The White Lotus Season 3 is in stunning Thailand, where I live. Is it realistic?
Plus, is the show any good?
I just finished watching The White Lotus Season 3 and loved it. As I mentioned before, tons of friends hassled me into watching the show because it was set in Thailand, where I live. I’ve been here about 12 years and have been asked about how realistic it all is an annoying number of times.
First, I’ll talk about what I think about the show and then how close it is to reality.
Warning: this post is almost entirely spoilers.
First off – the show, what I liked and what I thought was odd
I will do this by characters / groups.
Rick and Chelsea
I’ll start with the obvious. I loved this story, although I might be biased as some of it was filmed in my hometown of Bangkok. The story is a bit noir and turns out to be the reason for the carnage at the start of the show. Walton Goggins (of whom I am a huge fan, especially after the Fallout TV show) is superb as Rick, a deeply troubled fellow out for revenge. Aimee Lou Wood is his girlfriend, who comes across as just being ridiculously nice and likeable.
It’s a shame you don’t hear more about Rick’s past. He has dodgy friends who can easily get guns and are a bit mental. No one doubts he might kill the guy. When it all goes down, he is a superb shot. I get that ambiguity is in the veins of the show, but a bit more would have been cool.
Despite the great story, Rick’s decision to return to the hotel after assaulting someone who is clearly dodgy is a bit nonsensical. He could have fled, but he went back to the hotel where he had met the owner and had been staying. As a result, he and, incredibly sadly, Chelsea, die.
Also, the old fellow was clearly his dad, and it would develop into a Star Wars scenario. I kind of hoped it wouldn’t, but it wrapped things up nicely.
The Ratliff family
This was really fun, too, with lots of dynamics going on. The dad, played by the brilliant Jason Isaacs, was interesting to watch as he slowly went downhill. He was basically out of it for most of the show, though. The ‘showing someone die but not really’ thing got a bit old. Patrick Schwarzenegger and Parker Posey were also great. Saxon is an interesting character who goes from the alpha type we have seen in the previous two series to a more thoughtful and introspective character. All he needed were drugs, a hippy chick, and a bit of light incest.
I also really enjoyed the scene where Victoria gets increasingly happy when her daughter Piper confesses she is shallow and loves comfort. The barely concealed glee on her face was superb. The middle kid was clearly struggling with his sexuality, but then it didn’t really go anywhere.
The three ladies – Kate, Laurie, Jacklyn
Apart from their interactions with Russians, this story could be lifted from the show. Having said that, I thought their story was the most realistic and kind of touching. All three were perfect in their roles and it was a really good depiction of long-term friends bickering and judging, but ultimately loving each other.
Gaitok and Mook
This was fine. Mook is played by famous Thai actress / singer Lalisa Manobal, who is also in the girlband Blackpink. She wants Gaitok to be more aggressive and assertive but he is kind of chilled out and doesn’t want to. Most of their scenes are him asking her out and her saying ok. It is sad that he ends up as a bodyguard, but I wasn’t all that bothered really. She is a good actress and damned pretty, and it is a shame she wasn’t given more to do.
Belinda, her spa, getting rich
This tale was also ok on the surface but has deeper ramifications in terms of the overall tale. The White Lotus Season 3 sees her still trying to start her own spa. But she also spots Greg from seasons 1 and 2 and realises that Greg blatantly killed Tanya. She seems principled at first, but when she is offered a wad of cash, she eventually relents and becomes rich. She then treats her love interest, Pornchai, the same way she was treated by Tanya at the end of the first series. It’s a nice arc and another dig at how money corrupts morality.
The White Lotus Season 3 is about spirituality and Buddhism
This season is all about spirituality and yin yang. Chelsea and Rick are hope and despair and even their bodies are in a vague Yin / Yang pose at the end. Other character arcs deal with what the monk fellow was talking about. You need to embrace problems and not try to overcome them. If you chase happiness, it often isn’t as great as you’d think. Pain can’t be put off indefinitely. And so on.
Chelsea sees herself as Rick’s soulmate and thinks her hopefulness will pull him out of despair. It almost works. Daddy Ratliff contemplates suicide and killing his family rather than face the consequences of whatever financial skulduggery he was involved in. Happily, he comes to terms with it all.
The three ladies bicker but realise that despite some awful choices (especially those by Laurie), they are simply happy to be together. Gaitok wants to be nice, but is forced to shoot someone and as a result, might actually get the girl.
Finally, Belinda fights against accepting the morally questionable cash that could make all her dreams come true. In the end, she succumbs and seems to be chasing happiness.
To conclude – I liked the characters, the pacing, and the overall theme. It was all perfect, none of the seasons were – but they’re bloody good TV with top-notch writing and cast.
How realistic were the Thailand scenes?
The hotel scenes were all filmed in hotels in Thailand, so they were spot-on. The boat trips, likewise – Thailand really is that stunning.
Parties and shenanigans
There are three main outdoor party scenes.
The three ladies go clubbing on Koh Samui. I haven’t been there for a while but given that the last time I was on Samui, about 15 years ago, there were a lot of clubs and party spots. I was more of a reggae bar by the beach kind of a guy but I got dragged to a couple of nightspots by friends and what you see is pretty common. Realistic.
The full moon party. I last went to a full moon party on Had Rin beach, Koh Phangan, in 1998. My friends and I hired a speedboat from Samui in the late afternoon and came back the same way the following morning. It was both druggy and drink-filled and a shit load of fun. If anything, they toned the party down, because all I hear from people who have been to recent ones say it is now huge and mental. I think I would hate it now. Realistic.
The nightclub scene with Rick and Frank. Rick first meets Frank at the Bamboo bar in the Oriental Hotel. I have been there once as a rich Thai couple I knew wanted to see jazz there. It is nice but very pricey. Later on, they both go to a club with topless Thai chicks everywhere. This is the Sing Sing Theater, about 30 30-minute walk from my condo. It is an amazing place, but there aren’t topless women everywhere. Definitely worth a visit if you happen to be here and like clubbing in classy environments. Real place but not quite like in the show.
General life in Thailand
Comments about bald old foreigners. Totally true! I’m 52 and have a full head of hair (going quite grey though) and I feel in the minority. I’ve been with Mrs Word of Ward for 20 years and we are of a similar age. Again, quite a minority. There are others in my age group who are with partners of similar ages, but there are also a LOT of bald, retired white dudes with women 20+ years younger. If you’re under 70, go somewhere like Pattaya or Jomtien and you will feel like a young ‘un.
People wandering around with guns. Sadly, quite true. It is pretty easy to get guns and weapons here. There are quite a few shootings and so on. Not American levels, but for a Brit like myself it isn’t great.
Popping out to buy weed and then seeing a snake show. Weed is legal and there are thousands and thousands of weed shops. They are more ubiquitous than 7-11s these days. As for the snake show, also pretty likely in a tourist spot like Samui. Thais hate snakes with a passion, so it will be mostly for foreigners. I don’t live in a tourist area, so there aren’t any near me, but on the islands, there is stuff like this. I have been to one but hated it. (I don’t like animals being used for entertainment or gawping).
Final thoughts
There are two strands in this post. Is The White Lotus Season 3 any good, and how realistically does it represent Thailand? In answer – yes it is good, and it presents the place accurately. I am a writer who hasn’t (yet) written a best-seller, so I have never stayed at a Four Seasons hotel but I hear they are pretty damned nice.
If you’re wondering if you should watch it – yes. You should also visit Thailand, it’s awesome.
(Apologies for the length of this post!)
