REVIEW: ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Episode 8 — “Amor Fati”

After one hour and thirty minutes, The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8, “Amor Fati,” ends the season with a lengthy rollercoaster ride. The week-long trip is over, saying bon voyage to its talented ensemble cast. Creator/director Mike White finishes off The White Lotus Season 3 with a duality of happy endings and chaotic death for our characters. The season brings its themes around spirituality and karmic energies full circle, as many characters either make up by the end of Episode 8 or meet their demise.

Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) get their happy ending in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8. It’s non-linear way, but not unexpected. Everything they have both done this season defines them as yin and yang, both balancing out each other. The truth behind Rick’s past is revealed, whether he denies it or not—his karmic energies envelop various people around him at the resort. Among others, Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) and Zion Lindsey (Nicholas Duvernay) have a celebratory conclusion to their debacle of negotiating with Greg Hunt (Jon Gries). Albeit, their decision comes at a cost.

By the end of The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8, the Ratliff family figures out their issues with life and each other. One of the funniest interactions between Saxon Ratliff (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan Ratliff (Sam Nivola) in this episode is how Saxon tells his brother, “It’s okay to worship me, but don’t ‘worship’ me.” This is a subtle way of him bringing it up to Lochlan that he felt uncomfortable with what transpired in Episode 5.

Lochlan responds to Saxon’s comment on worship with one of the most out-of-pocket comments, “You know I’m a people pleaser in this family of narcissists, and you were just lying there.” The way Nivola delivers this line of gaslighting is scarily menacing but highlights his skills in delivery. Saxon doesn’t fully comprehend that Lochlan is trying to play it off like he is helping Saxon when the reality is Lochlan’s lying about what he did to his brother.

Speeches play a big part in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8.

Speeches play a big part in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8. Almost every group of characters goes off on some tangent or provides words to mull over. Laurie Duffy (Carrie Coon) is finally brutally honest with her friends and herself that she had a sad week. Her explanation of her epiphany is solid; she tells Kate and Jaclyn how much she wants to live in the moment after putting work, marriage and parenthood on a pedestal as high as religion.

She wraps it up nicely at the end of her speech: “I’m happy for your beautiful face, I’m happy for your beautiful life, and I’m just happy to be at the table.” This is an empowering moment of friends overcoming the flaws they see in each other to enjoy the life they have, especially as they’re all settling into life in their 40s.

Belinda and Zion bond heavily in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8 as they finish confronting the series’ big bad, Greg. White wraps up their tense storyline in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8 but keeps all the important conversations off-screen. Something around the whole situation is too good to be true by the time the credits roll because Greg killed his wife for billions of dollars. When Zion addresses how much his wife’s fortune is worth, Greg’s face is both unsettled and impressed. Multiple stories present how certain actions have consequences, and they get off fairly clean.

One of the two most intense story arcs includes Rick and Chelsea. Rick and Chelsea redefine the relationship of having your ride-or-die partner. They are examples of twin spirits destined to be together forever. Both of them break the rules of common TV tropes and emphasize how strong their bond is up until the very end. Easily, Chelsea could be similar to Charlotte Le Bon’s Chloe, where she explains how she’s leeching off of Greg’s money to have a good life.

Gaitok is questioning his whole career in The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8.

The other heart-pumping story arc includes Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius), and Thidapon “Mook” Sornsin (Lalisa Manobal). As for Gaitok, he questions his whole career throughout most of The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8. He concludes that he may not be cut out for the job anymore after thinking hard about whether he will be able to shoot someone when the time arrives.

His narrative arc this season is one of the most wholesome because he’s trying to be nice and be a good security guard. Unfortunately, being a security guard isn’t supposed to be a fun, light-hearted job. Gaitok maintains his religious beliefs while overcoming his fears and doubts, as his story comes to a climactic end.

If anyone questions The White Lotus Season 3’s music and score choices, Chilean-born Canadian film and television score composer Juan Cristóbal Tapia de Veer slams audiences with a full arsenal of sounds. When Rick and Chelsea reunite after Rick’s escapades with Frank, the score is hopeful and tranquil. A different but similar chime sounds when Belinda and Zion have a peaceful moment together before Zion heads to the meditation session with Amrita shown in the first episode, and the music switches back to a sinister tone.

In contrast, the score goes into a sinister, discordant mode while Tim grabs the pong-pong fruit seeds and attempts to poison someone. As the night progresses, the camera twists upside down, adding an ominous feeling behind a haunting score. The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8 answers many questions, like the dangers of the pong-pong fruit. The way the pong-pong fruit is incorporated into the main story is poetic and serves as a major red herring for most of Season 3. From someone who is trying to die, Tim so happens to realize that’s the solution to end his and his family’s suffering.

Not all of the characters feel fully fleshed out this season.

Season 3 lacks nothing significantly integral to the story. One small critique is how some of the characters’ stories aren’t fully fleshed out by the time the trip ends. TV shows or movies with big ensemble casts tend to struggle with this. Still, The White Lotus continues to try to wrap everything up for everyone in the best way possible. The stunning part of this finale is how it bookends the episode. The White Lotus Season 3 begins with shots of all the visitors, but the season ends with them boating away into the proverbial sunset.

The image of Lochlan metaphorically drowning displays the awesome cinematography of Ben Kutchins, along with White’s creative vision. Throughout the season, there are many visually-striking shots of the ocean, and shots of the sunlight or moonlight hitting the kool-aid blue waters. Uniquely, the camera is an actor itself because of some of the hints shown through some of the b-roll shots.

The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8 sticks to ways of subverting expectations and establishes itself as one of the greatest comedic-drama series of all time. While some story threads are wrapped up a tiny bit too fast, the overall drama around the luxurious guests is resolved. Some storylines require the viewer to imagine what’s going to happen next for certain characters, rather than give a definitive end to their stories. Each guest experiences illusory relaxation to the point where each person’s troubles bottle up, and they have to find other means to solve their fatigue. The same could be said about the staff.

From the visuals, dialogue and score, White takes the magic of the previous seasons and turns the magic into fireworks for this grand finale. Somehow, this season hugely blows the previous seasons out of the water. By far, this is the best White Lotus experience. Hearts and minds shatter the viewers’ minds as the third season finale uncovers every mystery.

All episodes of The White Lotus Season 3 are streaming now, exclusively on MAX, formerly HBO Max.

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