HBO Review: ‘The White Lotus’ Heads to Thailand for a Calmer, Similarly Incisive Season 3 with Another Stacked Cast

Since its start in the summer of 2021, The White Lotus has enchanted audiences with its depiction of rich people on vacation realizing that they have more issues than they previously thought. What was initially supposed to be a limited series proved to be popular enough to compel a second season, transplanted from Hawaii to Italy, and now Mike White’s 15-time Emmy-winning series returns for a third iteration, marking a somewhat different vibe as it travels to Thailand.

At this White Lotus resort, there is no wi-fi and guests are encouraged to turn their phones in for the duration of their stay. That doesn’t sit well with Timothy (Jason Isaacs), who already seems stressed out enough when he arrives with his wife Victoria (Parker Posey) and their children Saxton (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Lochlan (Sam Nivola), and Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook). Rick (Walton Goggins) also isn’t in a great mood despite the optimistic attitude of his wife Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). Old friends Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Laurie (Carrie Coon), and Kate (Leslie Bibb) are having their first chance in a while to catch up and to see whether their lives have gone in drastically different directions.

This season shifts the focus away from the resort staff to the guests, eliminating an over-the-top people pleaser like Murray Bartlett’s Armond or Sabrina Impacciatore’s Valentina. They are still series regulars – Lek Patravadi is a charismatic boss and Lalisa Manobal and Tayme Thapthimthong are dutiful employees – but it’s not the same having them be more subservient and less full of personality. Audiences will recognize Natasha Rothwell, reprising her season one role as Belinda, newly transferred from Hawaii to Thailand but going through her own journey that still finds her in a training capacity without interacting all that much with the guests.

After earning a whopping seventeen Emmy acting nominations over the course of its first two seasons, it’s no surprise that this season has attracted top-tier talent, including two Emmy nominees from last year, Coon and Goggins, taking time off before The Gilded Age and Fallout return for their next seasons. Isaacs and Posey make for a great pairing, each boasting thick American southern accents, and it’s nice to see Isaacs and Goggins, who tend towards more serious genre work, in these parts. Wood has a wonderfully upbeat and idealistic demeanor that serves as a great foil to Goggins’ deliberate grumpiness. Schwarzenegger and Nivola, both children of actors, ensure that the younger generation gets solid representation in their suspiciously close brotherly bond, and Hook, while somewhat underused, is also very good. Monaghan and Bibb, fresh off Bad Monkey and Palm Royale, respectively, gel perfectly with Coon as three people who slowly come to see that they aren’t the people they used to be and that the world doesn’t see them as they see themselves.

In this cast, it’s hard to find a weak link, and the Thai cast is also strong. Rothwell, recently seen as star and creator of Hulu’s How to Die Alone, sometimes feels like she’s starring in a different show altogether, but it’s a worthwhile contemplative turn with an appropriate share of self-pity that humanizes the people behind the scenes and not just those paying for a luxury experience they don’t necessarily seem to want. Christian Friedel is also entertaining in a 360-degree shift from his starring role as Nazi commandant in The Zone of Interest, here playing an employee who wants to be of service but doesn’t always hide his reactions to the unusual behavior of his colleagues and the sometimes idiotic questions posed by guests.

Watching this show is meant to be uncomfortable, inviting audiences to wonder if perhaps they’re more like the animals they’re gawking at on screen than they’d like to admit. Like the first two seasons, much of the season’s first half is all about buildup to an unknown destination, presenting signals of awkwardness and potential problems without entirely defining them, allowing them to simmer until they threaten to explode. The need to tie in a mystery death with the victim only revealed at the end of the season might be past its expiration date, a device that really doesn’t aid the storytelling and instead keeps it from heading in more unexpected and inventive directions. Bringing Belinda back is also a question mark since this show may instead benefit from a complete turnover of its cast and the exploration of entirely new character arcs unrelated to past seasons.

The setting of Thailand also changes the feel of the show. Italy was more of a tourist spot with famous classic destinations and prostitution all too accessible to guests, and, this time, everyone is cut off from civilization in a way that’s meant to achieve serenity. Yet, as the talented Mike White continues to show, season after season, where he sets the show is just a way to unpack the characters and the heavy baggage they carry but don’t want to unload. Already renewed for a fourth season, this show is only going to keep growing, and season three manages to sufficiently handle a large ensemble and new ideas, tackling the same incisive critiques of society with a fresh lens that leads to plenty to think about and reflect on while nervously enjoying the viewing experience.

Season Rating: 7/10

Awards Buzz: This show’s shift to the drama categories for season two only increased its Emmy nomination count, and there’s every expectation that the same could happen again this time, especially with an unknown quantity like Simona Tabasco making the cut. Isaacs, Posey, Goggins, Monaghan, Coon, Bibb, and Rothwell seem like good bets for nominations, and some of their younger counterparts could also score if this season is received as favorably as the first two go-rounds were.