Fellow travelers, it’s time for another stay at the White Lotus. What could go wrong, right?
As we’ve seen in two sprawling seasons, the answer is so, so much. And this season promises to be no different, since right at the outset, things start off with a bang. Or, more of a distant clack-clack, actually, a sound that Zion Lindsey (Nicholas Duvernay) – the visiting son of returning character Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) – recognizes as gunfire. His zen meditation on a gorgeous veranda surrounded by water and lily pads brought to a screeching halt, Zion is soon in the water, quietly pleading with a statue of Buddha for the safety of his mother as more gunshots are heard and people are seen running for shelter. Just then – as in the openings of the previous two seasons – evidence of a dead body enters the frame.
From there, the episode dials back a week, as the season’s principal players arrive to their modern Fantasy Island-like resort. Just as before, “White Lotus” mastermind Mike White introduces a bevy of new characters, and while they all seem easy to read at first, make no mistake – there’s definitely more lurking underneath here.
For the first episode, we’ll focus on the Ratliffs, an affluent North Carolina family that flighty and pill-popping mother Victoria (Parker Posey) claims is “normal” at one point (yeah, right). She speaks highly of her stern and driven financier husband Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and dotes on their three children: cocky and problematic older brother Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger); meditative and rebellious middle sister Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook); and wayward, impressionable baby brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola). And yes, those kids’ names are supposed to be a lot.
Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook and Sam Nivola in “The White Lotus” Season 3 premiere. HBO
The brood are settling into their vacation digs when they hit their first minor snag – there are only three bedrooms, so Lochlan has to choose between bunking with his sister or brother – and it becomes pretty clear that Piper and Saxon vie for his affections as well as the position of prime influence. This only ratchets up a notch when Lochlan must choose between visiting a local monastery with Piper or going to the pool with Saxon – a decision that seems weirdly high stakes. The Ratliffs also are shocked to discover that this White Lotus discourages the use of smartphones and tech – offering to lock their devices in a safe for their stay. They are relieved to learn it’s optional, as long as they refrain from using their phones in the main common areas. Good thing, too, since a journalist from the Wall Street Journal is trying rather aggressively to get in touch with Timothy. Hmm…
An eerily familiar face
At the hotel bar, we encounter Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon), a gorgeous former model who lives with her grouchy boyfriend Gary at the top of the hill above the resort. She gestures to her man at a table nearby – and GASP – “Gary” is none other than Greg (Jon Gries), the swimmer with the strange cough who courted one Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) in “White Lotus” Season 1 and became her husband in Season 2… until, of course, he mysteriously flew home right in the middle of their trip and Tanya ended up dead in the Mediterranean Sea. His presence this season will undoubtedly provide some answers, but judging from how things go at the White Lotus, there will be more questions, too.
Before the episode’s end, we visit Saxon and Lochlan in their hotel room, where it becomes clear that these brothers have some unresolved issues. Saxon delivers his unsolicited take on life – in short, religions like Buddhism are for people who “don’t even try” and that “it is good to want things, as long as you can get ‘em” – and when Lochlan asks, “But, what do I want, I guess?” Saxon replies, “P**sy, money, freedom, respect.” He then asks his younger brother what kind of porn he likes (!!), soon announcing that he is retiring to the bathroom to pleasure himself. Saxon then proceeds to walk naked to the bathroom, while Lochlan stares at him. AWKWARD, like only Mike White can do.
On theme
White has said that while Season 1 centered around privilege and classism, and Season 2 was about sexual dynamics and relationships, Season 3 will deal with “religion and spirituality and God.” In addition to Saxon’s rather brutish theories above, there are other references to these themes in the season opener, like Zion’s panicked praying during the harrowing first sequence (at one point he even shows anger toward the divine if he doesn’t get his way).
Another instance comes when his mother Belinda is touring the grounds with her Thai wellness counterpart Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), who is helping to facilitate her three-month enrichment stay at the resort (she says that she’s hoping to “bring the magic back to Maui” after an understandably “rough couple years”). Pornchai brings Belinda to a Thai spirit house – a small temple next to a larger structure in the hotel meant as a place for offerings to deities in exchange for protection and good luck. After they pray, lingering shots of the spirit house elicit a sense of portending highs and lows.
Finally, we hear Piper listening to an audiobook titled “Loving Kindness,” in which the narrator discusses identity being a prison from which no one is spared – “rich man, poor man, success or failure. We build the prison, lock ourselves inside, and throw away the key.” Sounds like a rough but efficient summary of pretty much any character who’s ever stayed at a White Lotus.
