S03.E08: Amor Fati

[AstridM]

18 hours ago, slowpoked said:

At least Chelsea had the mild storyline arc of being tempted by Saxon but turning it down each time.

She seemed disgusted by him, not tempted, though. Or maybe that was just me.

[JenE4]

I seem to be the only one who thinks Belinda will start her own spa. She just told Zion to let her enjoy being rich for 5 minutes, not that she was giving up on her dream. Also the way they had her wistfully look back at the island with her hand over her heart right after Pornchai was sadly watching her ship off, I thought that was indicating that she did have feelings for Porchai. She just needed to fuck out of there post haste before Greg changed his mind and came after her. I wouldn’t be surprised if a future season has her operating her independently owned spa out of a White Lotus: Bliss by Belinda featuring Pornchai at the White Lotus [city/country here].

Even Chelsea herself knew her death was coming, as she spent every single episode telling us about her and Rick’s struggle with hope vs tragedy and how he will be the end of her, bad things come in threes, lives intertwined forever, ad nauseum. So seeing Rick cause her death WAS expected, and i predicted that would happen in the snake episode thread.

We also knew Tim was planning on killing his whole family as he plotted in many episodes, so I guess the “surprise” was that they survived…but Lochlan didn’t…but yes he did? Eh. It would have been more meaningful if Lochlan had died, as Tim couldn’t control the story coming out, his ultimate arrest and family downfall, so it would’ve shown he couldn’t orchestrate who lives and who dies, either, but he has to live with the consequences of his actions. I guess they got their “happy ending” sailing off into the sunset for a few minutes until they ultimately all realize the fate that awaits them back home? Just like the three friends, I suppose—but all that awaits them back home might be a slightly unfulfilling life.

What made Tanya’s death so great was she was a total bumbling badass comically taking out the high-end gays and she was just about to save herself until—ooops, she tripped and ended up falling overboard, killing herself. The irony was great! I feel like maybe they tried to go with another “accidental” death with both Chelsea and Lochlan, but it just didn’t work. There was nothing inherently shocking or surprising about it. Maybe if they didn’t mention the poisonous fruit with a close-up on the blender in both the preview and the previously on, then maybe a lot of viewers (not us) would’ve at least forgotten about the fruit and thought it was a good twist. But instead we’re like when’s Tim going to poison his family with the suicide fruit  already?

[aghst]

White never had a hit as big ad the TWL.

So he's feeling himself, throwing around the clout that he finally has.

There were record viewing numbers for the finale so for now, he can say fuck off.

Maybe the viewers will get tired of the formula at some point but he casts good actors, shoot at beautiful locations and the writing and acting is good.

 

Edited April 8 by aghst

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, slowpoked said:

 

Edited April 8 by AstridM

[chaifan]

22 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

Hmm, I think this is the prior morning. Before Tim made his pina colada. Wasn’t the conversation after this “I know I told you to worship me, but you don’t have to worship ‘me’ ?! “ Then Saxon walks off. So I think the blender is still clean.

You're right.  Lochlan asked Saxon to make him a power smoothie earlier the first morning.  Saxon went off to the pool.  Later, we see Tim getting the fruit, taking the seeds out and putting them in the blender.  Then he puts the blender in the cabinet for later.  After dinner they make the pina coladas.  Lochlan makes the smoothie in the dirty blender the following morning.  It seems he was the first one up.  

Edited April 8 by chaifan

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Mike White seems to be getting high on his own supply:

Re: complaints of this season being too slow and boring:

 

Um, if you had to be asked if S3’s pacing is slow, maybe where there’s smoke, there’s fire? I followed S1 and S2 relatively closely too and I don’t remember much complaints about the pace of both seasons. There were complaints for other reasons, sure, but I don’t remember it being about pacing. I may be wrong though.

 

Re: his so-called feud with his composer:

 

 

I mean, he’s right. All those people complaining week after week about “nothing happening,” yet they continued watching week after week. The joke is on them. 🤷‍♀️

[T Summer]

22 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

Hmm, I think this is the prior morning. Before Tim made his pina colada. Wasn’t the conversation after this “I know I told you to worship me, but you don’t have to worship ‘me’ ?! “ Then Saxon walks off. So I think the blender is still clean.

That makes sense.

Now I'm going to have to watch this damned thing again.

[chaifan]

I'm copying over from a post in the Media thread from yesterday:

Quote

Mike White on the official podcast about what can we expect from season 4:

"Season 3 is a parable, it is melodramatic and that gets people excited but he wants to do something more like season 1, where it satirizes stuff he knows about art, criticism, movies, fame and celebrity, a film festival type of thing or an art world situation. Something less heavy that still has some juice to it."

