The White Lotus Recap | S3E1: Same Spirits, New Forms

Okay, Aaron, we're here for a very special episode.

Why are you and I talking right now?

We are talking because we felt it was time that we unpack the show.

The White Lotus.

Yes.

Our favorite show.

Like, I would call this, like, a.

What is the word we like.

We love this show.

That's the words I'm looking for.

We love this show.

Yeah.

Season three has returned.

It came on February 16th.

And you and I are gonna spend the next 30 minutes recapping the episode.

Episode one.

First of all, Aaron, for anyone who isn't familiar, I'm assuming anyone who is listening has also watched the episode.

But what is White Lotus?

White Lotus is, according to Wikipedia, an American black comedy drama anthology television series created by Mike for hbo.

And it follows luxury guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus Resort, which is, like, in the show, world is a resort chain.

And, yeah, everyone's interactions are affected by their various dysfunctions, which are often related to the fact that they're extremely wealthy.

And the reason you and I love the show is because there are so many themes around irresponsible, responsible tourism in the show.

There's a lot of problematic tourist behavior to unpack.

So.

Good.

Which I think brings me to my favorite part of why we're gathering, which is that we're going to also identify the cringiest tourist moments in every episode, and we'll also try to give out a conscientious traveler award, which is gonna be hard, but we'll try.

We'll try our hardest.

I think it's important to note, too, that we're covering season three, which is the current season.

There are six episodes, and maybe in the future we can rewind and cover the first two seasons.

The first season is, like, my favorite.

I've watched it so many times.

So it would be really fun to do the first season, even though you.

Already have some exciting words about this season so far, which we can get into.

But, yeah, expect a White Lotus recap from us on the feed.

I would say, like, every Thursday morning.

So Aaron and I are recording this Wednesday morning, and, yeah, we're very excited.

So we'll start with our quick recap, because we have to.

There are plenty of characters to unpack here.

So the episode opens up.

Beautiful Thailand.

Beautiful, tranquil location of Thailand.

We are at the White Lotus Resort, and we are introduced to a character named Zion who is in the midst of a meditation.

He tells us that he was there, sent by his mom, and he can't focus because suddenly there are all of these gunshots.

Happening all around him.

He kind of like escapes this meditation spot and comes across a floating body.

Now this is like classic White Lotus opening.

Like, there's always going to be a murder off the top.

And this is something that I feel like you and I also need to end each of these recaps with is like, all right, predictions.

Who do we think is dead?

And now who do we think is the shooter?

Ooh, you want to know right now?

I think after.

I think we leave it to the end.

No, let's do it right now.

Oh, okay.

Immediately you have thoughts.

Okay.

Get into it.

Yeah, well, it's top of mind.

I actually have a theory that it's not going to be the guests that attack each other.

I think it's going to have to do with the security guard at the front.

I don't know their name.

Do you know how there's that tension going on between Mook and that man who's clearly very in love with her, and then these two other men?

So I think that, like, some tension might arise there.

So maybe Mike White is planning to, like, mess with the format a little bit, because that would be unexpected, but who knows?

What's your theory?

My theory is that it might be Rick who has the gun.

Rick is the old guy with the young girlfriend.

Her name is Chelsea.

And so I think it might be Rick because Rick is clearly just like a troubled man.

There's already bad blood between Rick and the Radcliffe father.

Yeah, Timothy.

Timothy.

Okay, so let's get into these characters then, because.

So the show cuts to one week earlier.

We never see Zion again throughout the rest of the episode.

And we're introduced to our main cast of characters who are currently on their way to Thailand on this beautiful, beautiful boat.

There's already a rift between, like, these two middle aged men.

I don't know why.

I think I.

I missed that when I was watching.

Oh, it's because.

What's his name?

The.

The.

Not Timothy, the other one.

You mean the older brother?

No, the.

Hold on.

I knew this was gonna be a problem that I need to know the names.

Okay.

So many names started because Rick and Timothe got into an argument over Rick smoking on the boat.

Oh, right.

Okay.

Love this.

This all makes sense.

Yeah.

Okay, so we're introduced to the Radcliffe family.

This is dad, Timothy.

This is mom, Victoria, played by Parker Posey.

This is older brother Saxon, middle sister Piper, and younger bro Lachlan, or call him Locke.

So we're introduced to this family.

They are like an all American family.

Like all American Rich family.

We're also introduced to what I keep calling in my notes, the middle aged gal pals.

