The White Lotus season 3 finale confirms Rick's father theory in tragic revelation

The penultimate episode of the season saw Rick get the clarity he seemed to need from Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), having gone on this international search for the man who he believed killed his father.

When it came to it, Rick couldn't pull the trigger of the gun that he aimed at Jim, but did knock him over in his chair.

Perhaps not really thinking about things clearly, Rick seemed to have forgotten that Jim and his wife Sritala (Lek Patravadi) own the hotel resort.

They fly in from Bangkok the next morning, much to Rick's surprise, and there, Jim confronts Rick about his previous night's actions.

He orders Rick to leave his hotel and points at the gun in his holster under his blazer, but also delivers quite the cutting confrontation about Rick's mother and father.

Jim tells Rick that he remembers Rick's mother, that she was a "drunk", a "liar" and a "slut".

Jim also tells Rick that his father "was no saint", adding that Rick "didn’t miss out on much".

The fiery exchange seems to unravel all of the calmness that Rick has found post-Bangkok and with Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). She tries to calm her boyfriend down, but in between not being able to have an emergency meeting with Amrita (Shalini Peiris) and seeing Jim continue on as if everything's normal, Rick takes matters into his own hands.

He walks over to Jim, takes out his gun, tells him "f**k you" and shoots him twice in the chest. What ensues is complete panic as Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate Bohr (Leslie Bibb) and Laurie Duffy (Carrie Coon) all run away, with Sritala left to tend to her dead husband in her arms.

She's confused as to why Rick shot him and asks him as much, to which Rick calmly responds that Jim killed his father. "He's your father," she tells Rick, saying that Jim told her the truth last night.

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The finale undoubtedly has a tone of Shakespearean tragedy about it, not least because Rick ends up killing his father and then dying with his one true love, Chelsea, also in his arms.

The unfortunate turn of events was one that some viewers wouldn't have predicted, but ahead of the finale, plenty of fans were left speculating about the true identity of Jim – with many guessing that the enigmatic billionaire would wind up to be Rick's dad.

It was a storyline that certain White Lotus viewers had cottoned on to weeks prior, with fans predicting that Jim would turn out to be Rick's dad, with some X users ideating about the paternity story weeks before Jim and Rick even came face to face.

Rick's mission was propelled by his mother's dying words, that Jim was the person who killed his father, and it seems as though her final sentiments may have either had a double meaning, she was right about Jim being a killer or she simply wanted Rick to one day meet his real father.

As for those open-ended questions, we'll simply never know, as Rick killed Jim before we could get any answers.

The White Lotus season 3 is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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