Reasonably Certain
Welcome to Reasonably Certain with Ellen Larson!
Ellen covers topics she has learned about throughout her 20's such as mental health, body image, makeup, fashion, and living abroad.
Ellen offers insights and tips to promote emotional well-being, encourage self-acceptance and confidence, perfecting your makeup routine, and advice about living abroad. Overall, Reasonably Certain provides a comprehensive approach to self-care, confidence, and empowerment.
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Reasonably Certain
The White Lotus is Back!!!! A breakdown of Season 3, Episode 1, and my invention of Evening Ponder Walks
EP #34: Ellen has a LOT to talk about this week.. mainly about her "invention" of evening ponder walks, Love is Blind US Season 8 Minneapolis, and The White Lotus Season 3!
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Hey, guys. Welcome back to Reasonably Certain. My name is Ellen. This is episode 34. And I. I was sick for the last week. Okay? So everything that I thought I was gonna do this past week did not happen. And all that is on my mind is white lotus and love is blind. So that's actually going toa be a big portion of today's episode. But I will tell you about how I got sick or, well, my sickness, because I was sick, like I said. So. Yeah, I remember last episode, I was so hyped. Well, maybe that's over exaggerating a bit. But I was excited because I was supposed to go to a singles event on February 13th, and it's through this company called Thursday. I. I guess it started in the U.K. it's called, like, Thursday Dating. I was supposed to go to the second ever Thursday Barcelona event, which was last week. So that was their second ever event. It's like, new in Barcelona. I'm glad it's here. Like, hey, I've been asking for something like this, and here it is. So I was like, pumped to go and just see if it was gonna be fun or whatever. And then I was gonna have a girl's night at my friend Tally's house on Friday night. And it was just gonna be like a really lovely end to my week. But, uh, I'm not joking. Like, one hour after I finished filming the previous podcast episode, uh, my thro started hurting a little bit and I was like, u. Um, that's kind of weird. I hope I'm not getting sick. So I was editing the episode, trying to just pump through it, and I was like, okay, yeah, uh, my throat's feeling like a little. A little sore. I think I'm getting sick. But if I take a bunch of vitamins tonight and get a good night's sleep, like, maybe it won't hit me so hard. And like, I can still go to the event by Thursday if, you know, maybe it's just like a little like 48 hour cold or something. Like, maybe I can still go to the event on Thursday. And then Tuesday morning I woke up and I was like, oh, this is pretty bad. Okay. And so I was like, this must be a pretty nasty cold. I really hope it's not Covid. Um, but like, maybe if I just keep taking vitamins and like, you know, doing all the right things. Gargling salt water. That's what I did. Like, the first thing I woke up on Tuesdays, I was like, ooh, this is a nasty sore throat. I'm m going Straight for the saltw water gargle and vitamins. And so I go through Tuesday. And then I'm like, huh, I think I need to break out the day quil. Like, this is kind of kicking my ass. Like, I don't normally. It's not that I'm like, anti medicine. Uh, I'm definitely not anti medicine, but I just try not to rely on it if I don't need it. And I was like, oof, good thing I brought that dayquill and nyquall over from the US cause I'm needing it. Okay, I'm needeading the day quil today. And then I'm like, u. Uh, you know, I think like, this is just all on Tuesday, right? And I was like, damn, my throat's kind of hurting. And I'm sitting here, I'm working all day with one hand on my throat like this because it hurts so bad. And I was like, damn, is this is pretty tough. And then I was like, I think I need, like, a cough drop. I don't even remember the last time I've needed a cough drop. It's been years. But thankfully, I had a brand new unopened pack of cough drops in my medicine drawer. And I was like, thank God that previous me passed. Me just thought to buy these and keep them because I went through almost the entire bag last week. Um, I was like, how many menthol drops can I have in a day? Like, am I overdosing on, like, menthol cough drops? Because I only got, like, some temporary relief while I was sucking on the cough drop. And immediately after I finished the cough drop, I was like, uh, oh, uh, oh, it's hurting again. Like, it was. It was bad. That was all just on Tuesday. And I was like, shit, well, maybe if I wake up tomorrow and I'm feeling better, like, maybe I'll still be able to go on Thursday. I was already kind of thinking like, shit, this is not going in the right direction. But I was like, let me just give it till the morning. If I feel better in the morning, maybe. Maybe, um, in the morning it got worse. And I was like, okay, something's happening here. So I was like, crap, okay, I, uh, can't go to anything this week. Like, my plans canceled. Everything that I was gonna do from Thursday on throughout the weekend just done cancel me. I'm out. Whatever is happening to me is bad. And if it's not Covid, it's something else that's equally as bad. So I was literally, like, rocking back and forth. I Was like, waking up likeh, my God, I can barely sw_allow because it felt like a thousand burning knives in my throat. And so it was just. It was rough. Like, I was like, day quil every four hours, Ibuprofen, halz, cough drops, gargling salt water, taking a shitload of vitamins, drinking a bunch of water all day and just, uh, hoping that it was gonna get better. And then on Thursday, I was likekay, finally. I mean, two, like, really rough days of sore throat. And I think that's usually the cusp of it. Like, it should be. It should be done. Nop. Even worse on Thursday. And I was like, oh, oh, I don't know how many more days I can take of this. It's really bad. So, um, on Thursday, I was like, rocking back and forth the whole day, holding my throat. It was horrific. I had, ah, so many phone calls for work. I'm like, apologizing for my voice because I'm starting to lose my voice. My clients are like, oh, why don't you take the day off work? I was like, girl, I have too much work to do. I can't afford to take the time off. So I was like, doing all my meetings, getting yelled at by clients. Like, one client, I had a very particular client call that they were literally yelling at me. And I'm like, so we will do the best we can to make sure that we address your concerns. Like, it was just a joke at that point. You know what I mean? It was like, it was ridiculous. So then I was on the phone with my mom at night, and I was like, I'm like, getting kind of concerned. Like, my throat hurts, like, really bad. Like, really bad. And it's been like four days now. Um, getting a little concerned. And, uh, she was like, are you sure it's not bacterial? Like, my mom's always the one that's like, are you sure you don't need antibiotics? And I'm like, mom, I don't want to get antibiotic resistance. Like, I don't want to keep taking antibiotics for everything. But she's been right the last two times. Like, last summer, I had a really bad sinus infection. And you can actually hear it in my episodes in July, in my first couple episodes, I still had a nasally sound. And then I took antibiotics from my sinus infection. And then, like, every episode since then, I don't sound nasally. And I probably sound a bit nasally in this episode because I'm still getting over, um, my sickness. So on, um, Thursday My mom's like, are you sure it's not bacterial? And I'm like, really? I don't think it is. Like, who gets a bacterial infection? I mean, it happens all the time. I'm being ridiculous, I'm being funny. But like, I started asking Chachy BT and Google and I'm like, what are the symptoms of strep throat? Caus. This is the only other thing I think it could be like a severe, severe sore throat. Not a lot of phlegm, just like severe sore throat. And it was like pretty much like, yeah, you have strep. And then I went in the bathroom with my phone light and I looked at my tonsils and I was like, o. I should have probably done this earlier. I could have fixed this probably sooner, but I was trying to tough it out because I thought it was a virus. And yeah, I don't think I've ever had strep throat. So like, maybe I would have recognized the symptoms earlier if I knew. But I was like, no, this is probably just a really nasty virus. I just gotta tough it out, you know? And um, yeah, it was strep throat. Even though I went well, I had to get antibiotics and I was not sure how to get them here. Cause I've never had to get antibiotics here yet. And um, so I was likekay, well I have sunnitas. Like let me just call Sanitas and they'll tell me. So I had to do like a virual consult, um, a virtual emergency consult with Sunitas through the app. And then the doctor was like, what are your symptoms? Blah, blah, blah. I told her, she was like, yeah, you probably have shrep throat, you need antibiotics, you need to go to this hospital. And she sent me the address and I was like, okay, I have to go to a hospital, question mark. Cause they don't really have urgent care here. Like, the health system is not the same as the US where we. Like, if you had strep throat, for example, it's a great example. And it's not really an emergency, but you do kind of need to go like now or today. Um, you can't wait a week for an appointment because that would be insane. So you do kind of like need a prescription now, but it's not like an emergency, like May Day, mayday, I need an ambulance. Like it's like you just need a doctor to tell you, oh yeah, you're effed up and give you the prescription. So that's what I needed. And I guess here they mainly do that through the emergency Room, which makes sense because their emergency room. Yes. Also, I saw a few ambulances pull up. There was nobody coming in on stretchers or anything like that, thankfully. But, like, it doubles as, like, an urgent care and actual emergencies. Um, so they have a triage room. Like, you give the front desk attendant your, like, nia, which is, like, your. You identification number, and you give them, like, your health insurance card, and then they give you, like, a ticket of what number you are in line. And then you sit down in a waiting room, and you look at a screen, and then your number will come up on the screen, and you go into the little triage room. So they have a bunch of doors along a wall, and one of them says triage. So what I noticed from being there for, like, three and a half hours is that you go into the triageru room first. The triage nurse diagnoses your issue, determines what the next steps are. Whatever the next steps are usually involves you either taking a rapid test or waiting for a doctor. So for me, she was like, oh, yeah. She looked at my throat. She was like, yeah, you definitely need a test. But I don't feel like she swabbed my throat very well. I feel like she was just like, ding, ding. And she was like, okay, that's it. And I'm like, you're not really gonna get in there and scrape a little. So I feel like she didn't even barely swab my throat. And I was like, girl, make sure you get a good sample. We're only doing this once. Um, so she swabbed and did the rapid test for strep. I was sitting in the waiting room. She's like, it'll be 30 minutes. 