Amor Fati

This series has now settled into an identity. Each season is a sort of trial for the visitors to a White Lotus resort, a kind of chi-chi Twilight Zone with tropical drinks.

You may find love or you may lose it. You may be given the chance to work through old grudges and resentments. You could emerge as a better person for your experiences. You could hit the jackpot financially. Your life as you know it could be destroyed. You could wind up dead. Maybe the Crypt Keeper should be on the beach, greeting guests.

There is no moral framework governing this lottery. Good people are not rewarded and bad people are not punished, unless by random chance.

This results in a common complaint the series is garnering, that the characters are unlikable, the stories are unsatisfying and the whole thing feels pointless. Once you understand that pointlessness is the point, it might come off better. At minimum, it's fun to watch.

At this point the whole White Lotus chain should go bankrupt after hosting so many bizarre fatal scenarios that of course have gone wildly viral. Who's going to vacation at the Resort of Death? Some people would find it a bonus, and that might make a good season of the show in itself but I doubt they'll ever break the fourth wall like that.

After the build-up all season, was that it? When comparing this season finally to the end of seasons 1 and 2, this one feels like something is missing. The end of both the other seasons was wild and seemed to come out of left field. However, this finally was strangely predictable. Like I guessed the big twist 2 episodes ago, and the death that the show is built around was pretty predictable too. The characters were a little more bland this go around as well. The three women still seem toxic, and I wonder if anything was learned. The highlight of this episode was Jason Isaacs, and seeing him struggle with whether or not his family was really interesting. It was heartfelt but also had a hint of dark comedy to it. And even that storyline was painfully predictable. If we do get another season, I hope the writing will be better. Maybe next season, we will get more Sam Rockwell! That alone would be a treat, as his character, who probably only had like 30 minutes total, stole the show. All in all, season 3 was okay but a big step down from one and two.

Crazy build up in the first 7 episodes this season, with little to no release until the final episode. While all the story lines came to an end, this season lacked a storyline that linked all the vacation goers together like past seasons. I was hoping for a bigger pay off because of all the build up but everything that happened was pretty much foreseen to anyone who was consciously watching.

Really hope season 4 gets back to the roots of what made this show the phenomenon it's become. If there's more seasons like this, I'm afraid the show will lose the OG White Lotus fan base.

I love the concept and the vibe of each resort and I can't wait to see where the next season will take place. Crossing my fingers it's more interesting than season 3 🤞🏼

A lot of build up this season throughout every episode, a lot of tension needing to be released somewhere, a lot of pressure in every episode and a lot of journey that somehow doesn't lead anywhere. I feel like a lot of stories weren't really finished in a way they should be finished, it feels like it's not the end even though it is. There's several stories that were building up quite dynamically just for them to be let there and not be ended at all. Looks like a lot of stories, characters and things didn't really have any purpose. I don't know if that's intentional or not. In both cases, it's a bad storytelling. Jason isaacs is such a daddy tho.

The anthology serie's third season of good actors playing rich people at a beautiful resort with some prestige TV dialogue and a dash of mystery and murder is overall a bit of letdown, or a reversion to the mean after the very good second season. It's glacially-paced until the absurd ending and the big narrative twists were all telegraphed, obvious and predictable. I think Mike White has some obvious talents as a writer, but the show is in need of a few more screenwriters on its roster. The dialogue is good but concise, giving the actors space to shine. I had actually thought about not watching this season because of how they stole a role from Milos Bikovic after a slanderous and untrue campaign, but it's still a show to watch.

Schwarzenegger is a carbon copy of his father, but a much better actor. For me, he was a very positive surprise and I think he has it in him to have a good career. Parker Posey's performance and accent were the season's MVP: it is a shame the writing couldn't give her more in the final episode so that she could give some tragedy, not just comedy. Goggins' character was wafer-thin, but if he's finally getting mainstream recognition as a first-class actor, that's alright. The entire cast has no real duds, and is the highlight of the season along with some reliably good dialogue and beautiful filming of Thailand.