“The White Lotus”, season 3: The new episodes show the cliché of a toxic friendship

“The White Lotus”, season 3: The friendships presented are so uncomfortable - and that's why we still want to see more of it

Mike Whites- and-roated HBO series is back for your third season and this time moves the plot to Thailand. This time too, the premise of the show is: a body is washed up on the beach of a luxury department and the starting point for a satirical “Who Dunnit” murder mystery, which makes the privileged visitors: inside the hotel at caricatures.

Unlike in the previous seasons, however, it is reallynobodyis Likeable in this season. In the very first way: the more or less friendly trio Kate (Leslie Bibb), Jaryn (Michelle Monghan) and Laurie (Carrie Coon), who made us think. How much of this toxic dynamic can you actually find in our friendships in real life?

“The White Lotus”, season 3-aka: Privilege-show until it hurts

The third season “The White Lotus” needs a while to get going. The first few episodes look flat and slow, and the characters are as predictable as unappealing. Victoria Ratliffe (Parker Posey), the wife of the Texas financier Timothy (Jason Isaacs), is so intelligible with Lorazepam that we are not sure whether your indistinct tone comes from the prescription drugs or just a very creative interpretation of a southern accent should be.

The always tortured Rick and his girlfriend Chelsea have Zero Chemistry, and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) serves so many stereotypes of an attacking CIS-that you like to look at the cell phone next to the episode. But it is precisely in this foreign shame that the season of the relay lies, because as Benjamin Lee commented on the Guardian in a matching manner: “To sip cocktails by the pool and dive, will soon be replaced by unpleasant discussions about ethnicity, approval and privileges, with no one from the hook is left, we too(Editor's note: the viewers)not."

It is the same when Kate, Jaryn and Laurie throw each other passive-aggressive comments in front of their feet and find that their three-wayIt is no longer quite what she was in adolescence. And even from this toxic friendship - luck for us in front of the screen - an apprenticeship for real life can be derived.

The relationship between Kate, Jaryn and Laurie in “The White Lotus”, season 3 is so toxic

Senior Culture Editor Ursula Schmied hat inThe third season “White Lotus” a clear tip for the old school friends Kate, Jaryn and Laurie: “Leave that with your friendship, because they no longer exist.”

But from the front: The trio around 40 came together from different corners of the USA into a girls' trip that was paid by Jaclyn, who is now a famous television actress and lives in Los Angeles with a man ten years younger. Laurie is a New York lawyer and single mother, Kate a Texan housewife who - so is indicated - has elected Donald Trump as president. A perfect mix of the stereotypes “Trad Wife” and “Career Cook”, in which chaos is guaranteed.

"We still have it on it," is the much repeated slaughter cry of this half made of Pilates, half made of rosé, while they keep with their Russian-Butler Vlad (Arnas Fedaravicius) flirt. But soon it turns out: quite dreamy as the three wanted, it can no longer be in the past, and Thailand - instead of relaxed wellness - becomes a place where envy, ambition and the question of children become a toxic cocktail.

Whoever needs a small reminder,HowToxic The dynamics of the three women is, here is an excerpt from the dialogue between Kate and Laurie from episode 2. The two are already in bed with their third bottle of wine and Jaryn.

Laurie: "She's so funny ..."

Kate: "So combative ..."

Laurie: “No, no, no, but so she has always been. But you should think that she has become more mature with all her success. ”

Kate (whispering): "Is she a narcissist?"

Laurie (nodding): "A little bit."

Kate: “And thisvanity... I mean, I know she says it is part of her, but did she face her face or something? It looks like wax. "

Laurie: "She is still beautiful."

Kate: "Oh of course, definitely ... but man, she had the face everyone wanted ..."

Laurie: "Oh, I know ..."

***** Unpleasant break *****

Kate: "And the thing with her husband ...?"

Laurie: “Yes! She is constantly talking about being in love, but I mean, are you ever in the same space? ”

Kate: "I don't think you can see each other at all."

Laurie: "You see, that's exactly what I mean!"

Kate: "You know, I think she's just lonely."

*** and curtain! ***

A exchange of blows, which is repeated in different versions over the episodes in various personal constellations between the three “friends”. The conversations always fluctuate betweenAnd resentment, with the same microag gressions and careful border shift from loving concern to critical blasphemy. A toxic dynamic that culminates when Jaryn goes to bed with the shared lust object Vlad.

Toxic women's friendships à la “The White Lotus”, season 3: Platter “Zick War” or feminist teaching for real life?

The dynamics shown between the three women move narratively to a narrow degree. Because “bitch war”, or the accusation that there will be a dispute sooner or later between several women, is super-sexistic and has been used in the patriarchy for centuries to certify that women an allegedly “unstable” constitution . A prejudice that, for example, prevents them from obtaining important power positions in the professional world.

And yet there is something about the story about the former school friends pretty close to home. Because the feeling of comparing each other with other women, perhaps especially those that we have known for as long as the “White Lotus” ladies, we put it in the room, most of us know. No matter whether it is about career, skin aging or children's plans. And precisely because the patriarchy exists under which we are supposed to demonstrate every day, to age "gracefully", to be successful, but not to be dogged and so on.

Actually, the dynamics between Kate, Jaryn and Laurie are not about the stereotype “Zick War”, but about the tragic fact that the patriarchy brings us so far to see even our closest allies as rivals in a system that is against we are. Perhaps it is our constant (forced) struggle for power, meaning and, paired with a good dose of fear that leads to women sometimes behave that way. This is also evident from the fact that in all the micro -agressions between the three protagonists, admiration for others always resonates.

The new season “White Lotus” is therefore the best memory of being forgiving - especially if we suddenly no longer believe our friends, mother or CEO. Because no matter which way we are going, it is not easy.

This article was made with text passports from our Glamor-Kolleg: inside from UK.

By the way: if it is based on senior culture editorgoes in the new season next to the friendship between Kate, Jaryn and Laurie: