Holiday from hell or killer season? The cases for and against The White Lotus

For eight episodes, The White Lotus’ writer and director Mike White kept viewers guessing as to who the body in the water would be (turns out there was more than one). But was it a satisfying conclusion to another standout season, or was White just repeating himself, retreading the themes from seasons one and two? Writers Thomas Mitchell and Cameron Bayley take up the case for and against season three of The White Lotus.

The case for season three ...

It’s always a worry when you begin to sound like your parents, but after hearing endless criticism of The White Lotus’ third season – “Too slow! Nothing happens! Where’s Jennifer Coolidge?” – I suspect their fears about social media ruining our brains might be on the money. In this brave new world of TikTok attention spans, we’ve lost the ability to appreciate anything that doesn’t trigger our dopamine receptors in 15 seconds or less.

Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey) are not relaxed at The White Lotus.

Has it been a slow burn? Sure. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not.

Successfully pulling off a third instalment was destined to be a gargantuan effort for Mike White. Partly because the first two seasons were so well received and partly because the formulaic nature of the show (rich people, fancy resort, mysterious death) means audiences are conditioned to White’s particular brand of craziness.

All of which makes the achievements of season three more impressive.

Rather than overstaying its welcome, The White Lotus has found itself at home on holiday, White no longer wedded to a single theme but free to turn his discerning eye where he sees fit.

Where seasons one and two explored class dynamics and sexual politics, season three expanded its horizons: the complexity of midlife friendships, toxic masculinity, capitalism as a force of all-consuming corruption, the fine line between hedonism and spirituality, and, yes, brotherly incest.

Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) after his night that he could barely remember.

On that note, The White Lotus is the standard-bearer for water cooler TV, and even by that metric, this season didn’t disappoint.

Few people will forget where they were when they first watched Sam Rockwell’s monologue about wanting to be an Asian girl in lingerie; Walton Goggins’ facial reactions captured what everyone at home was feeling. An instant entrant into The White Lotus Hall of Fame, that scene was all anyone could talk about until that other scene. I’d hate to see the official Google search results for “Saxon and Lochlan incest”, but I suspect they’d be worryingly high.

Frank (Sam Rockwell) and Rick’s (Walton Goggins) Bangkok side-quest was a season three highlight.

Delivering shocking “moments” has become White’s calling card, so too serving up endlessly quotable dialogue that can be repurposed as memes to live forever on the internet. Naysayers were already fretting about the Coolidge-sized hole in season three. Who would provide the comic relief? Could anyone deliver a line such as, “These gays, they’re trying to murder me,” with that kind of timing? Enter Parker Posey. As the pill-popping Victoria Ratliff, Posey was a revelation. Her overly affected North Carolina accent single-handedly changed how everyone says “tsunami” or “Buddhism.”

While it is easy to list the quantifiable ways in which The White Lotus is great TV – inspired casting, gripping cinematography, unrivalled art direction – this series has always been one that lives and dies on the strength of its finale.

Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) got more than she bargained for in season three.

In season three, White was able to gather his loose ends and blend them (just like a poison smoothie) in a deeply satisfying yet cynical ending.

Of course, Rick’s quest for revenge descended into a Greek tragedy, ending with not only his death but the death of Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), the only person who ever really loved him. Of course, Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) learnt there are more important things in life than federal prison and being rich (and all it took was nearly killing his youngest son).

And, of course, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) and Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), the two characters we were supposed to sympathise with, end up turning into the worst versions of themselves. Gaitok betraying his Buddhist beliefs to take a life and the newly minted Belinda channelling her inner Tanya, abandoning her promise to Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), and sailing off into the sunset.

A masterful way to check out of The White Lotus. Now pass me the Lorazepam. Thomas Mitchell

The case against season three ...

“Nooo! Mike White, nooooo!”

The latest season of The White Lotus may have gone out with a bang (in fact, several), but it took seven weeks of whimpers to get there.

Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) in the final episode of The White Lotus.

Having dutifully checked in to this Thailand outing, I was excited for another twisted tale of the super-rich in all sorts of physical and psychological peril.

However, it didn’t take long before I started to feel something was amiss – not unlike Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Laurie (Carrie Coon) and Kate (Leslie Bibb) at the senior citizen’s resort (one of many unexplained plot strands). Mirroring Jason Isaacs’ Lorazepam-induced Timothy Ratliff, this season soon became the epitome of a fugue state.

Mike White, sticking to the same roll-call of characters (Screwed up family? Check. Ditsy doyenne? Check. Douche bro? Check. Criminal undercurrent? Check), trod water, with set-ups, characters and storylines going nowhere fast.

Take Isaacs’ troubled mogul who, after discovering he was about to go down for some seriously bad financial shenanigans, turned to his wife’s mind-numbing anxiety meds and henceforth wandered around in what could be an audition for The Walking Dead right up until the last few moments of the season. Even a subplot involving a stolen gun and some cocktail-induced familicide barely seemed to register with him.

Gary/Greg (Jon Gries) had little comeuppance in the final episode.

Who wasn’t on tenterhooks waiting to hear what Parker Posey’s Victoria (“I just don’t think at this age I’m meant to live an uncomfortable life”) would make of the news her life was about to become Gucci-free? It’s a crime we were denied this.

Joining Isaacs in true zombie form was the excellent Walton Goggins, whose Rick arrived rebuffing any attempt at engaging with anyone, including his girlfriend Chelsea (who had to constantly proclaim their soulmate connection as we never saw a skerrick of this otherwise). He remained infuriatingly somnambulistic until the show’s final few scenes.

K-pop star Lisa Manobal was inspired casting as Mook.

To his credit, White casts his shows impeccably, and bringing in K-pop superstar Lalisa Manobal was an inspired choice. But her character, Mook, was only there to smile at Gaitok, the world’s most inept security dude. We had to watch Gaitok look merely perturbed for an entire seven episodes (losing a gun barely causing a ripple) until those last few moments.

Then, of course, there was the simmering tension between besties Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie, which merely led to one terse dinner conversation and then a hug-it-out moment on the final night. It meant Coon’s heart-wrenching monologue didn’t really hit as hard as it could.

Laurie (Carrie Coon), Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), and Kate (Leslie Bibb) had their ups and downs but re-emerged as BFFs.

One of the season’s most unfulfilled premises was the somewhat awkward storyline concerning a sexual frisson between Ratliff brothers Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola). It was a humdinger of a plot device to drop in the first episode, and, yes, White did have this narrative come to a climax (sorry, had to) in episode four. But afterwards, he kept the siblings apart until the very end, where this situation was brushed off as Lochie merely lending a … helping hand. What?

And returning cast member Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda may have swanned about in some fabulous kaftans, but even she seemed distracted for seven-eighths of the entire season. Was the entire cast on Lorazepam?

The pacing of White Lotus has always been as languid as reclining in an infinity pool, with White drawing audiences into this seductive world before revealing the insidious yet hilarious undercurrent that exists, but this time, the creeping sexual tension and chaos hovered way too long on the periphery.

Looking back, when all we have from The White Lotus season three are some fun soundbites from the magnificent Posey and an extremely awkward monologue from guest star Sam Rockwell, I’m not sure this holiday was worth it. Because, despite gathering a thoroughly excellent ensemble, White, this time, set his twisted Love-Boat-on-land to autopilot.

Cameron Bayley

What did you think of season three of The White Lotus? Did Mike White nail or do you never want to visit the cursed hotel chain again? Let us know in the comments below or in our poll.

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