Is it even “The White Lotus” if you’re not on the edge of your seat with secondhand social anxiety? Season 3, Episode 4 of Mike White‘s stressful satire ratchets up the tension and the stakes, leaving viewers with a midseason cliffhanger.
Written and directed by White, “Hide or Seek” is basically part one of two, setting up next week’s “Full Moon Party.” By the hours end, almost every character is left in a state of uncertainty — a heightened one, rather, since one of them is inevitably going to end up dead in the future. This perhaps truest for Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who follows her gut instinct that she correctly identified Greg/Gary (Jon Gries) and learns that he’s a person of interest in Tanya’s (Jennifer Coolidge) suspicious death. There’s not a lot of Belinda in this episode and she’s mostly alone, with Rothwell superbly carrying scene after scene of largely internal character development and a journey through suspicion, curiosity, horror, and dread. She and Gries share a deadly look in the lobby that says everything without either of them uttering a single word.
That’s the thing about “Hide or Seek”; suddenly the stakes are life-or-death for a majority of the characters. Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) processes the presence of a gun as part of the resort’s increased security (always sobering to see how people in other countries react to guns!) — a gun that goes missing by the end of the episode, right after a dire scene for Timothy (Jason Isaacs). A handful of characters out on a boat at night, which is where Tanya died in Season 2!
While they’re physically safe in a group, the trio of Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon) is chasing danger for the thrill of it. We can trace this back pretty directly to Jaclyn’s husband not answering her call and igniting various insecurities that she hasn’t voiced, even if her friends have already extrapolated. Jaclyn is with a younger man, a fellow actor, and works in an industry where there is no currency like youth. That’s simmering in her mind as the day starts, and boils over after Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) sends her and the girls to a geriatric poolside. J makes it her mission to rekindle the trio’s halcyon days of Cancun chaos, which is what leads them into town and to the company of Valentin and his friends. Even the objective comedy of this storyline is framed with foreboding, like the water gun fight. Something is about to go down that might make Cancun look like… well, like that pool for the elderly.
Despite the Tonya parallel of the boat party, viewers can probably assume that White won’t deploy the same device twice. But there’s all kinds of weird sexual energy in the group heading for the full moon party; Saxon’s (Patrick Schwarzenegger) obsession with losing his brother’s virginity, his attraction to pretty much every woman on the boat, his insistence that none of their relationships preclude a maritime hookup — okay, all the weird sexual energy is coming from Saxon, but he’s got more than enough to capsize the vessel. And with no Rick (Walton Goggins) around and the absence of Greg Gary Glen Ross, there’s a real risk of someone getting caught in that net.
Superlatives
- Horniest: Why am I even tracking this week-to-week? Congratulations again, Saxon. Have a protein shake to celebrate.
- Most like to die: This was Belinda last week and she’s even more at risk than before — but it sure seems like Timothy, already mourning his old life, swiped the only gun at the resort with intent to use it. Yikes!
- Most sus: Another given for Greg on most days, but I’m on high alert about Valentin and his crew.
- Least likely to die: I’m going to go with Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), who is safe on land and only on track to incite the wrath of her parents — and I do think none of the Ratliff siblings will die because it’s just too sad.
- The Dr. Amrita Award for Emotional Growth: A new one that could only go to its namesake’s (Shalini Pereis) current favorite client, Rick. He’s clearly still tormented by his father’s death and finding the man responsible, but sharing all of that with Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) is a big step. Also, tortured hot southern man with daddy issues and a revenge mission? Welcome back James Ford.
Grade: A-
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
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