[ Source: BBC ]

Within seconds of the highly anticipated final episode of The White Lotus’s season three ending on Sunday evening, the reactions and reviews for the 83-min closer were in.

The viewers might as well have been talking about two different shows.

“This was the best season finale so far in The White Lotus universe,” one person on X commented, while another agreed: “That episode was a work of art.” However, others felt “the ending was a huge flop – built up several plot lines all series to abruptly end them in 20 minutes with no reflection,” with another saying the finale “stinks… way too long, very boring”.

These divisive opinions are reflective of the season as a whole, and were also felt by the critics. Was the third outing of creator Mike White’s one-percenter holiday murder-mystery – set previously in luxury resorts in Hawaii, Sicily and, most recently, Koh Samui, Thailand – worthy of what Brian Tallerico of Roger Ebert called his “favourite season yet”? Or did the series, as the Boston Globe’s Steven Nguyen Scaife put it, have “less to say than ever… it’s comfort food masquerading as social critique”?

It was always going to be a tricky feat for White to pull off mass adoration for a third time. The White Lotus, which debuted in 2021, previously won 15 Emmys and two Golden Globes.

It marked a comeback role for Jennifer Coolidge, often credited as White’s muse, and who portrayed the naive heiress Tanya McQuoid for the first two seasons. The role earned her two Emmys and a Golden Globe, as well as becoming a fan-favourite.

But White had pulled the rug out from viewers at the end of season two, killing off Coolidge’s much-loved character, leaving fans unsteady and unsure of where a third series would take them – and if it would still have the same impact.

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