The White Lotus, season 3 finale review: A bloody, uncomfortable journey to true enlightenment

Telegraph

08-04-2025

'Isn't there enough money here for everyone to get their happy ending?' asked Belinda's son Zion, as this curious series of The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic) came to a curious end. The answer, Zion, is no (he clearly hasn't watched The White Lotus), and as our protagonists groped for enlightenment in the final days of their luxury spa trip to Thailand, the show's creator posed a thornier question: what even is a happy ending anyway? If you haven't watched the season eight finale, Amor Fati, then look away now.
Writer and director Mike White kept us guessing long into this 90-minute episode as to who might be on the receiving end of the many bullets we heard pinging through the air in the opening instalment. There was no shortage of possibilities, or firearms or motives, and we were kept dangling uncomfortably for as long as possible. Would Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) finally snap? Would Rick's (Walton Goggins) action in Bangkok catch up with him? Would Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) make a foolhardy attempt to prove to Mook (Lalisa Manobal) that he is a man?
All of the above, ultimately, with some denouements proving more satisfying than others. None was more emotional than the final-night dinner between old friends Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Laurie (Carrie Coon), which seemed set up for Laurie to blowtorch their relationship forever. Instead, she cracked, admitting that nothing – work, love, motherhood – had brought her life true meaning. 'Time,' she said, 'gives my life meaning. I'm just happy to be at the table.' The monks in the monastery would approve.
Others, however, were still grasping at materialism to fill the void, with Piper Ratliff (Sarah Catherine Hook) falling for her mother's trap. She could not, she admitted, endure the night in the monastery. 'You could tell the food wasn't organic,' she said, while White gave Parker Posey's Victoria Ratliff one or two more zingers as souvenirs. Piper concluded she was a pampered princess after all, and that was pathetic. 'It's not pathetic,' said Victoria, beaming. She then took Piper shopping. Posey can leave a space on the mantelpiece for the Emmy.
Yet the Ratliffs had greater storms to endure, with Tim seeming hell-bent on family annihilation, a storyline that has proved darker and more uncomfortable than the quasi-incest subplot. Those poisonous fruits from episode one came back (Chekhov's othalanga, if you like), and things only got darker still when Tim decided that Lochlan would be spared. Naturally, Lochlan proved to be the only one who drank the stuff. Isaacs' storyline hasn't always hit the spot – the early, phone call-heavy scenes centred around Tim's financial fraud were thin gruel – but his journey to enlightenment proved to be moving. Truly, he has accepted a life without material possessions (though he'll get three square meals in prison).
Lochlan survived, but many others didn't, with the episode ending in a veritable bloodbath at the resort. The White Lotus works best at its most subtle and as the bullets flew through the air in the climactic gunfight, my mind went back to the end of season one, which was all the better for the lack of guns. In a series that serves us such great dollops of hard emotional truth, a gunfight just doesn't cut it. Rick, naturally, could not make his happiness last, and when face to face again with Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), shot him dead – only then to discover that Jim was his real father. In the ensuing melee, Chelsee (Aimee Lou Wood) finally got her third piece of bad luck, in the shape of a bullet in the chest.
The most powerful storyline has arguably been Gaitok's, with the audience initially desperate for the sweet, homely, Buddhist guard to get Mook, the girl-next-door of his dreams. This has morphed quite beautifully, as Mook revealed herself to be more and more materialistic, and by this finale you longed for him to reveal the truth about the Russian criminals, hand in his gun and sail off into the sunset. He instead chose violence, and the girl, and he shot Rick dead. Seeing him drive off in Sritala's (Lek Patravadi) car, shades on, part of her security entourage, was heartbreaking. Somehow you were happier for the slain Rick, floating peacefully in the pond besides Chelsee, than you were for Gaitok.
Or Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who was convinced by Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) to squeeze Greg (Jon Gries, who surely won't return for season four, but who has been excellent) for every cent she could. Which she did, to the tune of $5 million. As she zipped off on her speedboat, leaving her hunky Thai lover and her dignity behind, it was clear what White was asking of us. Is this happiness? Is Gaitok's ending, getting the job, getting the girl, happiness?
'No one in the history of the world has lived better than we have,' said Victoria. 'The least we can do is enjoy it. If we don't, it's offensive.' Or, as Belinda put it: 'Can't I just be rich for five f---king minutes?' You can Belinda, but in the world of The White Lotus, we all know what happens when those five minutes are up. There just isn't enough money for everyone to have a happy ending.
A dark, uncomfortable finale, but one that forced the audience to ponder the very meaning of happiness – true enlightenment.