The White Lotus, season 3, once again entices viewers with a murder in the first episode that isn’t revealed until the finale, a set of rich vacationers at a resort, a group of locals to keep things grounded, and a beautiful location. This season is set in Thailand.

In this season of The White Lotus two characters from previous seasons appear. They are Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who worked in the spa in season 1. She was promised money by Jennifer Coolidge’s character Tanya to open her own spa. Also returning was Greg Hunt (Jon Gries) who was married to Tanya and is now living big in Thailand off his dead wife’s money. (She drowned at the end of season 2.) He even has a gorgeous young thing named Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) to keep him company.

Belinda is there to make a lateral move within the company and work in Thailand in the spa. Finding Greg there makes her a little nervous.

The Other Characters

The Ratliff family included dad Tim (Jason Isaacs), mom Victoria (Parker Posey), oldest son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), middle child Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), and barely 18 year old Lochlan (Sam Nivola).

There was lots of drama from the Ratliff clan. Some of it was surprising, some of it was the standard rich bigot shtick. Saxon thinks he’s god’s gift to women. Piper wants to stay in Thailand and become a Buddhist. Tim has money troubles happening at home. The children are looking for something to give their lives direction, maybe spiritually, maybe sexually.

The three women pictured up at the top are Kate (Leslie Bibb), Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), and Laurie (Carrie Coon). They are lifelong friends, now middle aged, and out for adventure and maybe a little truth telling / backstabbing.

Again, lots of drama from these three. They get involved with some Russians including Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) who works at the spa. Valentin has some very sketchy friends.

Finally, there’s Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and her fella Rick (Walton Goggins) as the guests. Chelsea makes friends with Chloe, which means the assorted resort guests get invited to party on Greg’s yacht and at his big house on the hill. Rick doesn’t want to attend these things because he has an agenda of his own. It involves the husband of the woman who owns the spa, Sritala (Patravadi Mejudhon).

Mook (Lalisa Manobal) and Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) work at the spa. Gaitok is a guard who is told to learn to use a gun, even though he is the gentlest of Buddhists you can imagine. But you know what they say about introducing a gun into the plot early on. Watch where it is at the end.

Everyone of the characters faces some sort of moral dilemma. A choice. A chance to change their lives in one way or another. Are they courageous or cowardly? Can they face their own demons? Are they leaders or followers, heroes or villains?

These are all very good actors. It’s hard to single out one performance from so many excellent ones. I might say Parker Posey for being the absolute ugly American, but really everyone was outstanding. The series made a star out of Natasha Rothwell and gave Aimee Lou Wood the visibility to expand after Sex Education.

I loved the judgemental monkeys. Every time something dramatic happened, we saw monkeys in the trees outside watching the human antics like observers at a human zoo.

It was a beautiful place. The jungle, the monkeys, the snakes, and the lizards were all part of the plot. The ocean trip on the yacht was gorgeous. The party scenes were wild and hallucinatory. Every bit of it was beautifully photographed. I’ve seen all three seasons of The White Lotus now and every time the characters are interesting, the mystery is intriguing, and the setting is lovely.

If you’re really into this series, there are podcasts about each episode on Spotify and/or Apple podcasts.

Mike White wrote and directed. I wish he’d stop killing off the characters I like, but hey, it’s his story. The series is streaming on Max. Season 4 has already been approved. Have you watched season 3? What did you think of it?