I think White knows he strayed too far from the original WL formula - skewering rich people, but in a funny way (dark funny, but still funny) - and is now trying to justify it.  

[roughing it]

On 4/7/2025 at 12:27 PM, peeayebee said:

I'm more sympathetic to Pornchai than a lot of other people here. He and Belinda seemed so sweet together. He liked her, and she seemed to really like him

Really??  Because I thought they were extremely awkward with each other.  Their interactions (other than the night they spent together) were:

Belinda: Hi

Pornchai: Hi

Belinda: Ka Koom Ka (or whatever that was)

Pornchai: Ka Koom Ka

Belinda: (smile)

Pornchai: (smile)

[chaifan]

7 minutes ago, AstridM said:

I mean, he’s right. All those people complaining week after week about “nothing happening,” yet they continued watching week after week. The joke is on them. 🤷‍♀️

Eh, it's like Lost... the first 2 seasons were so good, that even when Season 3 was going off the rails I kept watching, expecting it to get back on track.  It never did.  (I will admit I kept watching through the end simply because ALL of my friends watched it, some were super passionate about it, and if I didn't watch I was out of the conversation 1/2 the time.  That's on me.)

I've never been an uber-fan of TWL.  I didn't get the big hype.  Season 1 was fine, but nothing great to me.  But good enough to tune in for Season 2, which I though went all over the place.  I watched Season 3 under a "meh, it's something to watch" attitude.  Yep, I complained about it, but like Lost, felt maybe it would find its footing and kept watching.  

I think at its core, the issue for me is that the story telling just wasn't there this season.  White admits to leaving a lot on the cutting room floor, so maybe too much was edited out in favor of keeping endless footage of Tim popping pills in.  

 

[slowpoked]

56 minutes ago, chaifan said:

White admits to leaving a lot on the cutting room floor, so maybe too much was edited out in favor of keeping endless footage of Tim popping pills in.  

We also didn’t have enough shots of the monkeys and crashing waves paired with eerie music this season.

[Cosmocrush]

3 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Mike White seems to be getting high on his own supply:

Re: complaints of this season being too slow and boring.

Um, if you had to be asked if S3’s pacing is slow, maybe where there’s smoke, there’s fire? I followed S1 and S2 relatively closely too and I don’t remember much complaints about the pace of both seasons. There were complaints for other reasons, sure, but I don’t remember it being about pacing. I may be wrong though.

 

I thought that all season.  "World building" as White puts it, shouldn't mean seven hours of repeated  scenes filled in with lots of artsy (but cool) camera work.  I liked the finale but the previous seven episodes could have been done in two. 

1 hour ago, slowpoked said:

Just because he got 2 seasons of a hit series he’s now above criticism?! He’s good but he’s not Spielberg/Tarantino/Lee/Scorsese good. Nowhere near.

Exactly how I feel.   Also the third sequel of almost any movie isn't generally any good.  Too bad the brilliant talent of actors were blinded by his name before some of them even read the script. 

[Harvey]

1 hour ago, AstridM said:

I mean, he’s right. All those people complaining week after week about “nothing happening,” yet they continued watching week after week. The joke is on them. 🤷‍♀️

Because they reasonably thought something will surely happen finally? 

[Cosmocrush]

1 hour ago, AstridM said:

I mean, he’s right. All those people complaining week after week about “nothing happening,” yet they continued watching week after week. The joke is on them. 🤷‍♀️

Yep, and I'm one of them.    Next time I'm going to wait until all the episodes are out to watch. 

Also, I think one reason TWL was a big hit was timing.  Filmed during the pandemic, where very little was filmed and broadcast in July 2021 when production companies were just ramping back up thanks to vaccinations.

Edited April 8 by Cosmocrush

[Harvey]

7 minutes ago, Cosmocrush said:

Yep, and I'm one of them.    Next time I'm going to wait until all the episodes are out to watch. 

 

Same here. I watched S1 and S2 like that and it was a good experience. This season was more frustrating than entertaining, however. And the weekly wait had a lot to do with that.

[AstridM]

43 minutes ago, Harvey said:

Because they reasonably thought something will surely happen finally? 

As I said, the joke is on them.

24 minutes ago, Harvey said:

Same here. I watched S1 and S2 like that and it was a good experience. This season was more frustrating than entertaining, however. And the weekly wait had a lot to do with that.

I will say that overall, I much prefer binge watching series. I probably should’ve done the same here.