30 minutes goes by. By the way, the WI fi wasn't working, so it's, like, stupid. Most of the buildings you walk in here, it will say you have data, but nothing loads on your phone. It's like something with, like, I don't know. It's like, is it the cinder blocks? Like, the cement? As soon as you walk inside a building, like, your data just doesn't work. So I was just sitting there with no data. I couldn't even do anything on my phone. And the frickaking, like, guest wifi wasn't working, so it wasn't even available as an option. It just, like, wasn't turned on. So you didn't even have the option to try and type in a password. So I was just sitting there, twittling my thumbs, listening to music for almost two hours until the doctor finally called. My name in. And then he gave me the results of my test. He brought me back to this, like, little tiny room in the back of the emergency room area. And he was like, okay, what are your symptoms? I told him, he's like, okay, well, your strep test came back negative. And I'm like, mmm, m. What? Okay, will I still need something? And he was like, no, we'll still give you the antibiotics. Um, and I was like, okay, well, is it. Meanwhile, this is all in Spanish, by the way. My first, like, emergency appointment in Spanish, whatever. And I'm like, is it normal for the test to be a negative, but you still suspect that it's a positive? And he's like, I don't know if he was just saying this just to please me and give me an answer or if he was actually saying this, but, um, he said, yes, it's common for it to be negative. But I was likekay, well, whatever. He looked at my throat. He did all the, you know, quick testing things to verify that I was sick with most likely strep. And he was like, yeah, I mean, you probably definitely have strep, like, based on all your symptoms. And I was like, okay. And then, of course, like, he, uh, gave me the prescription, which is literally all I needed. I just needed the dumb piece of paper that says, we, uh, uh, authorize this person to get antibiotics. So then finally, after like 4 hours total of me, like, leaving, getting there, waiting, getting the prescription, whatever, I can finally go get my prescription, my antibiotics. So that was all on Valentine's Day? Yeah. So I was just by myself in a hospital emergency room in Spain, seeing everyone else that was sick, unfortunately, on Valentine's Day. But everyone, I was getting a little bit sad and like, sheddting a tear from the pain, also being annoyed I was waiting for so long, but I remember I was just sitting in the waiting room and shedding one tear, mostly because of the pain, but also I was a little sad because everyone else was there with a family member or a significant other. And I was just sitting there by myself. But, like, the people next to me was like, a little girl who was like, probably 10 with her dad. And then everybody else next to me was like, couples, obviously, either married couples or dating. And they were all there, like, obviously had a loved one to go to the emergency room with to support them. And I was just like, it's Valentine Stay, and I'm just sitting here all alone with strep througho. Um, but thank God that I went because I was like, I can't let this linger until the weekend because you know how they don't like to work on weekends here. So even if it's the emergency room, I'm like, let me do this on a weekday, because I don'tnn risk not being able to get antibiotics until Monday. That would be super shitty. Um, so anyway, I did start feeling better, like, literally within hours after taking the antibiotics on Friday, thank God. And, yeah, so it's been a few days. I feel much better. It turned into, like, a phlegm issue. So now my lungs, I've just been coughing up phlegm for, like, three days, which is so cool. Um, so that's my story, um, of a How sick I got last week. I'm. I hope you guys enjoyed. But, yeah, it was a little scary. Like, being sick in Spain and then having to go figure out a new medical system. I mean, I've been here for a while, so I know most of the gist of how it works. But, I mean, I've never been to, like, inside a hospital. For the emergency room, I was like, oh, that I have to go to the emergency room. But truly, like, if you walked in, you would guess that it's an urgent cart. Like, when I'm thinking emergency room, and I've only been in the emergency room once, guys. And it was after. I remember it was after I got allergy shots. And, like, I was probably a year into my allergy shots, so we were up to a pretty good dose, you know what I mean? And one day my body just felt like it was too much. And so I was in the waiting room after my allergy shot, and my hands started getting all red and blotchy. And then, like, I started getting kind of itchy. And I was texting my friend who's a nurse, and I was like, hey, like, should I be concerned? And she's like, you have nurses right there. Just go ask. And I was like, right, right. Okay. So, yeah, I did have, like, an anaphylactic reaction from my allergy shots back in September of 2018. And I remember I was pissed because I had a nail appointment. And then I was flying out to Phoenix or to Scottsdale the next day with my friends for a girls trip. And I was like, I don't have time for this, to be honest. I don't have time to have an allergic reaction right now. Stab me with the EpiPen. I gotta go to my nail appointment. Like, it's booked for, like, 6pm so this can't be happening. And I Remember, I did my allergy shots over my lunch break. I was fully capable of walking. But it must be protocol that, like, since they have to do an EpiPen, you have to go to the emergency room, they have to monitor you. So they have to bring you on a stretcher in the ambulance, which costs, like, 10 grandars. When I could have walked to the hospital from how close it was to my clinic because it was in downtown St. Paul. So I was like, I could have just walked. I could have gotten an Uber. Like. But no, you have to call the ambulance. And they're like, o. It's policy. It's policy. Anyways, so they had to put me on the stretcher, and I'm sitting there with, like, my laptop bag for work because I'm only supposed to be gone for, like, a half hour. And I was like, okay, um, I guess I have to go to the emergency room. And it's not like the emergency room that you imagine in the U.S. like, in the U.S. i imagine, like, it's real emergencies or it's like people like me where, like, you just had an anaphylactic reaction, and you have to, like, be there to be monitored. And they're like, we're sorry, we can't let you go for, like, four hours because we have to monitor you. And I'm like, I have a nail appointment. I'm fine. Let me go. And, um, it was annoying, but my mom did come. She sat with me. But that's what I think of is, like, that there's these, like, triage rooms with a bed and, like, all the hookups and, like, the IVs and the monitors and whatever. But, yeah, so it was not the same vibe. Like, I'm imagining, like, Regent S Hospital in St. Paul or. Yeah, yeah, in St. Paul was like, wee woo, wee woo. Like, just people coming. Ah, I need help. Ah. It was not like that at all on Friday. It was just me and the hospital chilling with a bunch of other people that were sick. So that was my first experience. But I did think about it. I was like, thank God I have not had to go sooner than this. And it was not really an emergency. It was not a true emergency. It was just that I needed antibiotics. And, you know, as they should be. You know, they're very. They gatekeep antibiotics anyway, so I obviously didn't have any Valentine's Day plans. And, um, I did watch Love is Blind. And I do have a lot to say about that, but I don't want to jump too far ahead. And then On Sunday or on Saturday, I spent the entire day in bed, which was kind of awesome. I haven't had just like a straight up bedrotting day in a while and I was like, I deserve this. I've been working while I've been super sick all week. So I am going to lay in bed all day and hyperlyyze. Love is blind. And then on Sunday I went on a walk and that was pretty much it. I decided to listen to the rest of Drew Afwallo's audiobook called Loud or, well, her book. I prefer audiobooks because it's kind of like you can kill two birds with one stone. So I like to go on walks and listen to audiobooks because, well, yeah, for me it feels more productive than just sitting and reading a book. Plus then you don't have to hold it and I hate holding it. And then like your fingers get all tired. Even if you have to hold a kindle. I would 1000% get one of those setups where you can sit in bed with the clicker and then have like the stand with the Kindle thing just like so it sits in front of you. If m I ever do start physically reading, that's gonna be my setupus. I can't stand holding books and trying to like pry it open because there's so many pages. Uh, I hate that. So ale a lay down Kindle setup might be my go to in the future, but in the meantime I'm a heavy audible user. So I finished her book finally. I started reading it like the day it came out and I got it, you know, inaudible back in July and I read the majority of it back in July. But then I. Because I used to listen to it while I was laying out on the rooftop at my gym to like suntan. And so then after I couldn't suntan anymore and like I went to Minnesota and it was September and then I came back and it was cold and there was no more sun tanning. Um, I just, I don't know, I don't know. Time got away from me and I just stopped listening to books for a while. And then the last month or two I was like, hey, I've really gotta. Like I have audible. I need to use it. So I finally finished her book on Sunday when I was on my walk. And then I picked a new book to start listening to. And so I decided to pick. I think it's all about Love by bell hooks. Have not started it yet. I will let you know how it goes once I do But I loved Drew's book. Like, if you feel like you just need, like, the big sister typ type of advice, uh, I feel like the whole book is, like, big sister advice. It's really good, and I feel like it's one that you could reread. Would't you ever just need, like, a pept? Um, so really enjoyed that. On my walk, I finished her book, and then on the way back home, I was like, uh, I don't really want to use my data to download the entire bell hooks book right now. So I'm going to wait till I get home to download it because I was running low on data. So I just decided to listen to my downloaded playlists on the way back home, and I was like, huh, huh. I know we talk about hotirl walks, but do we ever talk about ponder walks? And I was like, I love a good evening ponder walk. Which I probably wouldn't have done much in the US If I'm being completely honest, because taking evening walks isn't always the most calming because you kind of have to keep your head on a swivel. But I'm lucky that I live in Barcelona, and I do still keep my head on a swivel. No one's ever goingna catch me. No one's ever going to catch me because I still have an issue where I'm thinking every single time a man is in my vicinity, behind me, in front of me, whatever, how if he decided in a split second that he was gonna try and attack me, how I would incapacitate him and from what angle he's coming at me towards, like, would I try to, like, flip his knees forward and then grab his arms? Or would I, like, kick him in the balls? Or would I, like, poke him in the eyes? Like, you know what I mean? That's what's running through my head. Like, how do I attack him? How do I attack? This is probably not normal, guys, but I would rather be ready to fight than get jumped. So I've relaxed a little bit. I remember when I first moved here, literally the first week, I was not used to how close people walk to you on the sidewalks, because I'm used to, like, my, um. Even in the US not everybody has a very good bubble. But I would say in. In general, it's hard to generalize the U.S. there's so many different cultures. But in general, people have a bit more of a bubble in the US and depending on the manner in which you walk next to someone or if you were to bump into someone like you're asking for a fight. Basically, like, do you want to fight me? You'renna get smacked in the face, but hear people just, they are up in your business, breathing down your neck. It's crazy. So I remember when I first moved here, people used to, to pass me. Like I don't notice it as much anymore. Plus also I'm usually the fastest one walking, so there's not many times when people are passing me. But when I first moved here, I was walking a lot slower. I didn't know exactly where I was going. I was looking at things. I was a lot slower, right? Because I was more like in tourist mode. And when people would walk by me, they would be coming from up behind me. So I could start to see them out of the corner of my eye. And they would be like this close to me, practically brushing me as they're walking by. And I would be like, I would flinch because I'm like, yo, what the? Like, why are you so close to me? Like I, if someone did that to me in the US I would be like, holy shit, someone's jumping me right now. Like, because you just. I can't explain it if you understand me. You understand me. You just don't do that. I don't know. You just don't do that in the U.S. like, you just don't. You just don't. I don't know. Especially if you're coming up behind someone. I think it's different if you're already in front and you like, you see each other. But coming up behind someone, I'm like, uh, I'm gonna get freaked out one day and accidentally punch someone. Like, it's just, they get real up close and I have a bubble and I like to keep it that way Anyways, so that's what's going on in my mind usually when I'm walking around. But I will say I do enjoy a good evening walk here because I live in a densely populated city. It's a very um, night owl city. So people are out late at night. It's not like, you know, it turns 10pm and everybody's already in their houses, uh, sleep for the night. Like that's just when the night gets started. Most nights, even if it's like a Monday or a Tuesdayus, there's always a good amount of tourists here or there's always somebody out celebrating a birthday or, or they just don't care. And they're out late because they don't go to work until 9am so if they get home At Oneock, it's like not the end of the world. So, um, anyways, I'm very comfortable taking an evening walk here. I have to remind myself actually that I'm allowed to go out after the sun sets because I close all my blinds when the sun sets every day. And then I kind of feel like, all right, I'm in for the night. Like it feels like I have to remind myself that I can leave the house after the sun sets. Like that would be crazy because the sun
sets here lately, uh, at like 6:30.
