Review: The White Lotus, “Special Treatments” | Season 3, Episode 2
The pacing is still on the slow side, but this cast makes for a pretty good hang
It looks like we’re very much at the “wait and see” portion of this story. Every season of The White Lotus takes a few episodes to really get cooking—at this point in season two, I noted that the early episodes were “more about establishing potential sources of conflict than really setting off any bombs”—but the slackness of the pace feels especially apparent this time around, perhaps an effect of the eight-episode length compared to season one’s six tight installments. For less patient viewers, this could be an early “I’m out” point. But I’m such a fan of the vibe of this show, and its style of tension-building, that my main reaction is just impatience to watch the next one when the credits roll.1
Maybe what I really mean is that the show is taking a longer time to hone in on what it’s truly about this year. The death and spirituality themes are present, but not as immediately potent and plot-relevant as season two’s themes of sex, power, and role-playing were. The closest “Special Treatments” gets to showing its hand might be Piper and Lochy’s discussion of praying, during which Piper immediately, defensively dismisses the idea that feeling a “presence” could only be an effect of wishful thinking. There’s a parallel there to Rick’s stress management session with Dr. Amrita, which introduces some key ideas related to self-conception.
That session is also just helpful for making Rick into more of a human being, rather than a mysterious cipher. Sure, the episode features just as many grave stares at Sritala as last week—I’m ready for Rick to go to Bangkok already and confront her husband, if that’s what he intends to do—but he is starting to feel like a real guy, albeit somebody whose identity was apparently sanded down to nothing by losing his parents as a kid (his father before he even left the womb). Past the tough exterior, Walton Goggins lets us just barely glimpse that sad kid who never really grew up. Perhaps it’s that arrested development that led him to choose a young girlfriend, and that keeps him from embracing his age or, you know, admitting he’s balding.
