There were two main talking points when Season 2 of The White Lotus aired almost three years ago: who's going die, and how good is that theme song?
A club-adjacent track that promised intrigue and opulence before each episode, Mike White's Sicily vacation-gone-wrong was heralded as television's song of the summer. In its latest season, composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer returns to announce the vibe once again, via a more perturbing banger. Hark, everyone: Season 3 of The White Lotus is longer, darker, freakier.
On his third trip to the fictional resort chain where disaster perfected its strike, writer/director/Survivor alum White sets up a new cast of rich vacationers and the resort workers who have to deal with them. But the White Lotus in Thailand is not only a hotel, it's also a wellness centre where the wealthy meet with their "health mentor" and attempt a digital detox, taking guided meditations and posture improvement sessions. As in seasons past, all episodes (the first three of which were made available for review) captures a day or so of action on- and off-site. But a new direction — the one that goes inwards — is what takes Season 3 beyond its co-holders in scale and hilarity as the self-involved now try to look inwards.
Just as Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya did in Sicily, these guests don't interact with the land they're on, or the realities of existence there; rather, they engage with the idea sold to them. For them, Thailand serves as a place of spiritual promise and self-release, one meant to be gawked at and gleaned from.
Longtime friends Laurie (Carrie Coon), Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) eat, pray, and love while they catch up. Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) writes her thesis and wants to interview a monk, while her parents, played by Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey, tag along with her brothers (Patrick Schwarzeneger and Sam Nivola) in tow. Brooding dude Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) rounds out the guests with his much younger girlfriend (Aimee Lou Wood).
Each guest, most of them insufferable and insatiable, cheekily echo former visitors who struggled to make it through the week, reflected against locals whom White presents with perfect dignity. The series introduces Blackpink's Lalisa Manobal (a.k.a. LISA) in her acting debut as health mentor Mook, and Tayme Thaptimthomp as Gaitok, the security guard with a crush on her. Returning from the show's first season is Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), taking in Thailand on a work trip. As is tradition, no weak links exist on The White Lotus. The entire ensemble works in perfect tandem with their characters, directed with a delirious confidence as the series ventures into new territories.
Unlike the manicured villas and beaches before, nature prevails at the White Lotus in Thailand. Thick greenery pushes against the resort, its guests surrounded by thick canopies while they dig their own graves. Countless monkeys and monitor lizards gawk from the trees. Wasps insert themselves further into the beehive below.
Like animals and the uber-rich, The White Lotus prevails on its own terms. Strutting without second thought on the line between anthology and serialized television, the series claims its spot as one of HBO and Crave's Sunday-night best. Like White's other scripts, Season 3 contains a kaleidoscope of subversive gags and truths he's too polite to say out loud.
We've seen the primary truth before on The White Lotus: just because someone is rich, it doesn't mean that they're invincible. Yes, money can be a tool for being proactive, but it can't protect when nature — human or otherwise — comes for you.