Season 3 of The White Lotus, set in Thailand, doesn’t live up to the high expectations set by the first two seasons.The previous seasons immersively captured our attention through their complicated vacationing wealthy characters but Season 3 presents characters who seem uninteresting and leads them into uneventful storylines. The characters fail to develop during most of the story because their narrative issues appear fake and uninteresting. The season finale does bring some drama, but overall, Season 3 feels like the weakest and unimpressive one yet.
The first episode starts well by showing us the new characters, but the rest of the season doesn’t do much with them. The drama feels fake, with things like pretend suicide attempts, a random theft story, and a strange speech from Sam Rockwell. Most characters feel flat and don’t really change.
We meet the out of touch Ratliff family, with Victoria, who seems clueless about her husband Timothy’s issues. Their kids Saxon, Piper, and Lochlan do not serve any meaningful purpose in the story. Meanwhile, Timothy’s constant fake panic attacks drag the pace down.
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Other characters didn’t help much. The entire story of Mook exists to support Gaitok while Chelsea devotes her season to taking care of her older boyfriend Rick only to face a bitter ending.
One part that did stand out was the story of the three girlfriends Kate, Laurie, and Jaclyn. Their relationship was messy, emotional, and well written. Carrie Coon, in particular, gave a powerful performance with a deep monologue about the meaning of life that stood out in the whole season.
Missing A Central Thread
Past seasons used to have one character that bridged all the storylines together. This season, that bridge is not present. Chloe, who dates one of the brothers and is connected to Greg, comes close but doesn’t really bring everything together. Her storyline also doesn’t seem integrated with the rest.
Belinda’s plot was one of the greatest disappointments since it was hardly developed. The hotel manager, Fabian, who desires to sing but hardly gets screen time was unnecessary. The staff this time were more like background extras rather than actual characters.
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Despite beautiful scenery and some strong performances, this Thailand vacation proves to be the weakest chapter in Mike White’s anthology series.
