BANGKOK certainly isn’t populated by prudes, but while I was there last month, a single sex act sent shockwaves through the city.
I attended the lavish premiere party for the third season of The White Lotus which took over the entire Four Seasons hotel in the Thai capital, attended by its famous cast and its creator, Mike White.
It was an otherwise classy and swish event – except all anybody could talk about was incest.
Rumours spread among guests that the upcoming series would feature unsettling scenes of an incestuous tryst, so I obviously had to ask the actors involved how they felt about the scandal they were about to create.
Stop scrolling immediately if you haven't seen episode six – or if an act of intimate brotherly bonding is a step too far for your stomach like it was for poor Saxon Ratliff.
The third season of The White Lotus is set in Thailand, where the formerly sex-crazed predator Saxon vomits at the mere memory of his drug-fuelled full moon party exploits – apparently Patrick Schwarzenegger, who perfectly portrays the toxic figure, felt nauseous on set too.
Last week’s episode saw him strip shirtless and snog his little brother Lochlan, played by Sam Nivola, having been egged on by Chloe, played by Charlotte Le Bon – a scene some viewers branded “disgusting”; and “a step too far”;.
This week went many steps further, flashing back to the trio engaged in a threesome, with Lochlan performing a sex act on a delirious Saxon. There hasn't been this much gratuitous incest in a TV series since Game of Thrones, and the topic is extremely taboo.
So how were they preparing for the inevitable backlash? Well, Sam might still not have experienced any of it, as he said he sensibly planned to avoid any reaction at all as we chatted over canapés of lychee roast duck curry and drank White Lotus-themed coconut cocktails at the Four Seasons bash.
Patrick, the 31-year-old son of Terminator star Arnie, grimaced at the thought. “I think it will be mixed,”; he winced, slightly pleadingly, and perhaps a little optimistically.
Sam was nervously anticipating a furore. “Luckily, I’m going to be away filming when it airs,”; he laughed. “I’m just going to switch my phone off and ignore everything.”;
Sam, 21, is currently filming Driver’s Ed with There’s Something About Mary director Bobby Farrelly in Delaware.
While it certainly seems wise to wait until the shock has settled, the fallout on-screen is palpable.
Aimee Lou Wood’s character Chelsea spoke on behalf of viewers when she announced: “God, I don’t think there’s a drug in the world that would make me get with my brother.”;
Saxon, of course, attempts to deny anything happened and dismiss it as a joke, before claiming he blacked out after swallowing the pill he had been peer-pressured into taking.
“We both blacked out,”; he informs his blissfully unaware little bro who cannot remember the incident at all.
With credit to Patrick’s acting, Saxon visibly shrinks as his towering ego comes tumbling down, and his swagger turns to sweaty sheepishness as he becomes a laughing stock in front of the women he objectified.
The horror of the memory floods back to poor Lochlan during a meditation class after they arrive back at the White Lotus in Koh Samui, filmed at the Four Seasons resort on the island, and we will clearly see more of their excruciatingly awkward shame as the series continues for two more episodes.
Actress Chloe, 38, has previously laughed that Patrick – an ex-boyfriend of Miley Cyrus – was as grossed out by the act as Saxon, saying: “Patrick’s reaction in the episode is his genuine reaction. We all thought he was going to throw up.”;
He has, however, since seen the funny side and laughed at the memes that the scene has already sparked, particularly amused by the brothers being labelled ‘Call Me By Our Same Last Name', in reference to the homo-erotic film Call Me By Your Name.
Viewers were clearly forewarned about the characters’ incestuous storyline throughout the series.
God, I don’t think there’s a drug in the world that would make me get with my brother
Aimee Lou Wood's character Chelsea
In the first episode, Saxon reprimanded his brother Lochlan for offering to share a room with sister Piper, played by Sarah Catherine Hook.
Describing his sister as “pretty hot”;, Saxon went on to say that an adult brother and sister sharing a room would be “weird”; as they have “full-grown genitals”;.
He then strutted around the boys’ shared bedroom naked as his brother gazed at his bare buttocks, seemingly awestruck.
The series also caused a stir when Jason Isaacs, who plays the trio’s father, accidentally flashed his penis to his family.
Isaacs believes the series is “trying to right the balance of how many naked women I've seen growing up on every television show and film”; – the shock value is just an added bonus.
But amid the backlash, the show’s producer David Bernad has defended creator Mike White for including such a deeply controversial topic.
“Those big story turns are not just for shock,”; said David.
“There’s a specific reason in terms of the narrative storytelling, and the larger thematic idea Mike is trying to get across.”
He added, perhaps choosing his words deliberately, that the storyline “culminates in a very satisfying way”; – in which case, good for the brothers.
Patrick has since said the “outrageous”; incident changes Saxon as a person and teases an upcoming change in his mentality.
“What is that going to do to who he thinks he is?”; hints the actor.
“His thoughts on, what is it like to be a man? What is a man? What makes all these different things that he thought he stood for in the episode and the days before?”;
Patrick continued to The Hollywood Reporter that the scene is not just “sensationalism”; and will add to the characters’ story arcs.
“There’s always more than what just meets the eye of the shock value on the screen,”; he insists.
Sam told Vanity Fair: “This is the defining pivot point for me and Saxon's characters in the show. It really shakes up the dynamic of our whole family.”;
Though he also tells them the scenes have already had an odd impact: “I have a lot of creepy old men DMing me.”;
Both actors certainly seemed braced for the impact of the storyline, which Mike had warned would be “much, much darker” than previous series – though it would have been impossible to anticipate just how much of a stir it would cause.
- White Lotus continues on Sky Atlantic and Now TV.
