The White Lotus Season 3 Ending Brings the Whole Story Full Circle

This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus. Aside from the characters who die, we rarely get closure for character arcs on The White Lotus after their time at the resort is done. The point of the series is to show us these people within the bubble of the resort and whatever town surrounds it. […] The post The White Lotus Season 3 Ending Brings the Whole Story Full Circle appeared first on Den of Geek.

Apr 7, 2025 - 20:00

The White Lotus Season 3 Ending Brings the Whole Story Full Circle

This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus.

Aside from the characters who die, we rarely get closure for character arcs on The White Lotus after their time at the resort is done. The point of the series is to show us these people within the bubble of the resort and whatever town surrounds it. Anything that happens after is purposefully left open. Season 3 has taken full advantage of this by bringing back not one, but two characters from season 1 who have unfinished business with each other.

In season 1, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) is an employee at the White Lotus in Hawaii. She’s so adept at her job as a spa and wellness manager, however, that one of the resort guests Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) offers to become her business partner and fund the spa she’s been dreaming of opening. Tanya seems serious about this offer up until she starts dating Greg (Jon Gries), another guest who claims to have a terminal illness. Tanya leaves Belinda a generous tip, but not enough to start her business, opting instead to use her money to travel with Greg.

When we see Belinda again this season, she’s staying at the White Lotus in Thailand, but is still considered to be an employee rather than a full-fledged guest. This resort is considered the epitome of wellness centers, so she’s on a sort of exchange program. She’s meant to learn from the team there so that she can take back some of their practices to the resort in Hawaii.

Along the way, she seems to develop feelings for her wellness trainer Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul). She opens up to him about wanting to open her own business, and the two make a plan to find a way to open a spa together, outside of the White Lotus brand. But just as things seem to be looking up for Belinda in more ways than one, Greg once again complicates things.

Belinda recognizes him from the White Lotus in Hawaii, and after doing some digging, realizes that not only has Tanya died, but that Greg is a person of interest in her case. At first, Belinda wants to turn him in, blaming him for Tanya backing out of their deal. But after he offers her a substantial amount of money for her silence, a sum that her son is able to negotiate up to $5 million, Belinda is able to shake the uneasiness she’s been feeling and accept that this money is how she’ll finally get her dream.

Not wanting to push her luck or for Greg to change his mind, she rushes to leave Thailand. She says a hasty goodbye to Pornchai, leaving him and their business plans in the dust as Tanya once did to her. The way that he stands on the beach watching her leave with the other employees, a smile on his face but not in his eyes, is almost eerily reminiscent of how Belinda waves goodbye with the rest of the White Lotus staff in the season 1 finale.

This is not only a full-circle moment for Belinda, but for the series as a whole. We might not know exactly what happens to Belinda next or where she decides to settle and set up her spa, but she has now crossed a threshold, and there’s no going back.

A lot of us who watch this show wish that we could be a guest at these resorts – that we had enough money to buy away our problems, at least for a week. Belinda finally achieves that, in a way. She goes from being an employee in season 1, to an employee-guest of sorts in season 3, to having millions in her bank account. She gets what she deserves, but then immediately changes.

It’s disheartening to see Belinda leave Pornchai in the dust. So many of us like to believe that we’d be benevolent billionaires if given the chance. If we had the ability to change people’s lives, surely we’d do so, right? We wouldn’t be like the Musks and Bezoses of the world, squeezing every penny we can out of the working class to add to our hordes. Belinda’s story, and The White Lotus as a whole is a reminder that no matter how good of a person you are nor how good your intentions may be, money and the idea of wealth will always be a corruptible force.

The post The White Lotus Season 3 Ending Brings the Whole Story Full Circle appeared first on Den of Geek.