[T Summer]

It's amazing what we'll watch in hopes it will get  good again. The better the initial season or couple of seasons are, the longer we'll hang in... or is it just me? 🤔

I stuck with True Blood for seven seasons!

 

I can hardly be bothered with Belinda / Pornchia

In the beginning she seemed very scared. Like she might just crack under the pressure worrying about Greg.  Then she gets tough and turns the screws on him even surprising MBA wunderkind Zion??? How did that transition happen?

You could have knocked me over with a feather when she invited Pornchia into her bed. I didn't get that they were vibing in that way, at all.

I think had they both remained poor she might've thought wth,  two of us saving trying to get a business off the ground it might happen faster than I could do it alone... but now that she has the money to call her own shots and shape her own destiny? It's bye Pornchia, it's been real!

[blackwing]

I found this season finale to be very disappointing.  And as it unfolded, I learned that the only characters I really cared about were Lochlan (innocence), Saxon (a player, but he knows who he is and is unapologetic about it), and Belinda (up until the point she became a hypocrite).

The White Lotus previous seasons were filled with unlikeable and terrible people.  This season was no different.  But the difference for me with this season is that I found myself absolutely not caring about most of these people. 

The three friends.  In the end, nothing happened.  They are all exactly the same as they were when they arrived.

I'm glad that Lochy didn't die.  As soon as he asked Saxon for a shake and Saxon told him to make it himself, it was clear what was going to happen.  I think Saxon felt hurt by what Chelsea said about him and it led to him reflecting about himself which led to him rejecting Chloe and her offer.

Didn't care about Rick and Chelsea.  It's preposterous that Jim wouldn't have told Rick who he was when Rick came to his house.  I guess when Rick's mom told him that Jim killed his father, it was in a Darth Vader killed Anakin Skywalker kind of way.  Stupid.  At least Sritala didn't turn out to be Rick's father.

I reserve most of my ire for this season on the ridiculously boring Gaitok/Mook storyline.  I couldn't have cared less about Gaitok and his feelings of inadequacy and his sad sack life where he wants the pretty girl but she thinks he is a sad sack.  And now because he shoots someone in the back and puts on a black T-shirt, now he has become The Shit and is a hero in Mook's eyes?  Get real.  He's always going to be a coward.  The next time something happens, he will behave in the same way as he did at the start of the show.

Where will Season 4 be set?  I'm thinking either Australia or South Africa.

On 4/6/2025 at 10:59 PM, txhorns79 said:

Belinda was not stringing anyone along.  Her circumstances changed and she changed her mind about potentially going into business with someone she knew all of what, six days?  They had discussed it, but that was all.   

On 4/7/2025 at 10:46 AM, Marley said:

Why is everyone thinking Belinda owed the guy in Thailand so much. She just met him & they had sex once not like they were in some long term relationship. Starting a business with him wouldn't be the best idea.

She didn't owe him anything.  But he was her guide at the WL exchange program in Thailand and they connected instantly.  She made her feelings about him known when she blurted out that she "consents".  They talked about opening a spa together.

Of course she only knew him for a week so it seems ridiculous to go into business with someone who she only knew for a week.

However, the reason why I think it was poor of Belinda to ditch Pornchai is because Tonya did the exact same thing to her.  They only knew each other for a week.  Tonya felt grateful to Belinda for helping her cope with the death of her mother and wanted to invest in Belinda's business venture.  Then her circumstances changed when she met Greg and she decided to focus her attention on Greg and promptly dropped/rejected Belinda.

Belinda did the same thing here.  As soon as she got the money, she decided that she didn't want or need to run a spa anymore.  Belinda knew full well how hurt she was by Tonya's rejection, and here she is doing the exact same thing.

Even if Belinda didn't owe him anything, she should have recognised that Tonya didn't owe her anything either in Season 1, and how hurt she felt.  She should have been more aware of the hurt that she was causing Pornchai.  And she didn't care.

On 4/6/2025 at 11:00 PM, Alexander Pope said:

When Laurie said, "I'm just happy to be at the table," my heart broke a little bit.  It was like she just gave in and stopped fighting them and their fucked up values, and their patronizing attitude toward her, because she realized she had no values either and they were all she had.

I did feel bad for her, but this goes back to what was being said here about Laurie on the thread for the first Episode.  I said she was the Sad Sack Lady Edith of this trio.  She dressed frumpy, looked frumpy, and was being presented as not as pretty or successful as the other two.  When she said that she was just happy to be at the table with Jaclyn and Kate with their "beautiful face" and "beautiful life", it confirmed that Laurie in fact sees herself as the third wheel hanger-on who feels honored that the other two are even talking to her.  Sad and pathetic.  She didn't grow at all during the week in Thailand.  She came in as the frumpy friend, and she left the exact same way.  She is happy being the doormat in their friendship.