So this consists of one woman named Jacqueline Lemon, and she is clearly like a some sort of famous like actress or something like that, or former.

And her two friends, Kate and Laurie, they're all longtime childhood friends and they have.

They are here on a gals trip.

We are also introduced to Rick and Chelsea.

As I mentioned, Rick is a middle aged, grumpy white man and Chelsea is his young bubbly girlfriend who is played by Amylou woods, who plays Amy in Sex Education.

She is probably one of my favorite modern actors.

She is so funny and charming and hilarious.

So I'm stoked that she is on this show.

And then we also see Belinda from season one.

Belinda is the masseuse that Tanya, AKA Jennifer Coolidge, makes basically her emotional support person and manipulates all the way through season one.

And Belinda is there on some sort of like, fellowship program where she's going to be learning from the staff and quote, like taking all her learnings back to Maui.

So these are our main characters.

So we got the family, the middle aged gal pals, the boyfriend and girlfriend, and Belinda.

First of all, any thoughts on these characters so far when you first see them?

My favorite is definitely just the entire Ratcliffe family because they're so uncomfortable, they're so strange.

And I think I texted you.

Yeah, it's rare to see like the three sibling dynamic play out on screen.

And whilst I did not come from a luxury wealthy family like that, just seeing the dynamic still of like the three siblings, especially because like, I was the middle child, seeing that play out on screen is really interesting.

Wait, so do you see yourself in Piper then?

I'm so excited to talk a little.

Bit in the sense that Piper is like clearly a bit of the black sheep and like, introspective.

And I was definitely that child and like, would get picked on kind of by my like two other siblings.

But my brother and I were like, related really well.

I don't know, it's just, it's.

I'm interested to see how that dynamic continues.

So the boat arrives to shore and that's when we meet the hotel staff, which is like the other half of these, like, characters that we're gonna really explore.

There's quite a few of them.

So we meet Mook, who you mentioned she is a health mentor assigned to Rick and Chelsea.

At the beginning of the episode, we see her driving in on Scooter with Guy Tak, who is the resort SC security guard.

Clearly they are friends.

Clearly Gaitalk is in love with her.

We also meet the co owner and, like, I think she's, like, just a general Thai socialite.

Her name is Shritala.

I think she is a weird character to me.

She is really funny.

And we meet Fabian, the general manager, who I feel like is probably going to be a big character because the general manager pretty much always ends up being a big character in this show.

General manager of the White Lotus, notably a plain white guy, as typical.

Yeah.

Then we also meet Pornchai, who is a wellness expert.

He is assigned to Belinda on her fellowship.

And we meet Valentin, who is a super hot health mentor from Russia who is assigned to the gal pals.

So I think, like, each of these guests have their own sort of, like, wellness expert.

We also meet Pam too, later on, wellness person, who's sort of like, assigned to the Ratcliffe family.

So they all have, like, their own sort of, like, staff member.

What's funny to me is Chelsea is, like, absolutely obsessed with Mook and is, like, she's so beautiful.

She's so cute.

Chelsea's character is just gonna be everything to me.

Yeah.

What are your first initial thoughts, Aaron, on.

On these staff members?

Ooh.

I mean, Mook is my favorite, obviously.

And Ghatak and Pornchai.

Yeah.

Because they're, I guess, the most normal out of everyone.

They seem the most normal.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like.

And they're just interesting characters because I want to be inside their heads and, like, know what they're thinking about.

All these people that are arriving and all these people that they, like, work with at the resort.

So, I mean, the point of the show is to hopefully get some insight into that.

So maybe that'll be coming 100%.

Okay.

So Ratcliffe family, obviously a wealthy family.

We get to know a little bit more about them as they all sort of settle into their rooms.

The dad, Timothee, and I keep calling him Timothy because this is what his wife Victoria kind of calls him.

Parker Posey is so funny.

So he obviously kind of, like, holds down the family.

He is like, the main breadwinner.

I don't exactly know what his wife Victoria does.

Saxon is like a classic finance bro.

He.

I hate him.

I don't like watching him.

Yeah.

Piper is in the middle of, like, writing an essay on Buddhism, and this is, like, the whole reason why the family has decided to come to Thailand, because she wants to do an interview with a monk.

And then the younger brother, Lachlan is a senior in high school.

Still, this whole Family is obsessed with, like, Duke, College, and like, all of the classic American accolades that make you, like, what is it?

Like, not an academic, but, like, like, you go to Brown and you go to Duke and you go to, like.

