‘The White Lotus’ Season 3, episode 7: You’ve heard Sritala’s song before

If you’re watching The White Lotus Season 3, episode 7, you might hear a familiar song.

In the scenes involving Rick (Walton Goggins) and Frank’s (Sam Rockwell) Hollywood production ploy to get into Sritala (Lek Patravadi) and Jim Hollinger’s (Scott Glenn) Bangkok mansion, there’s a moment that not only connects the episode to a previous episode of The White Lotus, but connects to Patravadi’s real singing career.

Let’s get into it.

What happens in The White Lotus Season 3, episode 7?

Frank (Sam Rockwell) and Rick (Walton Goggins) have a plan.
Credit: Courtesy of HBO

Having successfully talked his way into the Hollinger’s sprawling Bangkok residence, Rick convinces Jim (the man he believes murdered his father) to take their own conversation into the den.

Meanwhile, Sritala and Frank (posing as Hollywood director Steve) continue their own chat about the potential of casting the White Lotus owner and famous Thai actor and singer in an upcoming blockbuster that doesn’t exist. Keeping up the ruse of interest in Sritala’s career, Frank finds himself in the living room watching old videos of Sritala performing a folk/rap number on a TV show from when she was 25 years old, surrounded by dancers.

“Thats you? You’re right there? You’re the one with the rhinestones?” asks Frank. “I mean, it’s like MC Hammer, Peter Pan, it’s got a little Pippin.”

And it’s this song you could have heard before, both within and outside The White Lotus.

Where have you heard Sritala’s song before?

Rick (Walton Goggins) and Sritala (Lek Patravadi).
Credit: Courtesy of HBO

The song Sritala shows Frank is the very same song she sings onstage at the The White Lotus restaurant in episode 2. But it’s also a real clip of Patravadi (the iconic Thai actor and singer who also goes by Patravadi “Lek” Mejudhon) performing the song on her own TV show in 1992. You can watch the clip she watches with Frank here:

Patravadi and her team had conversations with The White Lotus music supervisor Gabe Hilfer during the pre-production period, and the lauded artist ended up returning to the studio to revisit the song just for the show.

“She re-recorded that song for us in episode 2,” Hilfer told Mashable. “We had her do a couple other songs, and she recorded them for us, but we didn’t end up using them…They were great, her versions were incredible, but the way that that whole sequence got edited down, it lent itself to only having that one song in there.”

Knowing that Patravadi is actually watching herself on TV from a previous part of both her and Sritala’s career in the episode 7 scene makes it all the more charming, as Rockwell rightfully dubs her character an “icon” as he leaves. It feels like Mike White and The White Lotus itself pay homage to a screen and stage legend with this musical Easter egg, a delightful inclusion.

The White Lotus Season 3 is now streaming on Max with new episodes weekly at 9 p.m. ET Sundays on HBO.