A Review of the Premiere of the Third Season of The White Lotus
Spoiler Alert!
The sensational hit is back with a new location — the "White Lotus" hotel has successfully "opened" in Thailand, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world (especially among Russians). The show, which premiered on HBO in 2021, has already taken its characters to Hawaii and Italy, gained a huge fan base, critical acclaim, and a dozen Emmy statuettes. Now it's time for spiritual practices: series creator Mike White has traveled to the other side of the world to demonstrate the obvious gap between Eastern and Western cultures. Over the next few weeks, the hotel's "guests" will encounter all sorts of crises and contradictions, and someone will traditionally fall victim to murder.
The first episode of the third season opens with picturesque Thai landscapes. The meditation of the hotel's new guests is interrupted by prolonged gunfire: screams are heard, and at least one person is killed (according to the "Lotus" laws, the corpse lies face down in the water).
The next batch of wealthy people arrived on the island a week earlier. The Ratliff family has been added to the collection of dysfunctional families at the "White Lotus" — businessman Timothy (Jason Isaacs), his anti-depressant-taking wife Victoria (Parker Posey), and three children: aggressive macho Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), meticulous student Piper (Sarah Kathryn Hook), and timid Lochlan (Sam Nivola). Immediately upon arrival, Timothy is besieged by calls from journalists asking about financial fraud. Piper is preparing a dissertation on Buddhism, and the brothers are measuring their достоинствами in all senses at once. It seems that very soon the outwardly prosperous world of the Ratliffs will collapse with a crash.
The famous television actress Jacqueline Lemon (Michelle Monaghan) has fully paid for a vacation for herself and her friends Lori (Carrie Coon) and Kate (Leslie Bibb). The women are well over 40, they have been friends since school, and they are divided by their status and material wealth. Jacqueline is used to fame and adoration, so it is easier for her to identify with Kate, a frivolous and glamorous "trophy wife." For Lori, whose corporate career clearly does not bring emotional satisfaction, such closeness causes burning envy. Old grievances come to the surface — the trip, dubbed by Kate the "winners' tour," threatens to get out of control.
Rapidly balding Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) and his naive young lover Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) spent a long time choosing between Australia and Thailand, and settled on the latter — and for good reason. The depressed-looking Rick threatens to become the catalyst of the entire season: for mysterious reasons, the hero urgently needs to meet with a certain John Hollinger, the husband of the owner of the Thai hotel. Hollinger was urgently transported to Bangkok due to his health condition, and this further destabilizes Rick, who frantically begins searching for photos of Hollinger on the Internet (why, is unknown).
The season will delight fans with old acquaintances, first of all — the masseuse Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who has flown to Thailand for three months for a cultural exchange. Among the hotel staff, the most famous will be Blackpink soloist Lisa, who played an employee of the wellness center, and German Christian Friedel from "The Zone of Interest" in the image of a chaotic manager.
"The Lotus" was hardly hindered by Hollywood strikes and other cataclysms. Thanks to the stable cynicism in the dialogues and White's confident direction, the show has returned to the air even more enlightened and relevant. For privileged white people, Buddha is just another statue that restrains their basest desires. "Civilized" citizens gradually turn into animals, and the "Lotus" itself resembles a catalog of the Animal Planet channel. The wild nature cannot be stopped, the end of the world is near, and even the local monkeys will be shocked.