I would say they're very tapped into the elitist lifestyle in America.

This is the word I'm looking for.

We also find out more about, like, this specific White Lotus location.

It's more of, like, a wellness center.

They calling it a wellness center.

I didn't notice this in the first couple seasons, and maybe I just.

This isn't a detail I tapped into, but this is the place where, like, everybody is being told to, like, self care and just relax and stress meditation.

So the Ratcliffe family is actually offered a biometrics test to put.

To get to, like, put together a personalized itinerary, and this includes a stress management meditation session.

Biometrics test.

This is definitely a rich hotel.

Yes.

And they actually say it at the top that this is one of the best hotels in the world.

So immediately.

Are you going to the White Lotus, Erin?

Absolutely not.

You don't want to pay me?

You don't want to do the biometrics test?

No.

We also find out that there is no wifi in the villas and that this hotel is considered a digital detox area.

And so all the electric electronics are taken away and put in a safe to be given back at the end.

And they encourage this so that you have a focus on self care.

Obviously, the Ratcliffe family is not stoked on this idea, especially the dad.

And basically, like, nobody agrees to do this.

And I think only Piper gives her phone to Pam.

And yeah, nobody's down with this, but their rule is that just keep your electronics out of public areas, like the shared spaces in the hotel.

Can I just say, I think it's interesting that we only see this interaction with the Ratcliffe family.

So we know who has their phone, but we don't know what the other guests opted to do.

My assumption is that they've all given in their phones, but they're also rich people, so maybe they all resisted.

I don't know.

But that could be an interesting.

Maybe down the road, we'll discover another guest has access to a phone that we didn't know.

I'm calling it right now.

Timothy's cell phone is gonna be like.

What's the.

This is an important plot point, I believe.

I think so too.

I think we're gonna come back to Timothy's cell phone for sure.

I think so, too.

Saxon also tries to eat A poisonous fruit off a tree, which I just wrote down.

I actually think this is really important.

Like, I think this is some sort of foreshadowing.

This fruit is gonna to come back and haunt us.

Okay, so we cut to Rick and Chelsea settling in.

These two obviously travel a lot and it turns out that like, Thailand, this trip to Thailand was sort of like a whim according to Chelsea.

I think Rick is the one driving the boat here, metaphorically, and he is going places with an agenda.

And I don't think Chelsea knows what the agenda is.

This is where we find out that Rick is seemingly there to meet the husband of the co owner of the White Lotus.

And he's pissed when he finds out that this guy is not there.

I think it's important to note too that the husband of Shritala is American.

She's Thai, but he's American.

And I just thought, okay, so maybe they know each other, Rick and this husband.

Somehow.

Ooh.

I'm just.

For some reason I think that Rick is some sort of scammer, schemer and I don't know, I think he's out to like, get all this guy's money in some capacity.

But I don't know, he seems too pissed off generally to like.

It seems personal, like what's going on.

Yeah, it seems like he has some personal interior qualms to deal with.

And this is something Chelsea is actively aware of that he just seems like a general curmudgeon.

And like she says at one point she wants to like help him bring back the joy in his life.

And she's just like loving the resort, taking in all the beauty.

She's like very grateful to be there and like sort of bliss.

Blissfully ignorant, but also like quite astute of a character.

Like, yeah, I think she's good at reading people in some sense, but kind of doesn't know what's going on.

Yeah, I'm, I think my favorite pack of characters is the blonde gals.

Even though it stresses me out the, the, the middle aged gal pals.

So Jaclyn, like right off the bat is worried about whether or not like her friends Katie or Kate and Lori are liking the resort.

She's like, oh, are you sure this is like, this is good for you?

Like, oh, I'm so glad she's like, this is a luxury resort and she's worried about whether or not her friends like it.

So obviously there's like a strange Dyn there.

It's like clear that Jacqueline has like paid for this entire trip.

Kate and Laurie Have a conversation with her about, like, how they stay young.

They talk about like, oh, my God, who's your doctor?

No, who's your doctor?

No, who's your doctor?

And they all cheers to self care.

And I don't know, it's weird because they're like longtime childhood friends.

But I'm kind of picking up on, like, a surface level friendship between the three of them, particularly between Kate and Jacqueline, who seem to be like, the ones who like, have a socialite lifestyle in la.

And then Laurie, who we find out works in corporate and has a regular person life kind of thing.

There's some strange sense of competition going on between these three women, it feels like.

