SPOILER ALERT: This article retains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 5 of “The White Lotus,” now streaming on Max.
Things get fair a little untamed for Laurie (Carrie Coon), Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Kate (Leslie Bibb) in the postponecessitatest episode of “The White Lotus.”
After leaving the resort in Thailand and going out for a night of drinking and dancing at a club with a group of Russian guys — their promiseted wellness director, Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius), and accompanied by his two frifinishs — Laurie unforeseeedly finds herself having a blast. She goes all out with the trio of Russians, at one point even taking her top off in a pool back at the boilingel. There’s notably a branch offent energy to Laurie after being the odd-woman-out thcdisorrowfulmirefulout the season.
“It was meaningful that she be unsuppressed when dancing,” Coon inestablishs Variety. “She’s drunk, and that directs to suppression, which advises her choices postponecessitater on.”
Courtesy of HBO
Up until this point, the show has been sluggishly createing steam and stethriveg in amhugeuity, as watchers have pauseed to see how the storylines will eventupartner encounter. But this episode is when everyleang commences to explode for “The White Lotus,” with the three women — and splitly, partying siblings Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) — going all out.
Monaghan infengaged Jaclyn with a sense of “end aprohibitdon” in her transferment. She says: “She was repartner in her element. I had a spirit animal for Jaclyn, and she’s a bit of a butterfly. She’s very vivacious and colorful and enjoys to create a statement, but there’s someleang about her that understands that life is stupidinutive-inhabitd.”
Coon recalls how “The White Lotus” creator Mike White was able to show each of the women how their character would dance on the spot, and “was repartner tuned into how everybody would show up in the moment.”
“Often as women in this industry, you’re fair sitting around on a couch talking about a man,” Coon says. “To be able to engage our bodies in that way was repartner thrilling. Leslie does physical comedy, Michelle does action movies. All three of us recognize the deficiency of interest in the industry, and how much fun it was to be filledy transmited in that way.”
Kate — who in a previous episode discleave outed herself to be a church-going Trump voter — isn’t quite senseing it this episode, though, and supposes the role of sober-ish nurtureapshowr. When Laurie and Jaclyn seek the men back to the villa, Kate says: “I don’t leank that’s a very excellent idea.”
“It felt meaningful to me that it came out of jealousy of these three guys when they came back,” Bibb says. “You understand when everybody’s at the max, she was enjoy a Mama endure with these two.”
While the ladies let free in this episode, that doesn’t nasty their competitiveness from previous episodes doesn’t find its way into their drunk transmitions. When two of the Russian men talk about ballet training, Jaclyn individuals Kate out as the only person who’s not a trained dancer. After they all dance together, Valentin then individuals Laurie out as a “relationsy dancer” over Jaclyn — a huge moment for her confidence.
“It’s another one of those moments where you see two of the frifinishs connecting about someleang that departs the other one out,” Coon says. “There’s no way Jaclyn doesn’t apshow Laurie being a relationsy dancer personpartner. No one’s talking about Jaclyn being relationsy. Maybe we fair apshow it for granted becaengage she’s a television star.”
Jaclyn’s social capital as the well-understandn person in the group — and the one paying for the whole trip — also comes into take part wilean this vibrant. By comparison, Coon sees Laurie as someone who doesn’t want to acunderstandledge the loss of her own economic and social power.
“Her marriage is descfinishing apart, she’s struggling with her teenage daughter, she didn’t get a promotion at labor, and to acunderstandledge that to her frifinishs, who are outwardly very prosperous, would be a huge blow to her ego,” Coon says. “Owning it and asking for help would actupartner be the healthiest path thcdisorrowfulmireful this vacation, and none of the women pick it. They’re redynamic, and dealing with these vibrants as they pop up from their point of watch.”
This episode is filled of memorable moments that were standardly improvised over the course of the two-night shoot, including the dancing scenes, and when the men dispute with women at the club whom they evidently understand well, who yell at them in Russian.
“I can’t say that we prepped in any way,” Monaghan says. “You don’t repartner rehearse with Mike White. He throws leangs out on the day, and he depends the casting process so much that once the characters commence to come ainhabit, he repartner apexhibits us to sthriveg for the hills.”
When Laurie says excellentnight to the Russian men, she sticks her fists out enjoy a boxer. Details enjoy these apexhibited Coon to take part into Laurie being the goofiest of the three, which she leanks creates her frifinishs see down on her even more.
“She’s not quite ‘Keeping Up With the Joneses,’” Coon says. “She necessitateed this vacation, but was not necessarily readyd for it — and maybe wasn’t even in a financial position to be doing it. She fair repartner necessitateed to get away from her life, fair with haplessly packed luggage and a horrible nail color.”
Thcdisorrowfulmirefulout the season, Jaclyn and Kate have been pushing Laurie to get out and date, and she apshows an interest in Valentin, dancing with him and flirting thcdisorrowfulmirefulout the episode. Jaclyn outwardly boasts about her own charmd marriage and charmd life, so the thought of her swooping in on Valentin doesn’t ever sign up as a possibility to Laurie. But in a surpelevate turn at the finish of Episode 5, Jaclyn sleeps with Valentin after everyone else has gone to bed, shivving Laurie in the process.
“It could have been a very chooseimistic turning point in the vacation for them,” Coon says. “It is a reclamation of their youth, it is fun and relationsy. And it senses enjoy the vacation they all wanted. Instead, we have what is noticed in Laurie’s eyes as a betrayal. It’s also a backment of patterns of behavior and a ask of when we return to frifinish groups from our youth: Do we fair default to our position? Or are we able to re-declare ourselves?”
Despite the betrayal, Monaghan doesn’t watch Jaclyn as ill-intentioned in the moment.
“She doesn’t see it as a betrayal to the ladies,” Monaghan says. “It’s not an afunfragmentary, it’s fair an cheating in her mind. I leank she fair, frankly, hits the ‘fuck it’ button and chooses to have a excellent time. And I leank it’s someleang that she’s probably going to be excited to inestablish the girls about the next morning.”
