It is said money doesn't buy happiness, and the show proves it -- there is romance, heartbreak, affairs and murder.
A place that should be heavenly quickly turns into a hell of misery, observes Deepa Gahlot.
When The White Lotus premiered in July 2021, it was meant to be a six-part mini series.
Created by Mike White, the series -- set in a luxury resort in Hawaii -- could be said to be a darker, more sophisticated version of the 1975 British comedy, Fawlty Towers.
The show was such a hit that it was decided to turn it into an anthology series, and the second season was set in Sicily.
Between the two seasons, the show won 15 Prime Time Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes and was listed among American Film Institute'S 10 best programmes of 2021 and 2022.
It made sense to produce a Season 3.
Season 3 is set in Thailand.
The biggest attraction of White Lotus is the location and a dazzling glimpse of high-end opulence.
The show is not laugh-out-loud funny but a bawdy, bitter social satire about wealthy, dysfunctional Americans, their antics and interactions with the resort's staff.
It is said money doesn't buy happiness, and the show proves it -- there is romance, heartbreak, affairs and murder. A place that should be heavenly quickly turns into a hell of misery.
The show starts with death and then goes back over the week to see how a dream vacation ended in a nightmare.
In episode one of Season 3, just one character from the earlier season returns: Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) was a member of the staff of the White Lotus resort in Hawaii.
There is also a glimpse of Greg (Jon Gries) whose wife (a scene-stealing, award-winning Jennifer Coolidge) died in Season 2. He is described by his slinky new girlfriend Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) as a bald LBH; her acronym for Loser Back Home.
The setting of Season 3 is a lush green resort with thick vegetation and wild animals. It looks a bit scary, especially when the background music alternates between sinister and jaunty, with strange animal calls slicing through the silence.
Episode one opens with Belinda's hunky son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) having a meditation session with Amrita (Shalini Peiris) when the crack of gunshots is heard in the background.
After establishing the shock of violence in the tranquil resort, the show flashbacks to the arrival of the guests on a ferry, where two of the men have already had an argument over smoking.
They are greeted by the smiling staff, including one of the owners, Sritala (Lek Patravadi).
The guests include the Ratcliff family, Timothy (Jason Isaacs/Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies), his odious, drug-addicted wife Victoria (Parker Posy), grown up children, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger, Arnold's son), Lachlan (Sam Nivola) and Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), whose interest in Buddhism dragged the family halfway round the world.
There's also the sullen Rick (Walton Goggins) and his chirpy girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood).
Finally, there's television star Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan/True Detective) with her gal pals Kate (Leslie Bibb/Iron Man) and Laurie (Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age), whom Saxon immediately labels as 'cougars'.
The hotel staff has the sweet wellness mentor Mook (Lalisa Manobal of the K-pop group Blackpink) batting away the romantic overtures of Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), a security guard at the resort, the harried manager Fabian (Christian Friedel/Zone Of Interest), Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), a wellness expert who has to train Belinda and the muscled Russian health mentor, Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius), hired to attract the ladies.
The Ratcliffs refuse to surrender their phones as requested, and Timothy has some work crisis chasing him.
Rick won't give up smoking and snaps at anyone who talks to him.
Saxon is an entitled brat, who has a nude scene already eliciting online comments.
The fake cheer of the trio of female friends clearly hides deep-seated insecurity about aging.
The cast is, as always, spot on, and the problems likely to arise are evident in the first episode; a new one will drop every Sunday.
This season seems to have less humour and more of an ominous vibe.
Mike White, the solo writer-director, with an incisive understanding of class divides, did say in an interview that this season is more about death and Eastern spiritualism.
Otherwise, the theme of toxic, rich people bringing their chaos wherever they go, is repeated.
The show opened to an overwhelmingly large viewership, and already Season 4 has been given the go-ahead.
So fans of The White Lotus can expect more shenanigans in another tourist-bait hotel.
As long as there are exotic resorts to go around, there is enough material to draw from the mine of human misery.
Armchair travellers can rejoice.
The White Lotus 3 streams on Jio+Hotstar
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