“The White Lotus” stored audiences captivated all season lengthy.
Once more.
The Max drama’s third season turned the spring’s must-see collection. Simply attempt studying a popular culture web site with out seeing infinite tales tied to the collection.
Was it any good, although?
HiT editor Christian Toto wished he had these eight-plus hours again. Washington Examiner movie critic Harry Khachatrian discovered present creator Mike White’s imaginative and prescient exhilarating.
Story spoilers forward…
Toto: The third season of “The White Lotus” grabbed the zeitgeist and wouldn’t let go. This critic cherished the primary two seasons and couldn’t resist a 3rd journey to “paradise.” Besides one thing was lacking from the soar, and the present’s earlier highs by no means reappeared.
Sure, the brand new vacationers had been a morally warped bunch as soon as extra, from a drug-addled matriarch (Parker Posey) to a trio of useless, 40-something pals (Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon and Michelle Monaghan).
Week after week it felt like nothing occurred. Complete scenes got here and went with out objective. The characters’ personalities had been shortly established (Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Saxon was a jerk from the soar, Walton Goggins’ grim visage turned a part of the Thailand surroundings), however creator Mike White’s penchant for psychological insights went lacking.
The final two episodes noticed some puzzle items fall into place, lastly, however the writing nonetheless felt diminished in comparison with earlier installments. The finale dissatisfied, too, delivering foolish plot twists, nonsensical motion and stupefying choices from the troubled enterprise tycoon Timothy Ratliff performed by Jason Isaacs (let’s go away his meandering accent apart for now).
Season three proved a colossal disappointment.
Khachatrian: I’ve to surprise if we had been watching the identical present, on condition that Mike White’s psychological insights had been at their sharpest this season. You’re proper that Saxon begins as a Temu knockoff of Patrick Bateman—his vapid confidence, gym-sculpted id and hole pursuit of standing are all textbook finance-bro tropes. However calling his arc skinny overlooks how subtly White dismantles that persona over the course of the season.
What begins as a caricature steadily unravels into one thing extra tragic: a person so emotionally bankrupt that, by the finale, even he acknowledges the vacancy of the life he’s constructed.
Whereas it’s simple to dismiss this as “nothing occurring,” that’s precisely the purpose. “The White Lotus” has by no means been pushed by plot—it’s about watching folks collapse in sluggish movement. Saxon’s arc, like Timothy’s, isn’t a narrative of massive occasions however of gradual psychological unraveling.
That late scene the place Saxon watches Chelsea run into the arms of one other man and—regardless of all his bravado—can barely maintain again tears? That’s not simply sturdy appearing (and Schwarzenegger deserves credit score, particularly amid a star-studded forged). It’s White delivering one in all his clearest critiques of contemporary religious hollowness. It’s a uncommon sight to see such socially conservative motifs in pop-TV, not to mention on HBO.
As for Isaacs’ “stupefying” businessman, I’d argue Timothy Ratliff’s arc is without doubt one of the most compelling character research within the collection to this point. He arrives as a finance mogul on the verge of implosion and spends a lot of the season numbed out on his spouse’s Lorazepam, considering whether or not to take his household down with him.
If The White Lotus ends with Season 3, we’ve received somebody responsible — Jason Isaacs.
He joins #TheBoost to unpack the newest whirlwind of a season.#WhiteLotus #JasonIsaacs #TV #SiriusXM #Ratliffs pic.twitter.com/rrr1xnX0Xf
— SiriusXM Canada (@siriusxmcanada) April 12, 2025
Some may discover his storyline sluggish, however to me, it’s exactly that pacing—the muted despair, the absence of melodrama—that makes his eventual realization so affecting. White might’ve gone for a flashy climax. As a substitute, he gave us one thing more durable: a person reckoning with the truth that his wealth is gone, his picture is shattered, and but, the folks he loves are nonetheless beside him.
His salvation lies not in reclaiming management, however in surrendering to one thing extra enduring—household.