On 4/7/2025 at 2:35 AM, Snazzy Daisy said:

Well, a fan favorite always dies. It has started to become a pattern.

Fan favourite depends on your perception I suppose.  Because I wasn't a fan of Armond in Season 1.  I loathed Tonya from the start so was quite happy when she was killed in Season 2.  And I didn't care for either Rick or Chelsea.  Chelsea believed in Rick even though he was a grumpy loser, and it cost her her life.

On 4/7/2025 at 7:22 AM, snarts said:

The most unbelievable part for me was the stress therapy lady turning Rick away when he was obviously having a breakdown. It surprised me that she wouldn't take 5-10 min to try to talk him down. I also thought Zion might say something like "dude, go ahead, you seem like you need this session more than I do" since he was already mentally checked out of the resort. 

I agree.  Especially since Zion didn't even want to be there.  Belinda forced him to go because she already booked it and it would be rude to cancel.  Zion just wanted to get out of Thailand ASAP.  So when Rick comes along begging for the lady's time, Zion should have just said "hey dude, take my session, you need it more than I do".

 

[chaifan]

26 minutes ago, T Summer said:

I think had they both remained poor she might've thought wth,  two of us saving trying to get a business off the ground it might happen faster than I could do it alone...

1) I never got the impression Belinda was even considering going into business with Pornchai.

2) Belinda wasn't "poor".  She definitely wasn't rich, but there's nothing to indicate she was poor.  She had $12,000 in her bank account when the $5 million was transferred.  That's not a lot, but she's got a decent full time job at a top class resort, and is likely solidly middle class.

3) Even if she intended to go into business with Pornchai, it's highly unlikely Pornchai would have any significant money to put into the business.  Yes, they have similar positions with the same company, but I could guarantee you that his salary when translated from Thai $ into US $ would have been very small.  Like minimum wage level here.  (Maybe less.)  He's not poor by Thai standards, but would be poor in US dollars.

8 minutes ago, blackwing said:

They talked about opening a spa together.

***

However, the reason why I think it was poor of Belinda to ditch Pornchai is because Tonya did the exact same thing to her. 

Again, I really disagree.  They really didn't "talk about" opening a spa together.  Belinda simply said it was her dream, Pornchai said something like "yeah, I'd like to do that with you", and Belinda said nothing.  Where Tanya initiated the going into business together topic, kept bringing it up, got Belinda to the point where she put together a formal business plan.  Tanya ditched Belinda for Greg.  Belinda ditched all of Thailand because of Greg.  It's really an apples & poisonous Thai fruit comparison.

 

[NeedTVRehab]

At the end I thought we were supposed to assume Gaitok “sold out” by going against his beliefs and killing Rick and becoming bodyguard to the sleazy boss’s wife. Mook was initially sold as a pretty, pure soul but was later revealed to be materialistic and power hungry. 

[T Summer]

When I used the word poor I meant in comparison to  having $5 mil.

No, I didn't get the impression Belinda was enthusiastic about sharing her dream with Pornchai or  anyone...

just that had she remained a resort spa worker, she may have eventually warmed to the idea figuring two saving toward the goal of their own spa might be able to make it happen sooner than one could.

She didn't jump on it or totally shoot it down... until her circumstances changed it to a definite NO.

That's how it hit me, but honestly this was one of the least interesting storylines to me for reasons already stated.

1. she seemed too smart to let on to Gary that she recognized him and practically tremble every time she saw him

+

2. I didn't see chemistry between Belinda and Pornchai

 

[HurricaneVal]

I liked it.  Reliably solid, and the setting was gorgeous.

As for Lochlan making his protein shake in a dirty blender and folks saying that would never happen in real life...have you met a teenage boy? 😆  They'll eat pizza that's been sitting in a box on the counter for a week, stale mold and all.  If Lochlan even noted that there was residue left in the blender, he'd either attribute that to an earlier shake that Saxon made, or assume it was from the pina coladas the night before and just shrug it off.  I mean, you'd think he'd remember the drama over the coconut milk being "off" and give it a cursory rinse, but most of the young men I know/knew wouldn't even give it a second thought.  I know, I know, #notallteenboys, but....enough that it rings true to type.

