The White Lotus, Season 3, Thus Far ...

 

Okay, so  ... what ...the ... ??? ... is even going on, on this show, right now?  😂

This show is always crazy, in the best of ways, but it's especially crazy, this season. It's actually been super slow, and yet still ...

Incestuous kisses between Patrick Schwarzenegger (who I'm pretty sure is channeling his real-life narcissistic, skirt-chasing, douchebag of a dad, for this role) and his onscreen brother?

The longtime boyfriend of one of the current lead characters, Leslie Bibb,  Oscar-winning Sam Rockwell, with a surprise cameo, bomb-dropping the most convoluted, overly analyzed, intense sex confession I've ever heard, onto an unsuspecting, perfectly-reacting Walton Goggins, during a simple catch-up convo with his old friend?

He could've just said he was now into an alternative sexual lifestyle, but no - he went into excessive, explicit detail, from a psychologically overly-analyzed perspective, with about as much emotion as if someone he'd never met had just asked him what he does for a living!  😂

I mean,  what can you say/do?

"When I asked what's been going on, I ... did not expect that ... but cool, man, glad you feel like got all that figured out and got it off your chest.  Another drink, maybe? I sure need one" or what?   😂

(Speaking of Walton Goggins, who IMO is an underrated actor, you can also see him just after TWL as Uncle Baby Billy, the most ridiculous and hilarious character in a cast of ridiculous characters, in the final season of The Righteous Gemstones  - which is hilarious, but I forewarn you, brace yourselves if you're easily offended by crude humor at times or poking fun of Christian televangelists.)

But about all that?

Alllllll right, sir.

As you know, I love weird screenwriting, once wanting to be a screenwriter myself, but incestuous kisses between the two young brother characters was almost squirm-in-your-seat uncomfortable weird ... and where are we going with this, exactly?

I hope somewhere that doesn't normalize this sort of behavior, but  knowing that everybody has a secret they're hiding at the White Lotus (some worse than others), it won't.  I hope. *Gulp*

(I suspect it may have something to do with earlier molestation in this lily-white false-facade family, but we shall see. )

As I said, it's moving a little too slowly, this season, and yet I'm still intrigued, still trying to figure out which one of these overly wealthy nuts is going to be responsible for the open fire with a rifle in the beginning sequence.

And yes, TWL fans - remember the shots at the opening scene ?

Those were coming from atop a hill; thus, they were most were likely fired from a long-range rifle, firing multiple rounds. 

Thus, they could NOT be fired from Gaitok's handgun, just stolen by Timothy Ratfliff.

(Or at least it should not be because it wouldn't make sense to fire multiple rounds from that range?)

Also, after the first two murders at a White Lotus, why are these people still signing up for vacations at a White Lotus?

I mean, you'd think people would be like "HELL, no -  anywhere but a White Lotus!" at this point?

But no, these rich kookaburras are still like "Sign me up!"  

Also, though either unlikeable or secret-hiding characters are a bit of a hallmark of the show (but you still root for them anyway), it's harder to find an initially likeable character, this season, besides Belinda, the massage therapist from the first two seasons, who has a knack for stumbling into the crazy, who actually came to Thailand to forget all that nonsense and train further in massage, only to have to face this sh*t again.

I relate to this poor woman, in that she has a knack for stumbling onto crazy and being unable to easily extricate herself!

Again, you would think she'd at least switch hotel chains for employment?

And when she spots the co-murderer from the second season at the  new hotel, but doesn't call the cops or leave immediately, once she's sure it's him, and instead just stupidly stares him down repeatedly so that he knows that she knows? 

You just wanna go, "Girl, just go, just leave TWL Resort Hotels forever, it's like a toxic relationship for you!"

And yet she does not - and now her son on his way to visit will get dragged into it, too.

And we love the budding love story between Muk and Gaitok (but fear that Gaitok's story of trying to move up in the security world will end badly, at present)?

Aimee-Leigh Wood's character of Chelsea is very likeable, but there also seems to be a running theme of much younger women with crotchety older men with money, this season, with the exception that Chelsea seems to be the only one who genuinely cares for Rick (Walton Goggins) and wants him to open up to her - despite his letting loose the snakes that bit her, when he was high 😂

Piper Ratliff is somewhat likeable, I guess, at least in that we get why she wants to get the hell away from the shallow, secret-keeping,  and general douchebaggery of her white, generationally wealthy, entitled, overprivileged, dysfunctional family, (which I can somewhat relate to) - but she still wants them to finance it and brings them all there under false pretenses, which wasn't cool. 

(But compared to the dastardly secrets the other characters are keeping, it's like a woman admitting lying about her age 😂)

And still, methinks there are even more secrets to be told from that family, right? 

As for the three "best friends" or frenemies, frankly, I don't especially care what happens to any of them, do you? 

They can't seem to speak directly to each other about their concerns with each other, just gossip viciously behind each other's backs (ewww, hate that passive-aggressive, stewing resentment stuff - but if you confront women like that directly about it, they deny it, you get gaslighted and you just look like a confrontation-loving a-hole 😂).  

And now, one of them is sleeping with the guy she was trying to set her friend up with, behind her back (and her own boyfriend's back).

