The HBO hit returns with spiritual tourism, simmering tensions, and another body in paradise.
★★★★
In its third season, The White Lotus whisks a new crop of endearingly vapid guests off to Thailand. You’d think the ever-climbing death toll at these resorts might finally deter the one percent from checking in, but this series has always demanded a degree of suspension of disbelief, so we strap in for the traditional boat ride, park the realism, and settle in for eight sun-drenched episodes of dysfunction.
“Slow burn” has been the most frequent descriptor for season three, and it’s not entirely unwarranted. Some viewers found the pacing too sluggish, though I’d wager that has more to do with a shift in viewing habits than anything else. After the bingeable buzz of seasons one and two, the week-by-week rollout of season three feels jarringly old-school. It’s never as glacial as it has been accused of being, and the additional episode – though still too brief at just eight episodes – allowed for more extensive character development, their story arcs marinating and simmering before coming to a quietly explosive boil in a stark, unforgettable finale.
It remains just as entertaining as ever seeing our cast of elitists try to deal with their varying dramas. Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate (Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, & Kate Bohr) devote much of their gals’ trip volleying passive-aggressive barbs at each other the moment one of them is out of earshot. Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) spends his holiday trying to hide news of his family’s impending bankruptcy, and it’s delicious viewing to see his cocksure son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) get taken down a peg in the show’s weirdest twist yet. Meanwhile, May-December sweethearts Rick and Chelsea (played by Walter Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood) are this season’s surprise MVPs. Though introduced as weirdo and gold-digger, our perception evolves into something oddly tender. By the end, they’re one of the most compelling and genuinely caring couples in the show’s history. That’s not without copious mishaps, of course, as Rick’s misguided quest for vengeance over his father’s death spirals out of control rapidly. A true Greek tragedy, if not a Thai one.
What the third season gets so right is its dextrous dealing with themes of spirituality and spiritual tourism. In one scene, a monk tells Timothy that “Many young people come here from your country because, I think, maybe… spiritual malaise.” Creator Mike White turns his satirical pen on the Western habit of seeking enlightenment in Eastern locales, often without any real understanding of the cultures being mined for meaning. Although Westerners often assume their way of living is best, it’s clearly deeply flawed when the only thing we’re encourage to worship and pursue isn’t any form of enlightenment at all but money. It’s interesting that Timothy and Victoria fear the monks are luring Piper into a cult, when the real cult is the capitalistic lifestyle which they are fully signed-up members of, and some very cultish activity from the Ratliffs in the final episode only accentuates this. By the end, all the characters have found spirituality in some sense – be that time, love or an embrace of death. Or there’s Belinda’s ending, which is weirdly satisfying even if it comes at a cost.
Many fans wondered what this series would do without Jennifer Coolidge. Following the season two finale, the internet tied itself in knots trying to conjure a way to jam her back into the storyline. Via a flashback, maybe? A prequel? An identical twin? As plans for a fourth season get underway and rumours abound that it’ll be set in a colder climate, it’s easy to imagine irresistible visions of Coolidge on an ill-fated skiing trip, toppling down a ski slope. Alas, it seems we’ll be robbed of that delight.
But The White Lotus 3 doesn’t suffer without her as much as people predicted. The show has always been at its strongest illustrating the power imbalance between the rich and the staff that served them. It leaned into this whole-heartedly in season one, and it is still there this time around, if dialled down. Gaitok insists he will never harm someone, but chooses murder when he realises it’s the only means that Mook will choose him. Belinda swears she can’t be bought but we consistently see her struggling with her morals throughout. The Ratliffs may be facing bankruptcy but there’s probably a way out for them – it’s hard to picture Victoria going full Schitt’s Creek without a back-up plan (an offshore account in the Caymans, perhaps?). Once again, the rich do spectacularly well out of this setup, and whatever happens, we know they’ll have the means to buy themselves out of most trouble they’ll encounter. The poor – generally the staff in this series – do not.
Despite its pitfalls (particularly an underused supporting cast including the criminally-ignored Lisa from BLACKPINK), The White Lotus season three still entertains. Along with Succession and Severance, it’s the defining TV series of our time, and captures the specific disquiet of the 2020s with brilliantly poised precision. It’s easy to forget the series only exists because HBO needed something that could be filmed under strict COVID protocols. That constraint birthed something unusually potent: a show about confinement in paradise, about people trapped with themselves. It holds up a mirror to the chaos of our time – spiritual, economic, ecological – and reflects it back in all its glossy, satirical mess. It allows us, if only partly, to make sense of this chaotic era we’re living through and for that alone, it deserves every accolade thrown its way.
Words by James Morton
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