White Lotus Season 3 review (spoilers!)

I know the season finale has been out for a few weeks; however I also know not everyone watches everything immediately. I would therefore just like to remind everyone:

Spoilers ahead (of all currently aired seasons)!
You’ve been warned

Previous seasons

The White Lotus was met with critical acclaim for the past couple seasons. The first season was by far the most shocking and surprising due to the fact that it wasn’t all that common¹ to have a reverse-whodunit show—the first episode tells you someone died, you see a good chunk of the cast dealing with the repercussions of what happened, but you’re not told who died, or how.

In essence, watching the show was akin to viewing a slowly unfolding memory, allowing the audience to piece together small bits of the story, slowly puzzling together an understanding of what actually took place. Every detail, every peculiar turn of phrase, every minute tidbit of information becomes a potential clue. Except that instead of following Hercule Poirot, we are the detectives. When the last episode begins, so many people have a (potential) motive and the opportunity to kill another person in the show that the denouement could still go in any direction. Knowing who-did-what-to-whom then becomes more of a point of release, a reward by letting your brain off the hook. The catharsis is remarkable and delectable.

In the end, the actual cause of death and the victim themselves matter less to the story than how we got there. Case in point: do you remember off the top of your head who killed Armond in the first season, or do you need to mentally review the whole cast?

Cast

As I previously expressed, I was very impressed with the cast for this season. Sam Rockwell gave an exceptional performance, one that displays the perversion of addiction in such a compelling way. I’m not overly familiar with Jason Isaacs (other than his work in Harry Potter and The Death of Stalin), but I completely understood all the phases his character was going through. Walton Goggins was someone I obviously recognised visually, but I couldn’t immediately place him other than in The Hateful Eight. I did not remember him in Django Unchained.

Likewise, Aimee Lou Wood is not someone I knew prior to this season, but I can definitely see how she’s got some stardom about her. It looks like she’s been blowing up for the past few years, and I expect we’ll see much more of her in the future.

I’ve come to really enjoy Jon Gries in this role. I’m almost annoyed we don’t get to learn more about him. He was so excellently crafted in the previous seasons, with the vague references to his job, whereas in season 3 he blends in with the others LBHs. Maybe that’s the exact point they were trying to make—he’s in hiding—but still it felt unsatisfying.

I think Sam Nivola will also be someone we see a lot more of. I thoroughly enjoyed his performance.

Location and filmography

The show’s third installment is gorgeous, as we’ve come to expect from The White Lotus. Whereas the first season brought us to beautiful Hawaii, with wide open spaces and large villas and swimming pools to demonstrate the limitless wealth of the protagonists, the second season created a more claustrophobic feeling by squeezing characters in smaller (European) rooms, and framing them in tighter shots. The second season felt more intimate, in a way. Season 3 changes the dynamic again. Some characters get close and personal shots, others are always seen in wide angles. Timothy, for example, starts his journey virtually in exclusive wide angles, and as his world collapses and he isolates himself in a pharmaceutical escape hatch, the way the camera portrays him shifts dramatically. It’s only when he finally accepts his fate that the camera opens up again.

In terms of intermezzos, the second season used to show crashing waves on the rocks on the opposite side of the bay in Italy. The third season’s b-rolls are more focused around monkeys and jungle shots. Where the second season appeared to show us conflict and turmoil, anger and rage, I can’t say I connected as much with the monkeys from the third season. For some reason, it just felt like comical relief the few times that a monkey yawning lined up with a scream in the show.

This being said, the third season feels a bit grittier. Many shots feel a bit oversaturated, and some shots even feel a bit underexposed. I think there were moments where they didn’t get the light they needed, and tried to make an overcast shot feel sunny in post.

Nonetheless, The White Lotus still is one of the best-looking shows on TV at the moment.

Soundtrack

The White Lotus has one of the singular most recognisable soundtracks and theme songs I can remember. Each season has a unique and distinct sound to it, and yet the theme songs are extremely cohesive and meticulously engineered.

