SPOILER ALERT: We are talking about season 3 of “The White Lotus” and giving a rundown of what happened specifically in the final episode! 

We were on the edge of our seats every Sunday waiting for the new episode of “The White Lotus”, a drama series in its third season on Max, as were lots of other Lincoln students.

Each season of the show follows the White Lotus hotel franchise in different parts of the world and tells the story of the staff and guests who stay there. This season, the show was set in Koh Samui, Thailand. What makes “The White Lotus” such a standout show is how it leaves the audience guessing from episode one; viewers are thrown into a murder mystery where neither the killer nor the victim are revealed until the very last episode of the season. 

We’ll share our theories for how the season would end, what other students thought would happen and what really happened: 

We thought:

• Timothy will attempt to poison his whole family but will chicken out at the last moment.
• Sritala’s husband, Jim, is actually Rick’s father.
• Gaitok will end up being promoted.
• Valentin and his friends will not be caught for the robbery.
• Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate will all end up remaining best friends despite their conflicts.
• The character Chelsea repeated “bad things come in threes” throughout the season, so we thought it would be three people who died: Rick, Valentin and Mook.

Senior Dana Ganev shared her predictions for the show as a whole.

“Rick won’t actually go through with his plans and will return to Chelsea as a more present boyfriend, Gaitok will witness Timothy’s initial attempt at suicide and interrupt it, starting the initial gunfire that was heard in episode one,” Ganev said. 

“Either everyone from the [Ratliff] family [will die] or nobody from that family, [Jim] is probably going to die or they’ll make it obvious he’ll die soon, and at least one person is going to be shot by one of the security [guards],” predicted freshman Arlo Kerr-Kierulff. 

“I think Lachlan is going to get shot,” said senior Sylvia Goodyke. Based on who she thought was going to die, she said, “I think the shooter is going to be the security guard or Belinda,” she said.

Like many students, we’ve now watched the whole show, and here’s what actually happened: 

Almost all of our initial theories ended up being right. Before his family is able to drink the poisonous pina coladas he made, Timothy smacks it out of Saxon’s hands, claiming the coconut milk in it is expired. 

Sritala confirms that her husband Jim is Rick’s father, but only after Rick shoots and kills him. Gaitok gets promoted to being Sritala’s main security guard after he shoots Rick in retaliation.  

Despite Gaitok being aware that Valentin and his friends are responsible for the robbery in episode two, he does not report it. Jaclyn, Laurie, and Kate resolve all their conflicts in a heartfelt dinner conversation.

So who died? We were right about the three main characters being murdered, but we were wrong about who it would be. In an intense shootout, Jim, Chelsea, and Rick end up dying from their gunshot wounds. 

We thought the finale was a great wrap-up of all the storylines of this season. We can’t wait to see what the next season of “The White Lotus” has to offer.