In The White Lotus Season 3, episode 7, Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) finally comes face to face with Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), the man he believes murdered his father.
However, friends, the confrontation doesn't go the violent way we — and Rick's friend Frank (Sam Rockwell) — think it will go. And personally, this confirms a wild theory I've been mulling over the whole season: Who really is Jim Hollinger? Are we done with this man or is there more to the story?
Let's get all Poirot on the facts and see if I'm right by the finale.
What happens in The White Lotus Season 3, episode 7?
Having successfully talked their way into the sprawling Bangkok residence of White Lotus owners Sritala (Lek Patravadi) and Jim Hollinger, Rick and Frank give one hell of a shaky performance as a Hollywood producer/director team pitching a fake movie.
Rick's sown the seeds for this meeting all season, tracking Jim to the White Lotus, introducing himself to Sritala at breakfast in episode 3, and tracking Jim to Bangkok. We've known since episode 4, after Rick's yacht conversation with his girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), that Rick believes Jim is the man who murdered his father — it's why they're at the Thailand White Lotus at all.
In episode 7, making an excuse to leave Sritala and Frank to "bond as artists," Rick suggests he and Jim speak about business in Thailand in his host's den, and after a tense conversation in which Jim mentions he has two daughters, Rick confronts his Boogeyman.
"I've always wanted to meet you. The very first time I heard your name I was 10 years old when my mother was dying," Rick says. "I have fantasised about this moment a thousand times."
When Jim asks what's going on, Rick replies with his mother's name, Gloria Hatchett, hoping to trigger a memory. "It seems like you should remember, she had a husband, you had him killed over some land deal or some shit," Rick says, as Jim appears puzzled. "He was a good man, but I didn't get to meet him because you're a piece of shit."
Rick then pulls a gun on Jim, telling him he ruined his life. "You may not remember him but you're sure as fuck gonna remember me."
In a moment of clarity, Rick walks out of there without shooting Jim, only pushing him over in his chair, after which he grabs Frank and they drive into the sunset for a night of partying wherein no drug on Earth could give Rick a bigger high than pure closure.
But are we actually done here? I THINK NOT.
What do we know about Rick's father's death?
The main things we know about Rick's father's death are from episode 4, in which Rick says he came to Thailand "to help these locals keep a shitty American from stealing their land — I really don't know all the details. But my father was here trying to do the right thing, and one day he disappeared. They never found him."
Rick also talks about his father being murdered during his stress management session with meditation teacher Dr. Amrita (Shalini Peiris) in episode 2. Here, Rick reveals that his father was killed before he was born. Did Jim murder Rick's father for meddling in a land grab? Or is there more to the story?
As he tells Jim, Rick says that his mother, Gloria, who died when he was 10 from a drug overdose, gave him the name of his father's murderer on her deathbed: Jim Hollinger.
However, here's my theory...
Is Jim Hollinger Rick's actual father?
Friends, I suggest to you this: Rick's father never died, in fact, he's IN THIS VERY ROOM. J'accuse!
I argue that Jim Hollinger is actually Rick's dad, and that Rick's mother, heartbroken from Jim perhaps leaving her before Rick was born, lied to her son on her deathbed as a final act of revenge. Rick doesn't have any other information about his father other than he was "a good man" and that he was murdered by some guy called Jim Hollinger who owns a fancy hotel in Thailand. But he never mentions his father's name, nor do we see a photograph of him.
When Rick arrives at the Hollingers' estate, you could argue Jim recognises a part of him straight away, or sees some resemblance to Gloria. Glenn's performance here is deliberately hard to read but he gazes at Rick like a familiar face; meanwhile Rick is shellshocked at the reality of the man he built up in his head.
During their confrontation in the den, Jim is again ambiguous in his reactions, though he errs on the side of not remembering. Is it an act? The way Jim says Rick's mother's name – "Gloria Hatchett" – back to Rick, to me isn't a moment of forgetfulness, it's a revelation to JIm. I suggest Jim remembers Gloria in this moment, but before he can process it, Rick's got a gun in his face.
Is Jim Rick's dad? Why did Gloria give Rick Jim's name on her deathbed? Does Sritala know anything? Does Rick have sisters?! We're likely to find out more in the finale, when we can finally bury the Hatchett.