Aloha!, the show’s opening theme song was as spectacular as it was bizarre. It perfectly represents the discomfort you feel as you watch the show. There is a campiness to it, and a slight dissonance throughout. The yelling monkeys at the song’s peak bring an angst and urgency. As the theme ends, it sounds as though you are hearing people out of breath. I feel claustrophobic when I hear this song.

However, the theme song is only a tiny part of the show’s musical makeup. There are a bunch of songs composed for the show (28 to be exact) that perfectly encapsulate and enhance the show’s feeling and story (full soundtrack on Spotify and Apple Music). If you end up listening to these soundtracks again, you’ll no doubt be reminded of specific scenes connected to these songs.

The second season’s theme song, Renaissance, is very aptly named. Away with the slightly tribal notes and island-ish features, we’re now going to the epitomic country of culture. The song crescendos into a club beat which perfectly represents the many aspects of partying that we see in this season. This is also the season when Kim Neundorf joined the mix.

Again, over 30 songs were composed and integrated into the show. Even more so than in the first season, every track on the album (Spotify, Apple Music) reminds me of specific scenes and episodes. It is mind boggling how powerful these soundtracks are. If anything, please listen to Pianissimo or Lotus Aria and tell me you don’t remember it from the show.

For the third season, the show got rid of its now famous warbling voices in the theme song². I did miss the o-loo-loo-loo-s, but I also understand the position that some people have when they say that the show had to renew itself, and relying on the same sound over and over could have been boring. I disagree, but I understand the point of view.

There is still a persistent clap which hints at a techno vibe, but the lead instrument (it seems to be a synth made to sound halfway between an electric guitar and an oboe or maybe a clarinet?) does bring eastern vibes with it. I was initially a bit surprised about the use of an accordion, however free reed instruments have been popular in SEA for many thousands of years, and even if it isn’t a sheng or similar; accordions are well-travelled.

The version embedded above is the official Max version as heard in the show. There is a full version of Enlightenment available on YouTube, released by Tapia De Veer himself, which includes the “warcry” as he calls it, and has a much more powerful ending. This version can’t be embedded on my blog for some reason, but you can still listen to it here. The part that has been cut starts around 1m30s. The warbled voices are back, and the club mix is definitely there—which, to me, makes complete sense because of the amount of partying that is once more on display this season.

The full season 3 soundtrack hasn’t been released yet, however I’m looking forward to listening to it more closely when it eventually does. Cristóbal Tapia De Veer has been called one of the most influential musicians working in Hollywood at the moment, and I have to agree. His work is instantly recognisable and I can’t wait to see what he produces next.

Character development & plot

As I wrote in the beginning of this article, I don’t think the actual murder is the point of the show. It might be what keeps some people watching, but I’m much more interested in the way we are led to observe the lives of these characters.

I’ll just cut to the chase here: I never thought throughout the season that Jaclyn and her friends were ever in any danger. It was very obvious that the showdown was going to involve Rick & Jim—although I couldn’t rule out Greg, Belinda and Zion.

Chelsea’s character was written exceptionally well. In hindsight, the writers were telling us all along what was going to happen, but it never spoiled the surprise for me. It actually made sense. If anything, they could’ve called her Cassandra in how much she keeps telling us exactly what is going to happen, yet nobody believes her or even listens to her. “Our fates are tied together”, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you”, “you are pain and I am hope, and one of us is going to win”. On the final day, Rick chose to embrace her path as well. “That’s the plan.” First time (that we see) where he tells her he loves her.

It’s all very classic Shakespearean, when you think about it. I joked on Mastodon that maybe Chelsea’s request to get a donut was some more foreshadowing, as that’s how her heart ended up.

