‘The White Lotus’ and Dumb Character Syndrome
Sometimes your characters have to suffer temporary brain damage to get your plot where you want it to be.
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Look, I enjoy The White Lotus1. It’s a fun, well-written show that takes us to some amazing locations and gives us a bunch of privileged assholes being assholes—what’s not to love2? People watching their lives fall apart while they sip cocktails and eat gourmet meals will never not be fun, and as the world cascades into economic chaos it’s comforting to imagine that even the wealthy are miserable no matter how many massages they get3.
And, look, I enjoyed Season 3 of The White Lotus. It was the third-best season of the show, sure, but even the third-best season of The White Lotus was a lot of fun. The ending, however, was a bit of a disaster—just about every storyline ended with a thud that left you mildly infuriated, even if the specific details scanned well enough in plot terms. If I had to guess4, I’d guess that creator and writer Mike White started off his story with the ending, and then crafted a plot that got him there. I say this for one specific reason: Several characters make late-inning decisions in the story that make zero sense in terms of their character5. They make those decisions because they needed to hit their mark to make the ending happen, and as a result that ending feels artificial and slightly ludicrous.
You’ll Notice a Lot of Bald, White Guys in Thailand
We know from the very beginning that gunshots ring out at The White Lotus in Thailand and someone dies, and then we meet the players. You have the three old girlfriends grinding out lifelong resentments6, the wealthy family of privileged assholes on the verge of financial disaster, the sweaty and mysterious Rick (Walton Goggins)7, in Thailand on a mission to find the man he believes killed his father, security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), struggling with his reluctance to inflict pain on anyone while trying to impress Mook (LaLisa Manobal), the pretty health mentor, and spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) from the Hawaiian White Lotus on an exchange program to learn new techniques.
The individual stories are fun. The wealthy Ratcliffe family is a tidy study in vapid affluence, and Rick’s girlfriend, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), brings a spacey warmth to the role that’s a delight8. But the whole point of the show is trying to figure out which of these characters will eat a bullet by the end, and someone has to eat that bullet, so White begins moving his characters around the board so they’re in position. White’s smart enough to have a few guns floating about by the end so you can’t be certain who’s pulling the trigger9.
The man Rick seeks is the hotel’s co-owner, Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), and he takes off for Bangkok to impersonate a movie producer in order to get Hollinger alone in a room with a gun. Once there, though, he finds Hollinger kind of pathetic, and he can’t go through with his murderous plan, so he settles for some light physical assault and flees the house. Meanwhile, at the White Lotus, Gaitok is considering quitting the best job he’ll likely ever get because he can’t stand the thought of hurting someone10.
And that’s the last time on the show these characters behave like real people instead of plot robots.
I Just Don’t Think at This Age, I’m Meant to Live an Uncomfortable Life
If you are a person on a tourist visa staying at a swanky hotel and you physically assault the owner of said hotel after engaging in a complex grift to gain access to their home, do you a) immediately head for the airport, b) immediately find a new hotel to stay at, or c) return to the hotel that your assault victim owns, get a good night’s sleep, and wake up for a leisurely breakfast11?
Rick returning to the White Lotus is a ludicrous decision that undermines his whole character arc. Rick’s whole life has been poisoned by his father’s death, and his encounter with Hollinger sets him free, at least momentarily. I am no international criminal12, but I imagine that even I would know enough to call my girlfriend from the airport and have her get the heck out of there pronto. But Rick can’t, because the plot requires him to be at The White Lotus, common sense be damned13.
Similarly, Gaitok, who has spent the whole season anguished over his choice of career and his desire to not engage in violence, responds to the sound of gunshots by grabbing his gun and running toward the sound. This bit is fine—Gaitok has been clearly sketched as a stand-up, reliable guy, so I totally believe he would run toward danger. When he arrives on the scene after Rick has shot Hollinger and his bodyguards, and is carrying a very tragically dead Chelsea with the dead-eyed look of a man who has very recently stepped on the biggest rake in the known universe, Hollinger’s wife (and co-owner of the hotel), Sritala (Patravadi Mejudhon) orders him to shoot Rick in the back. Which Gaitok does.
Again, the plot required Rick to die, and to a lesser extent it’s a clean if somewhat unhappy resolution for Gaitok to finally shrug off his resistance to violence and brutality and become what the world wants him to be. But it doesn’t make much sense considering everything else we know about Gaitok, and it feels like a shoehorned decision just to get us to the end point of the plot.
If I could afford to vacation in a place like The White Lotus resort, I am certain I would end my week there in some sort of murder plot, most likely as the victim. I have been reliably told I have a “murderable” face14.
NEXT WEEK: Companion and timing the twist.
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I also would never, ever want to go to a White Lotus. I don’t need to spend a fortune just to feel nervous and socially awkward around my social superiors for a week, thanks very much.
Once, at a swanky restaurant in Hawaii I showed up for a dinner reservation in shorts. The hostess hesitated to seat me, and then ran over to drape a napkin over my bare legs in what can only be described as a panic. It was at that moment I decided I actually preferred being a Poor.
Although, to be fair, I imagine popping some pills and then being massaged is an amazing experience.
And I don’t! But I will.
Or common sense, the enemy of writers everywhere.
I will note that White’s ear for the social dynamics of three friends in a group is spot-on. People are awful, and that awfulness is somehow exacerbated when you’re in a trio.
No one does sweaty and mysterious better than The Goggins. No one! Also, I think Sweaty and Mysterious might be the title of my memoir: It’s one-half aspiration and one-half truth telling about me. I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which is which.
A supercut of Wood’s facial expressions in this season would win an Oscar.
That’s why I like to have a few bottles of whiskey lying around. So The Duchess can’t cut me off at 2AM on Saturday like she does, because she is mean and hates fun.
I could never be a security guard. Too much running.
If you’re me, probably d) change your name and accept the fact that you will now be known as the White Loser Who Lives on The Beach, Dancing for Coins.
<Gollum Voice> Not yet.
WAIT: I think Common Sense Be Damned is the title of my memoir, actually!
It used to be a “punchable” face, but as I’ve aged people’s violent attitude toward me has soured.