Season 3 of “The White Lotus” is over. Here's how we assess our stay

This article contains spoilers for the final of season 3 of “The White Lotus”.

The third season of HBO's “The white lotusFinally ended. With eight episodes – the last of which lasted 90 minutes – it is the longest iteration of the series, filled with all kinds of plots, subpcelles and marots.

Located in Thailand, it gave us bites of Cobra, Muay Thai fights and Buddhist ideas; Suicide trees, nauques sexual speeds and many howling monkeys, not to mention a first image of a floating corpse faced in a danned in a pond while a panoply of gunshots.

Was the body that of Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs), who, after learning that an illegal trade agreement could strip him of his richness and his freedom, spent the whole season to contemplate suicide / familicide? Or Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins), who had come to Thailand in order to take revenge on Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), the owner of the hotel who, according to Rick, killed his father? Or maybe Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), from season 1, who recognized Greg (Jon Gries), who goes through Gary this season, the man probably responsible for the death of Tanya Mcquad (Jennifer Coolidge) in season 2?

In fact, we may never know who lived once this particular corpse – five people were killed in the final, four of whom entered the water, including two named and, more important bodyguards, Rick and – Sob – his joyful and devoted lover Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). The “Lotus” Times observers have already made their feelings known about the great revelation (and a few other things), but Greg Braxton and Mary McNamara had some other things to say in season 3 and the series as a whole.

McNamara: I have long been a fan of the dark humor of the creator Mike White – his ability to find grace in chaos and see corruption hiding under a placid and beautiful surface. “The White Lotus” has always been a meta-juke of privilege and the impossible to even take a high-end holiday, but this season was slow, dark and super conscious.

Maybe I have just missed the dynamic absurdity of Tanya of Coolridge, but the Indular intrigues seemed a visible mixture of breadcrumbs and red herring, while the commentary on miserable excess was so heavy that a smiling Buddhist monk (played by the journalist / personality of Thai television Sthichai Yoon) was in hand. When the final opened with him explaining that “there is no resolution to the questions of life”, the words “come on“I escaped my lips – this season was so clearly intended to resolve who is dead and knowing that I expected Miss Marple to present to herself.

But there was so much to do – the incestuous meeting between the Ratliff brothers, the mysterious Russian guys, the famous monologue Frank (Sam Rockwell), the song style aspirations of the Hotel General, Fabian (Christian Friedel) – which, like Yore's “lost” viewers, we would also have to accept the death by Mille Subtroitters.

Micro- (and macro-) tensions between hotel customers and staff / city who fueled the first two seasons have been abandoned in favor of observing male power powder- Tim, Rick and Gaitok safety (Thapthimthong), that of the missing pistol. Cinematography was, as usual, breathtaking, and I loved the interaction of Three Gal friendsPlayed by Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon, but they often had the impression of belonging to another show.

Many viewers complained about the slowness of the first episodes – and Duke was not happy With its prominence among the very imperfect Ratliff family – but given the enormous success of the show, perhaps certain counterpouss was inevitable. When a series has put the bar so high, it is easy to go over time, so maybe I'm just grumpy. What do you think?

Braxton: It is difficult to know where to start, Mary. Are fans so consumed by the mystery of who died at the end that they are ready to forgive the many non-glass artifices and manipulations of this episode? For my part, I can't. To use a metaphor by borrowing a line from the final, “coconut milk is turned off.”

As you say so superbly, the first two seasons were first -rate television, populated by artists who captured the complexity and complications in layers of interesting characters who were not always sympathetic, but had a humanity which made them relatable. But this season has been such a supreme disappointment, populated by one -dimensional and shallow characters who were not convincing. The fireworks (trees with “suicide fruit” easily planted near the villas, Lochlan, played by Sam Nivola, and without washing the mixer before making his smoothie, Tim who bursts Lorazepam pills as if they were beans with jelly without turning into zombie, etc.) were too numerous to mention. Obvious manipulations, the panoply of loose ends and provocative events at a lower cost will prevent me from a return visit to this season.

Mike White seems to want the viewers to feel that Tim had reached a level of clarity on the boat. The moment is supposed to buy it. And his speech on the family integrating the disaster that awaits them at home by binding together? To quote Hall & Oates, “I can't go. No cannot do. “

It seems that the show was justified by events (brothers who manage, Frank's monologue on his Decadence Ladyboy) who were more intended to push the buttons to buzz the viewers rather than adding omino and meaning to global history. The scenario of incest is easily rejected with the explanation of “I am a pleasure” of Lochlan without Saxon thinking about the reason why he felt his brother. The final has reached another low point with the revelation “He's your fat” at the end which had to freeze fans of “Star Wars”.

Mary, He knows that you are a big fan of Sam Rockwell, but I think the only reason he was in the series was to make him and his wife Leslie Bibb would not break their rule “no more than three or four weeks of interval”. All this speech was just to shock and bait the voters Emmy to give him an appointment. I hope they don't fall in love. Frank's presence really had little to do with Rick's revenge mission. There were problems with the show before, but that's where I think it really jumped the shark – or more appropriately, the monkey.

Bye, Frank (Sam Rockwell). In addition to being Rick's friend and a great improviser, we barely knew you.

(HBO)

McNamara: I admit that I had hoped that Frank would play a more important role in Rick's story, and we never discovered what their previous relationship was or why he had “had to” so big that he would offer Rick a firearm and all the Hollywood director. I will not understand why Rick was not arrested for losing a tangle of poisonous snakes in town or how the experience of the imminent death of Chelsea with a Cobra found him in the next lunch the next day with a dressing.

I also do not accept that Tim, having stolen a firearm, would accept his disappearance (after Gaitok stole him) without a second thought, regardless of the amount of lorazepam he had hoisted.

“The White Lotus” is constructed, in part, on the gap between the image and reality, but you are right, there were so many intrigue holes that it was difficult not to continue to stumble on them. Try as I could, I could not shake the feeling of a series based on its laurels: the magnificent setting, the incredible casting (in which too many stars, including Parker Posey, were not enough to do), the ravaged audience. It is as if the spectacle, like its rich guests, had joined White Lotus mythology – if the number of sons is sufficiently high, no one will be too concerned about the dangers of ignoring what is really going on.

However, if White brings Belinda back, now as miserable and disconnected as any other guest of the Riche Hotel, in season 4 and gives Rothwell Room to play, I could connect you.

Braxton: The darkness that has shaded this season overwhelmed the light touch and the insightful interaction that made this franchise such a characteristic. The memory of this season will pass, and I will certainly be on board for the next one. Mike White is a real artist and I loved everything he was involved with. I think Belinda will return, and her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) will be in danger. Gary / Greg will not let a sufficient child have the impression of having triumphed over this roll and this rapid traffic, and Belinda is still a potential threat. I also hope that the cast next time will have more cultural diversity. We have seen enough whites titled, so get a certain variety. Belinda smiles when she saw a black couple dinner at the complex, but it looked more like a white man to check a box so that he could pre -empt the accusations of exclusion. But above all, I hope it will come back to the feeling of the first two seasons. I will wait.