This post contains spoilers from The White Lotus season 3 episode 4 from this point forward.
For the first three episodes of The White Lotus season 3, Timothy Ratliff's (Jason Isaacs) story has been pretty much the same. He's buckling under the weight of the trouble back home with his business, trouble that will most certainly put him behind bars once his Thailand family vacation is over. There hasn't been much movement thus far, but in episode 4, the crash out begins.
Tim has been taking his wife's beloved Lorazepam, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety and other conditions. But the Ratliff parents aren't using the pills for their intended purpose, and the more Tim begins to rely on the stolen medication to numb himself to the secret that he's keeping, the worse off he becomes. Well, for us, it's selfishly much more entertaining!
In The White Lotus season 3 episode 4, Timothy continues to rapidly decline in his downward spiral, which puts him in an, ahem, vulnerable position in front of his family and pushes him to make a decision that he just might later regret. Believe it or not, we're at the halfway point of the season, and things are starting to heat up as we quickly approach the boiling point.
Full-frontal crash out, boat parties, and a stolen gun
Admittedly, Tim's storyline about his illegal financial dealings has been rather repetitive and not very interesting if we're keeping it honest. Isaacs has been great in the role, but the Ratliff patriarch hasn't brought much to the table... until now. He's so high on Victoria's (Parker Posey) Lorazepam that he hardly knows where he is. That's why it's not particularly shocking when his robe falls open and he accidentally flashes his penis to his entire family. None of us will soon forget that.
Isaac's discussed the scene with Entertainment Weekly, not confirming whether he wore a prosthetic, but sharing how he's been crafting Tim through subtlety. He's a man of few words, and we get to know him more so through what he doesn't say. In this particular episode, we can see how scared he actually is of what's coming for not only him but for his family. The scene between Tim and Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) on the yacht, as uncomfortable as it was, showed another aspect of Tim as a father. We also learn about the pressures he inherited from his own father.
Aside from the revealing Ratliff family breakfast and Tim's drug-fueled appearance at the boat party, he later comes to another choice at the end of the episode. During dinner with Victoria and Piper, Tim excuses himself to get his phone back and make a call. He's now hearing that the situation at work has gone from bad to worse, and he's done for. While having this conversation near the guard station, he gets the bright idea to steal the gun that was given to Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) post-robbery. A man abusing prescription drugs not possesses a gun. Not great!
Elsewhere in the Ratliff family, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) continues to "guide" Lochlan (Sam Nivola) to become a man, and it's uncomfortable. Why does Saxon have such an obsession with his brother? Lochlan's unfortunately caught in the middle between his siblings. Piper asks him to join dinner with their parents and be supportive when she announces her plans to move to Thailand to work at the meditation center. He instead chooses to stay on the yacht for an after hours party with Saxon. It's like choosing between the devil and angel on his shoulders.
What else happened in The White Lotus season 3 episode 4?
Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon) put their awkward politics dinner behind them and decide to have some fun outside the hotel for the day. Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius) sends them to another hotel to enjoy the pool there, but when Jaclyn realizes the clientele are all much, much older, they leave immediately. They steal Valentin away from the hotel and force him to show them real fun. He takes them to town to meet up with his friends, but before, the women get stuck in the Songkran water gun fight in the street
As Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) prepares for her son Zion to visit, she's becoming more and more suspicious of Greg/Gary (Jon Gries). She's worried that something or someone could be sneaking into her room. Her suspicions don't change when she searches Tanya on the internet and learns that she drowned in Italy under mysterious circumstances and that her husband was wanted for questioning. Clearly, he's hiding out in Thailand, and Belinda's got his number. Later, he social media stalks her and stares creepily at a photo of Belinda and Zion.
After he acts really weird on the boat, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) confronts Rick (Walton Goggins) and he admits they're in Thailand because the man who killed his father owns the hotel. He's going to Bangkok, and it's unclear what he will do when he comes face to face with his father's killer. She tries to talk him out of going, but there's nothing she can say to stop him. Since he's left, Chelsea joins the group on the yacht to head to the Full Moon Party.
The White Lotus airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO and Max.