So then I just don't leave the house after 6:30 every night. Like that doesn't make any sense. Um, and I obviously don't stay
in the house every day after 6:30. Like it's just. But most nights I'll be like, okay, well I'm closed in. Like, this is it. This is not it. There's a whole world still going on out there. There's lights everywhere. There's people chatting, having a tapa, having a beer. Like, it's pretty chill. I'm never concerned about my safety. I am, but like, realistically I'm not concerned about my safety. I've never been realistically concerned about my safety here. Uh, whereas in the US I would be concerned about it pretty much every single day that I step out of my house. But here I'm also larger than most of the men here. So it's like not as scary. Like no offense, short kings, but If a guy that's 58 is trying to attack me, it's not nearly as scary as a guy who's like 632 70. It's just I would be terrified if a 6327 dude was trying to take me down. I can't flip him on his ass. He's go going to evisrate me. But if a 5 8, 170 dude is coming towards me, I can beat him up. Okay? Because I'm like twice his body masss. We're good. It's fine. M so at least I'm not as worried here for multiple reasons. Mostly because it is just very safe. Uh, people are out at night. It's not like you're on a creepy boony country road with no lights and you're scared that some freak serial killer is gon toa be driving by. It's families. People even keep their kids out till midnight. It's very, very normal to like just be out at night. So I would like to propose evening ponder walks. I was like, this is nice because I need to remind myself to slow down. Like I just said, I'm usually the fastest walker on the sidewalk or one of the most fast walkers on the sidewalk. Because I have issues, okay? I need to learn to slow down. It's been an issue that I've had since I moved here. I am just a fast walker by nature. I am a little bit taller than the average person, so I already just take longer strides, and I'm just impatient. And I don't like lolly gagging. I have places to be. So I did notice, though, when I'm listening to music and walking, I have zero chill. I will be in a full dripping sweat by the time I arrive where I need to be because I just genuinely have no, uh, chill. I notice it. I see myself while I'm walking on the street. I will have visions of myself. I mean, like, because you can just imagine what you would look like in third person, right? So I'll have visions of myself from all these angles in third person. And then I'll be like, I'm feeling a little embarrassed right now. Why am I walking so fast? Chill out. So sometimes I'll have to remind myself, like, hey, you're not in that big of a rush. Nothing's that serious. Chill out. You don't have. I feel like I'm racing people on the sidewalk. Like, ah. Uh-huh. Ha. I walked faster than you. Like, okay, this is gonna be such a horse girl. Such a horse girl reference. So horse, uh, girls, you'll get it. Everybody else will probably laugh. But if you have ever gone on a trail ride, you know that each horse typically has a preference of where they are in the line of horses. Because usually your re single file line. Some horses need to be at the front, and if they're not, they throw an absolute fit. That's me. Some horses don't mind if they're the caboose and they bring up the back sometimes. Uh, I don't mind that if I'm on a hiking. If I'm hiking with people, I actually really don't mind bringing up the back because I also have, like, an issue where I need to see everyone in front of me because otherwise I feel like I'm being mean if someone is behind me and I'm not looking at them, um, that's another issue. But if we're talking about strictly speed, I'm the horse in the front. That's like, if someone's coming up behind me, like, no, you're not. Because, no, you're not. So that's me. That's Me, the horse that needs to be at the front of the back. But why? But why, like, chill? I won't even realize how sweaty I am. Genuinely. Uh, I'm like, oh, I'm just. This is like a nice breeze going on. Like, I'm getting a good little workout and then I'm. And then again, I'm always like thinking about efficiency. Like, oh, if I go get groceries and get hair stuff and then I treat it as like an exercise walk at the same time, walking like a maniac. I'm killing three birds in one stone. Because I'm also getting a workout, which, like, is fine as well. I mean, it. It's also fine, but it's like I never have times where I leave the house and walk where I'm just walking, like a normal pace that's not causing me to drip sweat. I shouldn't be like dripping sweat every time I leave the house just because I have no chill. So that's why I've kind of been like, on Sunday when I was on my walk, it was my first time that I was really. Well, not the first time, but the first time in a long time that I really made an effort to walk slowly. And audiobooks do help. I will say, like, with music, I need to walk to the beat and it makes me want to walk very fast. But if I'm walking to just know music, just nature, or listening to an audiobook, I will have some chill. So I realized music is really the catalyst there. I won't be such a freak if I don't have music on. Music makes me want to be like, oh. Like, it puts me in like gym mode and I'm like, have to perform at peak performance. Like, it's. I don't need to be doing that all the time. Okay, so the audiobooks help. I needed to start doing audiobooks more often. Even when I'm just running an errand, just put on an audiobook. I won't be feeling the need to be like walking at 160 beats per minute or whatever. Anyway, so that was my realization and I was like, huh, huh. Well, maybe I can put together a music playlist that's of songs that don't make me feel that I need to walk super fast. Like maybe songs that you would like smoke a joint to. Like. I'm thinking like when I was in college, like sitting in the living room, everyone's passing around a blunt, and it's the type of music that you would just be sitting there like, this is nice. Maybe you think about Stuff maybe you have a nice conversation about, I don't know, sociology, philosophy. I don't know. That's the vibe I'm wanting on my ponder walk. Like, as if it's like the cousin walk at, uh, Thanksgiving dinner when you all go smoke. I don't know why smoking is such a theme here, but that's kind of the vibe I want. Like, chill. No urgency at all. At all. The opposite of urgency. I'm trying to bring some extreme. What do they call it? Like, um, I just saw it was a TikTok trend. Like, God punished me by giving me a friend with no urgency. Yeah, I guess urgency is the word I was looking for. But, um, no urgency at all. Just. The goal of the walk is to find peace, enjoy your surroundings, enjoy the people you're with, enjoy the music you're listening to. Enjoy whatever you're listening to. And not for exercise. That's not the goal at all. The goal is to get some fresh air, admire your surroundings, have some gratitude. And. Yeah, so that's my goal. And, uh, it just came to me. I was like, oh, evening ponder walk. That's what I'm doing right now. I'm having an evening ponder walk because I went on the walk right at sunset as well. So I got like amazing photos of the sunset I love when I'm on. You know, these walks are not very common. They need to become more of a common thing for me. But when I do go on an evening ponder walk, I take such beautiful photos of things. I'm usually looking around and being like, huh, huh. What's something I can take a photo of next? So it's almost like a photography walk. And, you know, the music that I ended up picking was probably not the music that you would maybe expect. But when I was looking through my downloaded playlists because I don't have all my Spotify playlists downloaded, maybe only 15 of them because I have way too many. If I downloaded them all, I would run out of room. But the song that made me think of, like, hm, hmm, maybe this would be a good song because I had my, like, rap playlist on shuffle. Okay, I don't want to get copyright claimed, but through the late night by Travis Scott, and I was kind of on like a Travis Scott, like, um, embargo for a while because I really didn't like how the Astrow World concert went down. And I still don't. I mean, obviously, but I just can't deny it. Like, I'm sorry, guys. I love his music. I love his music. And I don't know if he's truly problematic, like maybe some other artists are. I don't really know where I stand on him, but I allowed myself to listen to him again recently and I was like, damn. Um, through the late night is like the perfect evening ponder walk song. Maybe you get a little in your feels. You're just thinking about life. Maybe you think about the universe, you think about the nature around you. You're like, wow, this is so cool. I get to live here and live this life. That's the vibe I want. No urgency at all. Just thinking, looking, feeling. That's the vibe. I encourage you guys to make your own playlist because I could also think of a lot of other songs that would be good. But anything that's really slow and is not upbeat would be great. Yeah, anything that you could pass a joint around to that would be like, we're chilling. So that's going to be my new trend. Instead of a hot girl walk, which I still do those all the time, I need to implement evening ponder walks because need. I need to just get out of the house. And for me they happen in the evening typically. That's also when I would be more relaxed. In the morning it's like busy. It's like, um, Barcelona has an air of like New York sometimes where it's like traffic, people walking, taxis. And so in the morning it's like a little the energy'up here. But in the evenings here, although people are out and enjoying, so there's still high energy. But in the evenings here, it's no paanaada estos. We're enjoying these frutora vias. Like we're enjoying um, boito iino, patatas, fritas, whatever, patata bravas. So even though the energy is still up, it's like we're enjoying. We're this frutando laida. So yeah, that was my little revelation while I was sick. And uh, well, I wasn't fully sick on the walk. I was already on three days of antibiotics. Just so everyone knows. Um, I'm on my like fifth day of antibiotics, so I should be hypothetically done, but I'm gonna finish. They said five days, but they gave me six. So I was like, I'm gonna take the six bill. I'm crazy like that. I'm crazy like that. Um, so yeah, and then I went to a new gyno yesterday. Not that anybody cares. This might be tmi, but I really don't care. I'll share anyway. I'm always nervous to go, but I do go, I go. And I picked a doctor that could speak English because I was like, o last time I did it, like last year I did it in Spanish. And it just was like one of the appointments that I was like, maybe there's so much discomfort already just due to the type of appointment that it is that speaking another language on top of it, uh, is like, it's really up there in the discomfort levels that I'm like, maybe I need a doctor that speaks English. So I specifically seeked out this doctor because she spoke English, and no offense, I just couldn't do a male doctor as well. Like, I was like, I need a woman doctor. Sorry, I just need a woman doctor. And then she did speak English, but then we just started. Like, I always try, like I try to always speak Spanish. And I was likekay, we're speaking Spanish already. Maybe I'll just continue. And then if I need to clarify something, at least if I sayed in English, she will understand. But she was amazing. Like, we spoke Spanish the entire time. She was so easy to understand. She was so nice. And I just. It makes me sick to my stomach because I've had such bad gyno doctors in the past where they like, dismiss you, make you feel stupid for asking questions, making you feel just like, dumb. And like, I would always be so nervous about things. And like, a lot of doctors I had, like, in Minnesota particularly, almost every single doctor I had in Minnesota that was a gyna was like so dismissive, so rude, like, not making it a safe space at all. Whereas the doctors I've had in Arizona and in Spain have been very nice. And it's probably just the luck of the draw, right? Like, I'm not saying every doctor in Minnesota, like, for gynecology is rude. You know what I mean? It was probably just the luck of who I got to see. But anyways, so I was just so thankful that my doctor was like so nice yesterday. And I had like, some questions that I was asking in Spanish that I was nervous about. And she was like telling me a bunch of stuff like, oh, like, you know how I'm pressing here and pressing here and like, you shouldn't be worried. Like, blah, blah, blah, this is normal. And I'm like, okay, okay. And literally, I think I was only in the hospital for 20 minutes total. It was