The White Lotus season 1-3

Despite the buzz surrounding the popular HBO series, The White Lotus, it somehow passed me by throughout the latter stages of lockdown and further into the 2020s until the summer of 2025. HBO often comes synonymous with quality productions and having concluded their other acclaimed series, Succession, I was keen to fill the void with something not Game of Thrones related. 

The first season, released in 2021, introduces several groups on holiday at the prestigious (and also fictitious) White Lotus hotel in Hawaii where everything should be idyllic but we are quickly informed that someone has died. The show then cuts back to a week prior when the groups arrived giving us time to become acquainted with the colourful cast of luxurious guests and the hotel staff as the drama gradually unfolds. This isn't so much a whodunnit but more of a whowillgetit. 

This series creator is Mike White who has a history with screenwriting on a number of comedies and teenage dramas, and The White Lotus is a highly entertaining mix of dark comedy and drama. It will make you laugh unexpectedly, then you will tense-up as the drama builds and leave you hooked waiting for the next episode. All the while, you are basking in the wonderfully shot locations but what really makes this show is its peculiarly engaging soundtrack by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, which adapts over the course of the series to fit the location. 

Season one has a great cast, tackles some interesting topics and is just a whole lot of fun to watch from start to finish. It was shot towards the end of 2020 but there isn't too much of a socially distanced feel to the season. I would say though that the journey to the death was more interesting than what played out towards the very end, but Mike White had found something interesting here and so a second season was greenlit.

That second season though, released in 2022, would introduce an almost entirely new cast of characters in Sicily as new guests arrive at this White Lotus hotel. But, someone has washed up dead in the shallows much to the horror of the guests! Who is it? Well, the show goes back to the start of the holiday once more before we can find out who the unlucky person is.

Without a doubt, the second season marks a huge leap up in terms of quality and feels much tighter in terms of its production. Benefitting from a few years post the peak of Covid, we spend a lot more time outside of the hotel as the guests explore the wonders of the Italian island and the drama feels much more intense. Tapia de Veer's music is excellent once again and so the scene is set for a thrilling season as the show gradually establishes some continuity between this and the first season. 

I really can't fault season two, it takes everything that worked from before and offers a much richer (if you pardon the pun) and compelling experience that makes the first season seem simple in comparison. And what's more, the ending really delivers and so the journey is all the more rewarding.

And then it would be three years later when season three would arrive on our screens with big shoes to fill. A new season, a new hotel in Thailand and a incident as characters run for their lives from gunshots. What has happened? Well, we're back to the start of the holiday to find out as a new batch of guests arrive with one familiar face to connect us with the events of the previous seasons. 

By this point, we've seen two troubled families and couples fighting on holiday, and this season is no exception. It could feel repetitive but White and his team do a great job at changing enough parts and pieces to keep things fresh. I did initially find though that this season took some time to adjust to and it is missing something that made season two click so well. 

I can't lay any fault with the cast though who are all terrific, the visuals are amazing once more as we explore the scenery of Thailand, and it does improve quite sharply as the plot moves along. This one does still suffer with perhaps one too many plot threads which don't quite amount to much but those are only nit-picks. Without spoilers, some of the best parts are with how this connects to the previous seasons which might offer some insight into where this show will go next.

Unfortunately, season four will be missing  Tapia de Veer's score due to a falling out with White. It's such a shame as it is his music which lends this series its unique feel. His music captured the grandeur of the locations and the underlying tension as the show builds toward the final of each season where we know to expect something unpleasant. I'm not sure whether an imitation will suffice but it does pose a big challenge for what comes next as it will impact the tone of future seasons. 

All in all, The White Lotus is a very entertaining series to watch with each season plenty of thrills to keep you hooked for that next episode. This is a very easy show to recommend and will have something for everyone.