What Did Sam Rockwell’s 'The White Lotus' Monologue Mean?
Things are heating up in Thailand, if the latest episode of The White Lotus is anything to go by.
Episode five, the latest of the third season of The White Lotus to air, was peppered with easter eggs as to the fate that may befall one — or several — unsuspecting holidaymakers this year, but none were more foreshadowing of the darkness that may lay ahead than Oscar winner Sam Rockwell's fleeting cameo as Frank.
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Starring opposite the grumpy and elusive Rick (Walton Goggins), Rockwell's Frank is the latest in a raft of old washed-up white men (LBH or Losers Back Home, as Chloe — Charlotte Le Bon — deftly labelled them) to have made an appearance so far this season, who delivers a long and winding monologue that gets stranger and weirder the more he says. Rockwell's performance, which he delivers with total seriousness, has obviously promptly caught the attention of the internet, but what did the monologue mean? And what does it mean for Rick? This is everything you need to know, and might've missed.
What Did Frank (Sam Rockwell) Say In ‘The White Lotus’?
Frank and Rick reunite when they meet at a Bangkok hotel bar, where Frank hands over a duffel bag containing a firearm that Rick has presumably requested because he wants to shoot the hotel owner who killed his father. He wants bloody, bloody revenge.
Frank then starts to divulge his true intentions for moving to Thailand, which largely revolves around his sex addiction. 'I was out of control. I became insatiable. And, you know, after about a thousand nights like that, you start to lose it. I started to wonder: Where am I going with this? Why do I feel the need to f*** all these women? What is desire? The form of this cute Asian girl, why does it have such a grip on me? ‘Cause she’s the opposite of me? Is she gonna complete me in some way? I realised I could f*** a million women, I’d still never be satisfied.'
Rick's jaw then hits the floor as his long-lost friend admits that a realisation had dawned on him: 'Maybe what I really want is to be one of these Asian girls,' Frank says, entirely earnestly. Soon, he shares, he was dressing up in ladies’ lingerie and sleeping with white men like himself in an attempt to feel what the women he hooked up with felt during their liaisons. 'Then I got addicted to that,' he explains. Sometimes he would hire a local woman to watch his sexual escapades. 'I’d think: I am her. And I’m watching me.'
Make no mistake: it doesn't seem as though Frank's character was making a big revelation about his identity, but rather choosing to share everything he'd learned about the slipperiness of desire and identity. Why do we desire the things we do? Why do we behave the way we do?
His monologue, which Rick absorbs while sanctimoniously sipping on a tumbler of whiskey, finishes with Frank drawing a parallel between his previous sex predilections and his current Buddhist quest for enlightenment. Choosing to turn his back on sexual pursuits, Frank says he is now prioritising 'spirit versus form, detaching from self, getting off the never-ending carousel of lust and suffering.'
What does Frank (Sam Rockwell)'s monologue in 'The White Lotus' mean?
There are (mostly TikTok) theories (at the time of writing, unfounded theories, it must be said) that the man who killed Rick's father, or indeed Rick's father is hiding in plain sight (could they be a character we've already met?) thanks to gender reassignment. But it seems probable that Frank's monologue has a darker, simmering foreshadowing purpose than just being a meditation on the West's desires, obsessions and identity issues, but what exactly that foreshadowing nods to still feels slightly shrouded in mystery.
Is it also probable that Frank's admission of addiction and redemption may dissuade Rick from seeking the gory, bloody revenge that he's so desperately searching for? We've got three episodes remaining this season so we'll have to see.
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