'The White Lotus' Finale Faked Us Out Twice, and Neither Worked

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 finale.Ever since The White LotusSeason 3 premiere opened with an off-screen shootout, viewers have been endlessly theorizing over which of our new cast of characters would wind up dead. As the season progressed, two of the most likely candidates seemed to be Lochlan (Sam Nivola) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), whose deaths appeared to be foreshadowed in the opening title sequence, with art depicting scenes of death corresponding to both actors’ names. But despite Tim (Jason Isaacs) contemplating suicide for most of the season, all five members of the Ratliff family ultimately make it out alive, while fan-favorite Chelsea sadly takes a bullet. In the show’s feature-length season finale, creator Mike White fakes us out twice in the lead-up to Chelsea’s death and Lochlan’s almost-death but neither of them actually work, giving both of these major storylines unsatisfying conclusions.