White Lotus Returns

[CuriousByNature]

I feel like I wasted 8 weeks of my life watching this season.  Every week I was hoping, 'this week things will take off', but no, for me that never happened.  For me the finale was on par with Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault back in 1986.  A complete let down after a considerable amount of buildup.

[d.anders]

Looks like the hour-long video got pulled from Howard Stern's channel. Sorry about that.

[Peter Eater]

4 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

I feel like I wasted 8 weeks of my life watching this season.  Every week I was hoping, 'this week things will take off', but no, for me that never happened.  For me the finale was on par with Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault back in 1986.  A complete let down after a considerable amount of buildup.

I don’t get it. If the season “never took off,” how could the finale be a “letdown”? Wasn’t it just more of the same?

[CuriousByNature]

42 minutes ago, Peter Eater said:

I don’t get it. If the season “never took off,” how could the finale be a “letdown”? Wasn’t it just more of the same?

It was a letdown for me because it was the last chance for the show to redeem itself.  And I found that it failed.  I kept waiting for something good that never materialized.

[TonyDown]

I hesitate to be critical, as if I could do better.  But S3 may have suffered from piling too many characters into too few episodes.  It was exhausting, waiting for enough glue to hold the story together.

[CuriousByNature]

10 hours ago, TonyDown said:

I hesitate to be critical, as if I could do better.  But S3 may have suffered from piling too many characters into too few episodes.  It was exhausting, waiting for enough glue to hold the story together.

I'm sure anything I produced would be worse.  But I think there were a lot of missed opportunities.  Nothing came of the manager guy who tried singing, the weird sibling stuff never really developed, the girl realizing she could not give up materialism after only one night at the monastery did not seem very plausible to me, the staff allowing fruit with poisonous seeds to be growing at a 5-star resort resort seemed contrived, and the whole Valentin/criminal friends angle seemed sort of weird and unnecessary.  But maybe I'm too critical.

[jeezifonly]

A lot of us have been expecting a whodunnit series this lush to be plot-driven. I think I’ve come to see each season as an expansive set of character studies and when I surrendered to that for the last 4 eps, it became less frustrating. More of a whydunnit. The consistently great casting and writing allows for us to linger over moments, tensions, glances, reactions, asides, and speeches all about shifting human relationships inside a beautiful pressure cooker. 
Mike knows exactly what he’s doing. 
 

[d.anders]

5 hours ago, jeezifonly said:

Mike knows exactly what he’s doing.

I think it's called scrambling.

[SirBillybob]

Meanwhile, Fabian’s eventual Eurovision breakthrough.

Edited April 13 by SirBillybob

[SirBillybob]

And Friedel’s chilling Auschwitz Commandant Höss portrayal in The Zone of Interest.

Edited April 13 by SirBillybob

[Ali Gator]

I just watched the finale last night. It was indeed a let-down. As the credits rolled at the end, I asked myself, 'That's it ?'  The story could have been told in half the episodes over two nights - the way ABC, CBS, and NBC used to air stories like this and call it a 'mini series' or 'two part movie of the week'. 

Thankfully, Patrick S. and Arnas Fedaravičius gave us  eye candy each episode, but not enough. I think when the first episode showed PS's dick, most viewers were hoping it would get better from there. We instead got a glimpse of ass on Arnas Fedaravičius, and a prosthetic from Jason Isaacs (but what a nice one it was).

Overall rating : 5/10

[+ Snbrd]

14 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

I'm sure anything I produced would be worse.  But I think there were a lot of missed opportunities.  Nothing came of the manager guy who tried singing, the weird sibling stuff never really developed, the girl realizing she could not give up materialism after only one night at the monastery did not seem very plausible to me, the staff allowing fruit with poisonous seeds to be growing at a 5-star resort resort seemed contrived, and the whole Valentin/criminal friends angle seemed sort of weird and unnecessary.  But maybe I'm too critical.

Good summary of the unresolved. One could also add the three backstabbing girlfriends.

[Wings246]

On 4/6/2025 at 10:27 PM, BenjaminNicholas said:

Mike White needs to take a long holiday.

The long holiday will be his participation in Season 50 of "Survivor"?  😅  What the hell is he thinking?

[Wings246]

I agree with most people that S3 is a disappointment.  That said, Laurie's finale monologue hits me really hard.  I am 10 billion light years away from being that filthy rich, but I can identify with her self-reflection in the speech.  In particular, I share this sentiment in ways that I cannot describe: “I’m glad you have a beautiful face.  And I’m glad that you have a beautiful life.  And I’m just happy to be at the table.”

Do you think:

1.     She has accepted her fate & life and is truly happy and at peace to be at the table?

2.     She has honestly accepted that is all that she can ever achieve in her life and that she has begrudgingly conceded that she can never reach the “beautiful face” and “beautiful life” status of her friends?

3.     She still harbors some sort of animosity and resentment towards her fate & life and some degree of jealousy towards her friends?

4.     A combination of any or all of the above?

[MikeBiDude]

Season 1 fun fact: I visit Honolulu often for some (non-profit) work/meetings. The place I stay has a great view of the Ala Wai Marina. Most mornings I see the “Via Mia” head out and return for an early morning coffee cruise tour.  Took this pic this morning.

She’s the boat used in White Lotus Season 1.

If I’d taken a picture with more background, you may have recognized the Ala Wai Marina entrance is also the scene of Gilligan’s Island the “Minnow” headed out for her 3 hour tour.

 

The White Lotus

WWW.THEVIDAMIA.COM