"The White Lotus" Season 3 Recap 7 Months Later: Why You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Mike White revealed that he initially had low expectations when he first pitched “The White Lotus” to HBO (watch the interview with Whoop on youtube), remembering the initial inception of what would be the writer’s most decorated project, which originally started shooting at the apex of the covid pandemic. Now at the start of this year the series has officially concluded it’s first trip in Southeast Asia. He credited his success greatly to the lack of new content at the time but critics and fans alike have demonstrated that what has made the show so compelling is its narration of real, common, and problematic, human characterisation through the lens of the ultra-wealthy. Now, seven months after the show’s third season finale, we can take the behaviour of Thailand’s most culpable vacationers, as well as the staff of the enabling resort they stay in, and reflect on the consequences that come from turning a blind eye.

As follows White Lotus tradition, - you know, the show where all the super-rich assholes with psychological trauma are assholes to each other and all these assholes don’t go through any meaningful growth because they’re ignorant assholes and everyone accommodates to their every ridiculous demand and when things don’t go their way it’s not a sign to look within themselves, but to keep up this asshole behaviour because nothing beats a check? - we were subjected to traumatic sex experiences, a violent ending, our least favourite characters finding some moments of redemption, and our favourite characters letting us down. Mike White has never failed to remind his audience of his philosophy that success in life (which for the sake of clarity I’m very simply defining as when you’re on your deathbed, will you be happy with the life you lived?) cannot be both superficial and genuine - a more lucrative career has the trade off of giving up on the ideals one holds most to heart in the case of Gaitok (Tayme Thaptimong).

Gaitok is pressured by Mook to be ambitious, which on its own is a positive thing, but it feels depressing watching him have to give up his religious standards and go against his own morals in the chase of a more impressive career. He faces a dilemma between his moral code and the benefits of a “killer instinct”, and the decisions he makes eventually allow him to live the life he’s wanted, but at an ugly cost, was it worth it? Overall, it just made me sad to see Gaitok turn into an arrogant security guard after what made me root for him in the beginning was how he didn’t want to be that person at all. I mean he got the girl, but was it worth it?

I always rooted for Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) when she managed the resort’s spa in Maui; she didn’t dismiss Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) despite her being the most obnoxious and out of touch privileged white lady she’s likely to have ever met, instead she noticed a deep grief in someone mourning the loss of a parent and helped her in whatever way she could. She inspired hope in Tanya and Tanya gave Belinda more hope than she’s ever had - until she met Greg and shattered all of the dreams Belinda was just beginning to think could come true. For three years Belinda has been established as an extremely emotionally stable character who stands by her morals and cares for others. In this season, we watched her struggle with nature and embrace what makes us uncomfortable, and that felt great. She made human connections, which we already knew she was great at, and she found a man who shared her goals. But the key word is struggle. On her journey to reconnect with nature and embrace the beauty of a clean spirit, Belinda could not step foot outside her cushy villa without being scared by harmless lizards that made up this ecosystem. I think Belinda knows she can’t find balance without accepting the existence of imbalance, but she still hasn’t been able to put this into practice.

Pornchai is able to help her with this, much like she did with Tanya, and just like Tanya, she builds his hopes up to start a business together just to run off when she gets what she wants out of Greg. Sound familiar? Belinda really reflects the image we have of ourselves, and the fear of how quickly we could switch our priorities if we came to wealth. I think White really made full use of Belinda this season to represent this toxic cycle of “someone hurt me this way, so now I’ll hurt someone else the same”. It really felt like a bitter-sweet pay off to have this connection between the two seasons that also provoked more reflection.

Another character that I have similar feelings for this season is Piper (Sarah Hook): Piper hits close to home, she is me, she is people I know, she is probably you. What I mean by that is how she represents being an active bystander in words, but a passive one in actions. She knows how unethical her lifestyle is, but when it comes to it all she’s strong enough to do is talk. Not because she’s afraid, but because her life is too comfortable to give up on.

