‘The White Lotus’ – ‘The Meaning of Dreams’ – Review
The sun may be shining in Thailand, but storm clouds are brewing in The White Lotus Season Three, Episode Three, ‘The Meaning of Dreams’. Creator Mike White doubles down on the surrealism and spiritual undertones this season has flirted with, and the result is a hypnotic, unsettling fever dream of an episode that shifts the series into new, thrillingly strange territory.
Timothy decides the family should adhere to the resort’s no-phones policy. Jaclyn tries to convince Laurie to have a holiday fling. Gaitok worries about getting reprimanded by his bosses.
Episode Three of The White Lotus, ‘The Meaning of Dreams’, takes an interesting turn and leans more into the exploration of spirituality that creator Mike White was keen to examine with this new season, and it makes for an interesting watch. Whether it’s the symbolic power of dreams or the looming dread that something terrible is just around the corner, this episode is a full-on dive into the uncanny. And it totally works.
From the moment Victoria (Parker Posey) recounts her haunting vision of a tsunami swallowing the entire resort, the episode hums with ominous energy. That dread hangs heavy over every scene, like the calm before a tropical storm. Posey, as always, is magnetic, and her ethereal unease sets the tone. With its hypnotic quality and subversive surrealism, there’s a feeling that something bad is on the horizon, which is expressed by the omen of Victoria’s vision of a massive tsunami swallowing up all of them.
Meanwhile, Jason Isaacs turns in what might be his most unhinged performance yet as Timothy, a character unraveling faster than a frayed designer sarong. This is confounded by Timothy’s stressed financial and now legal problems as he’s been implicated in a massive criminal conspiracy, and the stress is starting to drive him wild. Isaacs chews the scenery in the best way possible. He really gets put through the ringer with Episode Three, and he has a way of showcasing this crazed and manic stress that will keep audiences on their toes as you don’t know what he’s about to do next.
But it’s not just the rich unraveling this week, we’re diving into snake pits (literally), and the bizarre dial gets cranked up to eleven. Things are certainly starting to get buzzy for the gruff Rick (Walton Goggins) and his bubbly girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). While Chelsea is desperate to get out and explore, and Rick is just looking to get high, things take an unexpected turn at a Snake show. Yep, a snake show. You know it’s White Lotus when the psychedelic takes a bite out of the satirical. It’s one of those total White Lotus moments when the most unexpected of things happen, and while Rick has a euphoric moment of wanting to ‘fight the power’, it’s Chelsea who pays for his ‘snake liberator’ action, and it was a moment that certainly made us jump. Classic Mike White — just when you think you’ve found the rhythm, he trips you up with venom.
Elsewhere, the claws come out as the so-called besties Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon) have a poolside fall-out that mixes wine, politics, and spiritual elitism in a cocktail that’s as toxic as it is hilarious. Their fragile friendship takes another turn as both religion and politics, the two no-no subjects, show up. Again, it’s White’s sharp dialogue and the fabulous performances of Monaghan, Bibb, and Coon that keep you on edge, as the fickleness and the cattiness of these three women suddenly takes a turn, and Bibb’s Kate finds herself as the outlier of the group, esp3eically withe the illusion that she might be a Trump voter.
And let’s not sleep on Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), whose reappearance this season is finally gaining traction. There’s also the first stages of a conspiracy growing with Belinda, as she starts to feel unsettled, especially with the appearance of Jon Gries’ Gary, a man who feels eerily familiar to her, and the tension starts to rise. A slow-burn subplot that might just explode later in the season? We’re here for it.
In ‘The Meaning of Dreams’, White flexes his creative muscles hard — bending genre, tone, and character dynamics into something weird, wild, and wonderful. This episode is both a slow, eerie unraveling and a punchy, character-driven spectacle. The tsunami might be metaphorical (for now), but the emotional impact? That’s hitting like a wave.
The White Lotus is currently streaming on NEON and SKY TV.
Image: SKY TV
