Viral TikTok theory explains why The White Lotus Ratliffs are weird

A TikToker has pointed out some eerie similarities between the Ratliff family of The White Lotus season 3 and the Ratliff family of a different show — HBO's 2022 drama series The Staircase.

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Parker Posey and Jason Isaacs play parents Victoria and Timothy Ratliff, patrons of The White Lotus resort in Thailand alongside their three kids Piper, Saxon, and Lochlan — all of whom have some weird sexual tension that's hard to explain. They're a wealthy family from North Carolina, but their house is politically divided with a real-life collegiate rivalry: the women went to UNC Chapel Hill and the men attended Duke University. In the meantime, the youngest member of the family, Lochlan, is a senior in high school who just got accepted into both.

At first, this just feels like standard symbolism for a divided family. However, some fans are noticing some similarities to another HBO series, The Staircase. "This family is the most accurate depiction of those people of all time," TikTok user @burtsbeeswhore begins her assessment. "This is every UNC/Duke family. It also reminded me of this family, a.k.a. Michael Peterson from The Staircase."

In 2001, Peterson's wife Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of the stairs. In 2003, Michael was convicted of the murder of his wife. A key part of the prosecutor's case against Peterson was the mysterious death of his neighbor in Germany back in 1985, who just so happens to be named Elizabeth Ratliff and also fell down the stairs. Following Elizabeth's death, Peterson adopted her daughters, Margaret and Martha Ratliff, and they all moved to — you guessed it — Durham, North Carolina.

Eerily enough, Peterson also went to Duke University… just like Timothy.

To tie the family's stories together even further, both Posey and Patrick Schwarzenegger, who plays Saxon, actually starred in The Staircase. Schwarzenegger played Michael's biological son from his first marriage — a character named Todd Peterson. Posey played Durham County prosecutor, Freda Black.

But what does it all mean? Well, the theories are swirling! Perhaps The White Lotus creator Mike White just really enjoyed watching The Staircase. Given that this is The White Lotus, however, perhaps this is all foreshadowing of the matriarch Victoria's untimely (or accidental) death at the hands of Timothy.

The biggest clue of all, one can argue, is when the children first arrived at The White Lotus resort in Thailand via boat. There's a shot of them sitting next to each other with items covering their eyes, ears, and mouth. The scene bears a resemblance to the Japanese image of the three wise monkeys that represent, "See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil." Western cultures consider it to be about turning a blind eye, but Buddhist traditions consider it a proverb about not allowing evil thoughts to occupy the mind.

We can't wait to see how this turns out.

HBO's The White Lotus season 3 drops new episodes every Sunday on Max.