like bing, bam, wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. I was out of there. So honestly, I appreciated that because I don't wa wantna be there longer than I have to be. So they were Very efficient. And I was like, wow, okay, that was not as traumatic as, you know, previous experiences have been. So, um, I don't really care if that was tmi, because it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be. Anyways, so welcome to the rest of the episode. Thanks for listening to the intro there and my evening ponderer walks. Let's get to the real juicy part. So Love is Blind Us, Season eight, Minneapolis. Hey, if you guys didn't know, I'm from Minnesota, okay. I lived there for 23 years until I moved to Arizona. So I haven't been full time living there. Well, I lived there for six months, you know, in between Arizona and Barcelona. But that was with my parents. I wasn't really. It was a dark time. So I lived there for 23 years. And, yeah, so, yeah, I'm from there. Like, what am I saying? So, anyways, I have a unique perspective to give on this specific season. So if you haven't watched Love is Blind on Netflix, they typically release episodes in batches. So we got the first six episodes, which in Love is Blind, historically, usually we're in the pods for, like, I think in the very first season, it was only three episodes. And then as we got to, like, season five, six, it was like, okay, we're in the pods for, like, four, maybe five episodes. And I think last season it was five pod episodes. This season, we're in the pods for the full six episodes. Six hours of them talking in pods. Now, if it was interesting conversations, okay, sure. But I don't know if it was the. I think it was the casting. Like, it's not that Minnesota is just full of boring people, although I will admit a lot of people are kind of boring. But, like, it was just not interesting. Like, there was no interesting conversations. You can tell. I think they're scrambling hard this season. Like the producers and the people who filmed and the whole production. I think they're scrambling hard this season because by the end of the pods. Hold on. We only got, like, three, maybe four couples, and we didn't even get to see them go on their little honeymoon trip yet, which we would normally see for sure. For sure. By episode six, we're in the first batch of episodes. Six episodes. They have not even left the pods yet. I'm sure this Friday. So in a few days, we will see them in the next batch of episodes, which I don't know how many they're putting out for this batch. Maybe just, I don't know, maybe like seven through nine. Uh, they'll probably do Two more weeks. So I have a feeling that they're scrambling hard for content to put in the season because normally they would not do this many POTD episodes if they could fill it out with the rest of the honeymoon and whatever. But if we don't have that many couples that actually make it farther than a few days in together, then there's no content for the rest of the season. So they have to fill it up with pods. So that's what my guess is, is that there's just not that much content to fill out the remainder of the season. So they kind of were forced to fill it up with pods. So we have, like, no offense, uh, a pretty bland cast. You know, it's hard because in Minnesota, although there's a lot of people that live in the Twin Cities and their surrounding areas, the dating pool is pretty small. So it's very likely that people have, like, everyone is always, like, just one degree away from each other. It's crazy. So it's like, even if you don't officially know someone, you might have heard of them. You might, uh, be able to pick up on, like, oh, wait, aren't you mutual friends with so and so? Like, it's very easy to find a connection between people. Like, just that, oh, you know, you went to this school, you know this person you went to. Like, it just takes, like, one conversation and be like, oh, we have this in common, or, you know this person, or I know them. Oh, oh, you're so and so'friend oh, your cousins was, uh, that, like, it's small because it's just so connected. And a lot of people that are born there stay there. I'm talking about a lot of the white people, typically. I mean, obviously we have a large immigrant population as well. So we also have other. Lots of other people that live there and are born there. But I'm just saying there's a lot of white people in Minnesota. They also like to stay there. So a lot of white people particularly have, like, generations of family members in similar areas. So you're gonna have people that probably know each other. So it's gonna make it, I think, a little more difficult to cast because you need to find people that are interesting personalities, good in the dating pool and in a situation where they can be going on a show and that they re a good, like, candidate for a TV show and that they don't know the other cast members. And so when you have, like, 20 cast members, you have to pick them strategically so that majority of them don't know each Other. And even a lot of them already had, they said it on the show that they already had mutuals between each other on Instagram. So that's how hard it is, I bet, for the producers and the Love Is Blind team to, like, find people that are local enough and, like, in the know enough to be part of the show, but not too close and connected, where they're like, oh, you know, you know, you know, you know, know. So they have to all be, like, just on the outskirts just enough. I'm talking of, like, the social ring of the twin cities that they're all, like, just spread out enough socially that they don't completely clash. And they're like, I know this about you, and I know you, and I already know you, because the whole point is that you don't know each other. So I think casting might have been particularly a little bit more difficult than other cities. And by the time we get to the end of six freaking episodes, we only have Monica and Joey, David and Lauren, Devin and Virginia, Daniel and Taylor and Ben and Sarah. Okay, I lied. So we have five couples. The reason why I said three or four is because I predict that Daniel and Taylor will break up. Because I think, well, spoiler alert, I guess, if you're listening to this as a spoiler alert for basically the whole thing. But, um, at the very end of episode six, there's like, a bombshell, like, you know, cliffhanger, that Taylor'freaking out because she thinks that Daniel followed her, like, on purpose before filming and that he already knew who she was and what she looked like in the pods and that he was like, oh, yeah, I remember seeing this on her Instagram. Like, she really likes Taco Bell and she's, uh, you know, has this, you know, specific Christmas stocking. And, like, he knew, like, this stuff about her. And in the pods, he even asked her, like, oh, is your Instagram? Or like, what's your Instagram handle? And then he was like, o, no, I don't think we follow each other. And she's like, why did you already see my Instagram? Like, it was already a bit weird that he even asked. So I think that he was feeling guilty or something already, because I have a feeling he probably did already know who she was. And then that in itself is a bit shady because it ruins the experiment if he already knew what she looked like, but she didn't know what he looked like. Devin, Virginia, I think they will last a little bit. I don't think that they will go get married, but I think they will Last, at least a little bit through the experiment, David and Lauren. I feel that David is too superficial and that he will break it off and Lauren will not be his type. But I could be wrong. I could also see him really liking her and maybe being less douchey as the show goes on. I could see it. Or he's just gonna be a douche. Like we already saw in the first, you know, episode where he was like, oh, what's wrong with you? Why are you here? Oh, so you're already 30. That means you're not good looking anymore or whatever. Um, Monica and Joey are the only couple that I can see actually making it to the altar and getting married because they do actually seem like a great fitting or like a great pairing. They seem like almost the exactly the exact same person. It's kind of crazy. So I hope they work out. I mean, they seem super sweet. And then Ben and Sarah, huh? So Sarah, I was like, okay. She's asking the hard questions. She's asking about how he feels about the LGBTQIA community. She's asking how he feels about politics and the George Floyd incident and racism and how that has affected specifically Minneapolis, where everyone on the show is from. And he was like, m. I don't really get into that too much. I didn't even vote in the last election. And she was like, oh, that's so annoying. Like, why are those your answers? And then she still continues to talk to him. I was like, this isn't adding up. Why are you. What? So then she accepts his proposal. I was like, girl, what are you doing? Like, I didn't even know. I didn't look up anything about the cast before watching the episodes because I wanted to watch it with, like, a completely clean slate. And I didn't want anything to, like, alter my judgments of them. I just wanted, however they showed up on tv to be like, how I perceived them and. Or, yeah, alter my perception of them. And I already didn't like Ben because I was like, what a douche. Like, all his answers, every conversation I saw him, and I was just like, okay, douche, douche, douche, douch, douch. Like, every time I saw him on the screen, I was like, why is she literally speaking to him? And then he said that. And she was like, oh, that's so annoying. And then she. I'm like, how did we get here? How did you what? And then I looked up stuff after the fact because after I finished the six episodes, I was like, okay, now I will go look up all the tea ca Becausee I know that there's tea, but I like, purposely avoided it, uh, until watching the show. So Ben sounds like, I mean, just. Yeah, like you re run of the mille douche. I don't know. He played, uh, baseball, uh, at the U of M. He m, I guess regularly goes out to the college bars still and like, girls have had taken pictures of him, like at hookups. He leaves his YouTube business card, which by the way, is so cringe looking. At least if you're going toa make a YouTube business card, make it better looking. But it's a terrible business card. It's so cringe. It's so cringe. I can't believe he had the audacity. Like, maybe I can't believe, but he had the balls and thought it would be cool to leave that at a hookup. I'm getting all of this from Mostly Andra on TikTok and Facebook forums that people in Minneapolis are a part of and that they know these people. Um, but most people that have commented or posted about it said that Ben, he doesn't have the greatest reputation. And then allegedly Alex, uh, is not the nice, sweet guy that you see on tv. He's actually super, like a super creep. Which honestly, now that I know the information I know, I'm like, yeah, actually that's, that kind of tracks. He looks like he would be that kind of creep. Um, so I don't know how recent this was, if it was, you know, like five, six, seven, eight years ago, whatever. But allegedly he would invite miners over, buy alcohol for them, and then like illicit sexual acts from them. M. Which I don't doubt. I feel like that's, you know, a lot of guys are probably guilty of that, which is not something that's like, to minimize it at all. Um, it's disgusting and totally tracks with him being a skeezy little dweeb. So, yeah, that's all I know about them as far as like villains of the show. Uh, yeah, I would say Alex and Ben seem to be kind of the worst. And David, we all know plenty of David's in our lives. Um, definitely a douche, definitely rude. Um, but I don't consider him as evil as guys who are just like straight up ignorant or like sexually assaulting people. Allegedly. I don't know. All of this is just people posting online, so you do have to take it with a grain of salt. But if that's true, literally so cringe you. Um, and then like a lot of people were critiquing Madison at first. I Was, like, totally on board with her, but I didn't see her being manipulative because I think I was so focused on, like, I'm not even sure, but I just wasn't seeing what people were seeing. At first I was like, oh, she's being so honest about her trauma. But then after people pointed it out, she was, like, playing one personality with Alex and then, like, another personality with Mason, and it was pretty rude and, like, manipulative. M. How she was, uh, kind of forcing Mason into committing to her and then also simultaneously, like, sabotaging it for Meg and then saying, like, oh, well, I just broke it off with Mason because I got there faster. You know, she literally said, like, I got there faster