Understanding the Complex Incest Threesome Scene with Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola in ‘The White Lotus’

The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 6 titled “Denials” on HBO hints at unexpected actions between the Ratliff brothers during the raucous Full-Moon Party.

**Spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 6 “Denials,” now streaming on MAX**

In this episode, it is suggested that Saxon (played by Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (portrayed by Sam Nivola) engage in sexual activities involving Chloe (played by Charlotte Le Bon) while Chelsea (played by Aimee Lou Wood) is asleep.

Saxon wakes up with hazy recollections of the encounter, feeling repulsed by the situation. Chloe, on the other hand, remembers the full extent of the events. As Lochlan was intimate with Chloe, Saxon was masturbating nearby. Subsequently, Lochlan seems to have assisted his brother in the act. The following day, Chloe describes the incident as a “threesome,” a term that Saxon strongly objects to. He even claims that the girls coerced them into kissing.

“I didn’t force him to jerk you off,” Chloe retorts, prompting Saxon to fall into an existential tailspin.

“The ambiguous nature of what happened, it’s hard to summarize because we don’t know exactly what did happen,” The White Lotus star Patrick Schwarzenegger told DECIDER during a recent press day. “And Saxon doesn’t know.” 

“I could tell you what happened,” Jason Isaacs said, interjecting. “I saw it. You wanted it. Well, yeah, maybe…” 

“Well, actually, I haven’t seen it,” Schwarzenegger said, “but from how we filmed that, [creator/writer/director Mike White] leaves a very open interpretation of who did what or what happened.”

“Who started it, and stuff,” Isaacs said with a nod.

“Why did it happen? Was it the drugs? Was it not? Was it the relationships leading up to it? Was it that this power shift? All these different things,” Schwarzenegger said. “I think Mike White wrote it in that specific way to have that conversation at home and to leave it up to the audiences to interpret it how they how they want.” 

Like Isaacs, Chloe is absolutely certain that the brothers slept with each other. Saxon seems to recall something that viscerally crossed the line into incest, hence why he avoids Lochlan for the rest of the episode. Lochlan, initially doesn’t remember a thing. He is blissfully ignorant and confused why his big brother has suddenly shunned him.

When DECIDER spoke to Sam Nivola about the episode, he pointed out that Lochlan currently feels adrift from both siblings.

“Piper tells Lochlan that she’s going to stay in Thailand and that freaks him out because he just wants to feel close to these people,” Nivola said. “And she’s basically saying — or it feels like to him — she’s like, ‘I’m going to abandon you for a year.’ And he’s like, ‘Fuck you. That’s, no, that’s not nice.’”

According to Nivola, this reveal, that Piper wants to live in Thailand for a year at the monastery, is why “he leans full force into into Saxon” in Episodes 4 and 5.

“The way I played it is that he sort of has burned his bridge with Piper, which is really sad, because then when the whole thing goes down in Episode 6, it sort of also burns the bridge with Saxon,” Nivola said. “Then he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”

“That’s when my character just goes into full sort of catatonics because it’s like, you know, I’ve burned all my bridges and both my siblings are upset with me for one reason or another. And I’m truly alone.” 

“Yeah,” Sarah Catherine Hook said, “but then you redeem yourself when you’re like, I’ll go to the monastery with you.”

“Exactly!” Nivola agreed. “Then eventually we get back together.”

“Then I’m like, ‘Okay, Lochlan’s back on my side.’”

The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 6 “Denials” ends with Lochlan joining his sister for a no-frills night at the local meditation center. It is during a group meditation that the memories begin to seep back in. Lochlan appears horrified to remember what actually went down.

So if you’re wondering if the Ratliff brothers had sex on The White Lotus Season 3, the implication after Episode 6 is they definitely did. The ramifications of everyone knowing what happened will probably be felt in seismic ways in the final two episodes of the season.