TV Show Review - The White Lotus (Season 3)

Season: 3
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2025
Starring: Walton Goggins, Amy Lou Wood, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola, Sarah Catherine Hook, Natasha Rothwell, Sam Rockwell

Description: As a new round of guests arrives at The White Lotus Thailand.
 
Review: In the third season of the satirical drama series “The White Lotus”, the once again messed-up yet fascinating hotel guests arrive at the beautiful resort, this time in Thailand.

The series starts off with the discovery of something that looks like a floating body in the water and the sound of gun shots. Then we go back in time, to a week before.

Like each season, showrunner Mike White chooses a new cast of characters and also a new theme. Season 1 was mostly about money, season 2 revolved around sex and the newest season focuses on religions and spirituality.

And with the characters, again, they are all over the place. We meet the cheerful and upbeat British Chelsea and her grumpy, older American boyfriend Rick. Then there is the Ratliff family, clearly affluent as they are dysfunctional. Father Timothy is a businessman who finds out he is in deep trouble at home. His wife Victoria is living her best life. And their three adult children argue as siblings do. Saxon is  an oversexed jerk who works for his father. Daughter Piper is eager to embrace her spirituality. And Lochlan, their youngest brother, feels like he doesn’t belong with his narcissistic, domineering relatives. Finally we meet the three girlfriends, in their forties, who know each other from school. Jaclyn is a famous actress and decided to take her friends Laurie and Kate with her on a holiday. But their friendship is filled with envy, gossip and jealousy.

The only character that we have already met before is Belinda, who was also in season 1 working at the White Lotus in Hawaii. She has arrived in Thailand to recover from burnout and broaden her knowledge. There is one other characters that we know from previous season, but I won’t spoil it for you.

I was invested in all the storylines and really felt like this season brought a lot of memorable characters. Especially Parker Posey as Victoria, with her Southern accent. Patrick Schwarzenegger as her oldest son Saxon, who probably goes through the biggest change of all the characters. And Chelsea, who won over all of our hearts probably, because of Amy Lou Wood’s great performance. Also worth mentioning is Carrie Coon, who broke us all with a perfect monologue in the final episode. Please give her an Emmy for that! And Jason Isaac, as Timothy, the father of the Ratliff family. He went though such an emotional rollercoaster, that had us all in a chokehold the entire season.

I really enjoyed the first two seasons, but I think season 3 is my favorite. That final episode was insane and was worth the wait.

TV Show Review - The White Lotus (Season 2)

Season: 2
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Number of episodes: 7
Year: 2022
Starring: Jennifer Coolidge, Aubrey Plaza, Theo James, Michael Imperioli, F. Murray Abraham, Adam DiMarco, Megan Fahy, Will Sharpe, Haley Lu Richardson, Tom Hollander

Description: Set in a resort in Sicily, it follows the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week.
 
Review: The first season of this mini-series was a huge success, so they decided to create a second season. Set in Sicily this time. Jennifer Coolidge is the only returning actress. Het character Tanya has ended up in Sicily with her new husband, and once again the tragicomic character seems to attract misfortune and calamity. Her husband does not appreciate her as the diva she is; she ends up needing a group of flamboyant gay men for that. Tanya’s assistant Portia, meanwhile, may be available on call, but must also make herself invisible.

We also mee three generations of American-Sicilian men who have a special relationship with female beauty. Another storyline revolves around Cameron and Ethan, two former college mates, who have found each other again and are constantly testing both each other and each other’s relationships. There are more characters involved, but these are the three main storylines.

“The White Lotus” again proves sublime at portraying interpersonal interactions, awkwardness, misunderstandings, suspicions and the volatility that almost all of his character harbor. The season begins with a corpse, but we have to wait until the final episode to see who ends up floating lifeless in the ocean.

Meanwhile, “The White Lotus” mercilessly fillets human nature, where, as in the first season, you have no idea where it’s all going or will end up. I only missed Murray Bartlett’s character from season one, but overall, I liked this season just as much as the first. And I’m totally in for another series of events at a different White Lotus hotel.

TV Show Review - The White Lotus (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2021
Starring: Murray Bartlett, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Alexandra Daddario, Sydney Sweeney, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Natasha Rothwell, Molly Shannon

Description: Set in a tropical resort, it follows the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week.
 
Review: Vacationing is something people like to do. To let go of everything, and in the case of many vacationers, get yourself well pampered at an all-inclusive resort. A single women, a family plus the daughter’s friend and a newly wed couple all arrive at the same time, at the Hawaiian resort The White Lotus. The staff of the hotel is awaiting their guests and everything looks promising. But it’s going to be one hell of a week.

What an entertaining series. In a satirical and humorous way, they basically take everything and everyone to task. No one is perfect and everyone has their secrets and struggles. And since all of the characters we follow are either quirky, peculiar, irritating or highly unlikeable, the perfect vacation they all wished for, doesn’t go as planned. And this creates some fantastic, uncomfortable, silly, hilarious and embarrassing moments.

Each character has a role in the story. Ten of them to be exact. First there is the Mosbacher family. At the head, mother Nicole, a successful business woman who calls the shots. Her husband Mark has a health scare, son Quinn is simply bored and daughter Olivia brought her best friend Paula, who just want to relax and read complex literature. Then there is the newlywed couple, Rachel and Shane. They married quick after meeting and are now on their honeymoon. Where Rachel is a freelance journalist who wants to make it in the world, her rich new husband believes she doesn’t need to work anymore and just be his beautiful wife. Tanya came to Hawaii to spread her mother’s ashes, she is a lonely woman who befriends the owner of the resort’s spa, Belinda. And finally we have Armond, the resort manager, trying to make sure every guest is happy and taken care of. Which is a big challenge with the new arrivals.

Talking about Armond. He’s portrayed by Murray Bartlett and he is the absolute highlight of this series. I love everything he does in this series, he is so funny. And as a former customer service employee, I know exactly how it feels like to always try to please everyone, even the ones that you actually want to strangle. Always with a smile on your face, but mentally slapping the person opposite you complaining once again. Bartlett got a well-deserved Emmy Award for his role and he lifted “The White Lotus” to a higher level.
 
The ending of the show wasn’t all I hoped for. At least not for all characters. I especially didn’t like what they did with Rachel and Shane. I did like Quinn’s ending though. But overall, “The White Lotus” was a very enjoyable series, easy to watch. And there is a second season coming, which will be starring a bunch of new characters and is set at a different location.