So sure, when you’re in search of surprising plot twists or big-ticket deaths, Season Three may really feel subdued. However when you sit with it—actually sit with it—it presents one thing a lot richer: a sluggish, humorous, painful, and unexpectedly redemptive examine of individuals desperately attempting to persuade themselves they’re joyful, at the same time as their fastidiously curated lives quietly disintegrate.
Toto: The Timothy Ratliff arc proved essentially the most maddening. Episode after episode featured him cartoonishly laying aside his destiny, all of the whereas his clueless household couldn’t piece collectively the apparent hints of his troubles. He noticed how vapid his household was and regarded killing them earlier than having second ideas.
He additionally thought it was noble to depart his youthful son alone, watching his fast relations get poisoned to loss of life. Then, he leaves the lethal blender mix out so the plot might conveniently steer the son to take a gulp himself.
RELATED: THE SPIRITUALITY BEHIND ‘THE WHITE LOTUS’
He might have been offended at himself for instilling such vapid values into his clan. As a substitute, he by no means grew an inch. Saxon’s metamorphosis proved wildly unconvincing. And having him tote round a “ebook” within the ultimate moments as if it had been a totem of some type, is the laziest writing tic doable. And that incest second? It’s TV’s model of clickbait.
Meaningless. Hole. Pretend.
A great story doesn’t draw out these so-called arcs for weeks on finish. Effectivity issues in addition to perception into human nature. The 40-something gals proved it. Just a few moments of emotional readability emerged, just like the “oops, I voted for Trump” second.
LA and NYC residents are shocked their pal in Texas goes to church and voted Trump. Watch this scene from White Lotus on Sunday. Texas character isn’t performed for affordable laughs. The vibe shift is actual: pic.twitter.com/K3q9zdlNZC
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) March 4, 2025
However ready episode after episode for that whereas being numbed by their bland dialog and vanity? Go.
I cringed whereas Goggins’ Rick tried to trick the growing older matriarch into considering his pal was a movie producer – with out truly getting ready him for the ruse. Rick is many issues, however he’s not dumb.
White’s current feedback defending Season 3 reveal a conceit that clearly contaminated his present.
Khachatrian: I gained’t defend each beat of the plot. However for the sake of argument, think about that Timothy’s are the actions of a Lorazepam-numbed mind that solely simply determined in opposition to murdering its complete household; clairvoyance shouldn’t be considerable in such circumstances.
Furthermore, “The White Lotus” has by no means promised narrative realism. White’s world is a heightened one—satirical, symbolic, typically surreal. His characters don’t function with excellent logic as a result of they’re not meant to.
That’s why Timothy’s arc doesn’t finish in grand redemption or spectacular downfall. He doesn’t scream at his household for his or her self-importance, nor apologize for having raised them in his picture. He simply sees, in a single numbed-out second, that his fortune is gone and his household remains to be there—and perhaps that’s sufficient.
It’s not clear or cathartic. However that anticlimax is the purpose. Actual folks typically don’t develop—they settle.
As for Saxon: once more, I feel his defining second got here when he teared up on the sight of Chelsea leaping into Rick’s arms. White’s means to humanize him in that on the spot—after a season spent portray him as a hedgefund-built caricature—was, for me, one of many season’s quietest highlights.
Concerning the so-called “incest second”—positive, it’s surprising. However shock has all the time been a characteristic of this present, not a bug. Season One’s notorious resort supervisor scene? Season Two’s uncle affair? It’s clear White has been pushing the envelope every season.
A part of the magic of The White Lotus lies in that rigidity: the terrible characters, the horrible issues they do, and the way far the viewers is keen to maintain watching with out wanting away.
Possibly it’s not environment friendly storytelling—nevertheless it’s unmistakably human. Messy, sluggish, unresolved—identical to actual folks.
Harry Khachatrian is a movie critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential weblog, holds an MBA from the College of Toronto, and, in his free time, writes about wine at BetweenBottles.com.
