I Really Think The White Lotus Missed the Point With Season 3

The fun of the first two seasons of The White Lotus is watching bad people get their comeuppance. They head out to an exotic resort and don’t mind treating other people poorly as long as they get their way. However, both Seasons 1 and 2 also feature kind-hearted characters who are easy to root for. Rarely do they end up on top, but they act as the moral center of the season, providing a nice change of pace from all of the cynical moments. Unfortunately, The White Lotus Season 3 does all it can to corrupt its good characters, leading to an unsatisfying conclusion.

Having nothing but unlikeable characters would be easier to swallow if Season 3 went out of its way early on to reveal that. It does the opposite, however, and creator Mike White doesn’t seem to care about how that affects the conclusion of the show’s latest outing.

The White Lotus Is Only as Good as Its Most Wholesome Characters

When viewers were first introduced to the White Lotus resort in Season 1, the focus was on the staff and how the guests treated them. Shane’s constant complaining pushed Armond to the edge, and the hotel manager lost his life because of his refusal to be walked all over. There was also Belinda, who thought she hit it big when Tanya told her she’d help her start her own spa. Tanya ended up going back on her word, leaving Belinda crushed at the end of the season. The only good person who gets a win is Quinn, who leaves his family behind to sail with his new Hawaiian friends.

Season 2 took things in a different direction, focusing more on love and how relationships can be broken and repaired. While there were a few more unsavory characters than in Season 1, there are a couple of characters that are easy to get behind. The first is Albie, who ends up getting screwed over but learns a lot about himself and how to be more confident. There’s even a moment at the end of the season that teases that he and Portia may have a future together. Lucia and Mia, while complicated, are also given satisfying conclusions that see them get one over on the rich people who so often take from them.

Throughout most of Season 3, it seems as if White and Co. are setting the stage for more moments like this. Rick and Chelsea appear to be turning over a new leaf; Gaitok is standing by his beliefs; Belinda is refusing to take Greg’s hush money; and Piper is coming into her own as a person. Unfortunately, Episode 8 undoes nearly all of the positive developments in Season 3.

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The White Lotus‘s Season 3 Finale Fails to Do Right By Its Characters

Like the first two seasons of The White Lotus, Season 3 builds toward a traumatic event. This time around, it’s a shooting, and it’s hard to get a read on who’s going to pull the trigger. Well, it turns out to be Rick, who loses his cool after seeing the man he thinks killed his father return to the resort. It leads to mayhem and several people lose their lives, including Chelsea, who gets caught in the crossfire. And if that wasn’t bad enough, during the featurette after the episode, White reveals that he thinks that Amrita, Rick’s wellness coach, is partly to blame for the shooting and that he always intended to have Season 3’s characters give in to their animalistic natures.

That choice spawns other disappointing moments, such as Piper giving up her dream of studying Buddhism and Gaitok shooting Rick after putting his career over his morals. The worst of it all, though, is Belinda, who ends up taking Greg’s money and chooses to enjoy being rich rather than starting her spa. It drives home the point that money corrupts, which has been present in the series from the start, but it also leaves a bad taste in viewers’ mouths. At the end of the day, few characters truly connect with their spiritual side, and even the ones who do don’t come out on the other side unscathed.

The first three seasons of The White Lotus are streaming now on Max.

Did you enjoy the ending of The White Lotus Season 3? What changes would you have made? Let us know in the comments below!