Ep. 7: “Killer Instincts” with Jon Gries
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Who are the hosts of the White Lotus official podcast?
Hello, and welcome to the White Lotus official podcast companion to season three. I'm Gia Tolentino.
And I'm Josh Behrman.
What is the significance of the film trilogy in Episode 7?
And later in this episode, we'll be talking to John Grice. My question for you, Josh, is in Sam Rockwell's imaginary film trilogy, which we hear about. It's the, hold on, it's the, help me.
The enforcer? The enforcer. And then the executor.
He says it, the executor. But I was confused because I thought he was going to say executioner.
Right.
But if it's like a will, aren't you like the executor?
Right. Well, then when it gets into the notary, we're like, maybe it was an executor. Yeah. Yeah, the sequel is the executor of the will of whoever was enforced. Yes.
And then the notary has to come and sign it.
Has to come and make sure. Yeah. I feel like in the plot of The Notary, I'm assuming that what happens is the notary's giant big physical book of signatures gets stolen.
Oh.
And then Jason Statham has to come and get it back.
It's a briefcase thing for me. Like it's like he folds it up in the briefcase and then he's like getting on and someone snatches it.
How does violence play a role in the theme of Episode 7?
Someone snatches it. Identical briefcase. It's a mix up or is it?
Exactly. Okay, before we get into the notarized revenge plot near murder we witnessed, we should say we're talking about episode seven. The title is Killer Instincts and it was written and directed by Mike White. So this is a dark episode. It's dark.
Well, it's all coming to the surface.
Yeah, everyone, almost everyone has kind of like a test, like a gauntlet that they are set. And it's like, what choice will you make? And not all of them have chosen.
And also the kind of visual leitmotif that starts at the beginning and is running through the whole thing is the fight. You see the slow motion sequence of like some kind of prayer ritual at the beginning of the fight. Violence does spiritual harm to victims.
and to perpetrator.
So it's transitioned from a lot of the rest of the season is the monkeys in the forest, which is either both monkey mind and also the threat of kind of they're bearing their fangs sometimes. But now here is like... Humans fighting and personal violence and then the voiceover, the monk about violence. And so then you kind of know that that's what this is going to be about.
What conflict arises at the dinner scene in Episode 7?
Yeah. Everyone's in this really weird flux. It really like I kept watching like throughout the episode, I was like, everyone is trying to see if they're going to pass some sort of test, it feels like. It really all comes to the surface with the ladies the most.
This is where, yeah, it's most visible.
They're at dinner just like furiously looking at the menu. They're kind of being like, I'm fucking sick of Thai food. Like you can feel they're like, when's this bottle of rosé going to get here so we can stop just avoiding eye contact with each other.
And Lori sort of says what she's finally thinking and then they all start trading kind of. their real beliefs about each other. So the masks have all come down now, right? So the mask that was being worn when they were in the first episode at dinner and talking about how they all had been one person and it's a mirror. They're mirrors of each other.
It's a victory to our lives.
It's a victory to our lives rock now. It's the mask is down and the real person is there. And those three real people actually have these long grievances with each other.
I mean, you know, when you know someone long enough, you do start to see certain patterns. Okay. And what is that pattern, Kate?
And they're all correct. Like, they're all accurate. Like, the reads are accurate. They say to Lori, like, the thing that makes you disappointed changes, but you're always disappointed. And it's like, that's right.
Yeah.
And then she says, Kate, you're a fake bitch.
Right. Whatever she says. Right. You're pretending your life is great and you're selfish and vain. Selfish and vain.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Who are the hosts of the White Lotus official podcast?
0:47–0:55
2
What is the significance of the film trilogy in Episode 7?
0:55–1:53
3
How does violence play a role in the theme of Episode 7?
1:53–3:04
4
What conflict arises at the dinner scene in Episode 7?
3:04–6:01
5
How do the party dynamics unfold at Gary's gathering?
6:01–8:00
6
What identity crisis do characters face in Episode 7?
8:00–45:33