The White Lotus - series three - starts February 17th

[curiositykilledthiscat]

The Emmy-award winning HBO original series, which offers an inside look at the powerful and wealthy as they navigate complex personal dynamics and face potentially dangerous experiences while on vacation, returns for its third season this month.

"Seeking peace can be a trip," reads the tagline for this season, which was created, written and directed by former "Survivor" contestant Mike White.
This time around, viewers will be whisked away to an "exclusive" resort in Thailand, where an eclectic group of guests and resort employees will play, and likely misbehave, over the span of a week. "The White Lotus" Season 3 guests include a wealthy businessman and his family, three longtime friends who haven't seen each other in a while on a girls' trip and "rugged man with a chip on his shoulder" and his girlfriend, among others.

Anyone else looking forward to this? Starts on Monday and will be shown on Now and Sky. No watching on demand as all episodes will be dropped weekly.

I thought we had seen the snake tattoo on both the dodgy Valentin Russian mates and the arm of the jewellery store robbers?

Me too, which is why I thought they were the thieves.

Yay, I said upthread I thought Mook was complicit! Who knows?!
I really want things to work out between Belinda and Pornchai. Love them as a couple.

Mook was the first person we saw in the show, wasn’t she? That suggests she has a significant role because opening scenes usually are important. Though I can’t see how getting a lift from Gaitok back then would have helped the robbers.

I don’t know who she is 😳

Same and he’s going to help her open her dream

She's probably the most famous K-Pop star in the world, she's a solo artist now as well but is also in BLACKPINK.

He’s so lovely!
But…I just had an awful thought - hoping he’s not a wrong ‘un too 😢

Nope

rings no bells. Had to google

I mean if you're not into K-Pop you probably wouldn't recognise her, but BLACKPINK in Korea are basically like The Spice Girls at their peak.

Presumably the person who dies has to be a major character? One who’s been in almost every scene - at least if they follow the pattern of the previous two series.

So I’m hoping Pornchai is not prominent enough to catch a bullet. Although I guess it could be a mass murder …

Rewatched and did anyone else notice that the brothers had swapped shorts the next morning.
That definitely seems like some sort of symbolism, shift of power balance etc. but quite funny too!

Whispers

i don’t even know what k pop is

but yah if like the spice girls for popularity

In the opening scene she asked Gaitok for a lift, claiming her motorbike had broken down. The next day she turned up to work on her motorbike and he said 'Oh you got your motorbike fixed already?' (or something like that) and she said 'Yeah', but in an unconvincing way that suggested that it was never broken.

I think Mook is in league with the sinister bodyguards/the guys who robbed the jewellery store and she's been told to lead Gaitok on and distract him.

Yeah, Valentin and his Russian mates are definitely sketchy.

Mook is played by a Korean?

Edited to say: I just googled this and she is Thai. But then how come a Thai girl is in the Korean Spice Girls? I'm really confused now!

No she’s Thai, but moved to Korea and joined the band.

Appreciate I'm in the minority but I think this series is the most interesting to date. It's all about identity, not only how we see ourselves but how others perceive us. The stand out bit for me so far was Sam Rockwell's character's monologue about sissification and men seeing themselves as women for sexual purpose was eye-opening and pretty welcome tbh as it's the elephant in the room that few want to talk about. Am wondering why the writers decided to lay this open so unashamedly, why they're choosing to expose it in such a way. The US press is pretending not to understand what it's all about, but well, it's not even a niche paraphilia among men of a certain age.

V. much looking forward to seeing what happens next. I for one love that it's one episode a week. If it were available all at once, I don't think I would appreciate it.

I too am enjoying it and thought Sam Rockwell’s dialogue was brilliant. He’s such a good actor. I love Walton Goggins too.

When I first watched it I found the Rockwell monologue incredibly jarring as it seemed to have nothing to do with any of the storylines in the series. But on further reflection - I would have laughed at the writer(s) if they had failed to address the elephant in the room: why middle aged white men go to Thailand. It needed doing simply because that’s where the story is set, and that’s the one thing everyone knows about the place.

I do still wish it could have been more incorporated into the main body of the story, but 🤷‍♀️

It kind of is incorporated in the main body of the story, through Gary/Greg, his huge house and luxurious lifestyle many miles away from the US police, and his 'we met online' wife (actually, are they married? I don't know), as well as the various men on the yacht with their doting young and beautiful Thai girlfriends, who Victoria Ratliff was perceptive about.

Mmm …

Chloe’s This is a good situation was - gobsmacking in its honesty.

Yes, exactly. The men are the ones with the power (money), but women like her are arguably complicit. But then why do these men pick younger, nubile women...? It's morally complicated.

I thought the lost gun was relevant as Timothy still thinks he has it and is planning to kill himself and Victoria so him discovering it’s gone might lead to a spectacular meltdown and him admitting the mess he’s in (although I don’t find it plausible neither of the deviant sons has not been on their mobile at all to see the news Saxon especially would not have played along with a phone ban).

Mook has planned a date with Gaitok the night we are about to see and the same time as the boat party so if pp are right and she’s in on the robbery maybe she tells him and asks him to get involved too and this leads him to spiral.

It has got a bit better but feels like it’s trying to hard to shock now with not much else behind it- other than Belinda and her son I don’t really care about any of them ( but I quite like how Chelsea has developed to be quite nice and normal not just another deviant).

Oh dear …

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/27/the-white-lotus-duke-university-complaints-ratliff