The White Lotus, s3 / tv show review.

This is a mostly spoiler free review of the third season of The White Lotus.

There are certain people who want The White Lotus to be a thriller or a murder mystery, when in reality it’s a slow-burning character study and social commentary where the problems, worries, and desires of the characters intensify as they become more stationed and stuck in the place they’re in, so far from their homes, habits, and everyday pastimes that usually distracts them. The hotel itself lets them stew in their own misery and concerns, which increases their restlessness and gradually throws them into disarray.

This is what actually drives the story forward, slowly and steadily, like a flower that’s about to bloom and reveal all its many layers. The murder, which admittedly does excite the viewers, is just a side note within the story itself and not the main focus or the true end goal.

Each new season brings with it a large group of new, diverse, and challenging characters. That is a challenge in off itself, but I think each season does an excellent job of introducing us to them, the dynamics between them which are at once grand and dramatic but also grounded and real. And the story continuously reveals new sides of them as it progresses, all in a very limited timeframe.

They are all in this grey area where we love them and hate them. You sympathize with them in one episode and the next you’re scandalized by them. The story manages to cover a lot in a short time, without overwhelming the narrative or making it feel rushed or treating the issues at hand superficially. The narrative style is certainly slower than in previous seasons, but I never felt the story lost steam or became too slow-paced and therefor boring.

I would say, however, that this third season suffered a bit from having too many characters. Mainly the supporting characters. Because so often it’s as if every character we encounter has some great significance for the story. Especially if we’re properly introduced to them, but here there were a few characters that I felt didn’t have much weight to them. And then I’m specifically talking about Mook and the hotel manager. I was always expecting them to have more to do, or to say, within the story, and yet they were just kind of there.

The story delves deeply into the examination of privileges and consumerism of going on a vacation. This theme is always present, but manifests in different ways, and is always very well conveyed within the story of each season. This is a sharp social commentary on our Western world where the vacation, but also the isolation that the hotel provides, gives them all free rein and opportunity to indulge all of their most privileged impulses. The vacation is an escapism.

All the wealth and privileges you’ve earned won’t buy you out of the problem you’ve created yourself and therefor things start escalate, sometimes to the point of no return, but more often than not majority of these characters go back home to their lives without having changed too much. It’s actually the viewer who has gained a new perspective.

And although this latest season maybe doesn’t break so much from it’s structure of this The gossipy nature of story that The White Lotus seems to manage to capture so well, and provides people with the privilege critique and high drama that people expect from the show, they never feel too formulaic. The performance of the cast, as well as the script writing, ensure that viewers have plenty of things to talk about and enjoy while watching. And when the show is over.