The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 2 “Special Treatments” features a fun cameo from an Oscar winner that you probably didn’t see at all. That’s because Everything Everywhere All At Once and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom star Ke Huy Quan is only voice acting in the latest episode of the HBO hit.
**Spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 2 “Special Treatments,” now streaming on MAX**
Yep, when ruined finance guy Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) is ranting on the phone with his buddy Kenny in Brunei, it’s actually Ke Huy Quan he’s yelling at over long-distance. Although the role is uncredited, DECIDER recently confirmed the casting with HBO.
You know Ke Huy Quan. As a child star, he played Short Round opposite Harrison Ford‘s Indy and hung out with little Drew Barrymore on chaste puppy love dates. As an adult, he’s enjoyed a recent career resurgence after his dazzling turn as Waymond Wang in the Daniels’ Oscar-sweeping EEAAO. He’s currently starring in the action flick Love Hurts and will soon appear in Netflix’s The Electric State.
So why exactly is an Academy Award-winning actor popping in for a brief, but emotional, phone call on The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 2? Could this mean we’ll actually meet Kenny in a future episode? Most importantly, exactly what kind of crime is Tim Ratliff guilty of?
Here’s everything you need to know about Ke Huy Quan’s cameo as Kenny Nguyen in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 2 “Special Treatments.”
We already knew from last week’s episode that Tim Ratliff is in deep doo-doo because of his connection to a fund created by a Kenneth Nguyen called Sho-Kel. The Wall Street Journal is going to run a story on the shady fund. In The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 2 “Special Treatments,” Tim finally gets a hold of Kenny and learns the situation is absolutely apocalyptic for him.
While Tim is mad about The Wall Street Journal, Kenny has far more urgent problems to deal with. “20 agents just raided my fucking office!” he yells. “Fuck me, I’m done.”
The gravity of the situation begins to reveal itself to Tim. This isn’t just a PR problem, but he’s broken the law, will go to jail, and lose his family’s fortune.
Kenny explains they were undone by a “whistleblower bitch” in his office who went to the media. “They have everything, Tim,” Kenny says, before eventually confirming that Ratliff is definitely implicated in the crime.
“You need to get a good lawyer, like, yesterday,” Kenny advises a panicking Tim, who complains back that this is all Kenny’s fault because he only got involved as a favor to his friend.
“This is all you. Now I’m wrapped up in some fucking money laundering, bribery situation?” Timothy says. “And I only made ten million dollars out of your stupid fucking scheme.”
The conversation ends with Timothy threatening to kill Kenny and Kenny replying he’s going to kill himself anyway. “Good. You do it, you piece of shit,” he says before hanging up.
So, basically, Kenny set up a money laundering scheme connected with the government of Brunei that Timothy was involved with and now both men are going down.
Was Kenny serious about his threat to die by suicide? Was Ke Huy Quan just a voice cameo for the show? Or is the reason showrunner Mike White cast him because he’s going to pop up at a pivotal moment later in the season? (Hey, we already know Thailand is a popular place for white collar criminals to hide and Brunei isn’t that far away.)
All we know is that Ke Huy Quan totally was the voice of Kenny on The White Lotus and that Timothy Ratliff appears to be screwed.