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Season three of HBO’s “White Lotus” begins with the show’s grim tradition: it starts with a scene that tours the swanky hotel chain, and arrives at a body bag whose contents will be revealed by the season finale.

This season of the show is set at the White Lotus hotel chain’s Thailand location, an enclave only accessible by boat. Like season one in Hawaii and season two on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, the show then rewinds to a week prior, with hotel staff and patrons arriving at the hotel. By the end of their week vacation, any of them could be in the bag shown at the opening.

Written and directed by Mike White, a mastermind who uses location-specific elements like religion, spirituality and cultural customs to foreshadow and deepen character arcs, season three uses these themes to highlight the dominant role that money plays in our lives.

I had a lot of predictions for the deceased in this season.

I hoped it wouldn’t be Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). I guessed incorrectly that Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), a character who returns from season one and was promised to do business with season two’s deceased Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), wouldn’t make it through her stay at the White Lotus. I was almost positive that Belinda’s suspicious interactions with Tanya’s widower, Greg (Jon Gries), in this season would inspire her death.

Throughout the eight episodes, Belinda grapples with conflicting viewpoints over whether Greg is a criminal who planned Tanya’s death or not. But in the season finale, Belinda ultimately contradicts her morals and coerces Greg into buying her silence about his part in Tanya’s death.

After she receives Greg’s money, there is a clear shift in Belinda’s treatment of others, another intentional change by White. Once the direct deposit of $5 million lands in her bank account, Belinda’s identity shifts, and she leaves her relationship with a spa worker during her tenure in Thailand, almost as if she’s better than him.

Greg happens to be the only character who’s been in all three seasons of the show. So naturally, I thought the season would conclude with his death or at least a reveal of his involvement in the show’s prior deaths.

Ilana Zahavy | Design Editor

Unlike previous seasons, where one character died in the finale, season three ended with a shocking three deaths. Among the deceased was my favorite, the character I had been rooting for the whole season. Chelsea’s death was incredibly heartbreaking, a tragic love story like Romeo and Juliet.

Included with Chelsea’s in the finale were the deaths of her star-crossed lover, Rick (Walton Goggins) and his father Jim (Scott Glenn). Rick ultimately dies after a quarrel with Jim, who Rick believed to be the murderer of his father, not knowing that Jim actually was his father.

White revealed in the show’s official podcast that the resulting deaths of Rick, Chelsea and Jim are “a classic theme of Greek tragedy, of somebody killing the thing that they love (while) trying to get some revenge.”

I didn’t know there’d been clues all along in the season that these three guests would be dead by the end of their stay. For instance, after two near-death experiences back-to-back in episodes two and three, Chelsea says to Rick, “Things happen in threes. One, the robbery. Two, the snake show. Like death is coming for me,” planting the seeds of her death.

White also convinced spectators that a member of the Ratliff family was the most likely to die. Between Timothy’s (Jason Isaacs) shady financial deals, Victoria’s (Parker Posey) superiority complex and the incestuous relationship between brothers Lochlan (Sam Neill) and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), I thought at least one of the family’s members wouldn’t have a happy ending.

Once again, White surprised me with season three of “The White Lotus.” These guests ultimately leave the hotel alive, despite Lochlan’s encounter with poisonous fruit seeds in addition to Tim’s suicide plans, medication overdosing and illegal financial deals.

After a hiatus from their phones in a week-long “detox,” the last appearance of the Ratliffs left me even more unsettled than Tim’s season-long hallucinations. Their final scene, moments before they learn that their once prosperous life would soon be just a distant memory, didn’t tie up any of the loose ends that were hinted at through the Ratliff arc. They return home unsure if they’ll be as wealthy as they once were.

Despite the death of my favorite character and all my unanswered questions, I was once again stunned by White’s use of symbolism to comment on society in this season of “The White Lotus.” Throughout the season, he challenges his characters and shows how money affects their choices and identities. White embeds his stance on society (while also maybe promoting exotic vacations), ultimately shocking with the season finale.

Published on April 9, 2025 at 12:20 am
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