with, uh, someone else, that she got there faster with Alex. So then Meg was like, oh, I can't know for sure if I would have been his first choice or not. Like, I don't want to be someone's second choice, because now that Madison broke it off with Mason, like, how am I going to know that he even actually likes me for me and he's not just picking me just to, like, have a safe backup plan? And so Madison was, like, almost kind of judging her. Like, if you did accept his proposal, like, that would even be kind of, like, cringe of you to do so then I think Meg was like, oh, like, this just feels all wrong now. And so she broke it off with Mason. And so then he lost both girls that he was talking to, and we got no engagements out of that because then Madison was complaining about Mason to Alex. And honestly, I don't blame Alex for this because, you know, uh, putting all allegations aside, I don't blame him because, like, if watching him there listening to her, I was like, why would he. Like, you're talking about another guy that you're upset over while he's supposed to be about to propose to you right now. Like, what? So I think Alex was like, that was the last draw for him. And I guess he said in an interview that he was like, 50, 50 going into that date on whether he was going to propose or not. And, like, because of the way that she was, like, handling the conflict with Mason, that he was like, okay, yeah, no, this is not. Like, there's too many reasons to not propose to her, so I'm not going to do that. So everything else aside, I do think he made the right decision in not proposing to her because I don't think they would have worked out anyway. Um, but I am a little sad to not see Mason move forward with anyone. I think Mason and Meg could have been a good match. Uh, so I am kind of disappointed to see them not moving forward because they kind of low key, both got sabotaged by Madison Loki. Um, I feel like they could have been cute together, so. And Mason really did seem like he was leaning towards Meg until Madison kind of gaslighted him into, like, committing to her. And even he said he felt like he was saying, like, that he was committing to Madison when he wasn't even sure himself. And then just that conversation that they had kind of like derailed everything else. So I didn't feel like Mason was a terrible guy. He seems like a pretty nice guy, honestly. I haven't heard anything about him online. He seems nice based off of what I saw in the pods. And it seemed like him and Meg got along really well. So I was kind of disappointed that they didn't get a chance to move forward because I kind of feel like it all got messed up with that little love triangle love square with Madison and Alex. So that was kind of unfortunate. But, yeah, I'm just. I don't feel that the couples are very strong this season. And now that they removed the rule that you have to go to the altar, like, no, you no longer have to go to the altar. You can break up, like, mid season, which is probably for the best, but it doesn't make very good tv. So I think the couples might drop like flies, and then we don't end up with much to go on for the remaining episodes. So that's probably why they relied on the pod content for six episodes. Honestly, I'm a little sad because I was hoping that Minneapolis would be, like, a blowout season because it's, like, where I'm from. Like, I want it to be like the. But no offense, the cast is, like, pretty bland. Like, everyone was making jokes. Like, they're like the Mayo men. You just can't tell them apart. They all look the same. And they do. They're all wearing a navy blazer, white as, and they all have the same, like, mousey blonde or mousey blondes, light brunette haircut. They all look the same. It's crazy. Um, and also the lack of diversity was, like, another criticism that a lot of people had. And it's not that Minneapolis is not diverse. Like, Minneapolis and the Chwin cities in general is very diverse. My hypothesis was, though, that, of course, I think it's probably two things. So I do think that they probably don't have very strong DEI at Netflix or whoever's doing the Cast, uh, it's obvious throughout many of the seasons that they tend to pick mostly white people. That's pretty obvious. So that's one factor. But I do think that honestly, white people just have a lower, um, like they don't feel as embarrassed to make them, like, make an embarrassment of themselves on tv, whereas a lot of people of color would be embarrassed to embarrass their families. And so if you make a fool of yourself on tv, it will also reflect on your family. And I think a lot of people just don't care. And a lot of people from other races or cultures or ethnicities just care a little bit more. And so therefore they might not be as inclined to go on a show like Love is Blind. That's my other hypothesis because I think a lot of white people, I just think they don't care. Yeah, so that's my other hypothesis is like, it's kind of hard to find people also that aren't as connected and don't know each other as much. I think that also might have something to do with it. So anyway. But the. Oh, the other thing was, even though they did, I mean, the cast is somewhat diverse, they have plenty of black people on the cast, um, but they don't show them on the show. So it's like, okay, yeah, you casted them. That's like the first part of the equation. But then what? Like, we only ever see them, like, in a glimpse of a B roll shot in the common rooms. Like, they don't even get that much face to face airtime. So it's like, why are we not airing some of those other conversations? Like, I would like to see them. I don't need to see so much of, like, no offense, Meg, she didn't even make it to the end. We didn't need to see so much of her conversations in the beginning week. Like, uh, for the first two episodes, we could have, like, spread it out a little bit more to just get to know the other membersus if they needed the content. Like, I would not mind seeing more of the other castmates, but they just didn't show, like, anyone. We didn't see, like 80% of the cast. I'm like, why even bother showing their pictures if they never even make it on camera? Like, so we really barely saw any of the cast. I think it's kind of unfortunate because it's like, what's the point of casting them if they're like, never even gonna make it on? I hope personally, and I predict that we will see a lot more of the other castmates when they do like, you know, when they do that, like mid. Well, at this point, it's goingna be late season, like barbecue, where they finally get all of the castmates together so everyone can see each other in person. I hope we spend a lot of time on that episode because I just want to see them interact. I think it's so fun when they finally see everyone in person and they're like, you look like that, you look like that. You're. You were matched with them. And oh my God, oh my God, like, that's super fun when they finally all see each other in person. So I hope we get some good content there. I'm like, holding up my hope that this season becomes, like, even remotely interesting. But I don't know, my gut feeling right now is that the whole season is a flop and they're, like, trying to salvage it with, like, the little content that they do have. But I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I'm just, I'm not feeling really optimistic from what I've seen so far. So that's Love is blind. I'll update you guys next week, uh, after the next batch of episodes comes out this Friday. So let's move on, guys. The White Lotus season three came out. Oh, my God. You know, if you watched like, around Halloween, I was Tanya mcquod for Halloween. I love the White Lotus. I didn't. I actually didn't have an HBO subscription when the first season came out and I just heard about it from everyone. I remember everyone being like, what is this dumb show that has no plot points? It's like, so dumb. Like, all they do is show, like rich people sitting around at a resort. And I was like, oh, yeah, that does sound kind of dumb. I don't know. I don't have hbo. I guess I'm never going toa watch it. Then I had HBO when the second season came out and I was like, algh. Well, I remember you. The talk that drummed up around the first season, like, maybe I'll tune into the second season and then I can make my own opinion. Well, I watched the second season. Well, I watched the first season and then I watched the second season l as it came out and I was like, this show is magnificent. This show is fantastic. All you little. What do they call them? Plebeians? All you little idiots that watched the first season and you didn't get it. You don't understand true literature in the form of television. You don't understand art in television form. This is Art. So I was like, I'm, um, obsessed. This is what I call good tv. I love a whounit trope. I love beautiful aesthetics. I love amazing acting, amazing writing, amazing plots. I'm m like, what do you mean there's no plots. This is just full of tension and little symbolism and like, just little hints dropped everywhere. I was like, this is juicy. Juicy. This is like a beautiful, delicious, juicy burger that you're just. It's just like, uh, every bite you're like, how could it get better? And it just keeps getting better. And then you wash it down with like a cold McDonald's Diet Coke. It's so good. Anyway, so I was absolutely counting down the days until White Lotus season three came out. And I guess this is just gonna be like a White Lotus podcast now because a good chunk of this episode is just going to be me breaking down like frame by frame the first episode. So if you're not watching on YouTube and you're listening, this might be a good point to switch over to YouTube because I have a lot of visuals to show you guys. I literally recorded the entire thing on my phone because I wanted to be able to like scroll frame by frame and take screenshots. And that's what I did. So I have the whole episode and like a million screenshots on my phone. And so there will be a lot of assets 's for the remainder of this episode. And so tune in, tune in. I say. First of all, let me turn off my Bluetooth because my stupid garageband keeps trying to connect to my iPhone mic. Does that ever happen to you guys? Like it's actually so annoying. It just did that like three times this episode alone. And normally when I'm already connected to this mic, it will not try to connect to another source. But just for this, like I had my phone open and it keeps trying to switch, so. Oh wait. Oh wait, I took notes. You, uh, guys don't understand. Like to me this is like AP English, AP Cinematography, AP Modern Modern History. This is modern history. Modern entertainment history. So I would like to first start by just introducing everyone to the characters because they introduce you to. Let's see about. I think it's 22 characters in the first episode. So right off the bat you've got like a lot of information going on. Like you're meeting a person after person after person and you're meeting a lot of people at once. So I think to set the scene, I want to just introduce the characters and then we can go through the episode like scene by Scene. It's gonna be juicy, guys. Like, trust me, this is not boring. This is gonna be a riveting retelling or, uh, a riveting dissection of the first episode. First, as we open the episode after the title. Oh, wait, by the way, by the way, I'm gonna get into the rest of this. As we break down the episode, everyone was freaking out that they changed the theme song. And when I first played the episode, I was like, o, where's the theme song? Like, I feel robbed. But then as I let it play, I was like, okay, okay. I know Mike White would never do something without a specific reason to do it. So I'm guessing that he was likekay, we're in Thailand. Maybe there's a different theme. Well, there's obviously going to be a different theme for this season, but maybe he's throwing in a bit of a twist and therefore it calls for a different tone. And therefore we need to change the theme song. And I really like it. I think it's really nice. It's still very catchy. I know it's not the M. B.L. like, it's not that, but it's very good. It's very nice. So after I let it play and then I watched the episode once just to watch it. Watched it a second time when I recorded it to, like, really, you know, analyze it. And yeah, when I heard the song a second time, I was like, no, no, this is great. I'm really enjoying the theme song. So that was my first note. Second note. Let's introduce the characters. So we. First, I'm just going to go in order of when we see them through the episode. The first scene, we see Zion, who is Belinda's son, and he's about to do a meditation with, um, Amrita, and she's one of the employees there doing the meditation with him. And then we see