The White Lotus: Season 3 review

“If you’re in Thailand, you’re either looking for something or hiding from something. Which is it?”

It’s a line from midway through the third season of The White Lotus that precisely pierces what the latest batch of generally awful rich people are up to in the highly anticipated drama from award-winner Mike White.

Details of the story have been kept largely under wraps to fuel the anticipation – but after viewing six of the eight that comprise this season, it’s perhaps fair to say that the third outing has been weighed down by the hopes of many.

Set in the Thai location of the premium White Lotus resorts, the tone is set early on with a young man undergoing a relaxation session. Seemingly on edge already, but open to letting go, the air is pierced by the popping sounds that even trouble the monkeys watching on from the nearby trees.

Needless to say, given recent world events, the popping sound is anything but innocent – and horror comes knocking to the White Lotus in a somewhat sickening manner.

But White’s less interested in giving everything away early on, with the action (such as it is) shifting to one week prior, as new sets of people check in. From the from-money Ratliff family populated by Jason Isaac’s patriarch, Parker Posey’s self-medicating wife (who needs to keep on top of pills for social situations) and three children (the frat boy swagger of Saxton, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, Lochlan the meek younger brother played by Sam Nivola who’s ripe for corruption, and the overly-fraternal reliant sister Piper); to the new age Chelsea (Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood) and her much older boyfriend Rick (a perma-sweaty Walton Goggins) and the girls trip trio headed up by Michelle Monaghan’s TV actress Jaclyn, there are plenty of awful characters ready to unravel.

Yet whereas previous seasons have delivered a seismic yet muted change in their personalities, this latest takes a little too long to get going with most of the first episode taken up by (admittedly beautifully shot) cutaways of the wildlife, the vistas and the perfection, which punctuate most of the run time.

And this time, it feels like some of the subtlety of the show is missing in action.

One episode opens with one character seemingly about to be engulfed by a tsunami – it’s not exactly a clever image, and while it is shocking to see (along with some actual footage of a man standing still on the beach when the Boxing Day tsunami hits), it feels like White has played it too easily this time around. Equally the inertia bleeds out into the episodes' endings, most of which focus on Jason Isaac's character - originality in this run is missing, in its place a slow burn and a nagging feeling that something's awry.

That’s not to say there aren’t moments when The White Lotus feels like it captures some of its former glories – but it’s hard to shake a feeling of déjà vu in some of the storylines that play out – from missing pills to other more spoiler-filled moments, the narrative offers as many peaks and troughs as the waves it captures on screen.

While it’s likely many will pore over the sense of recognition in the characters, the mirror reflection on society this time isn’t quite as powerful as it has been. 

From the way a girls’ trip transforms into the microaggressions that have always been present during friendship to the inability of men to open up to their feelings and thoughts, the Americans behaving badly in paradise feels less fresh and the targets a little more obvious when compared to the prior seasons.

Yet with scenes that shine – from Parker Posey’s tart observations over what could happen if they lost it all to Jason Isaac’s slow falling apart, there are moments where The White Lotus season 3 feels like it’s almost there – a kind of Not Quite Lotus in some ways.

Spirituality forms the background of this latest, but it’s not entirely clear that White has anything incisive to say that much culture examination has already provided. From phone addictions to unrequited love and carnal lust, there’s not much that hasn’t already been explored.

It won’t matter though – this run should prove to feel critic proof. But after six episodes, while there is a slow pondering feeling that it’s building towards something and is taking its damn time to get there, it lacks the previous seasons’ laser-sharp focus on the fallout of toxic behaviour.

The White Lotus premieres at 4pm on Neon on February 17. Six of the eight episodes of Season 3 were viewed for the purpose of this review.