After the biting satire of its first season and the enthralling dynamics of its second, The White Lotus Season 3 had big shoes to fill. The series had established itself as a show with phenomenal acting across the board, a haunting score that created a sense of foreboding in even the most mundane conversation, and gripping storylines that slowly built to satisfying payoffs. But while The White Lotus Season 3 certainly holds up in the first two metrics, this season crucially falters on the last one, leading to a season of television that makes tuning in every Sunday more of a chore than you’d expect.

Mike White is correct when he says The White Lotus has always been a slow burn. But he is sorely mistaken as to why this season has been received more poorly by audiences than the previous two. It is not because nothing happens in the first seven episodes of this show, but because many of the characters that we follow at such a gradual pace are significantly less interesting. Take Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) and Mook’s (Lalisa Manobal) awkward romance, for instance. There have been romances in previous seasons of The White Lotus, from Portia and Albie’s similarly hard-to-watch flirtation to Tanya and Greg’s tragic “love” story, but even though we rarely rooted for these couplings, there was always an edge to them. The flaws in Portia and Albie’s romance, for instance, were centered on the expectations women and men had for each other and led to shifts in both their relationship and their dynamics with other characters. Crucially, the relationships were never constant, even if they ended at the same place they began. This cannot be said about Gaitok and Mook’s love story, which is painfully played straight as the hopelessly-in-love but meek security guard struggles to win over a beautiful hotel worker with money on her mind. Their dynamic pushes Gaitok to become tougher and objectively pays off in the season finale, but it’s all so… cliché. There is no darker, hidden side to either of these characters. Gaitok just wants Mook to like him, and Mook just wants financial stability. The bones are there for a typical The White Lotus plotline, but the people involved have far less depth than a typical The White Lotus character. 

It may be unfair to use the most disliked storyline of the season as evidence that The White Lotus season 3 is not up to par with its previous two entries. After all, there are still gems in the season that kept me tuning in every episode. The main bright point for me had to be the trio of middle-aged women who were childhood best friends, brought to life stunningly by Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, and Leslie Bibb. Where other plotlines felt annoyingly reminiscent of concepts Mike White had executed already and more successfully in previous seasons, watching these three white women slowly unpack their own insecurities, distaste for one another, and codependent friendship was a joy to behold. Their scenes together largely consist of stilted, vapid, artificial conversations that hint at the resentment for each other and for themselves that lies beneath, and I could not get enough of them. Truly, when I say The White Lotus season 3 is boring, it is not because I get upset when nothing happens. It is because the slight character dynamic shifts that comprise the bulk of each episode’s action are significantly less compelling when the characters attached to them lack intrigue.

However, as The White Lotus is a slow burn, its less engaging beats could have been forgiven had it stuck the landing. A game-changing finale like “Arrivederci” improves the perception of the season as a whole, since it puts the deliberate narrative choices and build-up into perspective after the payoff has been revealed. Alas, “Amor Fati” neither reinvents the sluggish set of episodes that preceded it nor does the bare minimum of paying off the storylines it set up in a satisfying way. I enjoyed how Belinda (Natasha Rothwell)’s arc came full-circle and meaningfully tied in her emotions during the first season of The White Lotus, and I found the resolution for the white women trio an earned and poignant reflection of female friendship. Other than that, I was largely disappointed with the season’s conclusions of storylines.

The most frustrating storyline to me at the end of the day had to be that of Rick (Walton Goggins) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). Rick is a clearly wounded man seeking vengeance at the behest of his more upbeat girlfriend Chelsea, but their relationship lacked something clearly pulling the two together. Yes, Chelsea wants to “fix” Rick, while Rick finds comfort and joy in Chelsea, but with all of their obvious friction it was a bit unbelievable to me that they would choose to stay together. I also generally found Rick’s gloominess a bit out of place with the rest of the show, though that is down to personal preference. However, those are minor quibbles compared to the outright soap opera their storyline evolves into by the finale. There is one reveal that had me laughing out of sheer incredulity: surely Emmy-winning writer Mike White hadn’t stooped to this level of cheesiness? Their ending is played with all of the gravity of a Shakespeare tragedy, but the ridiculousness of the escalation left me completely unmoved. There were undoubtedly scenes that foreshadowed this conclusion, but I can’t help but wonder why that was the final moment those scenes led up to. 

I understand that this review has been largely scathing, but I want to emphasize that my issues with this season are in comparison to the first two seasons of this brilliant show. This is The White Lotus, so it goes without saying that the cast is firing on all cylinders and the backdrop for the show is as tantalizing as ever. In particular, Carrie Coon, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Michelle Monaghan were standouts for me. Coon was my MVP of the season and brings Laurie’s unfortunate penchant for honesty to life brilliantly while also having A+ comedic timing. Schwarzenegger plays Saxon, a “douche” that you love to hate until you surprisingly get won over by his earnesty. Saxon’s arc is a subtle one that relies entirely on Schwarzenegger’s facial expressions, but he nails every scene with aplomb. And finally, Monaghan plays an entrancingly superficial actress and uses her physicality to convey her character’s narcissism expertly. But truly, if there was a reason to tune in for The White Lotus Season 3, it would be for the ensemble’s great performances all around. 

I fell in love with The White Lotus because of the way it blended sharp commentary on power, class, and sexual dynamics with memorable characters and humorous writing. Alas, with this season’s substantially less compelling characters, I have to wonder if Mike White still has something interesting to say about elites in relation to the working class. To be clear, this is not a bad season of television. But given the biting satire of the show’s previous seasons, it is a deeply disappointing one that has dampened my excitement for subsequent seasons significantly. 

6.5/10