Belinda, who we know from season one and season two. So she's the first recurring character throughout the series, even though it's kind of an anthology, but not really because we have, like, these. It's all in the same universe. Obviously, we're in the current world and we're at these White Lotus resorts. So she's the first recurring character. And I love that we just have one or two characters that connect to each season. It's so good. So she comes back from season one. She actually. Sorry, she wasn't in season two. She was in season one. She was, like, briefly mentioned in season two, but she wasn't. I don't think she actually appeared. So she's coming back from season one. And we have another character, but I'll get to that later. Sorry, I forgot to mention Belinda is played by Natasha Rothwell. Then we see Rick Hatchett, who is played by Wal and Goggins Chelsea, who is played by Amy Lou Wood. And then we see the Ratliff family. So we have Sax and Ratliff, who's the oldest, and he's played by Patrick Schwarzenegger. Piper Ratliff, who's played by Sarah Ktherine Hook, and I believe she's, uh, the middle child who's just about to graduate. And then we have Laughlin Ratliff, who is played by Samivola. And then we have the dad, Timothy Ratliff, who's played by Jason Isaacs, and the mom, Victoria Ratliffe, who's played by Parker Posey. And I'm guessing that Saxon is the oldest, around, like, 26. Piper is about to graduate, so I'm guessing she's around, like, 22. And then Loughlin is the youngest, and they said he just got into Duke, so I'm guessing that he's like, 16. And then we have the three girlfriends. So we have Jacqueline Lemon, who is played by Michelle Monahan. Monaghan Kate, who's played by Leslie Bib. And then Lori, who's played by Carrie Konhn. And then we're introduced to Mooc, who's played by Lisa from Blackpink. And Gaitalk, who's played by Taii Tap Tingtong. And then we're introduced to Fabian, who is the hotel resort manager played by Christian Friedel. And then we're introduced to Sritala, who'played by Lek Patravadi. And then we see Valentin, who's played by Arnas Fedicus. I don't know. Then we see Pornchai, who is Dom Hetraul. Pam, who is Morgana O'Reilly. Chloe, who is Charlotte Laban. And Jim Hollinger, who we don't officially see yet, but he is pictured and that he is played by Scott Glenn. So those are all of our characters, just so you know them off the Bats. And now let's discuss the episode. I'm so excited, by the way. Guys, by the way, look at this. Look at this. I take this seriously. So I, uh, love the intro. I love that Mike White. He, like. I just love a show where, like, nothing is done just to do it. It, like every detail has an intention behind it and is done for a reason. And even if it's, like, to lead you down One path and maybe, like, make you think something. It's done intentionally. Even, like, the visuals of the theme song, right? You see all the animals, and, like, usually there's, you know, symbolism and imagery going on with the. Well, this is a rumor. Or people have been making guesses, and I think it's a pretty good guess that in the intro scenes for each slide where a cast member's name comes up, that that cast member has something to do with the scene being shown in, like, the art that's being shown. So, like, if it's a tiger or elephants or monkeys, like, that they have some symbolism within whatever the graphic or the drawing is on the slide, like, where their name pops up. So that's one theory. Um, but I just love the style of the art. And then also the title slide when, like, the white lotus comes up at the end of the theme song or at the end of the intro, it's beautiful. Like, I want that as just, like, a piece of art on my wall. It's stunning. I'm obsessed. And then, of course, like, with previous seasons, we get kind of, like, the ending in the beginning. And so I think there's been a theme with, like, white lotus. Like, there's a dead body. We don't know who did it. We don't know how everyone is involved. It usually has to do with the water. So we see Zion, Belinda's son, with Amrita, and they hear gunshots. Well, Zion knows that they're gunshots. Um, we see the monkeys. The monkeys are kind of mirroring what they're doing before they hear the gunshots. And the monkeys freak out. Then Zion is like, wait, that's a gun. Then everybody else starts freaking out. Then he says, oh, my God, my mom's out there. He jumps in the water. He's, like, waiting around to trying to figure out, you know, where the gunshots are coming from. And so we know that Belinda is his mom. And now we're like, oh, crap. Belinda is out by wherever this chaos is going on. Why is she there? What's going on? Who's shooting the gun? Like, why? What? What's the chaos that's happening? He prays or he yells at, ah, like the Buddha statue. And he's like, my mom better be okay. And then we see the shot of him looking out in the water, and he sees a body floating down the river or down whatever the body of water he's in. So that's our little dramatic intro to show us, like, what the result will be at the end of the week. Uh, because it's a weak stay at the resort. Then we have a beautiful water segue that segues us from the devastating intro to the bright and sunny introduction of all of our characters and start of the beginning of the week. So we see Belinda. First. She seems to just be, like, happy, go lucky, enjoying her life, happy to be on this trip. And then we see Rick and Chelsea. Chelsea seems to be, like, pretty chill. Rick is already stressed and pissed off and having a cigarette. Then we see the Ratliff kids. Any few pauses on this, you know, frame that I have up here. It's here. No evil. See no evil, speak no evil. Like the monkeys. And also, the Rattliff family is supposed to be kind of mirroring like a family of monkeys. So keep that in mind. Uh, then we see the girlfriends. So we have Jac, Katie and no, Jacqueline, Kate and Laie. They're all having a jolly good time already. And then we see the Ratliff parents, Timothy and Victoria. And Timothy is already just beefing with Rick, and they obviously are, you know, I don't really blame them, but they obviously don't like Rick and are judging him for having a cigarette. I mean, they're on a boat going like 60 miles an hour on the ocean or whatever. Probably can't smell it. He's probably fine, but he's already overly worried about a guy 10ft away from him having a cigarette on the boat. So we already get that hint into Timothy's character that he's kind of controlling in a judgy douchebag. And Victoria's just sitting there, not engaging in anything. Then we get introduced to MOOC and Guytalk, and they obviously know each other because MOOC stops Guyalk and says, hey, my bike is broken. Can you help me? And they both work at the White Lotus. So he picks her up, they go to work. And then it brings us to the White Lotus and we see Fabian, the manager, frantic. The first thing we see is that he is a frantic, nervous manager coming up to this beautiful, rich looking older woman, kun Sriala. And she is in her glam chair getting her glam done as she should. Um, at first I was like, oh, she kind of looks like my grandma. Um, but I was like, okay, period. Ms. Grandma getting her glam done as she should, but she clearly is the boss because she goes, I'm not ready yet. Make the boat circle the bay. And he's like, um, I don't know if we can do that. And she's like, make it circle the bay. I don't know that they ever actually did that or not. I don't think they did, though. I think she was trying to push back. And I don't think that they circled the bear. They probably would have made it a larger point in the plot, but they don't ever mention it again. So Fabian, you know, is all nervous. He's like, ha. Okay, uh, the guests are arriving. The guests are arriving. And then we see Mooc. And this is from like the trailer. We see this scene, you know, a few times that Mooc is saying, welcome to the White Lotus, Thailand. And the first guests we see are Rick and Chelsea. Chelsea's obviously thrilled to be there. Rick is being a douchebag. He doesn't want to participate in anything. It's obvious that he's not there for the relaxation of the resort. Otherwise why wouldn't you participate in like enjoying them, you know, greeting you as the guests that are arriving? Like, she's clearly excited and pumped and he's like, don't give a fuck. Then we see that each group of guests gets assigned like an attendant for the week. So we see that Mooc is Rick and Chelsea's attendant. Hmm. Hm. I wonder why. I mean, there's surely reasons that each group got a certain attendant. So then we see the Ratliff family get off the boat and they all come up just like immediately talking about, oh, we flew over the North Ball. Uh, uh, we're here because our daughter is about to graduate from Duke and she's doing a her thesis on Buddhism. Uh, yeah, we're just so jet lagged. Oh yeah. So they're already just talking up a storm like as if these people in Thailand know what the fuck Duke is. And they're like, oh, Saxon graduated from Duke, Piper's about to graduate from Duke, and O, our youngest, Lakey, he just got exc accepted to Duke. Everyone's like, what the fuck is Duke? I was cringing so hard during the scene because I was like, no one cares about Duke or who you are. Like, shut up. No one cares. It's so cringe. Like I could see my own family doing this and mebe in the back just being like, mom, shut up. Mom, shut up. Oh, so bad. We get the oversharing, annoying Ratliff family. They get sent on their way with Pam, who is their attendant. And then we see that Kunritala clearly knows the girls as they get off the boat. She's like, hey girls. He. So I'm like, okay, interesting. She didn't greet any of the other guests, but she knows the girls, they're coming out the boat. She clearly was expecting them. So she's like, fabian, step aside, let me say hi to my girlies. And I was like, okay, why are these girls so special? But we find out that Jacqueline is famous. Kuntriala. I don't know how she knows Jaclyline or how she knew that she was coming to the resort. She must have heard or maybe coordinated with them or I don't know. We don't know why she knows that they're coming, but she's like, jaclyline, hey. And the girls are like, hey, welcome. We're so excited to be here. And they just start sharing like, oh, we're here on a girls trip. We've been friends since we were like nine until through high school. Uh, we're such longime friends. And she's like, yeah, old friends. No, not old. Long time friends. And so I was like, kay, why are you guys so worried about saying old friends? Like, maybe that's something. They're having a complex about being old. Uh, and then they get set up with the Hatie Valentine. So one of them for sure is going toa hook up with Valentine, guaranteed. And then we see Belinda and Pornshai. They do their own little greeting somewhere else because she's not a typical guest. She's there on like a work transfer or like a work program. Uh, so she's with Porn Chai and they're going to be doing their own, like, work education, you know, training. Uh, so she gets invited or she gets introduced with him and they go do their own thing. So then we see the Ratliff family with Pam getting introduced to the villa where they will be staying. And we immediately get the sense that the family is not normal. Okay? She starts introducing them to the White Lotus by saying, hey, if you want know, we recommend that you have a detox from all your devices. You can put them in this bag and we can get put them in a safe and give them back to you at the end of the week. They were not having that. First of all, Timothy was like, oh, that doesn't seem realistic. We can't give away our phones. What about the wifi? I have work I need to do. And the mom's like, I think it would be nice to take a break from my phone. And then Saxon's like, o, what am I supposed to do? I can't work on at the gym without a phone. And they're like, well, can we keep the phones for the week? And Pam's like, okay, fine, just don't bring them in the common areas, but you can keep them in your room if you need to make a call or whatever. And so they keep their phones. But I find it interesting that we only see the electronics conversation with the Ratliff family. We don't see it with any of the other groups. We don't see it with Rick and Chelsea. And I'm realizing, like, Rick has his phone with him because he's constantly looking up shit about Jim Hollinger. And, uh, we don't really see Chelsea with her phone because that's not really why she's there. She doesn't care. She's there to have fun. And then with the girls, I guess maybe it's just not a thing for them because, I don't know, we just never see the conversation with them. But I'm wondering why that conversation was important to have with the Ratliff family. Like, why