Fans on social media have praised Sam Rockwell on his unannounced visit on the most recent episode of The White Lotus.
The 56-year-old star, who is the real-life partner of White Lotus actress Leslie Bibb, stunned viewers in the episode as he portrayed Rick’s old pal Frank. Rick (Walton Goggins) and Frank cross paths in a Bangkok, Thailand bar the night before Rick was scheduled to visit Sritala, the owner of the White Lotus hotel on Koh Samui, and her husband – whom Rick believes killed his father before he was born.
Rick had just left his lover, Aimee Lou Wood, in the hotel in search of the man who had killed his father. Frank presents Rick with a leather bag including a rifle when they meet.
Frank reveals he had adopted a sober life after learning Buddhism during their conference, speaking on sexuality and alcohol. Confessing his desire to Asian women drove him to travel to Thailand, he claims he began “losing it” after 1,000 such meetings and started picking up several girls each night.
Eventually he started to doubt his inclination towards Asian women and started to consider his own identity, wondering if he was sleeping with so many as he wanted to be one of them himself. “Maybe what I really want is to be one of these Asian girls,” he adds at one point. The camera subsequently catches Rick’s startled response upon responding, ” Really?”
Rick’s friend then relates an instance whereby a “ladyboy,” the English equivalent of the Thai word kathoey, which describes someone born male but presents as feminine, while not conventionally transgender and instead regarded as a third gender, was taken home. But this time the “ladyboy” had sex with him instead of the other way around.
This meeting let him realize that what he wanted to experience was the sensation of being an Asian lady having sex with herself, hence he started paying guys to come over to sleep with him or occasionally hired an Asian woman to sit and watch. Saying he doesn’t know what it signifies regarding his identity, Rick is obviously left stunned by his friend’s statement. Then he admits he kicked the drugs and booze as he realized his habit wasn’t beneficial for him and started Buddhist practice.
Although he claims he doesn’t find it difficult to be sober, he acknowledges celibacy has been taxing. The duo bid farewell at the end of the evening, and Rick begs for another favor—that of his friend keeping the next night free.
