There’s Monkey Business in More Ways Than One in Season 3 of THE WHITE LOTUS

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The very first living thing to be seen in Season 3 of HBO’s THE WHITE LOTUS is a monkey. In fact, there are monkeys everywhere in the Thailand-set third season of the award-winning anthology series, which returns Sunday, Feb. 16, on Crave. The monkeys appear, and reappear, always peering. Do they see something that the resort guests cannot? “It’s not my own ‘hot take,’ but like, we are kind of monkeys,” observed Mike White, creator of THE WHITE LOTUS, during a media conference to promote Season 3. “We’ve had monkeys, for some reason. In the first season there’s some monkey stuff. Monkeys are kind of a motif. Obviously there are monkeys, literal monkeys, in Thailand. And it happened that at the hotel we chose, they have a lot of monkeys. How we filmed them, though – PETA does know, and they asked – we just went out with a second unit (camera crew) and filmed them. There were no trained monkeys.” Well, they certainly have some star qualities about them. “They’re really cool,” White agreed. “And they really showed up. Put a camera on them, and they were ready to have their moments.” Of course, the vast and talented ensemble cast of THE WHITE LOTUS is also ready to have their moments. The resort guests this season can basically be divided into three groups: there’s the five-member Ratliff family, played by Jason Isaacs (dad Timothy), Parker Posey (mom Victoria), Patrick Schwarzenegger (eldest child Saxton), Sarah Catherine Hook (middle child Piper), and Sam Nivola (youngest child Lochlan); there are three adult women who have been friends since childhood, played by Carrie Coon (Laurie), Leslie Bibb (Kate), and Michelle Monaghan (Jaclyn); and there’s what seems to be an unlikely couple played by Aimee Lou Wood (Chelsea) and Walton Goggins (Rick). Goggins’ glowering Rick makes the most notable first impression, as he uncaringly lights up a cigarette on the boat ride to the hotel, annoying some of the other passengers. In stark contrast to Chelsea’s bubbly enthusiasm, Rick has clearly taken this trip for reasons other than fun. “Something that is so unbelievably interesting is the connection in which all of these stories kind of intersect, right?” Goggins said. “All of these different pods. But really, so much of it, at least from my perspective, was alone. Everybody had their pod. (Wood) was my co-pilot, or I was her co-pilot. But if I’m being completely honest with you, I felt like I was in my own Apocalypse Now. I was Willard (Martin Sheen’s character in the 1979 movie), in my own boat, going upstream to meet my own Colonel Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando in the film). And I think, in front of the camera and behind the camera, a lot of us felt that way. It was a reckoning.” So how would Goggins sum up that reckoning? “Spirituality, life and death, and, you know, 18 really talented people, actors in front of the camera, that Mike (White) assembled, going through an existential crisis, written by Mike White, sequestered in a five-star resort,” Goggins said. “You’re gonna start asking yourself some s—, and that’s kind of what happened, I think for all of us.” A standout among the hotel staff is Mook, a so-called “health mentor” for the guests, played by Lalisa Manobal, heretofore best known as Lisa in the musical group BLACKPINK. And Natasha Rothwell is reprising her role as Belinda Lindsey from the first season of THE WHITE LOTUS, with Belinda now a quasi-guest at the resort through some sort of employment-related program. “I think people were kind of bummed by Belinda’s final moments in the first season, where everybody’s off to somewhere, and she’s still working at the hotel, and her dreams were dashed,” White said. “Also, working with Natasha was like a dream. She’s the best, literally. So it was just like, it’d be fun to maybe give Belinda another chapter, and work with Natasha again. There are enough reasons right there.” There are always plenty of reasons to return to THE WHITE LOTUS. But as loyal viewers of this acclaimed franchise already know, there’s peril and personal despair percolating in paradise. As Coon’s Laurie declares hopefully, but ruefully, in a toast: “to Thailand … to monkeys … to self-care … and to a week of new memories.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv