I am a TV show girly all the way. In order to function as a regular human being, I need to be watching at least one show that I can look forward to after a long day (because who am I if not hyper fixating on the media I consume). For months I have been getting ads on HBO Max for The White Lotus. I like to believe I’m not so easily influenced, but I’ve got to say…HBO Max algorithm – 1, Kaitlyn – 0.
Do I sound like I’ve been living under a rock if I say I didn’t know about this show until this season came out? Because it’s true. When I finally got off my pretentious “not easily influenced” high horse and let myself actually look into the show, I was shocked to see there were two prior seasons.
So of course I took it upon myself to watch all three seasons this past month. With only two episodes of this season left (one by the time this article comes out), I want to give my overall thoughts and predictions for the end of season three.
WARNING! Spoilers ahead…read at your own risk!
Critiques
Season three started off very slow in my opinion. In the past seasons, the cast made it interesting, even if the show wasn’t very fast-paced. However, in this season, the cast is not for me. The White Lotus has a theme of putting unlikeable characters at the center of the plot, but they were still interesting enough that you wanted to see what they would do next even if you weren’t rooting for them. Dare I say the season three characters are unlikeable AND uninteresting…
I’m sorry but that Rick storyline is on my last nerve. Rick is awful and not in an intriguing way. He’s boring and mean and I don’t really care that he wants to avenge his father or whatever. His girlfriend Chelsea, played by Aimee Lou Wood from Sex Education, is the only reason I don’t completely skip through his scenes. I’m assuming Wood is supposed to be our token “it” girl this season, and don’t get me wrong I think she’s great, but it is hard to follow in the footsteps of Sydney Sweeney AND Aubrey Plaza (two of my favorite actresses ever). I think she would be able to give a much better performance if she were given a better character.
Don’t get me started on the Ratliffs. The only character I like from that godforsaken family is the dad and he was going to commit suicide two episodes ago. I knew from the start that they were insinuating some weird sexual tension between the two brothers, but I didn’t think they were actually going to go there in episode five…not much shocks me anymore but I’m not lying when I say my jaw dropped.
I like the storyline about the three childhood best friends but it doesn’t even come close to storylines of past seasons. However, I think it accurately represents female friendships that aren’t the healthiest and how people grow apart. I was happy to see Laurie stand up to Jaclyn in episode five but once again, it’s not the most engaging plotline I’ve seen from this series.
My favorite storylines are Gaitok and Mook’s budding relationship and Belinda’s Thailand drama. I’m really glad they brought Belinda back because I loved her from season one. I hope nothing bad happens to my queen Belinda, but I’m a little scared after her run-in with Greg-gary in the last episode.
Overall, there’s not enough character development to get me seriously invested in what happens to them. I feel like in season two, the characters were just the right balance of relatable, likable/unlikeable and well-rounded to create situations where I really cared about what happened to them. That wasn’t so much the case in season three.
Alright enough of my grievances, let’s get into the juicy stuff.
Predictions
“Bad things come in threes,” according to Chelsea. I think this line has been powerful throughout this season in more than just Chelsea’s premonition. If you notice, two of our main parties – the Ratliff siblings and the girls’ trip – come in groups of three.
Something tells me the girls’ Thailand trip should not have made it out of the group chat…I think by the end of the season they will all hate each other.
I honestly have no clue what could happen to the Ratliffs. For some reason I feel like something bad is going to happen to that insufferable mother…at least she won’t have to live uncomfortably. I think Mr. Ratliff will go into hiding from the feds in Thailand and he will not make it back to America. Possibly by joining the monastery – I don’t know that might be a stretch. As for their kids, I have seriously drawn a blank. They have been so uninteresting until episode five that I haven’t been able to make sure predictions.
I am most excited to see what is going to go down at Greg/Gary’s “party” in the next episode. I would love it if the entire cast somehow wound up in the same place at the same time, although unlikely I think it would make for a really fun episode if all the storylines transpired during one party.
Who will pay the price?
Now for the biggest prediction of them all: who will not make it out of the White Lotus this season?
In the first scene, they try to throw you a red herring by making you think that Belinda’s son, Zion, finds his mother’s body floating in the pond, but I know they wouldn’t give it away that easily.
We can assume that the cause of death is by bullets since we hear gunshots before the body is found. The only gun we knew about for the past couple of episodes was Gaitok’s, however, Rick has just recently obtained a gun as well.
This might be an obvious prediction, but right now I think that Chelsea is the body Zion finds. That would be the third bad thing to happen to her right? That’s my consensus now, but with The White Lotus, things change every minute.
Despite this being my least favorite season, I’m still hooked. I can’t wait to see what happens. All I’m asking is that they don’t take Belinda from us. Sigh, she was just starting to enjoy life. Until then, happy White Lotus watching.