Warning! This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 3, episode 3.
The White Lotus season 3, episode 3 opens with Victoria Ratliff experiencing a nightmare, with each part of the dream having significant thematic meaning. Victoria began the season as one of the lesser-explored members of The White Lotus season 3’s cast, but that is slowly changing episode to episode. Be it Victoria’s rude interaction with The White Lotus‘ Kate or the further exploration of the former’s substance abuse, the show is starting to delve deeper into her character, just as it is with the other residents of the titular hotel in Thailand.
In The White Lotus season 3, episode 3, Victoria gets a rare scene that focuses entirely on her mental state. This stems from the ending of The White Lotus season 3, episode 2, which saw Timothy Ratliff facing some dark consequences for his involvement in a money laundering scheme. Victoria’s scene involves a nightmare that somewhat foreshadows Timothy and Kenny’s White Lotus crimes while also linking to her own issues and those surrounding her children, with each element represented by a symbolic vision.
What The Tsunami Really Represents In Victoria’s Nightmare
Tsunamis Have A Specific Meaning When Appearing In Dreams
Firstly, it is worth exploring the defining aspect of Victoria’s dream in The White Lotus season 3, episode 3. The dream shows Victoria standing in the midst of a tsunami as the wave towers up before crashing down on her and the beach on which she stands. In dreams, tsunamis have a very specific meaning, often symbolizing that the person feels overwhelmed by strong emotions, life challenges, or massive changes in their regular life. Oftentimes, tsunamis are attributed to the feeling of a lack of control or the need to confront whatever emotions, challenges, and changes one is facing head-on.
Lochlan also appears in the dream, as he often shows tsunami videos to his family, even one involving a person standing still and letting it come for them, just as Timothy is doing with the Sho-Kel situation.
In Victoria’s case in The White Lotus season 3, the former aspect of the tsunami foreshadowing challenges and changes could be attributed to Timothy’s ongoing struggles. Victoria is unaware of Timothy’s business problems, his connection to The White Lotus‘ Kenny Nguyen, and the inquisition by the FBI, but she at least knows something is wrong. This could explain what the tsunami signifies in her dream, as whatever Timothy goes through is sure to cause life challenges and significant changes in Victoria’s life as much as it is in his.
Why The Ratliff Family’s House Was On The Beach In Victoria’s Nightmare
The House Is Just As Important As The Tsunami
When Victoria’s nightmare begins in The White Lotus season 3, episode 3, she is shown standing on one of the Thai beaches around The White Lotus. However, in the background, the Ratliff family house is also shown. This is immediately jarring as the Ratliffs are from Durham, North Carolina, with their house emulating the suburban buildings of that area, rather than a coastal beach house that would look more fitting on the sands of Thailand. The strange placement of the house is linked to the oncoming tsunami and what it represents for the Ratliff family as a whole.
The wave smashing through the Ratliff house typifies the myriad effects Timothy’s actions will bring on the whole family…
With the tsunami representing the oncoming wave of drastic challenges and changes that will likely stem from Timothy’s actions, the house signifies that the entire Ratliff family will be affected. Saxon works for his father’s company, likely meaning he is either unknowingly complicit or will lose his job. Lochlan and Piper are less directly involved, but their father – and, potentially, their brother – going to jail will impact them. The wave smashing through the Ratliff house typifies the myriad effects Timothy’s actions will bring on the whole family, which also links more inherently to Victoria via another aspect of her dream.
Why Victoria Lies Down In Front Of The Tsunami In Her Nightmare
Victoria Has Her Own Issues That Could Be Worsened In The Future
The other aspect in question stems from what Victoria herself does in the dream. After seeing the tsunami approaching the beach, she is wrapped in a duvet and simply waits for the wave to crash over her. This links to various aspects of her character in The White Lotus season 3, with a more simple interpretation being that she, despite knowing something is wrong with Timothy, is content to ignore it and let him deal with it.
Related
What’s Lorazepam? What Drug Parker Posey’s Victoria Ratliff Is Taking In The White Lotus Season 3 & Why
The White Lotus season 3 has already begun teasing the secrets of its characters, with Victoria Ratliff mentioning she takes a drug called Lorazepam.
Another representation of Victoria’s surrender to the tsunami has links to her implied substance abuse. The White Lotus has shown her to rely on medication much more heavily than is normal, but The White Lotus season 3, episode 3 developed this further. In this episode, she began giving Timothy her drugs, highlighting another way they are both somewhat burying their heads in the sand and letting the metaphorical tsunami wash over them.
Linking to substance abuse, the tsunami – and Victoria’s submission to it – brings to mind the wave’s second dream meaning: the feeling of a lack of control and the need to confront issues head-on. Victoria is struggling to contain her drug use, and while she may not see it as an entirely negative thing just yet, her subconscious could view it as a lack of control. This could link to Victoria’s need to confront her substance abuse, yet the dream indicates she is not willing to do that by having her simply drag herself beneath the onrushing wave using a duvet.
What Victoria’s Tsunami Nightmare Means For The Ratliff Family’s Story In The White Lotus Season 3
The Ratliff Family Has A Turbulent Future Ahead
On a more surface level, these various representations from Victoria’s nightmare in The WHite Lotus season 3, episode 3 set up what is to come for the Ratliff family. As I have alluded to, Victoria’s drug abuse is only set to spiral further, impacting both her and, now that Timothy is involved, her husband as well. Timothy’s situation is also set to impact his own life and those of his children, as I have also outlined. However, there are some ways less directly linked to Timothy and Victoria that the tsunami could symbolize issues in the Ratliff family.
The White Lotus season 3, episode 1’s ending hinted at a strange situation between the Ratliff siblings. The best-case scenario indicated a lack of clear boundaries between the siblings, but the more likely, worst-case scenario implied a somewhat incestuous dynamic between Saxon, Lochlan, and Piper. If this spirals further than the small hints presented thus far, this indicates another way the Ratliff family could face massive ramifications. In this way and all the others explored, Victoria’s dream in The White Lotus season 3, episode 3 teases a dark future indeed.
The White Lotus
9/10
- Release Date
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July 11, 2021
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Mike White
- Directors
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Mike White
- Writers
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Mike White