 

Soooooo......which White Lotus are we off to next for S4?  I think I read some discussion that Mike White is thinking about moving away from beachy locales, but also hates the cold, so that eliminates any posh ski resort type locations.  Someone upthread mentioned Africa and I think a luxe safari resort at the edge of the savanna would be a fantastic setting.  I know there's probably no resort that would fit the brief, but the hotel they used in Italy was not actually located at the beach they used for the beach scenes.  So, since this is all fictional, this fake hotel could be right next to Victoria Falls and the savanna and the edge of the jungle, even though no such location exists in the real world.  I can see interstitial shots of waving grass, lions indolently sleeping under trees, elephants spraying river water, giraffes ripping leaves off the tops of trees, great herds of zebras fleeing across the plain, crocodile jaws snapping, hyenas ripping apart a carcass....

 

Also, which characters will bridge over to the new season?  Greg/Gary going big game hunting? A separated/divorced Victoria looking to hide?  Gaitok bodyguarding Sritala's new husband?  Mook as arm candy for a rich and dangerous man?  Belinda managing her new spa?  Frank pretending to be a safari guide?

[Cosmocrush]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

I'm glad that Lochy didn't die.  As soon as he asked Saxon for a shake and Saxon told him to make it himself, it was clear what was going to happen. 

Well that and the many many, many close up shots of the blender with poison remnants in it. 

[Conotocarious]

8 hours ago, chaifan said:

I'm copying over from a post in the Media thread from yesterday:

I think White knows he strayed too far from the original WL formula - skewering rich people, but in a funny way (dark funny, but still funny) - and is now trying to justify it.  

And if he stayed with the formula he’d be skewered for doing the same old thing. He’d be called formulaic.

He can’t win with critics and fans. And he’s now attained that level of success that usually precedes a very public tear down and it’s  happening right on schedule.

Edited April 9 by Conotocarious

[blackwing]

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

1) I never got the impression Belinda was even considering going into business with Pornchai.

2) Belinda wasn't "poor".  She definitely wasn't rich, but there's nothing to indicate she was poor.  She had $12,000 in her bank account when the $5 million was transferred.  That's not a lot, but she's got a decent full time job at a top class resort, and is likely solidly middle class.

 

Whether she considered it or not, it is clear that he did.  And he thought she was interested.  He was disappointed when she rejected him.  Whatever she said or did over the past week led him to believe that it was going to happen.  She experienced the same rejection so knows the feeling.  
 

She is a 45 year old woman and she had $12,000 in her bank account?  Assuming that she didn’t have another account with lots more money, I would say a 45 year old woman with only $12K in her account is poor.  She’s practically living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. 

[buttersister]

Now that's the Mike White I know and loathe. Sorry, I remember his The amazing Race season. Always thought he was a yutz, couldn't quite believe he pulled off TWL.

[Thumper]

13 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Mike White seems to be getting high on his own supply:

Re: complaints of this season being too slow and boring:

 

Um, if you had to be asked if S3’s pacing is slow, maybe where there’s smoke, there’s fire? I followed S1 and S2 relatively closely too and I don’t remember much complaints about the pace of both seasons. There were complaints for other reasons, sure, but I don’t remember it being about pacing. I may be wrong though.

 

Re: his so-called feud with his composer:

 

 

 I don’t even know what “edging” means!  🤷‍♀️😂

He does sound very full of himself in this quote.  🙄

[ItCouldBeWorse]

12 hours ago, iMonrey said:

But why? Did the man Rick thought was his father actually die, or did his father just run off and his mother told him he died? And why tell him the name of his real father while pretending he's the man who killed his father?

He never met his father.  He's never said if his mother had given him a name of for his purported father, but she had told him he was dead.  When Rick was 10 and his mother was dying of an OD (do people usually say much when they're dying from an overdose?), she told him that Jim Hollinger had killed his father.

Maybe she meant it in the metaphysical sense (Hollinger "killed" the version of himself who could have been a father to Rick by rejecting his mother) like this:

6 hours ago, blackwing said:

I guess when Rick's mom told him that Jim killed his father, it was in a Darth Vader killed Anakin Skywalker kind of way. 

but she was probably either strung out; Rick misunderstood what she said about the connection between Hollinger and his father (he was still a kid and she was dying); she was mentally ill; she wanted to screw with Rick; or she wanted to set Rick up to seek revenge.

12 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Re: his so-called feud with his composer:

Whoever owns the rights to the show would also own the rights to the theme music.  If Mike White wanted to (and I'm certainly not saying that he would), he could hire a new composer who was willing to adapt the underlying theme from the first three seasons for the 4th.  There would be an outcry about "stealing" de Veer's work, but it wouldn't be an accurate accusation.  It would be like a key writer leaving a show, and new writers continuing to develop a popular story line that the original writer created.

