The Dirty little secrets of privileged snobs will be spilled once again as the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus premieres with its first episode. While the first and second seasons of the dark dramedy series were set in the Maui and Taormina divisions of the titular chain of resorts, respectively, the present one takes viewers to Koh Samui, a picturesque Thai island. In accordance with the series’ tradition, a new set of unsuspecting guests are welcomed, who will have the time of their lives during their upcoming one week stay. As it happens in each season, the first episode hints at troubling emotional and psychological burdens carried by each of the new guests, which will unravel over the course of the upcoming seven episodes.
Spoilers Ahead
Ominous Beginning
So far, each of the seasons of The White Lotus opened a week into the future, with the death of either a resort staffer or one of the guests, the identity of whom will be revealed later on. Viewers meet Zion, who is being assisted by Amrita, one of the employees of White Lotus, in a meditation session. Zion is the son of Belinda, who was introduced in the first season as the spa center executive of the White Lotus resort’s Maui division. Sudden gunfire causes the meditating duo to get alerted, and as Amrita bails on him, Zion jumps into the nearby pond to save his life. Hilariously praying to both Jesus and Buddha for the safety of his mother, Zion appears increasingly restless when the sight of a floating corpse sends him springing out of the pond in seconds. Needless to say, we won’t learn the identity of this deceased guest until the final episode – it could be anyone among the newcomer guests this season of focuses upon.Â
What Is Rick’s Deal?
A week ago, this season’s guests arrive at the shores of Koh Samui, and the focus shifts to Belinda, whose reason behind visiting the Thai division of White Lotus is revealed to be her desire to get acquainted with Asian spirituality and learn the trade secrets of the resort’s wellness center, which she can utilize back in Maui division. Zion is supposed to join her later and currently is busy with exams—and certain personal affairs not yet revealed. Rick, a middle-aged, somewhat shady bloke, is traveling with his young girlfriend, Chelsea, and temperament-wise, the duo appears polar opposites. Chelsea appears to be a bumbling chatterbox, whereas her exasperated husband has a knack for getting into squabbles. Even before arriving on the island, Rick starts an argument with Tim Ratliff, a hotshot businessman, who’s vising the titular hotel with his wife, Victoria, and their three children.
A TV celebrity, Jacelyn, and her girl gang, consisting of longtime pals Kate and Laurie, have decided to spend a week away from their busy lives to rekindle their friendship. The guests are welcomed by hotelier Sritala and other employees of the resort accompanying her. Health mentors are assigned to each party, and Mook, who assists Rick and Chelsea, is revealed to share a connection with Gaitok, one of the security staffers. Gaitok likes Mook, but his feelings aren’t reciprocated, as Mook isn’t romantically interested in him. Tim and his family find assistance from Pamela, while Sritala assigns a Russian hunk, Valentin, to be the health mentor of the girl gang.
While Chelsea seems to be enjoying her stay at the resort in the best way she can, her ever-annoyed husband, Rick, has his own agenda behind planning this sudden trip to Thailand and arriving at this particular resort. From their conversation, it is revealed that Rick might have a shady past, which will be explored further as the series progresses. Anyway, Rick had business with Sritala’s American husband, Jim Hollinger, a famous man in Thailand—and after learning that he has recently moved to Bangkok after falling ill, Rick’s base level of frustration doubles in an instant. Later on, he is seen looking up Jim on the internet, hinting at a possible connection the duo share.
On the other hand, being rightly annoyed with Rick’s antics, Chelsea decides to slack off in the bar at night, where she quickly bonds with a regular visitor, who, much like her, is disgruntled by her older boyfriend. The boyfriend in question is none other than Greg, former boyfriend of Tanya—the only recurring guest of White Lotus, who drowned in the last season. Greg has taken the identity of Gary in this season and presumably has inherited Tanya’s wealth as well. Given Tanya’s business proposal to Belinda had a subplot going on in the first season, there is a chance that Belinda’s arc might be influenced by Greg’s presence. Speaking of Belinda, she seems to be enjoying herself and is also a bit concerned for her son, Zion—with whom she talks over the phone, also mentioning how she finds the presence of Black guests at the resort to be encouraging.
