The White Lotus Official Podcast
Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan
Mon, 17 Feb 2025
Hosts Jia Tolentino and Josh Bearman are joined by Michelle Monaghan who plays Jaclyn Lemon and executive producer David Bernad to break down the season 3 premiere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who are the hosts of the White Lotus official podcast?
Hello, and welcome to the White Lotus official podcast, Companion to Season 3. I'm Chia Tolentino.
And I'm Josh Behrman.
We will be your co-hosts throughout this journey in Thailand. We'll be recapping and breaking down the episodes, discussing some of the larger big picture themes. We'll be speaking with the cast and the crew.
Chapter 2: What should listeners know before starting the episode?
And a few words before we get started. This is the Companion podcast, which means we'll be discussing the latest episode of the White Lotus. So make sure you watch it before you listen, or you will be spoiled.
And if you haven't had a chance yet, I strongly recommend you check out the Look Back episodes of this podcast in which host Evan Ross Katz dives deep into the first two seasons of White Lotus and speaks with everyone from Mike White to Jennifer Coolidge. You can find those episodes on this very podcast feed.
A little bit about your hosts. We're both journalists and authors and have both worked in film and television as well. I'm Josh. I write for magazines. I write narrative nonfiction stories. And I have worked in film and TV because many of my stories have been optioned for the movie business. That's how I know Mike White and Dave Burnett, the creator and producers of the show.
Are you holding back your greatest tidbit about this season specifically, which is...
I visited the set, so I was on set while they were shooting parts of the show, and I might actually be in an episode. I don't know yet.
Well, I'm Gia. I write for The New Yorker. I'm one of those toxic people that believes, like, but if I went to The White Lotus, I would just have an amazing time and be happy. Funny enough, though, I have been to all three shooting locations. I mean, not in connection to specifically the filming of The White Lotus, but I have been... more or less a vacationer in all three places.
So I'm an asshole just like the rest of them slash us.
Or you have a deep insight into the whole scope of the show.
It's true.
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Chapter 3: Who are the new characters introduced in Season 3?
No. And with a mysterious dark past. He's in paradise but miserable. I've had that phase of life. Could be coming back around again in the future. And at the other end, I think probably Lachlan, Sam Navola's character, the younger brother in the family, that not that particular family but sort of being... the odd man out in a family, right?
And feeling like you're trying to figure out who you are and trying to define yourself against your family. My family did not go on vacation. That was like opposed to our ethos. And we certainly wouldn't have been to the White Lotus, but I could kind of see being that kid and trying to like figure out your way and being confused by your own family.
And then winding up 40 years later as Walton Collins.
You never leave. I'm a Chelsea through and through.
You know, I think the cosmos brought us together so that we could get to the root of your issues. No, I'm going to help you get your joy back.
Yeah? Yeah. Good luck with that.
Even if it kills me.
You know, every season of this show, I've identified with the person that gets brought there but, like, definitely can't pay for it. You know what I mean? Although I will say... When I have been to, respectively, Hawaii or – like I never have a bad time on vacation. I believe like very – I have a strong like moral belief in one should never have a bad time in a beautiful place.
And I don't think I ever have. But again, that's toxic denial on my part. But Chelsea, just clueless, happy, you know – party girl along for the ride, just trying to get people to get drunk with her. I guess I'm sort of aging out of that phase of my life, but the part where she's at the bar and meets another girl that's there for no reason, basically, and is just like, should we get pissed?
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Chapter 4: What is the thematic focus of Season 3?
Well, I was, there was a little bit of like, they step off the boat and open their mouths. And so I thought it was coming on strong, but you say it's spot on.
I grew up in Texas. I went to school at the University of Virginia. This exact kind of family is as familiar to me as the back of my hand. I was legitimately, you know, this is as the kids say, but I was literally screaming.
How was your flight? We flew over the North Pole.
So Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey play Timothy and Victoria Ratliff. Victoria, the mom, just seems to really be on a steady drip of lorazepam. But that part at dinner where she's like, scratch my arm.
Mom. Mom. You were asleep.
Scratch my arm. Okay. Feels so good.
Their three impeccably named adult children are Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, Piper, played by Sarah Catherine Hook. Piper, incredible name today. She would be Hadley, but this girl this age is Piper. and Lachlan, played by Sam Nivola. They normally vacation in the Caribbean. They are in Thailand because Piper is a senior at Chapel Hill.
She's writing a thesis on Buddhism, and Parker Posey's character also went to Chapel Hill. Lachlan is deciding whether to go to Duke or Chapel Hill. The oldest son went to Duke, as did the dad. This is a classic sort of house divided. Victoria assures the sort of Very funny staff member named Pam who's assigned to them.
There's a part where she's like, how good for you, how good for you, or whatever.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of identity in White Lotus?
Well, they're married, so he would inherit the money, presumably. And I don't know if it's ever explicitly revealed.
That they had sort of a profit-sharing agreement with the gays?
Yes. That's my assumption. Maybe we will find out otherwise.
And he's been living in Thailand for a year. We learned that from Chloe, the girlfriend.
And it's, you know, Thailand is the type of place to sort of, you know, disappear with your money, which, by the way, is I'm wondering what you make of Walton's quest. He's here for some reason. He was arrested. He can't go to Australia.
Yeah.
He's got enough money to be there. What is his past? I have no idea.
Do you?
I don't know either. Well, you should know. This is your guy. I know. I know. I know. Look within yourself. Imagining myself as Samuel— I can see a lot of scenarios where I would wind up there. I have no idea. I have a hunch that's probably going to be wrong that there's some sort of business past.
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Chapter 6: How does Buddhism influence the narrative of Season 3?
But season two is too. I mean, my argument is that like— All plots are about this. That desire is what gives something stakes and the thing that instigates the plot, right?
Everybody has to have needs.
And the needs are what puts the spikes in the plot, you know? But, right, it's interesting because now we are in the home of this ideology.
Yes. Now we're in a place where it's like the whole country is like this blank canvas for people's spiritual seeking. Right. And it's a Buddhist country.
That seems to be the difference that the hotel is configured around awareness and spirituality and gratitude really overtly. You know, I mean, it was interesting. The part of the Buddhist writing that Piper is listening to on audiobook is about identity being a prison, that we build a prison, we step into it, we lock it.
Identity is a prison. No one is spared this prison. Rich man, poor man, success or failure. We build the prison, lock ourselves inside, then throw away the key.
The guy says identity is a prison. I think that is that's what the show is about. OK, that's the yeah, that is the head.
I mean, we're supposed to take it as that. Yeah.
And then and he says no one is spared, rich, poor, whatever. And I think that that is why I feel like that's what is happening in season one, too. And in that respect. I think in general, Mike is very sympathetic to all the characters. There are no real villains. Nobody is a bad person.
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