Originally appeared on E! Online
"The White Lotus" just went there.
While the stage had been set for weirdness between the Ratliff family siblings — no, you didn’t imagine the off-putting, sexual vibes between Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and his younger brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola) back in episode one — the series’ Mar. 16 episode took things to a whole new level with a drug-fueled, incestuous kiss between the two brothers.
For Schwarzenegger, the fifth episode is when “everything starts to unravel.”
"One of the themes really is you enter the White Lotus as one person and you leave as another," he told Today. "Who are you when everything that you thought you were is taken away? 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.”
The 31-year-old also noted that feeling of unease the audience feels watching the events play out is intentional — and the way with which the sequence is shot — is intentional on the part of creator Mike White.
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“He wants to leave that up to the interpretation of the audience of what is happening,” Schwarzenegger added. “Was a power shift happening? Is there a different power dynamic between him and Lochy? Is Lochy coming on to him? Is it the drugs? Is it the girls pressuring him? What is it? So, I think he leaves that open-ended for the audience to try to decipher.”
Nivola, meanwhile, shared his two cents on what he thinks is happening with his character.
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“He's just an incredibly insecure guy, a real people pleaser who needs something from the people," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "He's not very self-sufficient, he needs love and support from the people around him in his life, and I think he's willing to go to all the lengths to find the people he loves.”
Nivola also addressed the pressure Lochlan has been receiving from Saxon to lose his virginity, as well as his character’s relationship with sister Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) as she tries to keep him from following in Saxon's footsteps.
"There's a push and pull between sex, and then Piper trying to control his future," he added. "But for me? I don't think Lochlan really gives a s--- 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."
And while the moment was, in fact, shocking, executive producer David Bernad said the detail was not written in just for pure shock factor.
“Mike is brilliant, and I think those big story turns are not just for shock,” he told The New York Post. “There’s a specific reason in terms of the narrative storytelling, and the larger thematic idea Mike is trying to get across.”
But where exactly this kiss will play into the larger narrative remains to be seen as season three progresses.
