last week<\/a>, in the opening flash-forward with Zion.) Rick shares with Amrita just a little about himself \u2014 but nothing about whatever dark mission has led him to Thailand. He tells her his mother was a drug addict and that his father was murdered before Rick was born. He says his stress level typically hovers around an 8 out of 10, unless he has weed. (He does not currently have weed.)<\/p>\nIt\u2019s hard to know how on-the-level Rick is being with Amrita. He has no reason to lie, but also no reason to be honest. What\u2019s fascinating about the dynamic between these two is that while Amrita is offering what she believes to be some helpful philosophical musings \u2014 mainly by suggesting to him that his identity is an \u201cillusion\u201d that \u201cbrings you suffering\u201d \u2014 he counters by saying that the world is actually very real.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf nobody puts gas in the tank, the car won\u2019t start,\u201d he says. \u201cNothing comes from nothing, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the gal-pals spend their day taking biomarker tests and then quietly \u2014 and sometimes not-so-quietly \u2014 judging each other\u2019s results. They boast about their off-the-charts hydration levels, and then are skeptical when too many of them were told they \u201chave the numbers of someone half my age.\u201d (Jaclyn and Kate also seem unduly surprised when Laurie says that her \u201cfat mass\u201d is under 25 percent.) They chat about the effort they all put into staying healthy, with Jaclyn describing it as \u201cmy job\u201d as an actress married to a hunk half her age, and Kate insisting that to eat right in Austin she has tricked her mind into liking beans.<\/p>\n
The true heart of the ladies\u2019 story line this week lies in two scenes that bracket the episode. The first is set at the end of the night they arrived. After Laurie has gone to bed, Jaclyn and Kate take a minute to gush over how great Laurie is and how well she\u2019s doing in New York, before transitioning smoothly \u2014 without much of a change in tone \u2014 to talking about Laurie\u2019s tough divorce, her stalled career and her questionable decision to raise an emotionally troubled daughter in the big city. They end by saying that their \u201cgreat friend\u201d looks \u201cdefeated\u201d \u2026 and is possibly a drunk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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One night later, it is Laurie and Kate\u2019s turn to slice up Jaclyn when their friend is out of the room. They start off talking about how \u201camazing\u201d and \u201cfunny\u201d Jaclyn is, before Laurie clarifies that by \u201cfunny\u201d she means competitive, narcissistic and vain. (\u201cDid she sandblast her face or something?\u201d Kate asks. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just \u2018the basics.\u2019\u201d) They insist Jaclyn is \u201cstill gorgeous,\u201d while also questioning the health of her marriage. (\u201cShe says they\u2019re addicted to each other, but are they ever even in the same city?\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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White has a gift for writing this kind of dialogue and for directing actors in these kinds of scenes, where everyone is smiling and friendly and yet also kind of horrible. In another of this episode\u2019s standout moments, Kate strikes up a conversation with Victoria Ratliff, whom she remembers spending a whole weekend with at a baby shower for a mutual friend. Victoria maintains a pleasant enough demeanor during this whole interaction, but she refuses to acknowledge knowing Kate or attending that shower.<\/p>\n
When her children later accuse her of being rude, Victoria is unmoved. She\u2019s not impressed by Kate\u2019s wealth or her Hollywood actress friend. (\u201cActresses are all basically prostitutes,\u201d she declares. \u201cIf they\u2019re lucky. Am I right?\u201d)<\/p>\n
Victoria is in her own tiny bubble. Dulled by anxiety meds and distrustful of anyone not named Ratliff, she warns her kids that the world is filled with \u201cscammers\u201d who \u201cdon\u2019t have good values\u201d \u2014 unlike her own brood, of course, whom she finds absolutely delightful, even when Saxon uses racist caricature to complain about not being serviced during his massage.<\/p>\n
Again, White excels at capturing the woozy world of self-regard in which Victoria dwells \u2014 and in which, really, all of the Ratliffs dwell. Even Lochlan and Piper, who think of themselves as more enlightened than their loutish brother and materialistic parents, have a lot of Victoria in them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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There is a beautifully shot and deeply uneasy scene in this episode in which Lochlan and Piper sprawl out in hammocks that have been strung just above the Gulf of Thailand waterline, where they talk about Saxon\u2019s piggishness and what Piper gets out of Buddhism studies. White puts us down at the kids\u2019 level, wanting us to understand the sensations they must be feeling, with the warm sun and seas, the lapping waves, and the swaying ropes supporting their scantily clad bodies.<\/p>\n
But just as important as what they feel is what they think. When Lochlan tells Piper he tried to pray during a session in a sensory deprivation tank, he admits the experience did nothing for him. There were no spiritual revelations. No comforting divine presence. He was alone with who he is. Nothing more. As Lochlan puts it, starkly: \u201cI felt like I was just talking to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n