Also there's a lot of references to how they look alike and how they were always mistaken for each other.

There's a lot of emphasis on them visually.

So I'm curious to see how that plays out.

And I had literally just kept calling them either the middle aged gal pals or the blonde gal pals.

They're all blonde, they're all attractive.

And this is gonna come up a lot.

Like, it's brought up already in this episode a couple times.

The other thing I noticed about this scene is this is when I was like, okay, there's definitely a recurrent theme around monkeys.

I think the monkeys are gonna be a bit of a character almost like in the sidelines, because they're brought up, like, repeatedly throughout this episode.

Like, everyone is commenting on the monkeys and on wildlife as well.

I thought this was interesting.

There's a sort of like, fear of the wildlife.

Whereas you notice that the Thai people that work on the resort are always trying to calm the visitors and say, no, no, no, we're at one with the wildlife.

So that's a little theme that I'm noticing is coming up.

And you also notice it in the opening credits, which we didn't talk about, which I think we should talk about for a second, because the opening credits are a really important part of White Lotus.

First of all, they changed the intro music.

Yes.

This is one of my notes.

I was kind of disappointed.

I was disappointed as well.

I would love to know why.

I'm sure if we Google this, there's an answer.

Like, to the extent that Erin played the White Lotus theme at her wedding as a dance party track, this is pretty significant for us.

It is an iconic track.

I can't believe they changed it.

I'm really.

I'm puzzled by this.

So we'll maybe next episode we'll do some research and we can share at the Top what we found as to why they changed it.

But then also the opening credits.

Like, in every White Lotus season, it's usually this, like, array of paintings and art, and it gives me midsummer vibes.

You know how the opening of the movie Midsumme, like, is this art?

And there's all these Easter eggs inside it.

Like, if you really look at it, you'll notice themes that will come out in the film.

So I was watching these opening credits, like, really carefully, and something I noticed were the monkeys.

All throughout the opening credits, there's also a lot of reference to mob violence.

I did not catch this at all.

I did not watch it.

If you rewatch it.

Oh, gosh, you gotta watch the opening credits.

There's so much in them.

So there's a lot of references to mob violence, which is interesting.

And then obviously, a lot of, like, references to sexuality, which is a recurring theme in White Lotus seasons.

I remember all the monkeys, but I didn't not catch the mob violence stuff.

It sort of happens, like, later in the credits.

It, like, goes into that.

Oh, and then the last one is drug use.

There's a lot of depictions of, like, monkeys smoking weed.

And I don't know.

I noticed this especially because when I was in Thailand in November.

This is something that is different in Thailand from the first time I was there.

Weed and, like, most drugs have, like, famously been extremely illegal in Thailand, like, with very, very strict laws.

Really, really strict.

And, like, scary repercussions if you're caught with them.

But this changed in 20.

And I noticed this while I was there because there were weed shops everywhere.

People were smoking weed everywhere.

And it just kind of blew my mind because I was like, the last time I was here, this was extremely illegal.

So it's interesting that that's now appearing as a theme in the season.

Ooh, I wonder if this season is gonna be taking place in current time and be sort of, like, experiencing the new decriminalized legal weed era.

Like, I'm curious to see.

I don't know.

When you watch the opening credits, look for it, because there's a lot of it.

Like, a lot of references to this.

So, yeah, it's gotta have a meaning because in previous seasons, the opening credits, like, have basically, like, foreshadowed what happens in the season.

Ooh, okay.

I'm definitely gonna pay closer attention, I think.

I was so hit with, like, the Sadness of the not the Same Song.

I was like, oh, just artwork, like, going back and forth on the screen.

I was, like, disappointed.

I will be a baby about it next time.

Fully watch.

Okay, to wrap up our little recap here.

So Belinda meets Porchai, her fellowship leader, and she thanks him in advance for sharing his knowledge with her.

And this is when she also sees a monitor lizard and, like, loses her mind.

Belinda is, like, the most scared of animals, and she's told that the lizards will all become her friends.

And then this is when she also follows poor Chai to leave an offering to the gods.

And then we also find out that she's supposed to be staying there for three months, I think, for.

In, like, this beautiful, gorgeous room.

And she's, like, loving it.

So everyone's settled in at this point.

We've got to know our characters a little bit more.

So Piper, who is writing the essay on the monk, decides, like, first and foremost, she's gonna go check out this Buddhist temple.

And her younger brother, Lachlan Jo, joins her.

