Eastern v. Western culture in the siblings intro

So we know this picture refers to the three wise monkeys and the phrase « see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil ».

This phrase carries different meanings in the eastern and the western culture, which is actually a theme Mike White said was present in this season.

In the eastern culture, the phrase is influenced by Buddhism and is about moral discipline, self-restraint, etc. It means you need to avoid evil thoughts, words, situations, to live a virtuous life.

In the western culture, the phrase is cynical, it’s about willful ignorance and turning a blind eye to evil. It means that some people avoid the inconvenient truth, injustice, etc.

Now in the context of the three siblings, we know Saxon definitely represents western culture, as a corporate person with not a lot of introspection. It probably means that Saxon turns a blind eye to what is morally wrong, like his behaviour towards women, what his father does, etc.

Piper represents the eastern culture, as she is a Buddhist, so for her, it means she practices self-restraint (apparently does not have sex?), avoids evil thoughts, etc.

Lochlan’s journey is trying to decide between the 2. This is pretty clear because it was mentioned there was a rivalry between also the 2 schools he might go to and he needs to make a big decision. The decision is probably not literally about those 2 universities but about 2 schools of thought. So I think the journey has two directions, the first one is self-restraint or no (meaning having sex or not) and the second one is about managing evil (turning a blind eye or not). In this picture, he is also changing statuses (covering and uncovering his mouth with the beer bottle) so there will probably be a swing in behaviour.

So we know this picture refers to the three wise monkeys and the phrase « see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil ».

This phrase carries different meanings in the eastern and the western culture, which is actually a theme Mike White said was present in this season.

In the eastern culture, the phrase is influenced by Buddhism and is about moral discipline, self-restraint, etc. It means you need to avoid evil thoughts, words, situations, to live a virtuous life.

In the western culture, the phrase is cynical, it’s about willful ignorance and turning a blind eye to evil. It means that some people avoid the inconvenient truth, injustice, etc.

Now in the context of the three siblings, we know Saxon definitely represents western culture, as a corporate person with not a lot of introspection. It probably means that Saxon turns a blind eye to what is morally wrong, like his behaviour towards women, what his father does, etc.

Piper represents the eastern culture, as she is a Buddhist, so for her, it means she practices self-restraint (apparently does not have sex?), avoids evil thoughts, etc.

Lochlan’s journey is trying to decide between the 2. This is pretty clear because it was mentioned there was a rivalry between also the 2 schools he might go to and he needs to make a big decision. The decision is probably not literally about those 2 universities but about 2 schools of thought. So I think the journey has two directions, the first one is self-restraint or no (meaning having sex or not) and the second one is about managing evil (turning a blind eye or not). In this picture, he is also changing statuses (covering and uncovering his mouth with the beer bottle) so there will probably be a swing in behaviour.