The White Lotus (Season 3)

 

We're back for a week long stay at The White Lotus! This time we're at their resort in Thailand. Season 3 of the show follows the same format as seasons 1 & 2. A group of tourists arrive at the hotel, each with different agendas for their vacation, and chaos occurs over the course of the week. This season is probably more serious and less comedic than previous seasons. You know something bad is going to happen, as the beginning of the season actually starts at the end, with bullets flying throughout the hotel common ground. But you don't know specifically who is involved with the bullets flying. There's something about this season that is a bit unsettling, a feeling that lasts throughout its duration. Once again, the music is phenomenal, and does a great job of highlighting the anxiety that hangs around the hotel. The main storylines, as summarized by ChatGTP:

The Ratliff Family

A wealthy Southern family arrives seeking spiritual renewal:

• Tim Ratliff, a powerful businessman, is hiding serious legal and financial trouble.

• Victoria, his wife, clings to appearances and denial.

• Their children struggle with entitlement, repression, and emotional detachment.

Rick & Chelsea

• Rick, a bitter, emotionally closed man, arrives with his younger, free-spirited girlfriend Chelsea.

• Rick is on a personal mission tied to unresolved trauma and revenge.

• Chelsea searches for meaning and connection but slowly realizes Rick’s darkness may consume them both.

The Women’s Friend Group

Three longtime friends reunite:

• Their surface-level harmony masks resentment, competition, and judgment.

• Conversations about wellness, relationships, and success gradually turn cruel.

• Old wounds reopen, revealing how time hasn’t healed their insecurities—only buried them.

These characters also interact with staff members, including Belinda, a spa worker from The White Lotus Hawaii, a character who has been in all 3 seasons, and security guard Gaitok and spa worker Mook. Gaitok has a crush on Mook, and I was convinced the entire season that Gaitok was going to be killed. Luckily he wasn't, and their relationship appeared to be progressing forward, which is nice! Belinda runs into Greg, a character who was in season 2 and killed Belida's friend Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge). Greg happens to be living near the hotel in Thailand, evading authorities. Belinda is suspicious of Greg, and ends up getting $5 million of hush money from Greg. I have a feeling this isn't the last time we're going to hear about their stories.

The women's friend group, featuring characters played by Leslie Bibb & Michelle Monaghan, were the least interesting characters, so I won't spend any time on them. I do want to focus on the Ratliff family, however. They're a family who on the surface seem to be perfect - degrees from Duke, wealthy, successful, etc. Things rapidly fall apart for them when Tim (Jason Isaacs) finds out he has been named as part of an FBI investigation for embezzlement. He spends the entire vacation trying to hide this from his family and keep cool, while becoming addicted to his wife's anxiety medicine and contemplating suicide and killing his family. It's super dark and unsettling, and reminds me of the plot of several 48 Hours mysteries I've seen. His wife (played by Parker Posey), clings hard to appearances and materialistic items, and is in complete denial about what is going on with her husband and kids. Their oldest son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is a complete douche, while their daughter Piper (Sarah Hook) is the black sheep of the family, completely uninterested in materialistic items and wants to live in a monetary. The middle child Lochlan (Sam Nivola) is stuck somewhere in the middle, being pulled towards acting like Saxon at times and like Piper at other times. The Ratliff family has the most complex story, and the entire time I thought one (or all) of them were not going to leave Thailand alive. While this came very close to being true, they all end up surviving.

This leaves us with Rick and Chelsea. Rick's (Walton Goggins) purpose for being in Thailand is to confront the owner of the hotel, who he thinks killed his father. Rick appears to be a burned out middle-aged man, always smoking and drinking and he just generally looks like he has lived a rough life. I was hoping they would get a bit into his back story, but unfortunately they didn't. He's paired with Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), a much younger and much more outgoing person. They are polar opposites on the personality spectrum, which makes them as a couple interesting to watch. Rick eventually confronts the hotel owner and kills him, just before learning that he actually is his father (a bit of a Star Wars moment). A chase occurs, resulting in Rick and Chelsea being shot and killed by security guard Gaitok, resulting in his raise. I felt bad for Chelsea, because she seemed like a good person, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time just because Rick was a jerk. And that is how the season ends. Although Walton Goggins is great, I wasn't sad to see his character Rick die.