Even after the peak of Peak TV, few programs become topics of watercooler conversation because everyone is in their own silos watching their own thing.
Still, it’s nice to have a known quantity back on HBO weekly. Not everyone will watch “The White Lotus” season three (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, Max) – it’s not as popular as “Game of Thrones” once was – but at least among a certain set of viewers there will be Monday morning “White Lotus” chatter for the next eight weeks, a welcome throwback to traditional TV viewing that inspires conversation.
The show’s formula remains intact: In the opening moments of Sunday’s premiere, viewers glimpse at least one body after gunshots ring out. The “who died?” mystery is just a hook to keep viewers watching. “The White Lotus” is more interested in interrogating the motives, frailties, emotional state and inner lives of its characters who this season include:
• Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), the wellness spa manager from White Lotus Hawaii in season one, arrives to learn about wellness practices from the Thai tradition. Her son (Nicholas Duvernay), seen in the opening scene before the gunshots, will join her midway through the week.
• Grumpy Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) arrives with British girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). He has mysterious business in Bangkok to attend to.
• A reunion of childhood friends who are now successful adults: New York attorney Laurie (Carrie Coon, “The Gilded Age”), Hollywood TV star Jaclyn (Michelle Monihan) and Texas socialite Kate (Leslie Bibb).
• The Ratliffs, a family from Durham, N.C., headed by businessman dad Timothy (Jason Isaacs), stay-at-home mom Victoria (Parker Posey) and eldest son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), adult daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) and high school senior Lochlan (Sam Nivola).
The resort’s manager, Fabian (Christian Friedel), doesn’t play as large a role this season with more attention given to resort owner/singer Sritala (Lek Patravadi) and two sweet-natured employees who may have a romantic interest in one another, Mook (Lalisa Manobal) and security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong).
As in past seasons, “White Lotus” excels at exploring the human foibles of its characters and their relationships, often communicated through facial and other non-verbal expressions.
While some characters will seem overly familiar to viewers of past seasons – series writer/director/creator Mike White seems to require that each season has a hunky jerk with Saxon as the latest guy to fall into the same archetype as Cameron (Theo James) in season two and Shane (Jake Lacy) in season one – the third season of “White Lotus” also introduces new character wrinkles.
The three adult women friends traveling together are a fresh take, particularly once Jaclyn and Kate pair off and gossip about Laurie. Then Laurie and Kate gossip about Jaclyn. With these wealthy people behaving badly, their flaws are so recognizably human, relatable and darkly hilarious.
Much of the acting is masterful, but Parker Posey proves the revelation. A ‘90s indie film darling (“Dazed and Confused,” “The Doom Generation,” “Suburbia”) often cast as an outsider, Posey plays against type as a lorazepam-popping, Southern-accented matron who’s extremely concerned that her family only associate with people who are “decent.” (The style of Southern accent Posey chose is quite specific, which grounds the character but also makes her an entertaining hoot every time she speaks.)
As Victoria’s husband, Tim, Isaacs delivers possibly a personal best performance that’s gripping to witness as emotions play over his face as he grapples with a secret in silence.
Goggins also delivers a nuanced performance, particularly deeper into the season as the show peels away the layers of his character to reveal the sadness and anger that drive his intense mood.
Although Belinda is the primary connection to earlier seasons of “White Lotus,” through six episodes made available for review her presence is less about character and more about driving the plot forward.
In addition to White’s creation of complex characters, entertaining relationships and an ongoing sense of dread – so much dread! — that ratchets up tension, White’s attention to local details, from visual close-ups of flora and fauna to the use of regional music, give “White Lotus” a vibe unlike any other series.
Season one’s themes involved class and culture, season two emphasized sex and gender politics. In a virtual HBO press conference Monday, White said season three explores religion and spirituality particularly through Piper Ratliff’s interested in Buddhism, an inherent part of Thai culture, juxtaposed against scenes of wild nightlife.
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“Something that keeps coming up in the show, and in this one it’s definitely made more explicit, people wanting to be their ideal self and be more than the base, animal creatures that they can be and then there’s this antic force that keeps pulling them back out to monkey land,” White said.
Rothwell sees her return as a love letter to the late Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), who died a “derpy death,” per White, at the end of season two.
“Her spirit lives on, if not in direct impression but in (Belinda’s) desire for wanting something a little bit better,” said Rothwell, who praised White for his collaborative instincts. “He’s very aware he’s not a Black woman. (It was great) being able to work with him on pages and pitch ideas to help ground the character and make Belinda as authentic as possible.”
That included White incorporating Rothwell’s suggestion about Belinda’s excited response when she sees another Black guest at the White Lotus, inspired by Rothwell’s own experience as the only Black tourist at an Irish castle until she spotted a Black family and greeted them with a hug.
“It even happened when shooting ‘White Lotus:’ There was a Black guest at the same hotel and I might have approached them,” she said, before adding with a laugh. “I might have a problem with hugging strangers.”
KDKA-TV hires reporter
Channel 2 hired a new MMJ (multimedia journalist who can act as her own videographer), Jessica Riley, a 2022 graduate of West Virginia University’s broadcast journalism and communications program. She previously worked at WTOV-TV, the NBC station in her hometown of Steubenville.
Channel surfing
Sunday’s “Super Bowl LIX” notched a new record, drawing 127.7 million viewers, up 3.2% from a year ago. … Peacock says “Day of the Jackal” is its most-watched original series. … If Paramount Global can’t reach a deal with cable substitute YouTube TV by Friday, Paramount Channels, including KDKA-TV and WPKD-TV locally and Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount , BET and more nationally, may go dark in another retransmission dispute.