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The White Lotus Season 3 Review

The third season of The White Lotus premiered on HBO in 2025. It’s another stellar season of this incredible show.

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“Just because people are rich doesn’t mean they’re not trashy“

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The first season was set in Hawaii and the second was set in Sicily. This one is set in Thailand, which is the most exotic location yet. And it was utilized quite well. The Buddhist themes are definitely present and the season was gorgeously filmed with terrific shots of the flora and the fauna, especially focusing on the monkeys. The score is also fantastic per usual, focusing on Thai music across different periods and genres, making for an eclectic and suitably culturally authentic soundtrack.

This season is somewhat different from the other two in focusing more on the crime mystery. I actually liked that choice and it led to the finale that was expectedly epic and intense. For the first time ever, more than one person was killed, which was quite unexpected and heartbreaking. I found the finale to be messy for sure, but memorable it surely was, which was the most important thing. Thematically, the show returns to its roots as it focused on the critique of capitalism, which Mike White did in a very nuanced and subtle way that I hugely appreciated.

As is always the case, The White Lotus is all about the characters and their dynamics, so let’s analyze them one by one. Per usual we get a couple of Thai characters, which was nice to see. They did not get the most interesting or best developed storylines, but Gaitok was still pretty well realized and his arc was very strong. His girlfriend Mook was a very bad person and she only wanted to use him to reach wealth. He’s your standard guy who chooses to be in the wrong profession just to get the girl in spite of his personality being totally opposite of what that profession asks for. His arc is quite tragic and it ended on a sour note that further emphasized the main theme of this season, which is the dangers of capitalism and how it can compromise even the kindest among us.

The opposite of his arc is the story of these three friends – Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate. They started off on a very unpleasant note, but eventually they became closer and their story concluded with that emotionally impactful and wholesome monologue from Laurie that was so wonderful. Carrie Coon delivered one of the season’s finest turns. Jaclyn is the conceited one, Kate is the composed one and Laurie is the insecure one. Mike White truly gets female friendships and how sometimes one of these women can just be a part of the group solely to remain among them, but in actuality they do not respect her enough and she deserves better friends. They were by far the most realistic and best realized characters of the bunch.

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Rick’s story is clearly this Shakespearean tale of revenge defining him as a character flaw to the point of his demise. Although a bit repetitive and one-note, Rick worked because Walton Goggins killed it in the role, delivering one of the best performances of the season, selling his anguish and pain particularly well. His girlfriend Chelsea is played by the charming Aimee Lou Wood of ‘Sex Education’ fame and she was wonderful here per usual. I really felt her death and I wished that they didn’t kill her, but I did predict it and it worked in the context of the story.

Belinda from the first season is back and what they did with her story was incredible. They capped her story off by giving her a happy ending where she goes off into the sunset with her son with a whole lot of cash. But that came at the expense of selling her soul to the devil literally as she bribed Greg and he successfully evaded going to prison. Tanya’s story, thus, concluded in a very unpleasant, but sadly grounded way. Just like Gaitok, Belinda is a woman who was literally compromised by the idea of getting rich quickly, resulting in a very tragic conclusion to the story that felt awfully nasty, but meaningfully so.

As for the Ratliffs, their story eventually did not connect all that much to the other characters from this ensemble, but they were still so well developed individually and also as a group, though they are clearly far from a caring or strong family, though they see themselves as such. Piper wanting to be a Buddhist, but clearly not wanting to get rid of her luxurious lifestyle was so realistically depicted.

Saxon is that archetype of a good-looking guy who has it all, the same guy we saw on all seasons of this show. Schwarzenegger was very charismatic here. I did not care for Lochlan all that much, but his melodramatic conclusion was quite memorable. The incestuous relationship between these two was just there to make the season more spicy, but in actuality they did not go too far with this idea to the point that I felt it being played too safe and vanilla.

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But Jason Isaacs is fantastic as Timothy and he is one of the best actors on this season by far. He sold all of his inner turmoil beautifully. The fact that his family barely even noticed that something was going on with him was so sad, signifying how being a husband and a father is a huge burden to bear. As for Victoria, Parker Posey clearly played her as a continuation of Jennifer Coolidge and it really worked. Though this season lacked humor overall, Victoria was its best supplier through her hilarious lines of dialogue delivered through that ridiculously over-the-top and dumb accent that made her instantly iconic.