I’m not entirely on board with the Ratliff’s story arc. The show spent a very considerable amount of time on red-herringing us with Timothy’s further increasing murder list. He first imagined he had to kill his wife, because she said she couldn’t live as poor people. Then Saxon told him he didn’t know how to live because he had hyper-optimised his life to be the firm guy, and he had nothing else going on. Then eventually Piper annoyingly also admits she’s spoiled and doesn’t want to live simply. At every step, we see Timothy take on the extra load on his shoulders about having to kill another family member to spare them the horror of being poor. When Timothy notices the gun is missing, he then figures out another way to kill everyone with the fruit.

This is great. Fantastic stuff.

However, he then changes his mind halfway through. Not before making or serving the drinks. After everyone has had some already. There’s no way he could’ve known they wouldn’t be affected by whatever they already consumed. If the poison was so potent, they at the very least should’ve all spent the night on the can because they had some. But nothing happens. The whole family just chalks it up to “dad being weird again”, and everyone moves on and goes to bed like nothing had happened.

While I loved Lochlan meeting Phra Phrom, I’m not convinced him being sent back to the world of the living is entirely earned. In case you missed it, while Lochlan is swimming between life and death, he looks up and we see what looks like four monks looking down on him. I interpreted that as being Lord Brahma, one of the Hindu Gods, typically (and incorrectly) called the Four-Faced Buddha. It’s again fantastically written, and the visuals are on point, but I would’ve been entirely okay with Lochlan not coming back.

I can only hope that Lochlan will be in the future seasons, and that him being sent back has a deeper meaning. After all, he was the only one who was okay with the simple life. He accepted his family for who they were, and tried to enable their needs and desires whenever possible.

Finally, there’s Mook and Gaitok. First of all, I didn’t know Lisa from BLɅϽKPIИK prior to this show. It’s not really my kind of music, and I don’t keep up with pop stuff beyond what I hear from my SO. I thoroughly enjoyed the Thai subtitles being visible under the English subtitles. I don’t read Thai, but I thought it was a very enjoyable stylistic choice.

I don’t have an issue with their relationship or their portrayal. He was massively friendzoned to begin with, and only gained favour by promising ambition and thrills. I wouldn’t necessarily call Mook a gold-digger, but she’s not actually interested in him unless he has the ability to increase her standing. Gaitok leaving the gun out had me screaming at the TV, but turned out to be another red herring. There was no consequence or effect regarding event. Maybe it was to help Timothy visualise his suicide, and then murders-suicide? I’m really reaching to try and make sense of it. I just cannot believe that anyone in the world would just leave a gun lying on a desk like that.

But the bigger issue I have is with Mook. She has basically no character development whatsoever. I’m not even quite sure what her job was at the hotel. Is her presence only there to justify Gaitok violating his Buddhist principles? Knowing how big Lisa is in Southeast Asia, it almost feels as though she was forced onto the show and they had to find/create a role for her. Again, I don’t have anything against the performance, but it feels like a role that was purely utilitarian. She didn’t interact with other characters, she didn’t move the plot forward, she was just there for Gaitok to not quit, and have him eventually be corrupted by violence, just like the monk foretold.

Criticisms and final thoughts

I know many people felt the show was too slow. Many people even called the majority of episodes “filler episodes”. I strongly disagree. I feel like The White Lotus followed its recipe. I understand that people might start to get tired of that recipe, but that’s a different discussion.

I would even argue that I felt the season was too short. I think there was a lot of content that was left on the cutting floor in order to fit the existing format. There was so much stuff to explore with Saxon discovering the world he had shut himself out of to be his dad’s lackey, or with Lochlan enabling his parents more. I think the Piper story was told pretty aptly, although maybe the volte-face happened a tad too abruptly for my taste, and Lochy’s involvement made it a bit murky. I am convinced there are hours of footage between Rick and Chelsea, Greg and Belinda, or even Frank weirdly mid-air humping a projection of himself to pull from to add a few more episodes.

But overall, the season was coherent, and enjoyable. It is one of the few shows I watch, and I will happily watch the future seasons. I cannot wait for the future seasons.