The White Lotus Season 3 finale backlash: Fans call it unnecessary and 'worst season' yet

Is death a release or just another twist in paradise? The White Lotus Season 3 finale asks that very question, and answers it with both a bang and a heartbreak.

Set against the lush backdrop of Thailand, Mike White’s third chapter of his hit anthology closes with a bang, literally. As always, the season-long mystery loomed large: Who doesn’t make it out alive? By the end, we got our answer, but not before spiraling through themes of vengeance, identity, and conflicted love.

Who dies?

Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) spends the season consumed by rage, fixated on a man named Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), who turns out to be more than just an object of obsession, he is Rick’s father. In a moment of confrontation, Rick grabs Jim’s gun and fatally shoots him, only to discover the truth. Chaos erupts. Jim’s bodyguards open fire, killing Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), Rick’s devoted partner, who had survived near-death twice already.

Stricken, Rick cradles her lifeless body and carries her toward the water, where he’s fatally shot by Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong)

As showrunner Mike White puts it, according to LA Times, their end is a kind of modern myth. Rick couldn’t let go of the past, while Chelsea believed everything, pain included, happens for a reason. In the end, her fatalism, or perhaps her faith, becomes the soft landing beneath all the bloodshed.

The Ratliff family fallout

Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) takes a far darker path. Facing financial ruin and legal peril, he nearly poisons his entire family with a spiked piña colada. At the last second, he slaps the drinks away, but not before his son Lochlan unknowingly uses the blender and nearly dies. The near-tragedy forces Tim to confront the end of his carefully curated image.

The family survives, but nothing will be the same. Tim gathers them as they prepare to leave the resort and warns, “Everything is about to change. But we’ll get through it as a family.” Whether that’s hopeful or hollow, we’re left to wonder.

The best friends barely survive the crossfire

Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon), the trio of childhood friends turned rivaling adults, manage to walk away with their bond intact. Laurie, after her chaotic night with the Russians, returns to her friends in emotional tatters, needing them more than ever. They reconcile. But their friendship is nearly shattered again, this time by stray bullets, when they pose for a photo with Jim, moments before the shooting begins.

So what’s left hanging?

Lochlan's path: Torn between spiritual retreat and worldly pleasures, Lochlan seems poised to live in two worlds, or none at all.

The Ratliff future: With their financial safety net gone, how long will their familial unity last?

Belinda and Greg: Their conflict over Tanya’s death still simmers beneath the surface, suggesting unfinished business.

Zion and Amrita: Bookending the season in therapy, the two characters quietly hint at the emotional toll of it all, but their arc remains open-ended.

What do fans say?

Reacting to the third season's finale, viewers expressed their dissatisfaction. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, someone wrote, “White lotus season 3 review 8/10 I really enjoyed certain storylines and character relations I thought the ending was a bit predictable tho #WhiteLotus #whitelotusseason3.”

“Well, the ending of White Lotus was terrible,” added another. One more posted for the maker of the show and wrote, “Mike White you have seriously upset me with that white lotus ending. UNNECESSARY.” Others called the ending ‘irrelevant’ and the 'worst season' yet, saying that all the build-up was for 'nothing'.

One fan supported the show.  “White Lotus ending is perfect. Perfect perfect perfect. Above all, Mike White really gets it: the human flaws, the beauty of imperfection, the humour in tragedy. How we cry “THAT’S UNFAIR!”, but all is fair in the eyes of karma. All is fair in love and war, in death and romance.”