And they get there, and she immediately chickens out.

She's like, I can't do this.

I can't go talk to some random person.

I'm just gonna stand here and, like, look at the thing.

What did you think of this?

Relatable.

Totally relatable.

I would also fly across the world to.

With, like, to do something and then stand there and be like, I'm too scared 100%.

And then we also see Saxon finance bro at the pool.

Just, like, being a bro, man.

Just being a bro.

Major ick.

Major, major ick.

It hurt to watch.

So he spots Chelsea at the pool.

At first, he's clearly on the prowl when he sees her.

And then he starts to talk to his, like, younger brother, who eventually joins him at the pool.

And he says that, like, long plane rides make him horny.

It's like.

And he's, like, saying it, like, super loud so people could hear him.

He also spots the pack of gal pals and tries to, like, sort of flirt with them and charm them.

They're not, like, into it.

They immediately sort of are just, like, shutting him down.

And then once they shut him down, he turns over to Chelsea, who's on, like, a chair nearby.

And, like, his pickup line is like, hey, how do you get a drink around here?

And she's like, you walk up to the bar and you order one.

And I was like, get it, Chelsea.

Yeah, get it, Chelsea.

He basically has no game.

He thinks he has game, but, yeah, he tells.

He basically, like, looks to his brother, being embarrassed and stuff.

Being like, women is a numbers game.

Like, you just have to keep trying.

I was like, oh, my God, this guy sucks.

Yeah.

Just.

Just the immediate ick.

I felt, oh, no point.

This would be.

Want to be around this man.

I'm so curious what his character arc is gonna be, because, like, at this point, all I want is the worst for him.

I don't know what the show is gonna do.

That's not gonna.

I don't know.

I think they need to shake it up.

I don't know what's gonna happen with this man.

Maybe he'll have a growth arc.

Maybe he'll learn and become a better man.

You expect that of a white man, Eren?

No.

Okay.

We also find out Wall Street Journal is trying to get a hold of Timothy.

We don't really know why, but obviously he's, like, caught up in some sort of scandal probably.

And I think we could just go straight to dinner.

Everybody's having dinner at the resort.

Rick hates the wellness menu.

He's not into anything on there.

He hates everything.

Chelsea says that he's a victim of his own decisions.

And I wrote this down because I think this is a theme that's coming back to Rick.

He's a victim of his own decisions.

She says she's going to help him get his joy back, even if kills her.

So I have a feeling Chelsea might be dead at the end.

Yeah, that could be some foreshadowing.

I think there's some foreshadowing there for sure.

Rick is pissed off about it all, and he goes out to have a smoke.

Yeah.

This is when we also discover, like, there is obviously resentment amongst the gals, the gal pals, specifically, maybe towards Jacqueline.

But it's hard to say because it seems like there's a weird dynamic, specifically between Kate and Laurie.

Possibly, like, a best friend battle.

I'm thinking, like, I'm her best friend.

No, I'm her best friend, kind of.

That's the vibe I got.

Yeah.

Like, Jacqueline is the famous actress, and they both want to be her number one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think obviously, Laurie feels like she is probably the weaker link of this, because Kate, obviously, I think she's married to some famous guy, is, like, in the LA socialite scene.

And we get this, like, funny exchange between all of them that it's like, no, your life is so hard.

No, you're doing so well for yourself.

You're doing.

No, you're doing so well.

And then Laurie is sort of, like, the odd one out, and Jacqueline is like, yeah, but, like, corporate world is so hard.

And, like, you have a daughter they have this conversation, right.

They're like, is this a midlife crisis trip or is this a victory tour?

They obviously all decide it's a victory tour.

I think it's also important to say, I don't know if we said this yet, where it's like implied that they don't see each other that often.

Yes.

That maybe it's been like five, 10 years before the three of them, like spent a lot of time together.

I'm sort of getting.

And maybe I'm just like overthinking this, but I'm sort of getting the impression that like, the three of them were best friends in like elementary school and then they don't see each other very often.

But now Jacqueline and Kate are starting to see each other more often because they're in like the same, like, sort of scene, I guess.

Or that Kate is trying to get maybe her status heightened a little bit by making more time with Jacqueline and stuff and separating herself from Laurie's normal person life.

I think we will see.

But this all culminates in Laurie going to her room and crying and weeping and sobbing and seeing Jacqueline and Kate having a conversation and is clearly feeling some type of way about it.

