HBO’s buzzy limited series continues with its third iteration, this time traveling to an idyllic resort in Thailand. As in past seasons, the sordid lives of the hotel guests and staff intersect in fascinating ways, with creative mastermind Mike White doling out just enough juicy details in each episode to keep viewers coming back for more.
Buy The White Lotus: The Complete Third Season DVDThe season primarily revolves around the wealthy Ratliff family, headed by Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey. Even if you don’t watch the show, it’s been hard to miss Posey’s hilariously exaggerated Southern pronunciations of her lines, going viral just for mangling words like “Lorazepam,” “Buddhist,” and “tsunami.” The British Isaacs tries to get in on the fun, but never quite lands his Southern flavor. They’re parents to three spoiled young adults without any discernible Southern accents, conveniently played by real-life nepo babies Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola along with normie Sarah Catherine Hook.
Meanwhile, three old friends are having a girls vacation together, footloose and fancy free as they indulge in the native and imported delights. Michelle Monaghan plays a celebrity, so basically herself, while Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon are her less successful friends who have remained close with her. When the resort’s hunky resident Russian masseuse suggests some extracurricular activities with his Russian friends, they’re only too happy to explore the local wonders.
And then there’s Walton Goggins, completely shredding his farcical Baby Billy persona from The Righteous Gemstones for something approaching a soulful sex symbol. He’s paired with young girlfriend Aimee Lou Wood, but distracted from relaxation due to his real reason for the trip: his vendetta against the wealthy hotel owner he believes killed his father. He gets an assist from an old buddy gone native played by Sam Rockwell, popping in for half the episodes in a scene-stealing role.
But wait, there’s more: providing a throughline from the other seasons, Jon Gries returns as a newly wealthy slimeball also paired with a much younger woman, Charlotte Le Bon, whose character is friends with Wood’s character. Natasha Rothwell also returns from season one, sampling the Thai resort while on assignment from the Maui branch, consequently putting heat on Gries’s shady character since she’s the only one who recognizes him from the past.
If things are starting to feel a bit overstuffed, they definitely are, especially for a season that only runs for eight episodes. And we didn’t even get to the local Thai characters, here primarily played by Tayme Thapthimthong as a dutiful security guard named Gaitok and Lalisa Manoban as Mook, the object of his affection, a worker and traditional dancer at the resort. Manoban is of course more widely known as simply Lisa, the global K-pop superstar following in her Blackpink bandmate Jennie’s HBO acting footsteps (The Idol) to much more impressive results. White fumbles the writing of her sweet character by making her reciprocal interest in Gaitok contingent on his job advancement, but she brings genuine down-to-earth warmth and charm to her underdeveloped role.
White also errs with his insistence on veering into unsavory territory, here primarily involving a threesome involving the Ratliff brothers and Le Bon, with an emphasis on the brothers. He just can’t seem to resist letting his freak flag fly, stepping so far outside the bounds of decency that it recalls his indelibly creepy performance and writing in the film Chuck & Buck a quarter century ago. And that seems to be where he’s at now, more interested in depraved shock value for viral currency than revisiting the frothy comedy of Season One. HBO is content to let him push the envelope, getting top ratings from his incestuous sleaze just like Game of Thrones, but one hopes his return to Europe next season also heralds a renewed focus on the laughs, not the lechery.
While the series remains available on HBO Max and digital platforms, this DVD set is currently the only physical media option. That’s a shame for a top-tier show with high production design, resigned to a subpar format along with the first two seasons. At least HBO sprang for some bonus features, including an in-depth look at their Thailand location, a closet tour, unpacking each episode, and character overviews.
