Wanderlust can take control when a vacation begins, an insatiable need to explore and desire to find new experiences. The feeling claws its way in and breaks down inhibitions once away from home, in a new place, settled into a hotel away from everything that festers in life back home. It’s when the darkness creeps into the vacation that can turn a trip into a nightmare. The White Lotus, Mike White’s limited-turn-drama-series, returns for a third season to HBO to further investigate the emotional weight that can ruin not only a vacation, but also lives.
The season opens with the calmness of The White Lotus Thailand interrupted by an active shooter situation, thrusting the characters into violence before beginning again a week earlier, with new guests arriving at the resort. Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), a well-known television actress, arrives with her childhood best friends, insecure Lori (Emmy nominee Carrie Coon) and prudish Kate (Leslie Bibb), to reconnect now that they’re all living in separate corners of the United States. The Ratliff family, Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and Victoria (Emmy nominee Parker Posey) bring their sons, older brother Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and younger, more shy Lochlan (Sam Nivola, White Noise), along as their daughter, Piper (First Kill’s Piper Ratliff), visits a well-known monastery to research for her upcoming thesis. They arrive holding Southern values and frustrations with one another — Victoria also clinging to her trusted benzos in her purse — that simmer the moment they step off the boat. Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood, Sex Education) is at the resort with her boyfriend, Rick (Walton Goggins, Fallout), purely for vacation while he seems detached and keen to handle affairs that might be happening elsewhere, possibly having something to do with Sritala Hollinger (Patravadi Mejudhon), one of the owners of the hotel who is more concerned with her make-up application than the punctuality of her guests arrival. Visiting from her White Lotus location in Maui is Belinda (a returning Natasha Rothwell), here for work to gain a better understanding of spa techniques from a different place in the world. She arrives expecting her son, Zion (Nicholas Duvernay), to join her in a few days, still grasping at the idea of one day owning her own wellness center. The third season of the HBO drama brings its cast to The White Lotus Resort in Thailand, a peaceful place where relaxation and positive energy are the highest priorities for guest satisfaction.
Being on vacation should be stress-free, but the previous two seasons have firmly proven that traveling can wash the mind of worries so thoroughly that nothing exists but desire. After being greeted upon arrival at the resort, everyone settles into their rooms. The Ratcliff family immediately starts off with a verbal sparring with one of the staff members who only wants to collect their electronics. Timothy, a businessman whose anxiety heightens with every passing minute, denies this request. Jason Isaacs hones in on a palpable frustration and anxiety that sits on Timothy’s shoulders like the chip he’s never gotten rid of. It’s just another grievance Piper has with her family, not taking what she wants seriously, only looking inward instead of noticing her needs. Victoria takes a pill at every opportunity, immediately falling into an Ativan-induced slumber when the excitement of arrival wears off. Lori, Jaclyn, and Kate seem excited to see one another — why wouldn’t they? It’s seemingly been years, the business of their adult lives and different cities preventing more consistent meet-ups. (Lori is newly single in New York, Jacquelyn lives in L.A. with her younger boyfriend, Kate is married with kids in Austin). Lifelong friendships have the potential to hold resentments from years past, even dating back to the inception of friendship in high school, where once small issues have festered into a decades long problem with no resolution. Carrie Coon is a joy to see in this role, a woman so close to unraveling around her old friends that any slight, real or imagined, sends her into a tailspin. Small comments made between the three indicate underlying tensions, especially when Lori bursts into tears after seeing the other two having a private conversation from her window, a mounting insecurity enveloping her. The people that have known us the longest have the potential to damage us the most.
