‘The White Lotus’ Season 3, episode 3: What’s that noise in Belinda’s room?

Rally every White Lotus guest, recruit every staff member, and protect Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) at all costs. Because what on Earth was that noise in the dark?

At the end of The White Lotus Season 3, episode 3, our beloved spa manager is winding down from a delightful dinner when she hears something strange in her hotel room. What could that rattling be? Is Belinda in danger?

Let’s not panic (yet) and map this out for some half-baked j’accuse-ing.

What happens at the end of The White Lotus, Season 3, episode 3?

After a butterfly-inducing dinner with her colleague, White Lotus wellness expert Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), the pair walk back to Belinda’s hotel room. After Pornchai bids her goodnight with booze-confident romantic overtones and dreamy words, Belinda is left to buzz over their obvious chemistry alone. But then she hears a rattling noise in the dark, as the camera pivots to her point of view, staring into the unlit corners of her room.

“Fuck was that?” she utters. My sentiments exactly.

What could the noise in Belinda’s room be?

It better not be this guy snoopin’ around.
Credit: Courtesy of HBO

The show sets up the lowest hanging conclusion, the Bad Guy elephant in the room: Greg (Jon Gries). The former husband of Tanya “These Gays Are Trying to Murder Me” McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), Greg had put a hit out on his heiress wife while holidaying in Sicily in Season 2. And though it didn’t quite go to plan, he ended up with a fortune due to Tanya’s accidental death. Now, he’s living it up as “Gary” in a mountaintop Koh Samui mansion with his girlfriend Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and dropping bank on nightly dinners at The White Lotus.

Unfortunately for Greg, Belinda recognised him at the hotel, having met him personally at the White Lotus in Maui and having spent a week with Tanya during their courtship in Season 1. Visiting Greg’s table during her dinner with Pornchai, she insisted on knowing him from Maui — in front of Chloe and new acquaintances Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Rick (Walton Goggins). Greg played dumb and Belinda reluctantly retreated. But despite Belinda not appearing to know Tanya’s fate or the fact they were married, she could be a threat to Greg’s facade. He appeared nervous following the interaction, so could he be skulking about near her hotel room after dinner?

Second possibility: It’s the thief from episode 2, snooping around for more valuables. But we don’t know the identity of the thief yet, and stealth was not really their style with the smash-and-grab robbery we saw.

Third possibility: Pornchai’s uncharacteristic alcohol intake caught up with him and he had a stumble into the bushes. However, the mystery rattling sounds more careful than a drunken careen into hotel shrubbery.

Fourth possibility: It’s the White Lotus’ resident monitor lizard and a totally bright red herring? It scared Belinda earlier in the episode, perhaps it thought it’d keep it up.

Whoever it is, lock those doors, Belinda!

The White Lotus is streaming now on Max, with new episodes dropping weekly.