The White Lotus season 3 finale: What did the poisonous fruit mean and is it real?

Warning: Spoilers for The White Lotus season 3 ahead. Do not continue reading if you don't want to know what happens.

The White Lotus season 3 finale is here, which means we finally learn who survives the shooting teased in episode one, and the fate of all of our favourite characters.

While we're desperate to know whether Piper finally gets to live out her monastery dream, or Belinda opens her spa with Gary/Greg's blood money, there's one person undoubtably on everyone's mind: Timothy Ratliff.

The big shot business head-turned-accidental fraudster (played by Jason Isaacs) has been at the forefront of season 3's storyline, with him threatening to turn a stolen gun on himself multiple times, and finding solace in his wife's lorazepam pill bottle.

But somehow, he's lived through seven episodes (so far), but things take a turn before the finale, when he once again goes to find the gun in his secret drawer - and it's missing.

That's because Gaitok, the hotel security guard, rewatched the CCTV of him stealing it, and went to retrieve it behind his back.

If you want to know the full low-down of what happened in episode seven, you can read it here.

With one episode to go and Timothy now desperate to find a way out of the situation, there's a new kid on the block: The poisonous fruit tree.

HBO

Is the pong-pong tree from The White Lotus real?

Yes! The pong-pong tree also known as the suicide tree, is another name for the cerbera odollam, whose seeds produce a potent poison called cerberin - which is deadly.

It's native to Southeast Asia, and Queensland, Australia, along with the Pacific Islands, growing along sandy coats, riverbanks, and swamps.

The trees can grow up to 12 metres in height, producing oval, green fruit, which turns red as it matures. As seen in The White Lotus, the inside of the fruit has a milky, fleshy centre, and contains two poisonous stones.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the seeds of the fruit were used in witchcraft trials - perpetrators would be fed the fruit, and should they survive, they'd be innocent. It's thought 3,000 people per year were dying from those trials.

HBO

What does the poisonous fruit tree mean in The White Lotus season 3?

While we could just take it at face value, it's thought the lethal fruit tree was brought into The White Lotus for a reason.

Sure, the pong-pong tree was the decider of who would live and die in the Ratliff family, but it's also thought to be a reference to its actual history, where the fruit was used in witchcraft trials in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Traditionally, those who were made to eat the fruit, thought to be witches, would be deemed guilty or innocent based on their body's response to its poisonous nature.

If you died, you were guilty. If you vomited, you were innocent.

So, how does this come back to The White Lotus? Well, if you've watched the finale, you'll know that Timothy takes the drastic decision to poison his family with the fruit so that they don't have to experience a life without privilege, but Lochlan is the only one he doesn't make the drink for.

He uses Lochlan's age as an excuse (he's not old enough to drink alcohol legally), but it's actually because he's the only one that admits he could survive a life without money - which is what they're about to face.

However, things quickly backfire when Lochlan accidentally drinks the poisonous fruit in a protein shake - but he doesn't die. In fact, he's found vomiting by the pool by Timothy, who planned this all for himself, and not his son.

After seven episodes of toying with the fantasy of death to escape his own crimes, it takes this near-fatal moment for him to realise he needs to face it head on, and not punish his innocent family.

HBO

Does Timothy die in The White Lotus season 3?

Timothy has been armed with both a gun and the poisonous pong-pong fruit during The White Lotus season 3, and in the finale we see him attempt to eat it, convincing viewers his death is inevitable at this point.

As soon as he confirms the deadly nature of the fruit from what's also known as the suicide tree, he rips opens every piece he can find, before crushing the seeds in Saxon's blender to make a deadly concoction. However, he doesn't immediately drink it, and instead hides it in a cupboard.

His plans become clear when the family go to their final dinner of the trip, and he asks for cocktail ingredients to be brought up the room for later, and notes to the server that they "have a blender".

Later that evening, we see him throwing the pina colada ingredients in with the deadly seeds, and not only making a drink for himself - but his family too, except for Lochlan, who he says is too young to drink it.

It's thought that the fate of Timothy, Victoria, Saxon, and Piper is sealed from that moment, with all of the family taking sips from the drink, questioning why it tastes "weird".

HBO

Within moments, the father-of-three panics and knocks the glass from Saxon's hand, claiming the "coconut milk is off", advising the rest of the group to surrender their drinks too.

But it's not over just yet, because by morning, while the Ratliffs are still asleep, Lochlan is awake, and decides he's going to make a protein shake in his older brother's blender. Except, he hasn't washed it out and it's still very much covered in the remnants of the poisonous fruit.

He then drinks the entire thing, and begins to feel unwell, before collapsing by the pool.

As for Timothy, he's the one to rush and save Lochlan, finally realising that his life is worth living, despite the challenges he'll now have to face telling his family the truth.

We can confirm that all of the Ratliffs survive The White Lotus.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offer support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.

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White Lotus season 3 episode 7 recap: Everything that happened in the latest episode

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