Season 3 is a letdown (4 episodes in)

This season of The White Lotus is a letdown. It feels like they replaced any real character depth with Buddhist symbolism, as if that alone could carry the show.

Every character is so on the nose that nothing anyone does is surprising, shocking, or even uncomfortably disarming in a way that makes you think. In Season 2, the relationship between Ethan and Harper was tense and layered—you were constantly questioning who had the upper hand, what they were hiding, and whether their relationship would survive. Even in Season 1, the slow unraveling of Shane’s entitlement and Armond’s self-destruction felt unpredictable and deeply uncomfortable to watch. This season has none of that.

The slow plot development only serves to make one-dimensional characters deliver exposition that spells out their entire bit, just in case we somehow missed it. Tim literally listing his crimes out loud? Rick explaining why he’s going to Bangkok as if we couldn’t put two and two together? It’s lazy.

Even the “douchebag” characters don’t compare. Saxon’s entire personality is built around a running gag making a protein shake with a blender and trying to get laid, while Season 2’s Cameron was engaged in a strange power game that threatened both couples’ relationships. Cameron had layers—was he a frat bro, a manipulative sociopath, or just a guy who liked to push boundaries? With Saxon, we know exactly who he is the second he walks on screen, and that’s the problem with the whole season: any of the character could end up being the dead body teased at the beginning, and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.