Laurie’s Inability To Fit In
Right off the bat, it can be sensed that not everything is alright in the girl gang—as Laurie often feels isolated and alone in the presence of her two friends, whose lives appear to be quite different than her own. As a TV personality who is recognized even in this part of the world, Jace obviously soaks up all the attention, and Kate is the kind of irritable, clingy friend who sticks with the most popular person and showers them with superficial affirmations, just to get a crumb of the attention. Hilariously enough, not a single word addressed by Kate to Jace feels spontaneous or genuine, but Jace doesn’t seem to mind having her friend fangirling over her. Laurie, on the other hand, cannot keep up with the pretentious conversations her friends engage in round the clock and feels left out. It is also hinted that, unlike Jace and Kate, who have settled pretty well with their rich husbands and loving kids, Laurie has gone through a tough time in the past.
It’s probably due to her sense of failure in personal life, for not living up to her more successful friends, that Laurie has developed alcoholic tendencies too. Retiring to her own room in the resort, which is tucked on the other side from that of her friends’, a drunk Laurie watches Kate and Jace continue their conversation in her absence and breaks down whimpering, making the situation sad and funny at the same time.
Ratliff Siblings Are Three of a Kind
Tim and his wife, Victoria, didn’t really want to come to Thailand, and the only reason they did is because their daughter, Piper, who is working on a thesis on Buddhism, needs to interview a local monk. There is a noticeable sense of pride in Victoria, who can’t stop gushing about her Ivy League children. Tim appears a bit controlling when he frowns upon Lochlan’s remark on having to make a decision about college and not readily accepting what his father has in mind for him.
The eldest of the Ratliff siblings, Saxon, is the typical preppy brat who thinks with their pants. Unable to make anything of his prestigious college degree, Saxon ended up joining his father’s business, and the priorities of his life are centered on sex and affluence. While taking a swim at the resort pool, Saxon tries to strike up a conversation with Jace, and later with Chelsea as well, only to miserably get rebuffed on both occasions. He tries to influence his brother, Lochlan, to mold him along the lines of his perspective on life. However, Lochlan is too shy, unsure, and reserved to commit to anything and just seems glad to accompany his elder siblings.
Piper, on the other hand, appears much more balanced compared to the rest of her family members, although Saxon mentions she has some issues to work on. As Lochlan goes with Piper to the monastery, she appears not to be prepared to approach the monk—which hints she might not be a people person. According to Saxon, Piper’s affinity for Buddhism has resulted in her aversion to material desires, and he has a rather derisive outlook on that sort of lifestyle. Saxon tries to encourage his brother to look up to him instead and steers the conversation towards adult content, catching Lochlan completely off guard. It is slyly hinted that Lochlan might be harboring certain illicit desires towards his elder brother, given how awkwardly their interaction goes as they share a room in the resort—but it is too early to tell whether the series is really moving to that route.
Most of the time Victoria appears on screen, she seems unmindful or disinterested in the things that are happening around her or with the decisions taken by her children, and occasionally dozes off. It is hinted that she might have past issues with substance abuse, as she mentions stacking up on pills to relieve her mental issues.
What Is Tim Trying To Cover Up?
Due to the public areas of the wellness center having policies that discourage guests from using their digital devices, Tim goes outside the dinner area to attend a call from a journalist of The Wall Street Journal who seems too eager to get a scoop from Tim regarding a report he is going to publish soon. According to the journalist’s statement, Tim had set up a fund called Sho-Khel back in 2018 with his business partner, Kenneth Nguyen. This Nguyen guy and this fund mentioned by the journalist apparently have something to do with the Brunei government, and the way Tim dodges the conversation, it seems nothing good is to be expected from that connection. Appearing to be a bit flustered, Tim hangs up on the journalist and calls Kenneth, moments after lying to the journalist that as of now he has no connection with Nguyen or the fund whatsoever.
Later, as Tim and Victoria converse in their room, Victoria’s words almost feel like they are coming from a wind-up toy who reassures Tim about their successful life—almost like validation he needs to hide something that can destroy this picture-perfect image he has crafted for himself. The nature of Tim’s connection with this hush-hush fund remains unknown, but judging by the hints provided in the first episode, the truth behind it can wreck the Ratliff family soon enough.