7 hours ago, T Summer said:

You could have knocked me over with a feather when she invited Pornchia into her bed.

It seemed pretty clear to me that she was attracted to him when he was only wearing trunks and when she received her massage from him. She was definitely awkward with him in a certain way.

6 hours ago, blackwing said:

I reserve most of my ire for this season on the ridiculously boring Gaitok/Mook storyline.  I couldn't have cared less about Gaitok and his feelings of inadequacy and his sad sack life where he wants the pretty girl but she thinks he is a sad sack.  And now because he shoots someone in the back and puts on a black T-shirt, now he has become The Shit and is a hero in Mook's eyes?  Get real.  He's always going to be a coward.  The next time something happens, he will behave in the same way as he did at the start of the show.

How was he a coward?  he tried to stop the thieves from leaving and got beaten up.  I agree that he may not be a good security guard and is easily distracted, but I don't consider him a coward.

6 hours ago, blackwing said:

Where will Season 4 be set?  I'm thinking either Australia or South Africa.

That's what I predicted above. But if Mike White wants something "lighter", South Africa is probably not the place to go.  Any story set there would have to deal with the huge economic disparities and the legacy of apartheid.

 

[skotnikov]

11 hours ago, blackwing said:

Where will Season 4 be set?  I'm thinking either Australia or South Africa.

I bet it will be some mountain resort in Switzerland, France of Austria. 

[peeayebee]

19 hours ago, JenE4 said:

We also knew Tim was planning on killing his whole family as he plotted in many episodes, so I guess the “surprise” was that they survived…but Lochlan didn’t…but yes he did? Eh. It would have been more meaningful if Lochlan had died, as Tim couldn’t control the story coming out, his ultimate arrest and family downfall, so it would’ve shown he couldn’t orchestrate who lives and who dies, either, but he has to live with the consequences of his actions. I guess they got their “happy ending” sailing off into the sunset for a few minutes until they ultimately all realize the fate that awaits them back home? Just like the three friends, I suppose—but all that awaits them back home might be a slightly unfulfilling life.

Doesn't Mike White have a habit (or theme) of showing rich people getting away with wrong-doing? Of course Tim and his family are not getting a completely happy ending because of his financial malfeasance. But Tim seemed to achieve some measure of contentment or acceptance of his situation at the very end.

It would have been ironic if he was responsible for the death of the one family member he wanted to spare. But that wouldn't fit with the theme of the rich having a happy ending.

I was thinking the other day that if the Ratliffe story were a movie, it could be quite good, even with the repeated scenes of Tim imagining suicide and murder. Maybe one problem in this season was that we'd see Tim with his depression, fantasizing about suicide/murder, then we go to the plots about the three friends, Gaitok/Mook, Rick/Chelsea, Belinda... and then back to exactly where we left Tim. Rinse, repeat. I'm not sure why exactly, but in a movie (which would be 2 hours or so), it would be tolerable and even suspenseful to see Tim going thru his hell while his family is unaware of it and are going thru their lives.

19 hours ago, roughing it said:

Really??  Because I thought they were extremely awkward with each other. 

Really. I saw them as two shy kids finding each other and, yes, being awkward. To me it was clear they liked each other. When Pornchai proposed starting a spa business together, maybe Belinda didn't react enthusiastically because neither one of them had enough money for it. Maybe she was hesitant to commit to going into business with someone because of her experience with Tonya. I didn't think it had anything to do with Pornchai himself. But when she got the 5 mil, she wanted to relax and enjoy it for a while. Pornchai was discarded. I don't know if she'll eventually start a spa on her own. 

12 hours ago, Conotocarious said:

And if he stayed with the formula he’d be skewered for doing the same old thing. He’d be called formulaic.

I read in a link posted here that he's supposed to go back to satirizing the rich like he did in S1. I think that's a good idea. 

[peeayebee]

6 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

He never met his father.  He's never said if his mother had given him a name of for his purported father, but she had told him he was dead.  When Rick was 10 and his mother was dying of an OD (do people usually say much when they're dying from an overdose?), she told him that Jim Hollinger had killed his father.

Someone else here pointed out that the OD and the death could be two separate events. She OD'd but survived. She died however long  later. And again my hypothesis is that because she was a drunk and a drug addict and sleeping around, Jim had left her (and their two daughters). She was pregnant with Rick. Jim apparently didn't know this. She hated him. She badmouthed him. She didn't want to tell Rick that his dad had left her, so she made up the story about him being murdered. It's likely she called the murderer Jim Hollinger to get Rick to hate him as much as she did. 

