by Nathaniel R
The third season of White Lotus is currently all the rage online as everyone sounds off on the finale. Before I share a few thoughts on the third season (after the jump) let's talk Emmy possibilities. The first season competed as a Limited Series at the Emmys and scored 8 acting nods (two wins) and the second season upped the ante for 9 acting nods (one win). This is way too many acting nominations for ANY series no matter how well acted, but that's how the Emmys roll with their current rules that preference highly-watched shows. So who do you think is most deserving of an Emmy nod this season. Choose your top 7 here and let's see how it plays out.
The photo up top is how I'd rank worthiness for nominations - but don't let me influence you. I've included the other dozen, also in preference order, just for kicks after the jump...
About this hierarchal preferencing I will note -- though it should always go without saying -- that actors can only work with the material they've been given so if you're gifted a better role, you have an advantage in reaching these "best" conversations. It's not always 1:1 of course. I wouldn't say that Carrie Coon and Parker Posey and Sam Rockwell had the best written characters this time but they were all indispensable for their (dependable) excellence and interpretations.
A few thoughts on Season 3
Though few have claimed that this Thailand "vacation" was the best season, people are generally still thrilled to spend more time at these resorts/with this series, in which the problems of the ultra-wealthy and the people serving them become a messy neurotic tangle... and someone always dies, but who?
The most common complaint was that the season's first half could have been easily condensed into a single episode. I can't disagree given my love of economy in storytelling. That said, Mike White's hand is so sure and he creates such deliciously funny characters-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown, that The White Lotus is hugely enjoyable even when nothing at all is happening. For instance my favourite storyline this season was easily the Ratliff's (Parker Posey & fam) and yet this story paddled in place quite a lot for all five members until about the fifth episode and the father's (Jason Isaacs) story was the most repetitive of all with numerous shots/scenes that could have been played in any order as he stewed and worried and downed pills and considered suicide/murder. But I wouldn't trade the Ratliff's because this gave us so many inimitable Parker Posey laughs and memes and the dynamic between the three siblings was provocative, fascinating, unexpected, and cringe-hilarious.
The storyline that added the least to the narrative was arguably the three-friends who gossip about each other (Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, and Carrie Coon) and yet that narrative ended so well and so insightfully with such an A+ monologue from Mike White and Carrie Coon that we can't grouse too much about it. We just wish the storylines had kicked in a little earlier since there was surely more exciting (and more integrated!) drama to mine once the rifts really appeared and the women began to hang out with the three Russians. Whenever the individual stories overlap -- as they did occassionally with most characters, like a Venn diagram, the show really soars. More integration next time please!
Though I mostly enjoyed the season, my biggest qualm was the apparent lack of interest in the Thai characters and the hotel staff in general. They had so little to do! Only Gaitok the security guard had anything like a character arc. (Am I just imagining that the previous seasons were more interested in the staff? Perhaps it's a case of misremembering)
Please do sound off in the comments if you watched the season. Let us know your favourite characters and biggest gripes. Where do you hope the next White Lotus is located? REFRAIN FROM READING THE COMMENTS (obviously) if you haven't finished the season and want to avoid spoilers.