Unraveling Season Three's Enigma in *The White Lotus*

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Yes, it’s a bit soon to start speculating. The latest season of The White Lotus hasn’t fully revealed the web of drama entangling the characters at the resort in Thailand. Yet, when it comes to the unexpected shooting that kicks off the season—because Mike White knows spicing up a sophisticated drama requires a dose of murder—I’m standing firm with a theory I’ll hold onto till the last moment: The monkey is the culprit.

We’re not far removed from the chaos depicted in Chimp Crazy (also from HBO), which vividly portrayed several chimpanzees wreaking havoc on humans, a nod to Nope-like breakdowns due to prolonged captivity. But captivity isn’t a prerequisite for them going rogue. In 2022, a troop of wild macaques in Yamaguchi, Japan, alarmed locals by breaking into homes, disrupting agriculture, and injuring people with scratches and bites. The reasons behind such aggression remain unknown, but clearly, simian violence is a rare but real event that captures headlines and inspires wild storytelling.

Of course, distinctions are important. Monkeys and apes are different. For clarity, my editor, Genevieve Koski, offers a simple guideline: Monkeys have tails; apes—such as chimps, gorillas, and orangutans—do not. Typically, apes are larger and often strike us as more…humanlike in demeanor. While research suggests apes are more physically capable of using firearms than monkeys, the idea remains plausible. It might be less probable for a monkey to fire a gun, but certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Monkeys can deftly peel bananas. Left with technology, they might not draft a Shakespearean play, but they could type out an interesting tweet. So why wouldn’t a monkey figure out how to use a gun if the opportunity arose? And didn’t you notice the gun-toting bodyguards around?

Need more proof? Are you a lawyer? Consider this: Mike White consistently integrates monkeys into the series. They adorn the opening credits’ frescoes across all three seasons. Monkeys symbolize the essence of The White Lotus’ guests: quirky, lustful, glamorous, and at times, capricious. Season three amplifies their presence, weaving them into the narrative as a recurring motif that overshadows the unfolding drama, introducing characters infused with strangeness. After highlighting unsettling traits like “Walton Goggins looking intensely sweaty” or “A Southern family verging on inbreeding,” the camera sometimes lingers on a monkey nearby, as if to suggest these creatures observe all, like small deities.

Our connection with non-human primates often unsettles us because we see a reflection of ourselves, igniting an internal unease about our proximity to animal instincts. Perhaps, the reverse is true. The White Lotus scrutinizes frivolous individuals and their wrongdoings. Could it be that these monkeys are the eternal onlookers of humanity’s folly, and this season, they’ve finally had enough?