Even though she tries to preach the immorality of being superficial and the unfairness of capitalism, she still wears the headphones that keep her detached from nature, she still does yoga in the same pants she shames others for wearing, she still doesn’t appreciate how good she truly has it, and more importantly, how she doesn’t need it. When Piper tries to stay at the temple for a night it makes sense she’d be uncomfortable with a completely contradicting lifestyle, but she outright rejects it. And what made her so relatable is just that. That it is so much easier to say that you don’t need all the luxuries in your life than to actually go without them.

Now that we have explored Piper’s conflicting mind let’s investigate the root: Tim and Victoria Ratliff (Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey). Parents are always the first we blame for a child’s faults, but in this instance, there is actually no doubt about it. Tim is a greedy businessman who made “only 10 million out of (his) stupid fucking scheme” about to be uncovered by the FBI, meanwhile Victoria is clueless to it all and happy living her numbed life on anti-depressants and sleep. Tim pursued money because he thought that would make him a loved person, like his father and grandfather before him. And White uses him to ask his audience when money goes away in an instant, are you truly satisfied with yourself?

The Father of the Ratliffs gave us eight weeks to decide what we’re worth, and what money is worth to us. Did we live up to our parents’ image? Did we support those close to us, did we play a role in making them become better versions of themselves? Tim reflects on all these questions after he meets his daughter’s idol, a celebrated monk who teaches Buddhism in the Temple Piper is hoping to stay at. The monk tells Tim that he “cannot outrun pain”, and must embrace the consequences of his actions.

Tim does not respond well to his situation, and his murderous suicide-nightmares lead him to try and poison his whole family (excluding Lochlan, the only person there who actually has faith in himself to be able to survive without money). A short-lived attempted murder-suicide causes Tim to have a change of heart and a hopeful ending in the final seconds of the season finale. This all ties in with the character Tim is; a man who has been misguided by his community growing up on what it means to provide for your family.

Little of these positive affirmations can be said about his wife however, Victoria Ratliff, the Lorazepam Queen herself. Posey outstandingly portrays a chronically dozing off and out of touch narcissist with a Southern drawl and a superiority complex that cannot handle the stress of a high-end wellness sanctuary without her prescription benzodiazepines and catnaps. Victoria is who we all hope we never become. She would sooner die than give up her lifestyle, and does her best to rub off all of her own toxic traits onto her children. Finally, she convinces her children to fear poverty above all else and tells them that it would “be offensive to the billions of people who can only dream” to not enjoy how they live shamelessly.

The Final Character of this not-so dynamic family actually ends up being the one who goes through the most inner-change and hints at a transforming outlook on the world: Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Saxon. Saxon is the eldest and the greatest victim to his parent’s propaganda. He is the ultimate disturbed, disrespectful, nepo baby finance bro. He works at his father’s company but has not yet realised the severity of Tim’s concerning behaviour, which he is too busy to piece together for the most part as he tries to find attractive girls for him and his brother to “have a go at” on their trip. Saxon’s been great at really promoting the sex tourist reputation that Thailand gets.. He shows us how douchey we can really get, and warns us about the reality of the extremist delusional alpha male mentality.

Saxon makes those sensible enough around him to be uncomfortable- well, uncomfortable with his obsession about sex, subtle racism and stereotyping, as well as his attempt to turn his brother into someone just like him. All it takes is edibles and a scarring sex encounter between him and his brother for Saxon to realise how wrong his beliefs are. When he goes to Chelsea for guidance, a little hope does shine for his future, and his commitment to reading Chelsea’s books feels genuine. Saxon could be White’s way of telling us to not give up on men, or people, no matter how much of a lost cause they may seem.

