is, is his reputation. And with that gone and the power and money gone, who is he going to be? How will he be able to look his family in the eye when what he’s been is the provider?,” Isaacs discloses. “He doesn’t kill himself at the moment that you’ve seen, but he’s thinking about it a lot. Or what to do, because there is this wall coming at them at 300 million miles an hour, and it’s going to hit them the day that they get their phones back.”
“He Knows All, He’s The Powerful One, And He’s The Almighty”
Image via Max
From the very first time we were introduced to the Ratliff family, it was clear that Saxon is obsessed with the sex lives of his younger siblings, which creates an awkward and uncomfortable dynamic. When asked why he thinks his character is this way, Schwarzenegger reveals, “I think that he’s obsessed with it because he thinks that he’s the king. He knows everything. He’s right in that there’s something wrong with his sister that she’s hot and she has not had sex. And there’s something wrong with his brother that he’s hunched over and doesn’t work out and doesn’t have sex.”
He goes on to explain further, “It’s this constant kind of older brother, younger siblings, and feeling like he knows all, and he’s the powerful one, and he’s the almighty. They have a really odd and fun and funny dynamic between all of them. And then, obviously, as the show continues on, the power kind of shifts and things start to change.”
Isaacs asks a question of Schwarzenegger, wondering if he thinks Saxon is a sex addict, to which Schwarzenegger responds, “He would never think that, but sure.” Admitting that when Saxon arrives in Thailand, sex is a “power thing for him” but, as the season goes on, things change. He discusses a scene towards the end of the season where he sees Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) walking down the aisle and he envisions what he could have with her. “I think that’s one of the things he learns about himself and learns about other people through this week at the White Lotus is he envies that and that’s what he longs for towards the end.”
Source:Screen Rant Plus
New episodes ofThe White Lotusseason 3 air Sundays at 6pm PT/9pm ET on HBO.