And they acted like those local children with water guns, squirting them as part of their holiday, had set them on fire or something?

Chill, Ladies - it's just water -  your hair will dry, and nobody cares what you look like when exploring anyway.  In fact, the fact that you care about your appearance so much is likely why they kept shooting water at you!

You complained the WL was too low key and the one next door was too old-people, so how about buying water guns there and shoot back, it's fun!

It's fun!

I think I'd rather go on vacation to Thailand with my mother,  and that's saying something!

(Actually, I would never do that either, but if these are my choices?)

Not sure why any of these people would think it was ever a good idea to go on vacation to exotic locations with people they already know they can't trust, but dohkay.  

And as much as we miss Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya, how much do we love Parker Posey as Victoria Ratliff, stepping up to fill that void?  😂

It's not that Victoria is necessarily likeable, it's just that like Tanya, she's entertaining as hell, like your crazy aunt.

I think she means well and is smarter than you think, but she's so Ativaned up that she hasn't a clue what's actually going on 😂

She's a Southern storyteller, in a way, mixing truth with absolute absurdity, delivered with a perfect small-town, Western North Carolina (Tarheel) accent, the drawl further exaggerated further by lorazepam abuse. 😂

As for that accent, as Seth says, many people don't realize this, but much like British accents, there's not just one, they are very regional.

Parker herself grew up in Mississippi and Louisiana and realizes this, but there are certain common threads such words like this crash-course in this short clip below.

This is how small-town Southern women emphatically and melodramatically drawl out their disgust 😂😂😂

😂😂😂😂😂😂

I'm a huge language and regional colloquialism nerd - fascinated by the evolution of language and the mix of accents (like mine is a mix of Midwest suburban Cincinnati and Central Kentucky, having lived here for 35 years).

I often try to guess where someone is from based on accents or colloquialisms, particularly Southern ones - and often get it right, but not always.  

Like if you say "firefly" rather than "lightning bug," I already know this much about you - you're most likely white and from the Northeast, the Great Lakes North, or the West Coast, and as you talk more, I can usually ferret out where you're from or lived the longest 😄 

However, I have trouble with New Orleans, because it's a big mix from Creole to Cajun to true NOLA accent, which can almost sound like a NYC accent (think Harry Connick Jr.)

Regardless, here she is on Seth Meyers, discussing how she acquired it, which includes a clip from this past Sunday's WL episode, where she explains her fears about Piper living for a year at the Buddhist Meditation Center in Thailand being a cult  ... 

"Look at the Catholics - organized religion and deviant sex can go hand-in-hand."

😂😂😂

My Catholic husband fell off the couch, laughing.

As did I - Episcopalian now, Catholicism's closely related cousin - but also having grown up in several different evangelical churches, including Southern Baptist and charismatic nondenominational -  two churches that have also been involved in verified sex-abuse scandals in recent years.

In fact, though power abuse, especially in the form of sexual abuse, may be rampant in organized religion, Christianity unfortunately has the worst global reputation for it, such that some might even say this is especially true about Christianity, Catholic or Protestant?

(Someone may throw something at their screen for my saying that, but if you can show me any other religion with as many verified sex abuse scandals as those claiming to be Christian, I'll take it back.)

Regardless, we can't automatically assume anything spiritually different from how we were raised or what we're used to is a cult or witchcraft or sexually abuses people overall -  OR - that we're right and they're wrong - right?

We Christians do some weird sh*t, too, as just part of our general faith. 

Ever tried explaining the concept behind communion - the eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ - to someone from another faith, or even just your 5-year-old? 

The concept seems akin to cannibalism to them and they're horrified! 😂

Back to Parker Posey, can I just say I loved how she breezed out in that whispy dress with fringe-fabric caped sleeves that Parker wore, really did remind me, as she says, of Samantha's mother Endora on Bewitched, "popping up on her refrigerator to give advice?" 

And though no one can top Jennifer Coolidge on her OTT persona, Parker Posey is nearly as entertaining, both onscreen roles and in real-life interviews (though both are likely still part of their played-up personas).

Speaking of accents, British actor Jason Isaacs slipped quite easily into that city/suburban North Carolina accent because he's British (because Southern US accents and colloquialisms are actually derived from British accents, pepper in some Irish and Scottish). 

Jason Isaacs' character is more subtly hilarious, just trying to hold it together, hiding from his family the fact that his career and reputation are about to be destroyed, now swiping his wife's lorazepam, while his daughter whisked them all away to Thailand on false premise. 

However, the moment Jason Isaacs shows up on your screen, you should already know something's afoot, right?

If nothing else, the actor is most widely known as Lucious Malfoy from the Harry Potter series, but he almost never plays a good guy in most of the roles he takes!

Well, we shall see where this wild ride takes us - I hope it's worth it!

______________________________________

PS - Oh, one last thing ... don't forget to look for foreshadowing clues as to each character's story in the friezes or tapestry at the beginning during the them song as they list each actor, just as they did in all the previous seasons, which some people missed. 😉

In fact, this season, the promo poster giving you a more obvious nod to that, for people who missed that the first go 'rounds   - it's almost like a Thai tapestry or Thai piece of artwork itself, right?