What has been missing from The White Lotus has always been a toxic friendship. Thankfully, Jaclyn, Laurie, and Kate were up to the task this season, and did a splendid job. Jaclyn and Kate feel superior to the rest in different condescending ways, and mask it with their own friendliness to gain a lead: Jaclyn fakes humility around strangers, and behind doors uses her husband as a trophy, meanwhile Kate relies on her faith and traditional lifestyle to put her in an innocent and covetable light, but Laurie is upfront with how she feels. She truly believes her friends have matured enough to be reliable rocks that can give her the emotional support she needs, but they’re too self-centred to realise the reality of their friend’s pain. Instead, they use it as a catalyst to gossip behind her back.

I enjoyed these characters because they felt the most real this season, and I’m sure many of you have empathised with the relationship these characters have, and can look back and really appreciate their groundedness, I felt that this quality in particular is what made their ending that much more satisfying, find mutual acceptance and support, appreciating the fortune of long-lasting friendships. (Read more on how many fans across the world saw themselves in Jaclyn, Kate & Laurie Here)

Finally, it is time to talk about the most compelling couple of this season (according to me): Chelsea and Rick, played by Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins, are the perfect example of what makes a healthy relationship- or rather, what doesn’t. Rick is only motivated to be here to find some sense of satisfaction in a world that he believes has hurt him, and his answer to that? . Rick haunts himself over the death of his father and is unable to move past it, Goggins explains this in an interview with the New York Times, how Rick has grasped the source of his pain but he still hasn’t been able to let it go.

This is where Chelsea comes in: his emotional opposite. Chelsea is like a wise oracle this season, she knows what’s wrong with everyone she meets, and she’s great at letting them know, whether they take her advice however is a different story. While Saxon listened, Rick diverted from her lessons. She is far more emotionally and spiritually stable than her counterpart, and finds true satisfaction in embracing Rick’s bad behaviour. But her deep desire to “fix” him is ultimately what leads to her death, which she already knew of course. And we all did. She told us in the very first episode, she’s determined to help him “get his joy back, even if it kills (her)”, remember?

Chelsea is in it because she wants to see who will win this “yin and yang battle”. She wants to heal him, but should she? Is it right of Chelsea for her only stake in this to be her pity? She is so emotionally mature and yet her empathy forces her to grow attached to a poisonous snake, even though she knows Rick represents pain. She says “Snakes are evil”, to which Rick replies “Even evil things shouldn’t get treated like shit. It’s only gonna make them more evil”. But Rick’s evil hurts Chelsea. He almost kills her, and her response to that is to get even closer, Rick lets his pain consume him and hurt those he cares about, and that damage only attracts Chelsea more. White seems to be using these foils to show that neither side is truly better than the other, but a balance is what’s most important. They can’t find that. Rick and Chelsea aren’t a balance of pain and hope, they’re an overflow of both, and that’s what leads to their tragic ending.

Before I end this recap I wanted to make sure I included some points I didn’t have the chance to fit into the original article:

- First and foremost I want to thank Noel Murray for making sure to put forth the thought of “comparing the bald men at the resort (rich, surrounded by young women) with the bald men at the temple (spiritual, surrounded by believers)”. This is such an interesting detail, especially when you consider the scene when we first see Chloe and how she labels them as “losers at home”. Would have been a really creative point of entry! I say this because I wanted to take Frank into consideration as a representation of both.

- I’m really enjoying the role that the setting has played in the show’s stories, whether it was this season’s journey to disrupt inner peace being manifested by water guns, wild reptiles, or the contrast of buddhism, season two’s fidelity crisis and christianism, or the first season’s underlying themes of colonialism. I’m really excited to see what the next location could bring out of White

- The score for this show has been beautiful and has aided the ambiance masterfully. I'm sad to see Cristóbal Tapia de Veer leave as the composer, but I wonder what impact this will have on the next season (which has been confirmed guys, no need to worry).

- The theme of the open water has always been very significant to “The White Lotus”, and I wish I’d have taken the time to address that too. It really has been its own character in this show.

- I can’t believe that Greg’s been the reason for destroying a spa manager’s dreams TWICE. I wonder what that’s about..

- Please do share any thoughts you have on this and what you might have had on this season! And remember, if you’ve felt inspired to write your own article, contact us to get started with no hesitation.