John Powers

We watch the guests arrive at the White Lotus, a wellness-centered resort on the island of Koh Samui. These include the well-heeled Ratliff family from North Carolina. The parents are played by Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey. There are three 40-something girlfriends led by Jacqueline, a TV star played by Michelle Monaghan.

We watch the guests arrive at the White Lotus, a wellness-centered resort on the island of Koh Samui. These include the well-heeled Ratliff family from North Carolina. The parents are played by Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey. There are three 40-something girlfriends led by Jacqueline, a TV star played by Michelle Monaghan.

We watch the guests arrive at the White Lotus, a wellness-centered resort on the island of Koh Samui. These include the well-heeled Ratliff family from North Carolina. The parents are played by Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey. There are three 40-something girlfriends led by Jacqueline, a TV star played by Michelle Monaghan.

There's gloomy Rick, that's Walton Goggins, a scruffy dude who's here with his far younger girlfriend Chelsea. And as always in paradise, there's a serpent. it would take an hour to tell you the plot. Suffice it to say that after a low-key start, the show becomes a stir-fry of financial secrets, dark family histories, drug abuse, kinky hijinks, poisonous snakes, scary gunfire, and oddball comedy.

There's gloomy Rick, that's Walton Goggins, a scruffy dude who's here with his far younger girlfriend Chelsea. And as always in paradise, there's a serpent. it would take an hour to tell you the plot. Suffice it to say that after a low-key start, the show becomes a stir-fry of financial secrets, dark family histories, drug abuse, kinky hijinks, poisonous snakes, scary gunfire, and oddball comedy.

There's gloomy Rick, that's Walton Goggins, a scruffy dude who's here with his far younger girlfriend Chelsea. And as always in paradise, there's a serpent. it would take an hour to tell you the plot. Suffice it to say that after a low-key start, the show becomes a stir-fry of financial secrets, dark family histories, drug abuse, kinky hijinks, poisonous snakes, scary gunfire, and oddball comedy.

White loves to shove his characters and audiences out of their comfort zone. We often can't be sure whether something is supposed to be funny or serious or both. We don't know which characters are actually nice, are deeper than they first seem, or are blithely headed toward bad things. Take, for instance, the Ratliff family, Timothy and Victoria and their three grown-up kids.

White loves to shove his characters and audiences out of their comfort zone. We often can't be sure whether something is supposed to be funny or serious or both. We don't know which characters are actually nice, are deeper than they first seem, or are blithely headed toward bad things. Take, for instance, the Ratliff family, Timothy and Victoria and their three grown-up kids.

White loves to shove his characters and audiences out of their comfort zone. We often can't be sure whether something is supposed to be funny or serious or both. We don't know which characters are actually nice, are deeper than they first seem, or are blithely headed toward bad things. Take, for instance, the Ratliff family, Timothy and Victoria and their three grown-up kids.

Their provincial complacency is on display when they arrive at the White Lotus and meet the hotel managers.

Their provincial complacency is on display when they arrive at the White Lotus and meet the hotel managers.

Their provincial complacency is on display when they arrive at the White Lotus and meet the hotel managers.

If you've seen either of the two seasons, you know that Victoria and her kin are likely to face trickier issues than the rivalry between Duke and the Tar Heels. In truth, season three is less effervescent than one or two. Yet the show still superbly acted by its stars, and White stuffs his scenes with pleasures.

If you've seen either of the two seasons, you know that Victoria and her kin are likely to face trickier issues than the rivalry between Duke and the Tar Heels. In truth, season three is less effervescent than one or two. Yet the show still superbly acted by its stars, and White stuffs his scenes with pleasures.

If you've seen either of the two seasons, you know that Victoria and her kin are likely to face trickier issues than the rivalry between Duke and the Tar Heels. In truth, season three is less effervescent than one or two. Yet the show still superbly acted by its stars, and White stuffs his scenes with pleasures.

I love the comedy of the Ratliff's alpha male son, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick, driving everyone crazy by obsessively making protein shakes in a deafening blender. I love the increasingly fraught dynamics of Jacqueline and her friends. The others are played by Carrie Coon and Leslie Bibb, by the way.

I love the comedy of the Ratliff's alpha male son, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick, driving everyone crazy by obsessively making protein shakes in a deafening blender. I love the increasingly fraught dynamics of Jacqueline and her friends. The others are played by Carrie Coon and Leslie Bibb, by the way.

I love the comedy of the Ratliff's alpha male son, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick, driving everyone crazy by obsessively making protein shakes in a deafening blender. I love the increasingly fraught dynamics of Jacqueline and her friends. The others are played by Carrie Coon and Leslie Bibb, by the way.

Whenever two of them get together, they grow catty about the one who's not there. I was especially knocked out by the scene in which Rick meets an old friend, who launches into a monologue about his sexcapades in Bangkok. It is, I promise you, the most surprising thing you're going to hear on TV this year.

Whenever two of them get together, they grow catty about the one who's not there. I was especially knocked out by the scene in which Rick meets an old friend, who launches into a monologue about his sexcapades in Bangkok. It is, I promise you, the most surprising thing you're going to hear on TV this year.