I'll also mention that tableside at dinner, while the three women are together, co owner Shritala comes over and talks about, like, her credentials as to, like, why she is the co owner of the White Lotus.

She says that she pioneered the wellness program there after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder.

The vibe that I get from this woman is weird.

It's a bit grifty.

Yes, definitely.

Grift vibes.

Have you seen the show Apple Cider Vinegar yet?

No, I haven't.

Oh.

It's a Netflix series based on a real life influencer who like, basically grifted for years saying that she had beat her brain cancer by just eating.

Well, I think I did.

She was Australian.

And so there's a series out about her now, which is actually.

It was a fun watch, kind of.

The undercurrent of the series is that this is a really common grift in the wellness space that people will give you this, like, origin story about how they've survived or recovered from some horrible illness just through wellness.

Yeah.

And I think it's going to be an interesting point towards just like, privilege basically, because obviously this woman is quite wealthy and married to a very wealthy person.

And I'm guessing that being diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder, she had access to all of these things that were helping her get better and live in this world in a happy and peaceful way.

And now these are all things she wants to bring that people have access to in, like, a luxury resort that nobody actually has access to.

It's interesting to me that none of the cast of characters, so far at least, seems to be buying into the wellness aspect of the resort.

I kind of expected that there would be, like, one or two characters that were, like, there for that and really excited for that, but none of them seem to be that.

I think Jaclyn is the only one into this.

This.

I think Jacqueline Gen genuinely is there to just rest, recuperate, actually.

I think she's genuinely there to, like, find herself.

This is what I'm thinking.

I think she's, like, kind of in a bit of a midlife crisis, as we mentioned, and I think she's hoping that this wellness retreat will help her find her purpose again.

And I think Kate and Laurie are just there to be like, you go, bestie.

You got this.

Yeah.

So the episode ends with we see Belinda at dinner, and she sees this really regal, like, beautiful, wealthy black couple come into dinner.

And this is something that she talked to that the actress talked about on an episode that you shared with me, Aaron, a podcast.

And I think it's just, like, a really wonderful representation of, like, black excellence.

And I think we're gonna see what that looks like, because I think in this moment, she's sort of imagining, like, okay, if I wasn't on this fel fellowship, I could actually be a guest here.

And then also, it ends with we find out that, like, Timothy is, like, probably in trouble.

The.

The Wall Street Journal is still reaching out to him.

They're running this story, like, in a week.

And, yeah, that's.

He's.

He sort of ends the episode sort of thinking about it as it zooms out.

I forgot one extra piece here.

Chelsea alone at the bar.

Rick ditches her.

He's pissed off, obviously.

Chelsea, his girlfriend, is hanging out at the bar.

And that's where we meet another new character, Chloe, who is a model.

And that's when they bond over their grumpy old boyfriends, which Chloe calls LBHs in Thailand, which refers to losers back home.

This is hilarious.

Chloe says that the local schools.

The locals call them LBHs.

Yes.

And I need to know if this is true.

I.

I need to know if this is true too, because I know of a trend, and we've never talked about this fully on the show, but we have in, like, we've wanted to do, like, sex tourism episodes, and Stuff about how like old white dudes will travel to Thailand to be with like young women.

And it's like kind of a creepy trend that goes on.

But these LBHs in particular are dating white women.

Women and at this luxury resort.

So I think it's.

Is it a different dynamic?

I don't know.

It's hard to say.

I think it is.

I think like the sense I got is the LBH term is just sort of like all encompassing for just like gross old white men.

By the way, I did just google this and according to a couple sources, yes, this is a term that's commonly used in Thailand, which does not surprise me because I have told you, I don't know if I've talked about it on the show, but when I was in Bangkok in the fall, just the immediate ick I felt walking around like it's inescapable to see the men that are clearly there for sex tourism.

It's like we do need to do an episode about this.

I know.

That's basically the recap.

Aaron, you messaged me last night and you said, I already love this season way more than the Sicily season.

The way I relate to the three siblings dynamic.

Oh my God.

I have lots of notes for Wednesday, so just like off the bat notes thoughts.

Where are you at?

Having watched episode one, I really liked it.

I liked it more than season two.

I know a lot of people really loved season two, but I don't know, I enjoyed it.

It didn't hit the same way that season one did.

I felt that the themes that they touched on in season one were a little more, I think I probably like.

Because there were themes of sort of like post colonial tourism.

It was just.

It felt that season one got into the grit a little bit more than season two did.

