The White Lotus is back for season three at long last, and we are immediately in familiar whodunnit, or rather, whogotit, territory from the start. In the White Lotus hotel in Thailand, we first see Zion (Nicholas Duvernay), the son of Belinda (Natasha Rothwell, who is the only returning cast member, from season one’s White Lotus in Hawaii), sat in the Lotus position with a Buddhist wellness guide encouraging him to silence his “chattering monkey brain,” – with all the monkeys around the resort, consider this a key metaphor for this season – when gunshots are heard.
He dives to the ground, then slips into the water below, fearing for the life of his mum. After praying to Jesus and insulting a statue of the Buddha, a body floats towards him. But whose?. Season two started in much the same way, with a body floating in the ocean. Few at the start would have predicted it would be Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya, and it’s way too soon to hazard a guess who this is. But what of the action that preceded the death? Terror attack? Disgruntled employee? Guest gone beserk?.
We’ll go with the latter, since watching rich guests unravel is what The White Lotus is all about. To see the privileged separated from their usual spoilt environs and having their identities stripped away or made monstrous by an alien environment. First our attention is drawn to the Ratliff family. High flying financier Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) and his sleepy wife Victoria (a drawling Parker Posey), along with their three children: the swaggering Saxon – “I love to work, I don’t need holidays,” he declares, in true Andrew Tate/that guy from BrewDog style - played by Patrick Schwarzenneger (pumped up not quite like his dad but not far off), the quieter, nerdier Lochlan (Sam Nivola) and the daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) who is doing a thesis on Buddhism.
Piper is the reason they are all here, and it’s a decision they’re regretting. A comic scene familiar to many families plays out as they ask a staff member for the Wifi password, only to find there isn’t one, and that they are also expected to hand their phones in for a digital detox. “Can’t I take my phone to the gym?” Saxon responds, incredulous. Tim steps in to firmly refuse this policy on behalf of the family, slinging money at the problem by saying he’ll look after the staff member with a tip at the end. The usual rules do not apply when you’re moneyed, right?.
We also meet a couple: Walter Goggins’ Rick and Aimee Lee Wood’s Chelsea. Goggins is surprisingly dialled back here, grumpy and introverted as Rick, a cynic over all this wellness malarky who seems to have another agenda at being here, but spends most of his time telling Chelsea that she talks too much. She kind of does, but we like her for that. She is from Manchester, chirpy, with British teeth no American would tolerate; indeed, they all comment on it.
Wood has been tipped to be the breakout star of this season and you can immediately see why. She is an engaging presence in an ensemble which at first glance seems to lack a Coolidge-style big personality. We were spoilt for choice for big performances in the first two seasons, from Murray Bartlett’s Armond in season one to Aubrey Plaza’s Harper in season two. Goggins is capable of this, but so far it’s only Wood that’s close to stealing the show.
The scene where she showed her working-class Manc roots at the dinner table was genius. When she given a glass to try the wine, she says, “I don’t wish to complain but that’s not very much.”. The other main visitors are three women, led by Michelle Monaghan’s Jaclyn, a famous actress who is recognised around the resort, particularly by the owner, Sritala Hollinger (Lek Patravadi) who wants to cosy up to this American star.
But Jaclyn is concentrated on her girl friends, Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Laurie (Carrie Coon). They are together on the holiday of a lifetime, “not a mid-life crisis, a victory tour!”. Yes, for these are high-flying women who have it all, the very pinnacle of American success. With some of White’s delicious characterisation we see how these women are all trying to be a certain type of demonstrably successful woman: they look the same, say the same things and even at the same time.
Kate and Jaclyn:. “You look incredible!”. “Who’s your doctor?”. “It’s like I’m looking in a mirror.”. Yes all those complements that are about narcissism, and are laced with competition. There is a certain type that they are aiming for, with signifiers of success from hair to face work to clothes. Laurie is lagging behind the other two in this regard, and it talked down to for just being a corporate lawyer. Having a proper job is almost pitiable. At one point Laurie leaves the girly chat to head to her room and cry. She has fallen short of the perfect life, or rather cast out from that delusion of what a perfect life is.
