The White Lotus season finale: Ending explained and your questions answered – CNET [CNET]

From the first scene of HBO’s The White Lotus viewers knew there’d been an unexpected death. While the six-part series about entitled tourists on a tropical vacation in Hawaii ends up being less big-twist murder mystery, more biting social satire, viewers filled social media feeds with detailed theories on which character doesn’t make it out of the idyllic White Lotus alive. 

So who’s in the casket being loaded onto the airplane in the first episode? Shut your suitcases, folks. We’re diving in to answer whodunnit and other lingering questions from Sunday’s finale of the absorbing tragicomedy created, written and directed by Mike White. 

Beware, major spoilers rolling at you like a giant ocean wave. 

Who dies on The White Lotus finale? 

It’s Armond (Murray Bartlett), the outwardly accommodating and inwardly seething resort manager who comes increasingly unhinged from the stress of having to cater to demanding guests who have lots of money and little aloha spirit. Chief among those contributing to his drug-addled demise is insufferable newlywed Shane (Jake Lacy), who dogs Armond for the first five episodes for booking the honeymooners the wrong room and stabs him to death in the sixth.

Did Shane kill Armond on purpose? 

Shane definitely harbored murderous rage toward Armond, but in the end the manager’s death is an accident. After finding out Shane’s responsible for getting him fired, a coked-up but determined Armond sneaks into Shane’s room, where he drops his khakis, crouches over Shane’s open suitcase and drops an unwelcome gift or two. 

When Shane returns to his room to discover the stinky souvenir, he grabs the knife he put by the bed as protection after hearing another guest’s room had been broken into. Then he rounds a corner, startles at seeing Armond and fatally stabs him in the chest. More than anything, Armond’s a victim of the social inequities of the world he and his staff inhabit. To Shane and his ilk, they’re dispensable. 

Why is Armond smiling as he dies?  

Only Armond knows for sure. The smile could be glee at exacting such messy revenge on Shane and his preppy, perfectly folded clothes. Or the grin could indicate Armond’s satisfaction that the stabbing could finally bring the arrogant Shane down. But do people like Shane really ever have to deal with the consequences of their actions? Well… 

Does Shane pay for what he did? 

Nope, at the end of the finale, he’s boarding an airplane back to his regular life, and the rude way he interacts with friendly fellow tourists suggests he’s just as obnoxious as before he thrust a knife into another human’s flesh. His briefly estranged wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) even returns to him at the end, though the resignation in her eyes suggests she’s doing it out of exhaustion and defeat. It appears Shane has come out of the whole honeymoon death adventure unscathed, though he will have to live with Rachel’s misery (if he even notices it). So there’s that. 

More questions and observations

** Love the irony of Shane spending his entire vacation reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, a book all about intuitive judgment, clearly not one of Shane’s strong suits.  

** It was heartening to see bratty, slightly terrifying college kid Olivia Mossbacher (Sydney Sweeney) finally show a shred of empathy and humanity when she hugs Paula (Brittany O’Grady) despite her friend orchestrating Kai’s robbery of the family safe as a kind of meta-comeuppance to privileged people everywhere. Looks like Olivia might actually be on the path to more than just woke posturing. Her parents Nicole and Mark (Connie Britton and Steve Zahn) grow over the course of their weeklong vacation too, so things might be a little more tolerable at Chez Mossbacher post-vacation.  

** But Quinn Mossbacher, where you gonna sleep? Hoping one of your canoe-mates has a spare couch. 

** Tanya McQuoid (played by Jennifer Coolidge, who always manages to bring a poignant pathos to even the kookiest of characters) predictably disappoints spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell). Can we start a GoFundMe campaign and help the kind and generous Belinda open that wellness center she so deserves? 

Will there be another season of The White Lotus? 

Yes, in August 2021, The White Lotus got renewed for a second season. But since travelers come and go, the second season will focus on different characters. Drama and intrigue will undoubtedly ensue.

Movies coming in 2021 from Netflix, Marvel, HBO and more

See all photos

+62 More