SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 finale. If you have not yet finished the latest episode, please watch it with a Max subscription before continuing.
For the past couple of months, my wife and I have ended every weekend by watching The White Lotus, one of our favorite shows on the 2025 TV schedule. We put the kids to bed, retreat to our room, and watch to see if all our theories and “worst-case scenario” fears come true. And while it was the same scenario for the Season 3 finale, there was something unexpected before: an incredibly emotional conversation with my 7-year-old son. You know, the kind of chat you just can’t shake.
Though I tried, I couldn’t get our conversation, specifically what he said, off my mind as the signature HBO intro graphic, the show’s extravagant title sequence (I finally came around), and early scenes carried on. Just when it couldn’t get any worse, one of the most harrowing and heartbreaking scenes played out. Yeah, I’ve got to talk about it.
Minutes Before Watching The White Lotus Season 3 Finale, My Son Asked, 'Dad, How Many Lives Do I Have?'
As I was getting ready to put my son to bed he asked, “Dad, how many lives do I have?” just before I tucked him in for the night. Taken aback by his question, I asked what he meant and he went on to ask about death and what came after we die. At time the time, he had a nasty tooth infection that would require an emergency extraction the next day, and so I don’t know if the pain was getting to him or what. Regardless, it turned out to be quite an emotional chat as we said good night and he went to bed.
As I said before, I couldn’t shake the emotions that came from our conversation, even as I watched the events unfold in the highly anticipated finale. But then, it reached a whole other level when a certain poisonous fruit and the Ratliff family drama came into play. And, I bet you know where this is going…
The Scene Where Tim Finds Lochlan's Body Was Incredibly Emotional, But This Interaction With My Son Made It Hit Even More
Ever since it was revealed early on that Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) was in some deep legal trouble and everything about his life was about to change for the worse, I had a feeling something bad would happen to him or someone in his family. All those dream sequences throughout the season teased him killing his family, and he came very close to poisoning everyone but Lochlan (Sami Nivola) in the finale, before having a change of heart.
Then the youngest Ratliff sibling used the blender containing the poisonous seeds to make a protein shake and had a near-death experience (I thought he was dead, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone).
His “death” scene made me emotional, but it was Timothy finding the seemingly lifeless body of his son that really pushed me over the edge. Though Lochy ended up surviving the ordeal, Timothy was convinced his son died, and he was to blame for it. A parent’s worst nightmare realized. At that moment, I couldn’t stop thinking about my son’s question an hour earlier, and that’s when the waterworks began.
The Sequence Captured One Of The Most Difficult Aspects Of Parenthood So Well
What made this scene so powerful, so emotional, and so relatable is how it captures one of the most difficult aspects of parenthood: seeing our children in pain. What makes it even worse is the fact that Lochlan nearly died both because of his dad’s fractured mental state brought on by severe stress and a problematic pill addiction and his dad’s negligence after nearly poisoning the family the night before. It’s one of those situations where you feel for the father, but you are also angry because this was all his doing.
Though my own situation with my son is nowhere as severe as the one depicted in The White Lotus, it added so much to the experience and made what I consider a fulfilling ending even more impactful.
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