The Enigmatic Ending of 'The White Lotus' Season Three

The 90-minute episode delivered the expected twists, baffling decisions, and major questions about the future trajectory of the series.

‘The White Lotus’ Season Three finale kicks off with a montage of characters preparing for their last full day at the Thailand resort. This includes Piper and Lochlan waking after spending the night at the monastery. The head monk addresses everyone with a thought-provoking speech about life’s elusive nature, acknowledging the abundance of questions when we seek closure. He suggests life becomes more manageable once we accept that closure isn’t always attainable.

While ‘The White Lotus’ is a mostly self-contained season of scripted television, it doesn’t embrace the level of mystery the monk attributes to our lives. Thus, “Amor Fati” delivers plenty of resolutions. However, considering how predictable, forced, or downright absurd these conclusions are, perhaps it would have been more satisfying to leave things unresolved?

This season was already the most uneven of the show’s three installments. The expansion to eight episodes (compared to six in the first season and seven in the second) didn’t add depth but instead led to certain ideas—such as Tim’s murder-suicide fantasies and the friends’ long-standing grievances—being overplayed. The narratives of both Belinda and Gaitok were notably underdeveloped, as ‘Lotus’ creator Mike White seems increasingly disinterested in non-wealthy and non-white characters with each season. Absent the looming threat of a mass shooting hinted at in the season’s flash-forward, the whole affair might have felt like a wandering tone poem, buoyed by strong performances (notably Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, and Carrie Coon), occasional witty lines (primarily from Parker Posey’s Victoria), and moments of sexual exploration.