What the reception of the White Lotus S03 season finale regarding Chelsea and Rick taught me is, just how many people do not understand what a tragedy is.
Comments on how Chelsea deserved better than Rick, that their relationship was toxic, and that Mike White should have wrote this differently, are fundamentally misunderstanding the point of the story.
Walton Goggings put this wonderfully: "In the depths of our despair, there is always beauty around us. If we can sit with our pain, just sit with it ... not react ... not be defined by it ... It's there ... the love the world is constantly giving in any given moment is there."
What makes this story a tragedy is the fact that Rick knows what he has to do (he even says it himself, a man needs to know when to stop), but in the moment of confrontation, he is ultimately unable to let go, which results in the death of both him and his true love. This is a weakness of human beings that we can all relate to.
What the audience is supposed to take from this is not "Chelsea chose a bad partner, age-gap relationship bad" but "violence begets violence". Which is also something that buddhist monk explains at the very beginning of the final episode. The actions we take to find resolution to our suffering is often what causes more suffering.
Also saying that "Chelsea should have left Rick for Saxon" is as absurd as saying Antigone should have just been less principled and she would have survived. It ignores the personality of the characters and it does nothing story-wise. Please stop with this nonsence.