Season two was very like sexuality focused, which was still very fun, but just didn't have the same grit that season one did.

And I think I'm liking this season because I feel like they're gonna play with many more of the tourism related themes that I'm interested in seeing play out.

I think this is very much gonna tap into the under valley of luxury tourism.

Yeah.

Some other notes I wanted to bring up because my first thought was like, they always reference like Thailand and I was like, but, but where in Thailand?

Like, where are you in Thailand?

Like, I know you're in the islands, clearly.

Yeah.

But there's a lot of them in Thailand, so let's drill down and figure this out.

So I did some research.

It's gate kept It's a luxury resort.

You're not supposed to know about it.

We're just plebs.

This is probably a narrative ch, like, I think this is the point.

But I was still like, I want to know.

So I can tell you where they shot season three.

It was shot on Phuket and Koh Samui, which are both very popular islands.

I have not been to them because they're so popular.

I was like, absolutely, no.

But yeah, tourism.

On Phuket, for example, it's an island of about 500,000 residents.

So both these islands are like, very much dealing with over tourism.

They've also experienced high levels of water pollution, depleted marine life, erosion of coral reefs.

And these effects have been attributed to the presence of nearby resorts and hotels, as well as the beach parties that Thailand is so famous for.

So it's an interesting choice that I guess the inference is that that's where they are, like on Phuket or Koh Samui.

That's interesting.

I wonder if there's going to be any of that that comes up in the show where these people are disappointed that the beaches aren't as clear as they wanted or something like that.

Yeah, we'll see.

We'll see if they venture away from the resort.

Sometimes they do.

They do in previous seasons.

So that would be interesting.

There's an interesting point that was flagged in this article that you sent me, which was published by Alex Atmos that I thought would be fun to bring up.

In this article, they're grappling with the irony of the show bringing attention to luxury hotel locations.

So the problem is that it can actually end up being an ad for that luxury hotel because the hotel that they're shooting at is an actual hotel in Thailand.

So here's a quote from the article which we'll link in the show notes.

Considering the harm real life versions of White Lotus Resorts can cause local ecosystems, how well does the show's third season succeed in critiquing the lasting damage of such luxury retreats?

And is the critique even effective considering the series own White Lotus effect?

For example, bookings at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, where much of season three was filmed, has already climbed by 40% days before the season's episodes even aired.

And that's according to the New York Times.

And we saw the same in Sicily.

I had a look at the numbers.

There's been reports of tourism in Sicily increasing by over 100% year over year because of the White Lotus effect.

So I thought this was, like, an interesting point to pull out of the show.

Like, the show is critiquing tourism, especially luxury tourism, but it's also kind of like, bringing unneeded attention to it.

Yes.

And, like, potentially driving more tourism.

It's.

It has, like, a bit of a backfiring effect.

Oh, yeah.

Oh.

We didn't talk about how Greg appears.

So when Chloe and Chelsea are speaking at the bar, and Chloe's like, I'm here with my lbh, it's Greg.

This is what I said to Mark.

I was like, is that the guy?

And he's like, no, it is.

So that's.

That is Greg.

So this is confirmed or it's confirmed?

Yeah, it's definitely confirmed.

Greg.

He looks a little different, but it's him.

This is Greg's next adventure, then.

Oh, man, oh, man.

I'm excited about this.

I thought it was him, and I was like, it can't be, but it is.

It is.

Yeah.

Okay, excellent.

This makes sense.

If you're a White Lotus attendee, you're going to go to all the resorts.

Of course Greg would be there.

This is something I do love about the show.

Like, I was very sad that they killed off Jennifer Coolidge because she was sort of the recurring.

I know.

Character in every season.

But I do love how they, like, are finding ways to bring characters back.

Oh, Greg's coming up from the underground for this season for sure.

Then, yeah, Maybe he's part of the mafia activity.

I think he might be.

There's something dark about him.

Okay, Aaron, so now it's time for our categories.

What was your top cringe travel moment?

Okay, Deril lot.

But I whittled it down to one.

And for me, it was Chelsea, when being shown their villa, telling Mook that they've been all over, including Costa Rica.

Except she says Costa Rica with a very badly attempted Spanish accent.

And this is just something I've seen in the wild.

And I just immediately was like, why?

I did not catch that.

So funny.

Okay, I'm going to dole out my travel cringe moment to Victoria Ratcliffe, who, as soon as she steps on shore at the White Lotus, meets Mook and immediately dumps all of their American elitist credentials on her.