[carrps]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Jim had left her (and their two daughters)

I thought the daughters were Jim's and Sritala's. ?

[iMonrey]

21 hours ago, chaifan said:

I think at its core, the issue for me is that the story telling just wasn't there this season.  White admits to leaving a lot on the cutting room floor, so maybe too much was edited out in favor of keeping endless footage of Tim popping pills in.  

I think what Mike White considers "world building" is what I would call character study. That's all I've ever considered TWL to be: character study, for the sake of character study. Watching quirky characters do quirky things. Character study is the darling of movie & TV critics and a writer's wet dream.

I had this argument with a fellow watcher who insisted there was a lot of plot, while I insisted nothing was really happening. I mean, sure, people walked around and talked and danced and did weird sex stuff, so technically "stuff" was happening. But a lot of it didn't feel like a story. It just felt like I was watching people do stuff. 

And I guess that's where mileage varies. To some, character study = story. For me, not so much. 

[ichbin]

No surprise here.  Belinda was already shown to have nicks in her niceness and ethics back in the first season when she blew off the newlywed wife.  She offered her help, despite it neither having been asked for nor demanded, and then blew the girl off when she was in need.  

C'mon, let's face it, she was as greedy as the next person. She knew what Greg was and was afraid for her life, yet instead of contacting the authorities she instead went to his house.  For what other than to see if there was an offer on the table.

If we have learned nothing else after three seasons it is that Mike White writes each of his characters as flawed, albeit some more than others.  Still, there are no angels the world he has created.

Edited April 9 by ichbin
Had to change a word.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

And again my hypothesis is that because she was a drunk and a drug addict and sleeping around, Jim had left her (and their two daughters).

1 hour ago, carrps said:

I thought the daughters were Jim's and Sritala's. ?

Jim had 2 daughters, whom he presumably raised, with Sritala.  Did Rick mention having sisters?

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

She was pregnant with Rick. Jim apparently didn't know this. She hated him. She badmouthed him. She didn't want to tell Rick that his dad had left her, so she made up the story about him being murdered. It's likely she called the murderer Jim Hollinger to get Rick to hate him as much as she did. 

This is likely, but turned out to be a terrible idea.

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

But when she got the 5 mil, she wanted to relax and enjoy it for a while. Pornchai was discarded. I don't know if she'll eventually start a spa on her own. 

I think that starting a spa on her own would raise too many questions about where she got the start-up money.

Edited April 9 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Cosmocrush]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I think what Mike White considers "world building" is what I would call character study. That's all I've ever considered TWL to be: character study, for the sake of character study. Watching quirky characters do quirky things. Character study is the darling of movie & TV critics and a writer's wet dream.

 

I've seen character study shows done much better by Mike White.  All the speculation of character motives shows me this season was short on character building/study.  Each Ratliff family member came off one note/flat, except maybe Saxon. I honestly got more character insight from Frank's(Rockwell) few scenes than all the Ratliffs put together.  

For me, it was a lot of repetition filled in with beautiful camera work (night club dancing, water drops back into the water, Lochan's near death, etc.) So much so that I wondered if White had a thing for the cinematographer.  

And of course lots and lots of monkeys.  So many monkey shots I honestly expected a monkey to have a role rather than just stage dressing.   In the end, it was just filler for me. 

 

Edited April 9 by Cosmocrush

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, carrps said:

I thought the daughters were Jim's and Sritala's. ?

Doh! I never even thought of that. Makes sense.

[Cosmocrush]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Jim had 2 daughters, whom he presumably raised, with Sritala.  Did Rick mention having sisters?

We only know about Jim's daughters because Rick asked him if he had any kids.  Jim replied that he and his wife (Sritala) had two daughters.  Jim knew he was Rick's father as soon as Rick told him his mother's name so he knew Rick existed, just didn't care. 

Edited April 9 by Cosmocrush

[Bklyndeb]

How is Belinda going to explain that $5 million deposit to the IRS?

[rollacoaster]

On 4/7/2025 at 3:17 PM, Dminches said:

Sorry, but no family "deserves" to have one of its children die (unless they caused equal harm to another family). Maybe Tim deserves to go to jail and the others deserve to lose ill-gotten money, but to suggest losing a child is punishment shows a lack of understanding of what that does to a parent. There is nothing more horrible than that. 

It would have made for compelling storytelling. 

