Just like in the prior two seasons, the third “The White Lotus” opening sequence ends with the image of an unidentified corpse. Amid a meditation exercise, Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) hears the faint popping of gunshots and, in a sweet but stupid gesture, immediately runs into the crossfire to protect his mother Belinda (Natasha Rothwell). With verdant palm trees swaying overhead and sunlight dappling the surface of the water, Zion jumps into the nearby pond to reach a floating Buddha statue. Despite a pretty apathetic attitude toward spirituality moments before, he begs the deity to keep his mom safe. Seconds later, as shots are still firing, a body floats into frame, kept just enough out of focus to keep the audience guessing as to who has just been murdered. Then the opening credits roll and viewers are transported mere days back in time, pulses surely racing.

Despite previous deaths at the White Lotus resorts in Maui and Sicily, the Thailand location has no shortage of visitors arriving on its island shores. First, we have the Ratliff family, who sport some of the worst southern accents Hollywood has seen since Daniel Craig in “Knives Out.” Father Timothy (Jason Isaacs) is a sketchy but well-off businessman, mother Victoria (Parker Posey) pops Xanax like they’re candy, respective college and high school seniors Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) are easygoing to a fault, and the nicest adjective I could come up with to describe eldest son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is aggressive—he is not a nice man. Rounding out our guests are couple Rick (Walton Goggins) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), who have an uncomfortably large age gap, and trio Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Laurie (Carrie Coon), who are childhood best friends now in their middle age. Jaclyn also happens to be a famous actress. Finally, we have spa manager Belinda back from season one, who is technically in Thailand on an extended work trip, and our staff: “health mentor” Mook (Lalisa Manobal, whom you might know as BLACKPINK’s Lisa) and security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong). Whew!

Season three sticks closely to not only the plot—lush setting, dead body, bratty guests and perpetually put-upon staff—but also the themes of the show’s prior installments, exploring class and power through the microcosm of a luxury resort. This time, however, Eastern spirituality and wellness culture are key players as well. Whereas in previous seasons, we watched guests go on sunset cruises and excursions to Italian palazzos, this time, they’re booked up with massages, therapy sessions and stints in a sensory deprivation tank. While the show seems to take a flippant attitude to the neatly packaged solutions offered by wellness tourism, I’m curious to see what it makes of these treatments’ underlying Buddhist and Hindu philosophies. The only remotely spiritual character seems to be Piper, who is writing her senior thesis on a local Buddhist monk. With a murder on the horizon, I’d be shocked if we didn’t get a thorough exploration of karma, if not other Eastern religious concepts. Time and time again on “The White Lotus,” we’ve seen rich, horrible people get away with their bad behavior—maybe this is the season when that will finally change.

Speaking of the murder mystery at hand, I’d like to put on my detective hat for a moment. Although the opening scene’s gunshots were hard to ignore, I think they’re a red herring, at least for the floating body. Instead, there was a much more telling scene in the first episode, in which Saxon discovers a poisonous pong-pong tree growing on their villa’s property. After being told not to eat its fruit by the family’s health mentor Pam (Morgana O’Reilly), Saxon asks if it could kill someone, and she responds that it could. This exchange seems a little on the nose to not come back later—a bit of a Chekhov’s toxic fruit tree, if you will. As for the shooting spree, I see two possibilities. The first is the return of the armed robber from episode two, and the second is that the gunshots come from Rick, who we know does work way, way off the books. He’s weirdly fixated on the hotel’s absent owner, Jim (Scott Glenn), indicating that he might be there to do a hit on him. Whether Rick finishes the job is unclear, as the shooting spree along with the poisonous fruit may indicate multiple deaths this season.

Regarding the identity of our victim, there’s been too much foreshadowing for it not to be Lochlan. His actor’s name appears next to a picture of a boy floating in a pond in the opening credits, we saw a similar shot of Lochlan floating in a sensory deprivation tank and his name in Gaelic means “lake.” As for his killer, a somewhat far-fetched theory points to older brother Saxon. In this theory, the five members of the Ratliff clan are thought to represent the five precepts of Buddhism/Taoism: no killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying or ingesting of intoxicants (i.e. drugs and alcohol). Timothy, who is revealed to be implicated in a money laundering scheme, clearly represents theft; Victoria is obviously intoxicants as she’s high as a kite whenever she’s onscreen. The worst sin virginal Piper seems capable of is lying, making Lochlan sexual misconduct and Saxon killing. While the exact mechanism of Lochlan’s death is impossible to predict, if this is indeed the direction the show is going, it may be related to the weirdly incestuous vibe between the three siblings, particularly the brothers. Although I’m praying this is not the case, the previously mentioned poisonous fruit could also be a forbidden fruit—poor Lochlan eats the fruit metaphorically, then literally and dies of shame, with Saxon being indirectly responsible.

Although the third season of “The White Lotus” has gotten off to a slower start than the previous two—and I’ll admit that the comedy aspect of the dramedy is severely lagging—I think it will be worth it for the final episode’s payoff. My television pet peeve is when shows rehash the same plotline each season, and while “The White Lotus” definitely has a formula, the wellness resort satire and exploration of Eastern religious themes keep things fresh. I also like that it’s the darkest season we’ve had by far. Overall, I’m excited to continue watching even as tensions rise to an uncomfortable degree. I don’t think that I nor other viewers will be disappointed by what’s to come.