Major spoilers ahead.
After a long, eight-episode season parceled out in weekly installments, HBO’s “The White Lotus” is finally over. Although the third season’s pace was notably slower than the previous two, the feature film-length season finale defied expectations to deliver a gripping, satisfying conclusion. It was an episode that I consider to be perfect television, with humor, tension, crisis and surprising poignancy from a series that normally prioritizes petty squabbles and melodrama. Let’s discuss.
According to the show’s creator/director/writer Mike White, season three centers around the relationship between the carnal and the spiritual. “People [want] to be better than their basic selves, but then [have] this human, animal side that keeps pulling them back,” White says in the post-episode commentary. We see this struggle play out in the conclusion of the ensemble cast members’ individual character arcs, with each person either choosing to become a better version of themselves or, instead, embracing greed and earthly desires. What’s more, the characters we—or at least I—considered the “good guys” were the ones to cave, and in a surprising twist, the more contentious resort-goers tried to better themselves.
Starting with those characters who grew on their vacation, corporate lawyer Laurie (Carrie Coon) delivered one of the episode’s biggest emotional punches with her monologue about aging and friendship. After spending the week engaged in increasingly passive-aggressive verbal sparring with her childhood friends Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Kate (Leslie Bibb), Laurie finally decides to bury the hatchet and admit that in spite of the jealousy she feels for her friends’ success, she’s glad to have them in her lives: “I don’t need religion or God to give my life meaning because time gives it meaning. We started this life together. I mean, we’re going through it apart, but we’re still together … even when we’re just sitting around the pool talking about whatever inane shit, it still feels very fucking deep.” Apart from its genuine depth of feeling, this scene is important because it’s the first instance of White subverting viewers’ expectations for the story’s ending. All signs seemed to be pointing to the total collapse of the trio’s friendship—or at the very least to a big drunken fight—but with Laurie finally bearing her true feelings, the women are able to reconnect and end the trip closer than ever.
Even more surprising than Laurie’s revelation is the character growth exhibited by the Ratliff family men. Douche-y, privileged finance bro Saxon (played by real-life nepo baby Patrick Schwarzenegger) finally shows his vulnerable side, appearing visibly hurt when the girl he likes (and read one whole book for!) chooses another man over him. I wish I didn’t have to praise Schwarzenegger’s performance, but the longing look he gives the camera conveys a depth of emotion that many seasoned actors couldn’t muster. Meanwhile, Saxon’s father Timothy (Jason Isaacs) has the biggest arc of the season when he finally comes clean to his family about their imminent poverty. After deciding not to go through with a smoothie-based murder-suicide implicating every Ratliff but youngest son Lochlan (Sam Nivola, and yes, you read that right), Tim is finally scared straight when Lochlan unknowingly serves himself the remainder of the drink and nearly dies. With his priorities now straightened out, Timothy is able to reassure his family that while their lives are about to change, they’ll get through it together.
Then we have everyone else. Although for a few minutes we’re led to believe that this season’s victim is Lochlan, it actually turns out to be couple Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Rick (Walton Goggins), with the former caught in the crossfire of a shootout started by the latter. Rick cannot resist his desire for revenge and it ends up killing the only person he cares about. Security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) similarly sacrifices spiritual growth, putting aside his beliefs in nonviolence and the Buddha’s teachings to kill Rick, which secures him a better job and the affection of his crush Mook (Lalisa Manobal).
Even with the double body bags, however, the episode’s biggest blow has to be Belinda’s abandonment of Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul). Back in season one, Belinda—a spa manager at The White Lotus Maui—was promised support from a wealthy guest to start her own business, which was later cruelly revoked. This season, Belinda agrees to open a spa with local employee Pornchai, but when Belinda receives a whopping $5 million of hush money, she rejects Pornchai’s offer using the same selfish excuse that Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) gave her two years prior: “Circumstances have changed for me, and I just can’t commit to anything right now.” While this season was already abundant with karmic justice—like Tim losing his fortune after years of money laundering and Rick being shot a mere minute after murdering someone else—Belinda’s is particularly hard to watch as she seemed to be one of the only morally upstanding characters on the show. I guess the sad truth is that anyone’s integrity can be bought if the price is high enough.
Although I’m not sure if “The White Lotus” season three is the best of the bunch, there’s no denying that this was the best final episode we’ve seen yet. White usually plays the season’s climatic death for laughs, such as when Tanya (after surviving a genuine murder attempt) jumped off too close to the edge of a yacht and drowned after hitting her head. This season we lost characters whom we had genuinely grown to care for. Lochlan does manage to survive, but the moments when he lay limp in his father’s arms produced a kind of pain we had yet to see from this series. Sure, Tanya was funny and it was sad to see her go, but watching an 18-year-old die in front of his dad is a tragedy of a different caliber. It’s a profoundly unjust scene in a show where nothing—not class, not relationships, not the family you’re born into—is ever fair. The entire episode’s thematic depth—which we should note is largely inspired by Buddhism—covers death, reincarnation, karma, materialism and the search for self-improvement without pulling any punches. No character is let off easy. The finale was a masterclass in storytelling, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for viewers in season four.