White Lotus’ Ratliff brothers, Saxon and Lochlan are two attractive young men (one early 20s the other 18) with some intense energy between them. The younger Lochlan seems to have a crush on, or at least admiration complicated by attraction for the older Saxon. Is it mutual? Hard to say, but on Lochlan’s end, the attraction is clear.
Clearer still when the brothers have a three-way with a married woman and the brothers kiss (and seemingly more). Lochlan is also close to his sister, Piper. She is interested in Buddhism and Lochlan considers joining her in monastic life at a Thailand monastery. Saxon is obsessed with sex. So, maybe Lochlan isn’t so much pining for his brother as he is trying to bond with both siblings by delving into the things that fuel the engines of their lives. The day after the infamous and somewhat incestuous three-way sex scene, Saxon is nauseated.
Is it revulsion from the previous night’s debauchery, or is he merely hungover? The wild night took place on a yacht; perhaps he is seasick. Is the scene meant to shock? Horrify? Arouse? Cause viewers to rethink certain taboos and mores? Are we meant to sympathize with one character or the other, or be confounded by the whole situation? In any event, the scene shows the power of art to make one think deeply, and if it achieves nothing else, that’s worth the price of admission (or streaming television as the case may be).
