Are You Watching ‘The White Lotus’?

Are you gripped by the third season of The White Lotus? I really am; it’s going to be great. Here are five thoughts I had while watching the first two episodes (don’t worry, no spoilers)…

1. The iconic opening song has changed, devastating the Internet; this reel made me laugh.

2. The Ratliff family came to Thailand because their middle child, Piper, is writing her Chapel Hill thesis on Buddhism. Her style is so good, especially that blue floral mini dress from Ciao Lucia a few years ago. My friend Lucy said, “That’s an absurd nightgown,” but I disagree! I kept thinking that she’d be all over Dôen’s spring collection.

(Meanwhile, is Patrick Schwarzenegger, who plays her brother, doing a Tom Cruise impersonation? I can’t unsee it.)

3. Next, English party girl Chelsea arrives at the hotel with her grumpy older boyfriend, Rick. I love her open-hearted optimism. “Chelsea the whole time is like, ‘You’re so mysterious, Rick. You don’t say anything. I need everything out in the open. I’m an Aries,’” says Aimee Lou Wood, who plays Chelsea, in an Elle interview. “And actually she’s just as mysterious. So I loved that… this idea that she’s this strange girl that’s just appeared and nobody really knows where she’s come from, but I think she’s a real survivor.”

For her swimsuit scenes, Aimee knew that she couldn’t show any nerves, even if she felt them: “As Chelsea, I cannot be thinking about how I look. She does not give a shite about how she looks. She is not an insecure person about her body. She’s insecure about other things, about her intelligence and everything, but she’s not insecure about that.”

4. Three female friends have come to Thailand for a girls’ trip, or “victory tour,” as one of them says. I find their vibe very stressful — they don’t seem to know or really like each other, other than having a shared history. “I remember that there have been times where I’ve been on vacations, and you’d see women friends together, and you were just like, ‘I can’t really get a vibe of what’s going on?’” creator Mike White told HBO. “And then one would leave and the other two would start talking. They’re triangulating in some way.” During the second episode, whenever one of the friends would leave a scene, my friend Alison would look over at me and immediately mimic, “Well, I will say…”

5. Finally, spa manager Belinda, who’s studying wellness in Thailand, is a sweet character but also kind of… boring? The actress Natasha Rothwell can be absolutely hilarious, I wish they would lean into her comedic talents.

So, have you been watching? Before last week, my boyfriend Freddie hadn’t seen a single White Lotus episode (!) but he has valiantly course-corrected by inhaling both the first and second seasons within a few days. Is his head now a scribble of plot twists and red herrings? “I stayed up late, fueled by afternoon and evening coffees,” he told me. “I felt so much anxiety in my chest and had such uneasy feelings.” Well done, Freddie, you understood the assignment.

Okay, if you HAD to guess, who do you think will end up dead? And how? Leave any burgeoning theories below, if you’d like…

P.S. Cup of Jo’s Ultimate TV Guide, if you’re looking for something good, and three comedy scenes that made us laugh.

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