A BITTER FRUIT

So far, 2025 (culturally speaking) has been full of disappointment—though I’ve yet to see the Minecraft movie, which I’m told is a much-needed shot in the arm for weary adults struggling to keep their inner child happy. I’m okay, though (don’t worry about me); I’ve got 400 years of Western civilization (pre-collapse) to feast on.

Speaking of feasts, as a metaphor for the turgid third season of The White Lotus, I can think of no better comparison than the fruit that hangs from the pong pong tree (Cerbera odollam)—also known as the “suicide tree”—conveniently positioned outside the Ratliff family’s villa during their holiday in Thailand. Producing a dangerous toxin, this tree’s fruit contains cerberin, a potent cardiac glycoside that can cause fatal harm to the heart—and a plausible season finale storyline.

Much like the series itself, the fruit appears enticing and harmless at first glance, but once you take a bite, you find it’s actually sour and potentially lethal to your consciousness. Perhaps this (koi) carping says more about me than the show, but seeing how far The White Lotus has fallen in Season 3 has strangely given me hope—after believing Mike White was dangerously close to achieving television nirvana in Seasons 1 and 2. Having attempted to write an original show myself (Cal Neva, Breathe Deep), I know how hard it is to keep plates spinning when it comes to characters and storylines so it's encouraging to see White now has feet of clay.

So what made Season 3 feel so ham-fisted and lacking in tension, compared to the perfectly calibrated first two seasons? For me, it comes down to one thing: a confused understanding of its spiritual message. There was gold to mine in the theme of Western confusion in a land where spiritual clarity is supposedly a primary cultural commodity, but alas, White didn’t drill deep or hard enough. The story had the potential to align beautifully with its materialistic characters on holiday abroad—but it never fully committed.

You know a show is lost when even the Buddhist monks sound like the worst personal development memes you’d find on Instagram, rather than profound sages. Unlike the far more convincing integration of Hawaiian and Sicilian cultural ideas in the previous seasons, here White seems less sure of himself. Perhaps he’s grown tired of his own formula, or maybe he just assumed no one would notice.

I did! ^^