did we specifically have to see that? Because, uh, if it wasn't important to the plotline, they wouldn't have spent like a good couple minutes having that interaction. So I'm wondering why it was only discussed with the Ratliffs, and maybe it was discussed with the others, but it just wasn't important to the story, so therefore it wasn't shown. So while we're still with the Ratliffe family, Saxon is giving Jaime Lannister. It's giving incest. It's giving creepy. It's giving weird. Um, so. So why does he care so much if, like, his brother and sister want to sleep in the same room? Is it like a teeny bit weird? I, ah, mean, maybe. But like, if they're close and like, it's. They're just like close with each other, I don't think it's that weird. So he starts making it weird by saying that it's weird and talking about genitals. And then he attacks his sister. And I don't know about you guys, but if my brother went and physically, jokingly, playfully attacked me, uh, and we're both adults, I would be like, ew. What? Get off of me. Why are you touching me? So he was saying it's gross, and then he immediately goes and physically tackles Piper. And then Victoria says we're a normal family. And, uh, Saxon asks about the fruit. So he picks up fruit from the ground, and then Pam is like, oh, it's actually toxic. Yeah, the seeds, it could kill you. So I'm like, oh, is somebody gonna plan like a hit on someone and use the seeds from the fruit? To kill someone later on maybe. Or they're just throwing that in to throw us off and, like, make us think, like, oh, is Saxonnna kill someone or maybe someone else? Because they all, the whole family heard that it was toxic. Some maybe, like, Laughlin goes rogue. Maybe Piper goes rogue. Anyone in that group could go rogue and use the fruit to their advantage to kill someone. So we have that little tidbit about the fruit. And then as they're all dispersing, Piper decides she wants to go to the temple. She's like, lahan, come to the temple with me. And then Saxon's like, no, come to the pool with me. And so then we see a shot of Loughan being like, okay, I have to decide which sibling do I want to go with. He ultimately decides to go with Piper. So then Saxon's like, whatever, I'm going to the pool then. So then, uh, we switch to Rick. So Rick and Chelsea are getting introduced to their rooms. Rick is not really worried about anything about the resort. It's very clear that his mind is somewhere else and he doesn't give a fuck about the resort. He immediately is talking to Mooc and trying to nail down where Jim is. And so immediately you're like, okay, so why does Rick know Jim? Why does he kn. No, Kunritala. What is his issue? Does he have business that went haywire? Maybe Jim owes him money. Maybe he needs to put out a hit on Jim. Maybe he's a hitman. Like, what's going on? Why is he so obsessed with the whereabouts of Jim? Then he finds out that Jim was sick. Or we find out that Jim was sick and he's actually in Bangkok. So Jim is actually nowhere near the White Lotus Resort. And then Rick gets super pissed off and he goes and storms outside. Chelsea's like, hey, why are you so mad? Like, let's try and have fun. We're at a beautiful resort. Let's just, like, have fun tonight, and then we can detox the rest of the week. And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. And she's like, okay, then. So she's just trying to keep the vibes up and, like, have a good time. Um, then we see the three girlfriends, and they're trying to decide where to sleep. There's already a super weird tension between them because they're, you know, they're girlfriends that they've been friends for a long time, but it's kind of clear that they haven't seen each other in a while and they're probably not that close now that they're older, but they were close friends growing up. And then Jacqueline's famous now, and she just got married to her, like, husband or whatever. And so we have Jacqueline, who's very clearly famous, probably richer than the other two. Um, the other two. There's clearly, like, a dynamic where, uh, Kate feels closer to Jacqueline and feels maybe more on Jacqueline's level and that Laurie is clearly like the other of this trio. So Jacqueline's like, you guys can pick the rooms. Like, you can pick the rooms. Like, you can sleep wherever you want to sleep. Like, I don't need to have the best room just because I'm famous or whatever. But then you can tell that when she doesn't get the best room, that she feels like a little bit like, oh, oh, okay. Uh, so that's their dynamic as we're just seeing them, like, cheers to a girl's trip. Then we see a clip of Belinda and Pornchai walking to the temple. And then I don't know if this is significant or not, but I feel that there's usually significance with pretty much every scene. So I'm going to point it out. But she. Belinda gets freaked out by a monitor lizard that's on the path. And, uh, Porn Chi is like, no, no, no, don't worry. There's nothing to worry about. They will become your friends. He says, they will become your friends. So I don't know what that means, if that m. Maybe Belinda comes across someone that she initially is nervous about, but then they end up becoming like an ally to her towards the end. Like, maybe because we know that she's nearby. The shootout at the very end of the series. Like, maybe there's somebody who you would initially think is maybe more of an enemy to Belinda. Maybe they become her friend. I could see that happening. Then we see Pornshy and Belinda making a prayer and a sac. Uh, sacrifice and an offering at the temple. Then it cuts to Jim's security guards. So we see a couple security guards standing outside the resort. Mooc is talking to them. And then she comes over to Guy Talk and he's like, why are you talking to those guys? They're not good guys. And she's like, o, I like them. They know are know they get pigied well and get to travel the world and, like, their jobs are cool. And he's like, well, I don't like those kind of guys. And she's like, why? You just like to watch the cars drive in and out every day. And so it's clear that he kind of has the Hots for Mooc. Um, but maybe she doesn't see him that way. She sees him as a friend. But I think that guy talk will be like, our hero of the series. Uh, and then we cut to. Oh, yeah, this was weird. Then we cut to the pool. So Saxon finally makes it to the pool. He's swimming in the pool like a shark. There's no one else in the pool with him. We just see the half water, half air clip of him swimming around, perusing, looking at people like they're all prey. And then we see him clock Chelsea as she's coming to sit down on one of the beds. And he decides to get out of the pool and do a show drawing off his whole body, hoping that he'll get her attention or something. And she doesn't even look his way. Then it cuts to Piper, uh, and Laughan arriving at the temple. And we get the shot of the two of them arriving at the temple. And we can see that Piper, like, they're in a hot climate. And I know that you do have to be covered to go into a temple. So maybe that's why she wore the outfit that she wore. Plus, she is literally studying, like, religious studies and doing her thesis on Buddhism, so it would make sense that she's, like, coming prepared. And maybe she packed a lot of outfits that would be appropriate for a temple. I can see that she seems obviously very studious. She seems quite conservative. She's not obviously, like, a crazy loud party girl. So maybe this is just more her style. But I do find it, like, really interesting that it's almost like Handmaid's Tale vibes or it looks like a nightgown. It's like a night. Like a moomoo. So she's wearing, like, a moooo. And then Lachlin has a shirt on that says, talk to me about a reality check. And so none of these things are by accident, right? Like, they are picking these on purpose. So I'm just thinking she looks like she just walked out a Handmaid's Tale. He looks like he just walked out of the 80s or like a vintage##e But he's wearing a shirt that says, talk to me about a reality check. To me that says, uh, this week for him is about to be a big slap in the face reality check for him. So we see them. I don't really know why. Like, Piper, they get all the way there. She begs Loughlin to go with her. They finally get to the templ to the temple, and then she's like, U I'm not ready to go in In Loughan's like, well we came all the way here, you're not even going to go in? And she's like um, I think I'm just going toa stay and look around, but I'm not going toa go in yet. And he's like all right, well then I'm going to go back to the hot toel like what the fuck? So I was like why is she not going in? Is she nervous she's not going to graduate? Is she not even actually going to complete her thesis on this? Is she second guessing everything in her life or is she just like very nervous and just has no people skills and his scared to go speak to a monk by herself? I don't know. We don't know anything about that. That's just some of my guesses. We see Victoria passed out again. Actually this is the first time we see her passed out in the show, I think so far. But she blames it on jet lag. Um, Timothy yells at her to get up or she's going to regret it later. And then we cut back to the pool and Saxon is preying on all the women at the pool. He sees the three ladies come down to the pool and he's like ha, cougars. And so he's like hey, didn't we see you guys on the boat? And he's trying to chat them up but it's painfully awkward because you can tell that they're like definitely not interested in speaking with him. And he's like ah, ah, yeah, you guys should get in the pool, it's nice. And they're like sounds funan. And so he, you know, takes the L on that one. He looks at Laugchhan and he's like, it's a number numbers game, buddy. And then he turns over to Chelsea and he's like, hey, do you know how to get a drink around here? And she's like, you walk up to the bar and you order one. I love that line. That's so good because I was like oh, before she said that I was like, I could see this going two of ways. Like she already gave off up until this point of the episode that she's like super fun and she's like there for a good time. So I was like, oh, maybe because Rick has been so rude to her, she's not that loyal to him. And she's like fuck it, I'll have fun with these guys. That's what I thought she was going toa do. But I love that her response was, you go up to the ball and you. Older one, like, m. That was so good. Oh, my God. So I love that. And then after that scene, we cut to dinner time. Everybody's out at dinner. We see this performance being done. And I remember in the second season, like, there was a big thing with, like, the motifs and the masks. And then we see again, there's a mask, and the performance is somebody with, like, these crazy finger gloves, the white mask, which is. I mean, obviously, a lot of this is just Thai tradition, right? But there's a reason why they're showing this specific performance. And then we see a woman who's almost like the puppeteer behind this dancing woman. So we see the puppeteer in the back kind of doing this dance with the woman. And so I'm imagining that there's some puppeteering going on in the actual characters, like the plot lines of some sort. So there's some puppeteering going on, if I had to guess. And then we cut to the Ratlof family at dinner. And I just feel like. I don't know about you guys, but this feels like my family to a tea. Sometimes not to a tea, but there's a lot of similarities to my own family sitting down not even two seconds in into dinner. Dad's immediately jumping s down everyone's throats, trying to make a plan for the week, even though they're across the world at a wellness resort. He goes, hey, Piper, did you set up that meeting with the monk yet? And she goes, o, uh, no, I'm gonna go do it tomorrow. And he's like, we're only here for a week, and you don't have the meeting set up yet. And she's like, he's not going anywhere, dad. So we don't know why she didn't go in and do it already, but we know that clearly the dad is an asshole, and he's already jumping down her throat about doing that. And then right after he's done berating Piper, he turns and looks at Laugchan, and he's like, by the way, you need to take a class here on posture because you don't want to be a hunchback, especially if you're gonna be sitting in front of a computer your whole life. It's like, can, uh, we just not have a break for five minutes? Like, holy shit. And then I thought it was interesting that he's berating Piper and Lahlin, but he doesn't say shit to Saxon. Saxon's just sitting there. Doesn't say a word to him. So Saxon doesn't get yelled at. And the whole time, Victoria's just sitting there like, uh, my family, they're so silly. Then we see a segue with the mask up close. I