After weeks of foreshadowing, it finally happened. Incest has officially checked into The White Lotus. In Episode 5, “Full Moon Party,” the Ratliff boys, Saxon and Lochlan—under the influence of an unnamed drug and lots of alcohol—finally kissed. Now the morning after, actors Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola are breaking down their White Lotus kiss and teasing what's next for the brothers in season 3.
Fans have been anticipating something to happen between the macho Saxon and the more repressed and shy Lochlan for weeks—ever since the first episode of the season when, after insisting on sharing a room with his brother, Saxon walked around their room naked and almost masturbated in front of his brother. In this episode, Saxon was determined to get his little brother laid, which led to a night of debauchery on Chloe's yacht. It Chloe, played by Charlotte Le Bon, who dared the brothers to kiss. At first, Saxon was hesitant, but Lochlan went in for a peck—and then went back in for a full on, open-mouthed kiss. Needless to say, the fans were shook.
Lochlan has always seemed fascinated by his brother's sexuality, but is that really what drove him to kiss his brother? Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Sam said that Lochlan is “incredibly insecure” and all he's doing is looking to feel loved. “There's a push and pull between sex, and then Piper trying to control his future,” he said, noting that his character is torn between his brother and his sister. “But for me? I don't think Lochlan really gives a shit which path he goes down. I think it's more that he's going to choose whichever path feels like it's with the person who loves him the most.”
As for the potential fallout of their kiss, Patrick teased that there would be more to come. “There's always more than what meets the eye of the shock value on screen,” he told THR.
In a separate interview with Today.com, Patrick suggested that the incestuous kiss might shake the seemingly boundless confidence Saxon had at the beginning of the season. “One of the themes really is you enter the White Lotus as one person and you leave as another,” he said. “Who are you when everything that you thought you were is taken away?”
He continued, “And I think that's something that's really relevant and prevalent for Saxon. Him walking into the White Lotus as the most confident and sure person of who he is, and everything gets completely questioned in his experience there.”
Sounds like Saxon is going to have one hell of a morning after.
