White goes hard with the sound design and editing during the energy healing session. As Valentin holds his hands just above Laurie’s body, the soundtrack is filled with eruptive moans and sighs, woven through the percussive, chiming musical score. When the ladies reunite, Laurie jokes, “I haven’t been not-touched by a man like that in a long time.”
That’s when Kate makes a surprising confession: She finds all this new age healing stuff “goofy,” “spooky” and “kind of witchy.” When Jaclyn suggests that eastern spiritual practices are superior to Christianity because they are more empowering to women, Kate defends the church she has been attending since moving to Texas. This leads to several probing questions. Is this, like, a “real Texan church, with bible-thumpers?” (Kate, noncommittal: “They’re nice people, really good families.”) Does talking politics ever get awkward? (“Why would it?”) Is Kate a conservative now? (“I’m an independent.”) Did Kate vote for Trump? (Long pause, and then, “Are we really gonna talk about Trump tonight?”)
In one of those sharp, funny, “Mike White Touch” moments, Laurie and Jaclyn try to defuse the mounting tension by lying, saying, “Can’t wait to get down there,” and “I really want to come.” Then later, as the day ends, after Kate retreats to her bedroom she can see — and almost hear — the other two talking about her. Unlike the previous snipe sessions, only a line or two of this one is shared with the TV audience. But we can guess what is being said. And if we can, Kate can. She looks stricken.
Elsewhere at the resort on Day 3, momentum starts to build in the season’s major story lines. Rick makes his move with Sritala, posing as a showbiz power-player who wants to connect her with a director in Bangkok. Rick comes across differently with Sritala, unlike how he is with anyone else. He is enthusiastic and open, gushing over her performance at the previous night’s dinner. The upbeat energy feels unsettlingly phony.
This is all part of his plan to get close to Sritala’s husband, Jim, who Rick already knows is convalescing in Bangkok — and who, I assume, may be responsible in some way for the murder of Rick’s father. Rick mentions his dad again in another of his stress-management sessions, during which Dr. Amrita suggests that the root cause of his stress is anger, and that, “Underneath anger there is always a sadness, something we are grieving.” Rick then brings up the murder, adding ominously, “I can’t get my life back, but maybe I can still get some satisfaction.”