thought that was important. And then we see Timothy answer his cell phone at the table. And Piper and Victoria and Laugchhlin are like, dad, you can't answer the phone at the table. You can't use the phone in common areas. Like, go take it outside. And he's like, where am I supposed to go in? They're like, go outside. And Saxon is like, oh, my God, you guys are so la. Then we cut to Chelsea and Rick getting poured to their drinks. And so it's very obvious that Chelsea has never been to a fancy restaurant before because we see her getting the glass of wine poured. And you know how they pour you, like a tasting amount to just see if you like the wine before they pour you a full glass. And so she goes, oh, my God. I don't mean to be rude, but that's not very much wine. And Rick is like, you're supposed to taste it. And she's like, so obviously Chelsea has never been to, like, a remotely fancy place before because she's never been poured a tasting glass of wine. So we can tell that Rick is already from a different bubble of life than Chelsea is from. So we don't know, like, how do they get together? Are they serious? Are they actually dating? Like, what. What's this vibe? What's this relationship that they have going on? And then Rick is so out of it. He's not even barely paying attention to Chelsea. He's staring at Kunwala. He's looking around. He's just in his mind, obviously, I think in his mind, it's just Jim Hollinger, Jim Hollinger, Jim Hollinger, Jimlinger. He's not even paying attention to Chelsea. So then we see Sritala pay a visit to the table of ladies with Fabian. I'm just going to insert some of the clip here because I feel that this scene just deserves the clip for some context. And I'm going to have to break it up a little bit because I don't want to get copyright striked. And I also feel like it was super weird. And I still can't decide why the waiter was going to set down some food. And Fabian was like, no, no. And the women are like, why can't he set the food down? Like, we still don't know. I don't know why he. I Don't know why that happened. Honestly. Threw me for a loop. I really have no idea. And then we see, obviously already some anim. Animosity starting because Laie is like, oh, well, we did all, you know, get mistaken for each other. We all looked like until Jacqueline got famous. And you can tell that she has, like. She has like, a little. She feels some type of way about it, but she's not voicing it fully. And I also thought it was interesting that we don't know why Sritala obviously already knew that Jacqueline was coming to the resort. We know that she must be a fan of Jacqueline, obviously, because she's like, oh, like, you're famous. I saw you on tv, whatever. But then it seems that the girls, or at least Jacqueline, have no idea who Sritala is. And I just find it interesting that Sritala seems to be. I would say maybe we don't know how famous Jacqueline is, right? But I would say objectively, Sritala is probably actually more famous than Jacqueline. Um, yet the girls are just like, okayeah, uh, whatever. Some old lady is at our table, like, ha ha. Um. But Swritala is like, yeah, I have a famous `` I'm married to my American husband. I'm, um, a wellness center owner. I have an autoimmune disease. And I'll be singing here tomorrow night. And the ladies'like, I wouldn't miss it. So hypothetically, next episode, we should be seeing Sritala singing at the dinner and that the ladies should be there. So we know that that will be happening. Hypothetically, we should be seeing that. So then from the little ladies conversation, we see Belinda nicely enjoying her evening, enjoying her dinner. And then we see that she's very pleased to see another black couple enjoying their time at the resort. And she makes a note to say, like, oh, it's nice to see that they're not just actually. Does she say that? Who did she say that to? Or I think she told her son or, um. Am I making that up now? Now I'm like, forgetting because I've seen so many clips talking about it. But anyways, it's very obvious in the clip that she's m excited to see another black couple, like, enjoying their luxurious trip to this beautiful resort and that they're not actually part of the staff. They're just guests enjoying their luxurious vacation. So she gives them a little wave, and we have, like, a nice little moment between them. Then we cut to Tim out in the parking lot taking his phone call, and he gets like, A mysterious phone call from a journalist who's writing about this, like, business dealing that he was a part of. And they're going to be talking about how this like, business impacted the government of Brunei in 2018 or something like that. And Tim is like, mmm, I m wish I could help you, but I really have no idea. I don't have any idea about that. Can you just put your questions in an email and send them to me? And the guy's like, oh, we really don't have time for that. It's goingna be, you know, the article will be airing this week. And then Tim's like, u well, I don't really have time for this, so I'm justnna hang up. And then I found it interesting that we specifically see that guyalk sees Tim and I don't know if that has any significance, but we see that guy talk is in his security tower and he like seeized him out taking this phone call. And then we see Rick walking out into the parking lot to smoke his cigarette. And it's interesting that Rick and Tim already have on animosity towards each other from the boat ride in and that they cross paths with each other in the parking lot. Rick tries to say, hey, Tim is like, fuck off. And then Rick is like prick or dick or whatever he says. And so it's obvious that they already hate each other, yet they are like the exact same type of guy. They are the same. Like to me, Rick and Tim are one in the same. They're actually, they probably get along great. They're one and the same guy to me. So it's interesting that they have not even spoken to each other and they already like hate each other just right off the bat. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention I love the drinking wine transition. I just love whenever I see like a beautifully curated scene transition. So good. So then we see Victoria passed out again. And then we see that she makes Piper scratch her arm, which I just feel like is weird. Um, it's also showing that they're both quite narcissistic parents. Right? They're obviously raising a quite narcissistic son. Like Saxon is like a mirror image of his dad. And then Piper and Lougchhan are just kind of like lost Boys, like floating around, not getting support from their parents, kind of just feeling lost in the world and not taking after their parents. Not at least in the same way that Saxon is. Okay, I gott hurry nowus I'm running low on battery. I'm talking too much. We See Rick on the toilet and he's hyper fixating, just scrolling, looking at photos of Jim Hollinger. Probably just trying to look up information about Jim Hollinger. Then we see Chelsea go to the bar. She meets Chloe. And we learn Chloe has been living in Thailand for a year and lives up the hill from the White Lotus and goes there for dinner from time to time. And so we're like, okay, new character. But she's not one of the typical characters that's here, you know, on a vacation. She actually lives in Thailand. We're wondering what's going on with her. She mentions her husband is the bald guy in the orange shirt behind her. Chelsea looks, and it's Greg. We see Greg. Oh, uh, my God. I was like, it's Greg. Oh, my God. So now I'm thinking, okay, what is the timeline between season two and season three? We know that according to Chloe, she's married to Greg, been living there for a year. Has she been married to Greg for a year? We don't know. We just know that Chloe has been in Thailand for a year and she lives there. So we don't know if Greg just appeared in the picture relatively recently and they got married. Maybe it was kind of a fast thing. Or maybe she's been with Greg for years and years and he's been living this double life thing for a very long time. And she just doesn't seem to be too upset about it. Like, we don't know. How long has he known Chloe and been married to her? And how long has it been since he pulled his little stunt in season two? This is crazy. Just throwing Greg in the mix like, crazy. So we see Greg, we're freaking out as the viewer, and Chelsea's just like, oh, cool, that's your husband. Chloe tells Chelsea that the locals call them LBHs, losers back home. It pans to two more LBHs. They're everywhere. They're everywhere. They're even at the resort. Chelsea says, my boyfriend's going bald. Future loser back home. Rick is gonna become one of them. I guarantee he's gonna buddy up with Greg and they're gonna be like two peas in pod. Or they're mortal enemies. Chloe says they have so much in common. Maybe Rick is like Greg, like I said. Or maybe I could also see it being the opposite, where they become like mortal enemies for some reason. So then we pan to the three ladies. They're having their little evening glass of wine after dinner. We're clearly feeling the tension. It's very painfully obvious in this little Post dinner wine that Lari is feeling. Quite a, uh, disconnect from Kate and Jacqueline. Jacqueline says she feels the pressure of fame. Kate tries her best to relate. She's like, oh, yeah, you know, being so rich and living in Austin, you just never know who's your real friend. Sometimes they just want to get their kid a job or donation or something. And I'm like, not like, really the same thing, but, like, she's trying to relate. And then Laurri is just sitting there watching them the whole time. Like, doesn't have anything to add. Just observing, just listening, feeling like an outsider. It's quite obvious. Um, so crickets from Lourie. And then, of course, instead of money, fame, or glamour or anything else like the other two ladies have been talking about, Jackie turns to her and goes, lari. And everything you do is just so hard. You're so strong. And Lori is like, that's it. Well, Kate's like, and your daughter, she's growing up to just be such a cool person. And so we know Lari has a daughter, but that's kind of like a passive comment to make about someone's kid. Like, you would think if they're such longtime friends that they would know more about her daughter, but, like, that's kind of a very ambiguous comment to make. And so then Laie is like, you know, the jet lags hitting me. She grabs the whole bottle of wine. I was like, okay, yeah, she's about to go chug that in her room by herself. So we see her open the room, and then I'll just play the clip for you because it's just very good. I need you to see it. You need to see it. So she starts crying in her room. I think we've all been there. We all know that in a trio, there can never be a true trio. It's always a duo plus one. And it might switch from time to time, but it's always a duo plus one. It's never a true trio. Then we see Piper studying in her room, and immediately we hear Saxon saying, like, oh, like, Piper's just in her room studying by herself. He's, like, poisoning Lougchan's mind. Saxon's projecting big time. It's clear that his goal on this trip is to just get laid, get everything. So he's just, like, slowly poisoning poor Loughan's mind. Think about it. Laughlin's only, like, what, 16, 17? And his brother'in his, like, mid-20s, and he's just hearing this, like, crap pumped into his poor little brain. And Getting like, put down the alt right incel pipeline. And then Saxon just starts talking about porn and jacking off all week. And it's like, why are you bringing that up to your little brother? Do it somewhere discreetly and don't talk about it if you have to do it. Shut up, you weirdo. So then he's butt naked in the bed. Get, first of all, like, why are you butt naked in your bed when you're sleeping in the same room as your brother? You're, like, two feet away from each other. Put some boxers on, you weirdo. He walks to the bathroom with his little iPad naked, leaves the door open. While he's, like, pulling porn up on his iPad. Laughlin is just staring at him. I'm like, dude, look the other way. Like, it's weird that the door open, but why are you looking? So Lahlin is just staring at him from the bed. And then we see finally, like, Saxon's like, oh, yeah, I guess maybe I should close the door. Such a weird, creepy, gross dynamic with this family. It's making me sick. Um, so we just get, like, a weird dose of, like, maybe is it incest? Maybe is it not? And then, of course, we see at the end of the episode, Victoria and Tim in bed. And Victoria goes, oh, I got a second wind. And then Tim's like, aw. And she's like, don't worry, I took a lorazepamm. And that's it. Sorry, guys, it's running out of battery. I will see you next week. I hope you enjoyed and we will discuss the second episode. Bye.