The White Lotus is an anthology series that’s best described as “watching white people in their natural habitats”. Now that we’ve got more than just two seasons out in the wild, it’s time to rank all seasons of The White Lotus, from worst to best.
3. The White Lotus Season 3
Currently weighing in as the season with the highest episode count so far, unfortunately all that has done is convince me that quantity does not equate to quality. The White Lotus Season 3 is set in Thailand, and it also features the most star-studded cast the series has seen to date.
It’s also been criticized for pacing issues, which is absolutely justified. The Ratliff storyline, in particular, might be the most interesting one of the bunch, but it constantly feels like each episode is just repeating the same beats. Tim is stressed out about the investigation and is thinking about offing his family. Victoria drags out her words and talks about lorazepam. Piper is so enlightened. Saxon and Lochy are doing weird bro-cest things.
These are all beats that get repeatedly explored in every episode, which can get tedious by the end of the season.
The White Lotus Season 3 doesn’t do the other storylines any favors either. Rick and Chelsea (played by Fallout‘s Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood) were the favorites of Season 3, but they were really only hard-carried by the actors themselves. Their story? Same thing every week. Rick’s emotionally closed off. Chelsea’s trying to get him to open up. They’re yin and yang. It doesn’t help that Rick seems to make completely silly and asinine decisions by the end of the season — not even that iconic monologue from Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell is enough to save this one.
Then, there’s the three friends and the Belinda/Pornchai subplot. Great performances all-around from the cast, but again, same problem. Nothing really progresses from week to week, and Belinda’s son, Zion, may very well be one of the weakest characters we’ve seen on the show.
2. The White Lotus Season 2
I’m ready for the hate. The White Lotus Season 2 is inarguably the most popular season of the show, and I can see why. Jennifer Coolidge really comes into her own here, and she’s the star. The rest of the cast is no slouch either. Meghann Fahy’s Daphne is an underrated gem, and her co-stars in the couples’ storyline all really pull their weight as well. The Italy setting is beautiful. The music? Chef’s kiss.
What makes this season so strong is the fact that there are no duds in the cast. Like at all. The Di Grasso men are a shining example of all the different types of misogyny women run into on a daily basis — from Dominic’s cheating ways and Bert’s creepy comments to every woman he sees, to Albie’s Nice Guy persona and the way he treats women like they’re such fragile things he needs to protect.
The couples are endlessly entertaining as well, bolstered by the strong performances from Meghann Fahy and Aubrey Plaza. This storyline is such a fantastic take on what it means to have power in a relationship, and I found myself totally gripped by their stories from start to finish.
And of course, The White Lotus Season 2 wouldn’t be half as good as it is without Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya. “These are some high-end gays” will always live rent-free in my head. As will “Do you know these gays? Please, these gays… They’re trying to murder me!”
A special shoutout must be given to the Italian actors this season. Valentina’s subplot with Mia and Lucia is comedy gold, and also surprisingly wholesome by the time it ends.
Perhaps that’s why Season 2 doesn’t hit quite as hard for me. Everything’s so happy clappy by the end. The locals win, the rich people lose. It’s the complete opposite of what we get in Season 1, and to me, that’s just not how it should be.
1. The White Lotus Season 1
This, to me, is what The White Lotus is all about, and should be about.
At its core, this is a show about white privilege and what that means for both the people with and without power. The White Lotus Season 1 understands that completely, and it shows in every storyline delivered this season.
For some reason, Paula’s gotten quite a bit of hate from the community in recent years, which baffles me as she’s the very epitome of what Season 1 is trying to achieve. Paula is a person of color who’s been invited to this fancy holiday with a rich white family. She’s acutely aware of her sense of displacement here — she’s privileged, but she’s also just a token pet for Olivia; she gets to enjoy these resort luxuries, but she’s also only there at the whims and fancies of this family that can get rid of her at any point.
When Paula eventually approaches Kai, a local Hawaiian boy, with a plan to break into the Mossbachers’ suite and steal their jewelry, it’s because she wants him to have some money to fight back against the white oppressors who have taken his land. It’s a naive, misguided attempt to rebel against her own captors. She’s constantly uncomfortable in the situation she’s been thrust in, and this is her only way of speaking up and fighting back.
When that plan fails and Kai gets caught, she gets away scot-free. She still pays a moral price, though — the price of being forced back into her gilded cage where she must continue to deal with her displacement and recognize that she’s powerless to fight back.
That’s the through-line of Season 1 and The White Lotus as a whole. The rich get to flex their power, and they always get away with it. We see it in Shane’s confrontation with Armond, and in Tanya’s interactions with Belinda. We even see it in Armond’s relationship with Dillon, where he flexes his own power as Dillon’s manager to get sexual favors from him.
Even the one “happy” ending we get feels hollow. Quinn breaks free from his family and chooses to stay in Hawaii to pursue his new dream of boating around the ocean with the locals. Good for Quinn, but we as the audience mustn’t forget that he’ll always have the safety net of his family to fall back on if things don’t work out or if he gets bored.
In the end, we’re meant to feel empty and hopeless. This is the world we live in, and we’re all too tiny and powerless to fight back. The White Lotus Season 1 doesn’t pull any punches and it’s not afraid to reflect our world back at us.
The White Lotus is now available for streaming on Max.
Interesting views on White Lotus. Season 3 might not be as clever as S1 & S2 but it is still a good watch. Perhaps, I need to watch season 1 & 2 again.