Allow me to LOUDLY emphasize that there are spoilers for the latest episode of The White Lotus ahead.
This show about a vacation resort with a disturbing death rate has turned my friends and I into detectives. The first two seasons proved that pretty much everything is a clue to what is going to happen - from articles of clothing to book choices selected by each character. And in the latest episode it’s a piece of music that has masses of cultural context that could prove illuminating. But the thing is, it could go in a few directions.
The Ratliff family’s storyline itself even breaks down to multiple threads - all three kids are in a struggle for both power and identity, and mother Victoria has been a hit with her quippy southern rich-lady persona. But husband Tim is quickly barreling down a hill into financial and legal ruin. While he considered self harm at the end of the episode, he also reflected on a hymn he remembered from childhood. Lo, how a rose e’er blooming, a Christmas tune he recalled from church.
This 15th/16th century hymn is mostly about the Virgin Mary, but it is also about lineage. The idea that a rose blooms on the family tree, establishing Jesus as tied to King David, who united the tribes of Israel. That a savior was coming, but would have to be borne and embraced by his mother first is the gist.
The text is old enough that there are multiple interpretations - including disagreement over the first line. Is it Ros (rose) or Reis (branch)? In the Protestant tradition, Jesus would be the rose/branch. The Catholic tradition would describe Mary as a rose. It’s possible that Victoria (THE mother) stopping Tim from shooting himself is the saving in question, and the use of the hymn is no deeper than that.
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming
from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
as those of old have sung.
It came, a flow’ret bright,
amid the cold of winter,
when half spent was the night.
While Tim was saved in an immediate sense, he’s still in a dire situation, with his office back home already having been raided by the FBI. So any “saving” that’s going to happen is really yet to come. And the family is still in darkness about his misdeeds, and how those chickens are home to roost.
While Victoria is the mother figure of the season, Piper could be viewed as the “spotless rose” in her white linen dresses, with her search for spirituality. Ironically, the possible savior of her parents, having dragged them to Thailand right as their lives at home fell apart.
But if we fully let the song link Tim to King David, another theory about the three Ratliff kids comes to light. Consider the story of Absalom, Timor, and Amnon. Amnon assaults Timor, who seeks refuge with Absalom. Amnon is the oldest, so King David does nothing, leading Absalom to kill Amnon, and later attempt (and fail) to overthrow David.
How did Absalom rally support for his coup attempt? By pointing out the flaws in the justice system at the time. What’s Timor’s story ending? She stays put, living a simple life from then on.
If that follows through, then the prediction is: Lachlan would kill Saxon (we know someone is going to be killed this season), after Saxon hurts Piper. Then Lachlan would somehow attempt to bring justice upon his dad, but fail. Piper stays in Thailand.
As for Victoria? David’s first wife Michal was the one who warned him when Saul’s soldiers were headed his way to kill him. Michal loved David… until he “danced naked before the Lord.” Then she was no longer a fan. With the FBI onto Tim and his current emotional breakdown, it’s easy to imagine Victoria helping at first, then having her devotion fade a little.
It’s a dark prediction, going a little far even for The White Lotus. But the music in the show has always been accurate for its mirroring of the story. Just look at Tanya’s blaze-of-glory Season 2 death scene to Puccini’s on-the-nose “O mio babbino caro.”
Whether or not there is a fratricide to come, there’s another lingering question that isn’t really answered by a hymn: how on earth is Tim going to pay the bill when they check out?
