‘White Lotus’ star Tayme Thapthimthong breaks down Gaitok’s big discovery in Episode 7

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season 3 of “The White Lotus.”

Fans of the “The White Lotus” have been waiting to see Gaitok show off his killer instinct in Season 3 of the hit HBO show, and the hotel security guard seems to be getting closer than ever before in Episode 7.

While at a Muay Thai fight with his crush, Mook (Lalisa Manobal, better known by her stage name Lisa), Gaitok confronts the world of violence — and comes to terms with the fact some of the people at the hotel may not be who they think they are.

As one of the fighters is getting knocked out, Gaitok looks down at Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius), one of the wellness gurus at the resort, and sees him cheering with Laurie (Carrie Coon) and two of his Russian friends. Gaitok slowly starts to realize, through flashbacks, that Vlad and Alexei were the two men behind the robbery at the hotel earlier in the season.

Tayme Thapthimthong, who plays Gaitok, tells TODAY.com that the moment of realization for his character is “very shocking.”

“When he goes to the fight, it’s obviously very shocking for him to put it together, because the tall Russian guy obviously has very distinct features, and he obviously remembers him from just before he was pistol-whipped,” Thapthimthong says. “So just to see that he’s like, ‘Wait a minute, is it that guy?’ And then to see him next to Valentin … it’s just kind of like, ‘No, I think this guy’s so cool.'”

“And then (Valentin) was actually the friend that let them in — it’s all coming together,” he adds. “But also, I think in his mind, it’s like, Do I tell someone? Like, if I tell someone, what’s going to happen to him?'”

Thapthimthong says he thinks Gaitok knows Valentin’s backstory — he moved to the hotel before the war started in Russia — and what his involvement in the crime could mean for his employment in Thailand.

“So I think he’s had a lot of empathy for him,” Thapthimthong says.

Ultimately, Thapthimthong thinks Gaitok is “just extremely disappointed” to figure out Valentin could be involved in the crime.

“Like, I thought you were a friend,” he says of his character’s thought process. “We’ve trained Muay Thai together outside of work. You know, you seem like someone I would befriend for a long time, but I can’t believe you would actually let me get hurt like that and be OK with it, and then never say anything.”

“Most of all, I think he is processing, like, ‘What do I do with this information now?'” he continues. “Because he is obviously thinking as well, ‘If I do tell someone, maybe they’ll like me even more at work, and I’ll get a promotion, because I helped solve the case.'”

The night begins as a date night for Gaitok and Mook, after Valentin gives him tickets for his Muay Thai fight. Before arriving at the fight, Mook and Gaitok grab dinner, where he tells her he doesn’t think he is going to be promoted to become a bodyguard.

“He says I don’t have a killer instinct,” Gaitok tells Mook, referring to his exchange with his boss at the shooting range.

Mook says Gaitok can prove his boss wrong, but Gaitok says that even when the robbers came to the hotel, he didn’t want to fight.

He references the Buddha, who condemns violence. Mook says violence is OK in defense. Gaitok replies that he still doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

“You have to be strong, that’s part of the job,” Mook says.

She adds that she also thought Gaitok was more ambitious and that he wanted a better job.

Thapthimthong says he thinks his character was always OK with his job as the hotel’s security guard — and that it was Mook who got into his head.

“That first episode when, Mook’s like, ‘Oh yeah, those guys, they get to travel the world, get good pay and have good responsibility, I think that’s what hit him,” he says.

Thapthimthong refers to the scene where Gaitok says he thinks his job is pretty good, and that he does have a big responsibility as one of the hotel’s security guards.

“I think it’s when she’s like, ‘Really? Like, just this letting cars in and out? Is that really that fun?’ And I think he’s just like, OK, I need to do something. I need to do something more with myself,'” Thapthimthong says.

At the Muay Thai fight, Mook tells Gaitok, “See, it’s natural.” She adds that it’s “human to fight.”

“There’s a lot going through this guy’s mind, for sure,” Thapthimthong says. ‘I’ve really enjoyed the layers that he had to him.”

During one of Gaitok’s flashbacks to the robbery at the resort, he remembers seeing a tall bald man wearing a mask — with similar features as Vlad — hitting the car as his fellow robber is about to pistol-whip Gaitok.

He also remembers that he was talking with Valentin at the security checkpoint when the car sped through to commit the robbery.

“The way I have thought about how Gaitok and Valentin’s relationship is in the hotel, is that, Gaitok’s a very local guy,” Thapthimthong says. “And any foreigner that comes in and befriends him, he’s like, so grateful. You know, he’s like, ‘Oh my God, this guy’s talking to me.'”

Thapthimthong says that was part of his experience serving in the Thai army and cross-training with U.S. forces — some of his fellow soldiers would get excited when an American soldier talked to them so that they could practice their English.

Similarly, Thapthimthong thinks Thai security guards would be excited to have a foreigner talking with them, especially another worker at the hotel. He references how Gaitok reacts when Valentin offers him a ticket to the Muay Thai fight in Episode 2.

“I played it as, you know, he obviously looks up to Valentin, as someone who’s very cool, and he’s got an amazing physique, too,” Thapthimthong says. “And he does Muay Thai — I always thought Gaitok’s not a violent guy, but he does, just like most men in Thailand, enjoy watching a Muay Thai fight. So he definitely looks up to Valentin that way.”

After the fight, Laurie goes home with Aleksei and hooks up with him. He then asks her for money — upwards of $10,000 — to help his sick mother back in Russia.

As Laurie is trying to say no, she hears a knock on the door. It’s Aleksei’s girlfriend is trying to get in. Aleksei tries to stall as Laurie runs into another room, where she discovers the jewelry stolen during the robbery at the hotel.

She ends up jumping out of Aleksei’s window and running to catch a cab back to the hotel, while Gaitok ruminates on what to do with his own realization.

As for whether Gaitok is a bad security guard? Thapthimthong says Gaitok is definitely not good at his job, but that he is an accurate representation of a hotel security guard in Thailand.

“Hotel security guards in Thailand in general, they’re not your typical big, chunky guys who you would usually see in front of a club,” Thapthimthong says. “I don’t think in those hotels they would really expect any like physical confrontation.”

“I have seen a lot of guys be like that. They’re usually just in charge of opening the gate and ushering the guests in, and are just like a friendly face that you see at the front gate when you first enter,” he continues. “So I think that that Gaitok’s character was written pretty spot-on.”

Thapthimthong says he used his experience in the military and working in security to make Gaitok’s demeanor convincing.

“I’ve always been a smiley guy, but obviously, when I’ve been a bodyguard, or I’m in some more heated situations when doing security, you know, I have to turn it up,” he says.

Thapthimthong says each episode has pushed Gaitok to the brink.

“From episode to episode, I wanted to let Gaitok develop from smiling the whole time and being worry free, because, like, no one’s going to ever break into this hotel. I’m never going to have to use a gun. Like, guns never been on my radar,” he says. “As each episode goes on, as you’ve seen, it gets a bit more so stressful for him.”

He says the ending of the second to last episode perfectly sets up each character for the finale — though he was sure not to let any secrets slip.

“By the end of Episode 7, I think every single character has a reason for them to be tied to this,” he says of the finale.