‘The White Lotus’ Episode 4 Points to the Death of Someone Different
After watching The White Lotus Episode 4 on HBO, new fan theories indicate that someone different than expected dies in the tropical paradise. After every episode of the limited HBO series, viewers speculate whose remains could be in the box from episode 1. Initially, fans theorized that Rachel (Alexandra Daddario), Kitty (Molly Shannon), or Paula (Brittany O’Grady) died while on vacation. However, new information from the recent episode points to someone else.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from The White Lotus Episode 4, “Recentering.”]
‘The White Lotus’ Episode 4 recap
When The White Lotus Episode 1 opened, Shane watched a box of someone’s remains get loaded onto a plane heading to Honolulu. Then the show rewound one week, and not one person mentioned the death again. Viewers watch as the guests interact each week, and things turn darker.
In The White Lotus Episode 4, the resort manager, Armond (Murray Bartlett), continues his bender with drugs and alcohol. In the first episode, the sudden labor and delivery of a baby in his office, compounded with the demands of guests like Shane Patton (Jake Lacy), sent him over the edge. He fell off the wagon after being sober for five years.
Not only does Armond continue taking Paula’s drugs, but he ropes in a young resort staff member, Dillon (Lukas Gage). The supervisor coerces the young man into partying with him for his choice of shifts at the resort. However, things turn when Shane and Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) open Armond’s office door later that night. They see the two men involved in sexual activity — the now-infamous White Lotus rim scene.
Do the events of ‘White Lotus’ Episode 4 point to Armond’s death?
“My new theory is that it’s Armond in the casket,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “[It is] either an accidental overdose or suicide. Rachel leaves Shane because his actions contributed to it, and he can’t empathize with why or feel some guilt.”
Leading up to the events of The White Lotus Episode 4, Rachel continually feels less of a connection with Shane. She notices his arrogance and lack of empathy for anyone else but himself. Now that Shane saw the scene with Armond and Dillon, viewers think he’s sure to jump to drastic measures to expose the resort manager.
“[I] love this theory because it falls back on Shane,” another fan added. “If he could’ve just left his room issue alone, he could still be alive.”
Other viewers agree that all signs point to the death of the resort manager.
“Yep, that’s my number one choice for who is in the casket at this point,” another viewer wrote. “[The director, Mike] White clearly intends Shane to be awful. It would help explain why Shane is angry at the airport, ‘Why would anyone blame ME for his accidental death/suicide?,’ and explain why his wife is not with him.”
The anger that Shane displays in the airport does look very similar to his moments spent upset over Armond’s actions.
Is ‘The White Lotus’ a murder mystery?
While many fans theorize about who dies in The White Lotus, others realized that the limited series isn’t a murder mystery. White did not intend for the show to become a mystery. Instead, he chose to add in the dead body trope, so viewers felt a “sense of dread.”
“I wanted to give people a sense that this is going to go somewhere a bit dangerous,” White told The New Yorker. “You want to feel like, at some point, there’s going to be a human sacrifice.”
So, although there is this mystery over who died, it’s not the show’s point.
The White Lotus airs on HBO at 9 p.m. EST Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