As if she's gonna care.

Yeah.

She's like, we're all from Duke.

We're all, you know, our younger son.

He's gonna try and get into Duke.

And just like, everything is Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke.

And it's so funny.

To me.

And so cringy to watch because, like, you're in another country.

It's just like the America imperialism, just, like, fully embracing this family.

Victoria loves America.

America.

Yeah.

Loves it.

Yeah.

That's my trouble.

I think that one wins.

I would say it was definitely the cringiest.

Yeah.

It hurt my soul to watch.

It really did hurt.

Yeah.

It could say top travel cringe moment would have been Saxon by the pool, But I don't think that had anything to do with travel per se, as just his personality.

I agree.

Also, I think some.

I think something's gonna play out between those two brothers staying in their room together.

Together.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, like, Saxon, like, basically jerks off in front of his younger brother at the end.

Yeah.

And he also goes on, like, a long tangent about how his sister Piper is really hot and how she's never been laid.

That, to me, is the weird stuff.

There's weird stuff going on with those siblings.

Yeah, those siblings are strange.

They're definitely weird.

Okay, I'll start with my Conscientious Traveler award.

My Conscientious Traveler Award award goes out to.

Actually, you start because then I can pivot.

Well, I have three, so you start, and none of you have one of mine.

Okay, then we said it.

Ready?

Okay.

Katie's Conscientious Traveler award goes out to Piper Ratcliffe, who is the only person who takes the no technology rule seriously.

She says she is there to in Thailand to be present, and she is clearly trying to be intentional about her monk interview because she's not just going to rush into it.

She has taken her time, and this is her purpose for being in Thailand.

She is intentionally traveled there.

So Piper is my winner of the Conscientious Traveler Award.

I agree.

I think her calling out her dad immediately like that definitely deserves the award because she was.

She was.

She's a real follower.

She was, like, listening to what the rules are, and she's making sure they're in force, and she's making sure her family is respecting the resort rules.

Yep.

Yep.

As a fellow rule follower, I relate to this.

This is also.

I think the sibling thing is, like, I was the middle child always being like, guys, we have to follow the rules.

Congratulations, Piper.

Okay, who does your award go to?

Okay, so you covered one of mine.

So my other two awards.

The first.

First one, I don't know if this one really works, but I just felt that we should bring it up because it ties back to something we talk about a lot on Curious Tourism, which is that Shritala, who is a co owner of the resort, is Thai.

So we have a local who owns the resort.

Love to see it.

Love to see this.

I think there could be a lot of economic leakage happening, but it's too much to ask for.

I think this is definitely a chain that is not tied.

I owned.

So, yeah, she's a co owner.

Money being made at this resort is likely not staying in the community.

But just wanted to call that out because actually at the other resorts, we've never met one of the owners.

So, like, we never know.

And then my other conscience, well, I guess that's not really a Conscientious Traveler Award.

It's just something I want to call out.

My actual Conscientious Traveler award is going to Belinda.

Okay.

Because I felt that Belinda was very attentive and intentional and respectful.

When Porn Chai brings her to leave offerings for the Hindu God Brahma, she listens very carefully.

She follows Porn Chai's lead.

She waits for Poinshai to invite her to participate in this ritual.

And yeah, I just felt that she approached it in a respectful way.

I love that.

I also was gonna give Belinda a Conscientious Traveler Award, but for a different reason, which was she is not touching in those animals.

She is petrified of the animals.

She is definitely not going to be engaging in any sort of no babies for poly.

Okay.

So we've put out our predictions of who we think is dead, who's the shooter, and why.

So I think we're going to wrap this up.

Aaron, what are your expectations for the next episode?

Because this one really was just, like, setting the foundation.

I think we're going to see a lot more stuff happen next episode.

Yeah, I think we're gonna see the tension start to rise in the next episode.

You can already see the beginnings of them, like, within our gal pals.

There's some tension happening there.

There's definite tension happening between Rick and Timothee.

I think that they might start to escalate their hatred for each other.

Ooh, I'm gonna call this now.

I think le Laurie, she is clearly her life is being as a regular person who's just like, traveling along with the rich ladies.

I think she is probably the most in need of understanding her purpose because she feels kind of lost.

I'm calling it now.

Laurie's getting into drugs and sex.

I think she's the one.

Yeah.

Okay, Well, I guess that's it.

I'll see you at the White Lotus next week.

Yes, you at the White Lotus.

Next week.