‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 assessment: Juicy drama, nice performances, nonetheless underwhelming

After two seasons analyzing the interaction of sophistication, privilege, intercourse, and constancy, Mike White’s The White Lotus turns its gaze on wellness and spirituality in its Thailand-set third season.

That is as a result of the White Lotus resort we enterprise to this season is not only a luxurious resort — it is also a world-renowned spa and wellness retreat. Massages, guided meditations, and personalised well being plans are all part of the bundle, providing company the promise of a brand new, higher them by the top of their keep. (Given the personalities we meet this season, quite a lot of them may use it!) However a trip is not a cure-all, and the surface world inevitably comes crashing into the company’ excellent trip bubbles.

Just like the prior two White Lotus seasons, what follows is a strain cooker of social tensions and private crises, all main as much as a lethal conclusion. However the place Seasons 1 and a couple of felt extra thematically targeted and bodily contained — the latter extra so in Season 1 on account of COVID-19 restrictions — Season 3 threatens to spiral into bloat, solely thinly skimming the floor of its heady themes.

The White Lotus Season 3 welcomes a couple of too many company.

That bloat kicks off with Season 3’s intensive solid, a White Lotus staple from season to season. On this outing, although, the disparity between which group of company will get essentially the most airtime is way increased, making for a extra disjointed season.

Amongst our most important teams is the Ratliff household, headed up by businessman Timothy (Jason Isaacs, Baldur’s Gate 3) and his Lorazepam-loving spouse Victoria (Parker Posey, Beau Is Afraid). They’ve headed to Thailand so their daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook, First Kill) can work on her school thesis about Buddhism, and their sons Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger, Gen V) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola, White Noise) are alongside for the trip.

If you happen to thought Season 2’s Cameron (Theo James) was a nightmare, you are not prepared for the poisonous finance bro power Schwarzenegger brings to Saxon. Lochlan, for his half, appears torn between which two of his eldest siblings to emulate. Ought to he attempt to be extra just like the religious but naive Piper? Or ought to he embrace Saxon’s protein shake-chugging masculinity?

Lochlan’s identification disaster is not the one one on the White Lotus. When Timothy learns he is been implicated in a significant white collar crime, he displays on who he may very well be if he loses all the things, and the way he may break the information to his household. Elsewhere, conflicted traveler Rick (Walton Goggins, Fallout) grapples with long-ago household trauma, whereas his youthful girlfriend, Chelsea, (Aimee Lou Wooden, Intercourse Training) encourages him to soak up all the things the wellness resort has to supply. Possibly he is one life-changing therapeutic massage away from being much less stressed-out. Questions of identification prolong to the White Lotus workers too, with safety guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) attempting to resolve what sort of man he needs to be in an effort to impress his crush, resort well being mentor Mook (Lalisa Manobal, also called BLACKPINK’s Lisa).

White spends the meat of the season with the Ratliffs and Rick and Chelsea, every of whom use totally different coping mechanisms, from medication to meditation, to be “well.” Sarcastically, many of those company appear to get little aid from the remedies they traveled hundreds of miles to obtain.

The White Lotus is doing an excessive amount of in Season 3.

Natasha Rothwell in “The White Lotus.”
Credit score: Fabio Lovino / HBO

However within the midst of the Ratliff and Rick and Chelsea storylines, The White Lotus loses give attention to a few of its different compelling new additions. The story of longtime pals Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan, MaXXXine), Kate (Leslie Bibb, Juror #2), and Laurie (Carrie Coon, His Three Daughters) reuniting for trip is rife with juicy energy dynamics, commentary on getting old, and sniping gossip — all of that are heightened by Jaclyn’s standing as a well-known TV actress. But there’s little connective tissue between the trio and the remainder of the goings-on on the White Lotus, to the purpose that Monaghan, Bibb, and Coon typically really feel like they’re in a bubble off to the facet.

Struggling the identical destiny is The White Lotus Season 1’s spa supervisor Belinda (Natasha Rothwell, The best way to Die Alone), who’s in Thailand to be taught extra about their world-class choices. The primary six episodes despatched to critics for screening make it clear that her story is constructing to one thing main, however for now, her presence looks like too little, too late. (Particularly contemplating how fantastic Rothwell is within the position.)

Belinda and the trio aren’t the one characters who appear to be getting the quick finish of the stick this season. Resort supervisor Fabian (Christian Friedel, The Zone of Curiosity) would not get a lot to do in comparison with his predecessors Armand (Murray Bartlett) and Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore). Plus, his goals of singing on the resort really feel like leftovers from Season 2, when Mia (Beatrice Grannò) begged Valentina to let her carry out within the White Lotus lounge.

The White Lotus Season 3 nonetheless affords up nice performances and juicy drama.

Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wooden in “The White Lotus.”
Credit score: Fabio Lovino / HBO

Regardless of its many shortcomings, The White Lotus Season 3 nonetheless nails many elements of its formulation. Its solid (even the underused members) is aces throughout the board, with particular shout-outs in an effort to Posey and Wooden. Although Victoria and Chelsea’s companions are those who go on essentially the most emotionally fraught journeys, neither Posey nor Wooden fade into the background as equipment to tortured males. As a substitute, the pair are pleasant mirrors to 1 one other: Victoria experiences life via a lens of judgment and previous cash, whereas Chelsea is a free spirit raring to go wherever life takes her. Their variations apart, these characters each find yourself with a number of the funniest strains and scenes of the present.

The White Lotus continues to reward us with outrageous moments prepared for web notoriety this season, though nothing up to now has topped, “These gays, they’re trying to murder me.” Dinner scenes stay rife with awkward conversations and nasty one-liners (most of them from Saxon), with White clearly reveling in skewering out-of-touch rich individuals, irrespective of the place they fall on the political spectrum. White additionally pushes the envelope additional this season, exploring new threats and taboos that left me freaking out.

Total, although, the season up to now looks like The White Lotus is floundering in its makes an attempt to each broaden on its formulation and keep true to it on the similar time. It needs to have all the things without delay: soapy drama and religious commentary, the resort’s claustrophobia and an extended facet tour to Bangkok. Sadly, the result’s without delay overstuffed and underdeveloped, albeit with a slim glimmer of hope that the finale can pull all these disparate threads collectively in spectacular vogue.

The White Lotus Season 3 premieres Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.