‘The White Lotus’ Season 3, episode 3: What does Victoria’s tsunami dream mean?

Tension is mounting in The White Lotus Season 3, and even though Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey) doesn’t seem as visibly stressed as her husband (Jason Isaacs), there’s clearly some stuff going on below the surface.

This is made pretty clear in episode 3’s opening sequence, in which she dreams of an approaching tsunami. But what exactly happens in Victoria’s dream, and what might it mean? Let’s unpack it.

What happens in Victoria’s dream?

Set at night, the dream starts with Victoria standing on a beach facing the ocean — it looks like Koh Samui, Thailand, where her family are staying at The White Lotus. Holding her diazepam pill bottle, she turns and sees her son Lochlan (Sam Nivola) sitting on the beach with two hotel staff. “This is what it looks like before a tsunami,” he says. The staff appear behind Victoria and wrap her in a duvet, and in the background we can see a large house with the lights on, a structure that doesn’t look like part of the hotel. Victoria then walks forward into the water as a massive wave boils towards her. As the wave draws closer she sits down in the sand.

Later in the episode at breakfast, Victoria confirms that the house in the dream is in fact the Ratliff family’s house back in North Carolina.

What’s the meaning behind the dream?

There are a few ways Victoria’s dream could be read. The most simple interpretation is that she has the dream because Lochlan is talking about tsunamis at the end of episode 2, just before the family goes to bed. Or maybe she’s picking up on her husband’s increasing stress levels and has realised — perhaps even subconsciously — that something terrible lies on the horizon. Then there’s also the weird interaction she has with Kate (Leslie Bibb) earlier in episode 2, which seems to hint at some kind of hidden tension or resentment. Could the issue there be much more serious than Victoria is letting on?

Alternatively, there’s also the explanation suggested by Victoria’s daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) at breakfast: “Could be some kind of warning.”

If it is a warning, then it’s a pretty dire one: Victoria is essentially dreaming of the total annihilation of her family and everything they’ve built. And rather than fighting against it in the dream, she just seems to accept her fate, sitting and waiting for the wave to hit.

Our best guess? Things are going to get a whole lot worse for the Ratliff family before the end of this season. But just how much does Victoria see coming?

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