‘White Lotus’ Season 3: What happened in the killer finale

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — “The White Lotus” has closed out its blockbuster third season with a bang. Well, a few actually.

In Sunday’s stressful Season 3 finale, all the storylines came to a tragic climax, with Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), Rick (Walton Goggins) and Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), who was revealed to be Rick’s real father, all dying in a shootout at the resort.

This was, of course, somewhat predicted by Chelsea earlier in the season, who insisted that bad things happened in threes.

Here’s how it played out: Back at the resort after Rick’s return from Bangkok, he expressed how fulfilled and free he felt after confronting Hollinger, the man he believed killed his father years ago. This is short lived, however. Hollinger confronted Rick during breakfast and told him that his father “was no saint” and called Rick’s mother a liar. He also opened his jacket and showed Rick that he was carrying a gun, essentially daring Rick to attack him again.

Rick got upset that Hollinger insulted his mother and sought out Amrita (Shalini Peiris), the spiritual counselor, for guidance on how to handle his desperate state. Before they could speak – she had a session with Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) – Rick spotted Hollinger again. In a fury, he grabbed Hollinger’s gun from his holster and shot him in the chest as he was posing for photos with the blonde blob.

Sritala (Lek Patravadi), holding her husband in her arms on the ground cried out to Rick, “Why?”

“Because he killed my father,” Rick told Sritala, to which she replied, “He’s your father, he’s your father. He told me. He’s your father!”

A shootout ensued.

Rick grabbed Chelsea’s hand and they ran for cover, but it was too late. Rick turned around and saw Chelsea shot in the chest, laying on the dock. He picked her up and carried her away in dramatic fashion, crying as Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) approached the commotion.

Sritala, still holding Hollinger, ordered Gaitok to shoot Rick, and after some hesitation, he did, shooting Rick from behind.

Rick, holding Chelsea, fell into the water. They’re later seen leaving the resort side by side – in body bags.

This sad ending is made even more bittersweet by the scene the two shared earlier in the episode, when Chelsea, a beloved character this season, told Rick that “amor fati” – the name of the episode – means to “embrace your fate.” In that moment, Rick told Chelsea that he saw them spending the rest of their lives together – and that they did.

Here’s what else happened in the episode:

• Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) came incredibly close to letting Victoria (Parker Posey), Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) drink a poison piña colada but ultimately thought better of it, dumping them down the sink before anyone could take a sip of the concoction, which he spiked with seeds from the death fruit introduced in the first episode.
• The next morning after the almost mass murder, Lochlan (Sam Nivola) made a smoothie with the remnants left in the blender and nearly died. Thankfully, he lived to tell the tale (and we’re guessing his near-death experience will come up more often than the other tale involving his brother, which Saxon asked him to never mention again). “I think I just saw God,” Lochlan told his father upon waking.
• In other Ratliff news, Piper opted out of staying at the monastery because she admitted that she really does need air conditioning and organic food. Victoria’s prayers were answered, it seems. Well, not all of them…
• On the boat while leaving the resort, the family’s phones were finally returned to them. Before they turned on their devices, Tim told his family that things were “about to change,” adding “we’ll get through it as a family,” finally accepting his fate.
• Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who has had a lot of disappointments in our time knowing her, got her happy ending after Zion helped her broker a deal with Greg/Gary (Jon Gries) for a $5 million payout to buy her silence.
• Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) longingly watched Belinda leave the resort and our collective hearts broke for this sweet, kind character.
• Greg/Gary hosted another extravagant pool party while Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) went fishing for another guy to fulfill his fantasy kink.
• The “blonde blob” made amends over a teary meal, which included a very moving monologue from Laurie (Carrie Coon), in which she spoke about how she doesn’t need God or religion to give her life meaning because “time gives it meaning.” Laurie, Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monoghan) left the resort the best of friends, especially after the trauma of being right at the scene of the shootout.
• Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) asked for mercy from Gaitok, who figured out that he and his friends were the boutique robbers. By episode’s end, Valentin, Aleksei (Julian Kostov) and Vlad (Yuri Kolokolnikov) appear to have gotten away with it and were already mingling with a new trio of women.
• Frank (Sam Rockwell), sporting leopard print underwear early on in the episode, really wanted Rick to stay in Bangkok to keep partying. Later on, Frank is seen peacefully praying after his bender.
• Gaitok’s bravery earned him a position as Sritala’s driver and Mook’s (Lalisa Manobal) favor. He’s seen at the end of the episode driving his boss as his love interest looks on.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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