[chediavolo]

On 4/6/2025 at 10:33 PM, Blakeston said:

It's pretty hilarious that Belinda lived to become Tonya. She blew off Pornchai's business plans the same way that Tonya blew off Belinda's.

She became pretty unlikable 

[Lois Sandborne]

On 4/7/2025 at 7:11 AM, Harvey said:

Mike White, in a recent interview, articulated a deliberate creative choice for this season's structure, explicitly designing it to leverage the anticipation inherent in a weekly episodic release. His primary goal appears to have been the cultivation of a persistent state of suspense, oscillating between nervousness, excitement, and perhaps even frustration, like watching a tightly wound thriller.

What a load. If Mike White writes and directs all of the next season by himself, I won't be watching.

Although who am I kidding, I won't be watching anyway. I skipped the second season because I really didn't like the first. I watched this season because they brought Belinda's character back, but I didn't care for her story at all. This show is the ultimate in navel-gazery. I don't even like the photography or scenery. For my money, Below Deck does better travel porn.

Carrie C. is the only one who comes out of this a winner in my book. She got laid by a Russian scammer and got to do a good monologue.

[Blackie]

On 4/6/2025 at 10:54 PM, Irlandesa said:

t the same time, I had to shake my head at Lochy making a smoothie without even rinsing the blender. 

He has probably never made food for himself or washed a dish in his life.

Am I misremembering (most likely) episode 1, I thought Zion was in a pool when heard gun shots. I will have to go back and rewatch. 

[Blackie]

On 4/8/2025 at 7:15 PM, HurricaneVal said:

Someone upthread mentioned Africa and I think a luxe safari resort at the edge of the savanna would be a fantastic setting

 

I would watch that,for the same reason I watched Survivor the season they were in Africa (the only season of Survivor I ever watched). I truly believed and hoped some one would actually get eaten by a lion in real life!!

On 4/9/2025 at 7:01 PM, Bklyndeb said:

How is Belinda going to explain that $5 million deposit to the IRS?

 Her MBA big negotiator son should have set up an off shore account for her.

This season was OK, the most storyline of all the seasons. Season 1 was just awful people and nothing happened to till the end, Season 2 was a bit better but not great. I mostly watched this season because I went to Koh Samui 35 years ago before there were any big hotels or Russians there.

[Salacious Kitty]

17 minutes ago, Blackie said:

He has probably never made food for himself or washed a dish in his life.

Am I misremembering (most likely) episode 1, I thought Zion was in a pool when heard gun shots. I will have to go back and rewatch. 

He was in the meditation hut with the female attendant. 

[JenE4]

9 hours ago, Blackie said:

Am I misremembering (most likely) episode 1, I thought Zion was in a pool when heard gun shots. I will have to go back and rewatch. 

Zion was in the meditation session. When the shots started he said something like my mom is out there and then ran out to go find her. When people were running past him as he was running toward the shots, he then jumped in the water so he could creep closer without being seen/getting shot. That’s when the body of who we now know to be one of the body guards floated toward him. And now we also know why he thought his mother could’ve been caught up in the crossfire, because he thought Greg might have been killing her to save himself and his $5M.

[Thumper]

Seeing Carrie C**n in a role so unlike her Guilded Age character was fun for me!

[blackwing]

On 4/9/2025 at 6:01 PM, Bklyndeb said:

How is Belinda going to explain that $5 million deposit to the IRS?

If the money was wired from a Thai bank account, then the payment would be considered a foreign gift.  Greg even said that "this is what Tonya would have wanted", so Belinda can say that this was a gift from Tonya's widower in recognition of the services she provided to Tonya.  As long as Belinda reports the foreign gift on the appropriate form and includes it with her tax return, this amount is nontaxable.

I feel a bit cheated that there was no discussion between Belinda and Greg about his circumstances.  I presume there was an inquest into Tonya's death.  Probably declared accidental.  Then he inherits as the spouse.  What about estate taxes?   Where did the money get deposited?  Did he just assume Tonya's account?  Did it get put into his own account and then did he move the money to Thailand?  So many questions, it just seems illogical that he can just inherit and then disappear.

[Anela]

I didn’t see a big love story between Chelsea and Rick. I like the actors, but I just saw her dying for nothing.  

On the one hand, I liked seeing Belinda happy. On the other, I wanted her to turn Gary in.  She was upset when the guy at the hotel didn’t want to call the police.  I wouid like to see Gary marry his girlfriend, and have her off him, so that she gets all of that money.

I liked Piper’s realization that she likes her comfortable life. It was smart of her mother to tell her to stay for one night, and really see if she liked it. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Anela