Rick is enigmatic and to himself, almost exclusively speaking to Chelsea about their vacation and straying away from others. Walton Goggins doesn’t have as much screen time as other cast members, leaving him with scenes that force his performance to seem one-note. As the episodes unfold, a greater mystery with him is revealed that follows him seeking closure for a life-altering event in his past, but even this is handled as a side quest that feels so far away from the narrative that it almost feels like a different show. Each story unraveling slowly around the others makes this season even more entertaining than its previous two installments, a genuine excitement built around each reveal as the end draws near. Over the six episodes provided to critics, The White Lotus pushes itself to be better than ever before by focusing on a slightly smaller group of vacationers, allowing the season to be a more focused and refined version of what the series can offer. There is mingling amongst the guests, but slightly less than before, with more organic interactions between the characters that brings a grounded realism to the narrative. The series took the criticisms the first season received around locals in a predominantly non-white country being pushed into the background in favor of white actors taking center stage in the series, now pulling focus towards more of the staff as well. One of the warmer relationships to follow is that between security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) and Mook (Lalisa Manoban), a woman on staff that lights up anytime she sees Gaitok. As Gaitok finds himself entangled in drama caused by some of the guests, Mook serves as a reminder of peace, their relationship being the best of the entire season, even in small interactions and glances. The season goes further to highlight the importance of its location by having the Thai version of the subtitles imposed behind the English subtitles. It’s a small but effective touch that reminds the audience that all the guests are just that: guests. This is not their home, they’re just travelers who are bringing their problems around the world with them.
Belinda’s Armond (Murray Bartlet) at this resort, Christian Friedel’s (The Zone of Interest) Fabian, – doesn’t exhibit any real importance across the episodes, a disappointing utilization of Friedel’s talents. He shows up in scenes seemingly to earn his name in the credits, but nothing substantial that adds to the narrative. Belinda is the most gracious guest at the Thailand resort, an evident appreciation brightening her smile as she moves through her work with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), whose calming presence offers a more potent connection than one might usually have with someone that is training them. Hetrakul is excellent, a natural aura of intimacy surrounding him during his scenes, he’s a stand out of the season. It’s easy to forget yourself in a different place, as if where you’re from doesn’t exist, the problems you know evaporate for the time that your reality only includes what is right in front of you. This is where issues can arise, however, as the real world doesn’t stop existing while we’re on vacation, even if it feels that way. Our bodies carry the stress of reality wherever we go, our past tucked away in the back of our mind like a blanket in the bags we lug down to the beach, concealed but still weighing us down.
As each group’s vacation progresses, tensions within that unit start rising, turning the resort into a pressure cooker. The Ratcliff children have to deal with the neuroses of their parents, their mother’s pill addiction on full display under Parker Posey’s hilarious performance. These different groups aren’t connected to one another but have a through-line of expectations suffocating them. As each episode passes, the façade of seemingly having it all gives way to the reality of life, producing an incisive look at how bottled up everyone is. The season boasts the series’ most beautiful colors, emerald green pervasive in each frame with dashes of blue sprinkled throughout. The White Lotus has never looked better, the sharpness of the colors uprooting the golden sheen the previous seasons had and allowing the beauty of Thailand to speak for itself. The peacefulness some scenes exhibit directly reflect the calmness of the resort, the silence waiting to be interrupted by the problems guests have brought in with them. This season finds itself weaving in central mysteries from the previous two seasons while investigating the lives of everyone else at the resort, the story having a fullness the sophomore season found itself lacking. Within the calm lies crassness, full-frontal nudity, and awkward sexual situations that all accentuate the emotional throes of being on vacation. Mike White has course-corrected back to what works for the series while keeping plots connected as audiences move from one country to the next, one White Lotus to another. With a high-profile cameo to elevate the series on a bejeweled pedestal, HBO has another must-watch season of television on their hands.
Even with a second season that found itself losing the hype of the first, creator Mike White dug into what works best for his series — tossing in a few penises here and there — and pushed it back towards excellence for season three. The White Lotus continues to investigate the truths of vacationing and the lives of others that intermingle during stays in foreign places. The first six episodes are indicative of greatness, a return to form that sees the series reach new heights, pursue new levels of weird, and push itself back into being the hottest show on television. You’re going to want to confirm your reservation for this one.
Grade: A-
The White Lotus returns to HBO and streaming on MAX for its third season with eight weekly episodes beginning Sunday, February 16.
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