It’s no wonder then, The White Lotus, with two seasons (2021 and 2023), has been an Emmy award winning show that we can’t get enough of. The draw of the show can be seen from the fact, that it’s one of the few shows that still drops one episode every week, so unless you wait for the entire season to be over to binge watch (by which time you’ve probably died of FOMO), you have to watch it in the old fashion way of waiting every week to watch the next episode.
The White Lotus is brilliant because it achieves this rare combination of building memorable and very real characters, a riveting storyline underpinned by a who-was-it guessing of an imminent death in every season, and a shock-n-awe rawness of the human nature, while all through making a sharp and biting commentary on the deeply flawed (and often dark) nature of the people and the modern-day society we live in. We can see how rare this is, because it takes a special craft of nuanced writing and subtle story telling that very few are able to achieve. If you want to know what I mean, watch The Perfect Couple, which is Netflix’s attempt at doing a White Lotus and you will see why this story telling is not everyone’s glass of wine.
In many ways, conceptually, The White Lotus formula is simple and and that’s why it works. A bunch of strangers/families on holiday for a week at The White Lotus resort (Season One in Hawaii, Two in Sicily, Three in Ko Samui), managed by a diverse staff, interacting with myriad other local people, all with their own uniquely-flawed personalities, resulting in a melting pot of heightened emotions, multiple conflicts, illicit escapades, deep self-discovery, hilarious consequences, disturbing realisations, and eventually as the final climax, one or more deaths, and more importantly many salvations. The beauty is not in the central idea of the plot. The beauty is in the execution and the detailing of the story and the dialogues and the emotions and the characters. That’s what makes the difference. This TV show proves the point that ideas are a dime a dozen, but how you bring it to life on the screen is where the genius lies. 1% inspiration. 99% perspiration.
But, the winning stroke of the show is the characters that are built. All played by excellent actors and performances. Across all 3 seasons, this is the one thing that hits the spot again and again. None of the characters are stereotypical cliches we see in most of the content we consume. Every season has a large number of characters, and yet each one of them remain in your memory forever, as distinct people you’ve met. In Season 1, the rich white dysfunctional family, led by a successful corporate career woman, the not-so-straight (in many ways) hotel manager, the honeymooning couple with a post-wedding crisis, the aspiring massage therapist. In Season 2, the sexually-incompatible young couple, the overly romantic-but-infidel other younger couple, the three-generation granddad-father-son out to discover their Italian roots, the next not-so-straight hotel manager, the aspiring local escort girls, the lost-in-life assistant of a wealthy heiress, the dark stranger amidst a seemingly-harmless-but-darker Italian gay wealthy society, and the continued characters of the wayward ex-marine-fishing-man with the lonely, idiosyncratic rich woman, played brilliantly by the inimitable Jennifer Coolidge, who deservedly won the Emmy for her performance. In Season 3, another rich white dysfunctional family, a group of complexed and insecure girl friends, two young women-married-to-rich-old-men-with-dark-pasts with their own crosses to bear, an innocent and conflicted local security guard, the still-aspiring massage therapist from Season 1, and the memorable and varied distinct crew and staff of the hotel, including an under-confident hotel manager, a powerful and vain hotel owner, a not-what-you-see Russian massage therapist, and more.
However, despite the strong characters and superb performances by the actors, Season 3 is disappointing and fails to hit the mark. Many of the ingredients are still there, especially the production values. Beautiful picture-framing-worthy shots and scenes, menacing and ominous background music, the immersive experience of this Ko Samui resort and nearby Thai environment, the suspense of who will die this time. But what is missing is a strong story around the characters and how it uniquely intertwines with the personal journeys of their lives. The characters are complex, but the path that their story takes through the 8 episodes is linear and underwhelming, and the eventual ending of their one-week holiday doesn’t seem to have either moved them forward in their lives, or given a new direction or angle. It’s as if the week in The White Lotus was just a temporary blip in their lives, after which they go back to where they were, without a dramatic change. This is what is fundamentally different between Season 3 and the first two seasons. First two seasons depicted The White Lotus almost as a metaphor of transformation that these characters go through as a result of the week there. From being an idealist to a pragmatist. From a romantic to a cynic. From being alienated to being connected. From being unhappily single to becoming unhappily together. From delusional to real. From alive to dead! Alas, Season 3 is not able to build this narrative strongly. The attempt is there for example, in the white family coming to terms with their lack of wealth or the girl friends becoming closer, but its not built powerfully enough throughout the story and at best becomes a lip service in the last episode that then fails to ring true as we close the Season.
Having said that, my belief in HBO and Mike White (the creator of the show) still remains. Because 2 out of 3 is not a bad record at all. So here’s hoping that the feedback reaches them and Season 4 comes back with a bang to tell the story of this best resort in the world, and how it transforms the lives of many that come for a holiday as well as those that don’t. Until the next season….
