The White Lotus Review: Mysterious Monkeys (Season 1 Episode 3)
If you’re wondering who dies on The White Lotus, we still don’t know. While we wait to find out, you can enjoy the uncomfortable entertainment of watching the resort’s guests unravel as they’re forced to confront problems they’d rather avoid.
The topic on almost everyone’s mind on The White Lotus Season 1 Episode 3, “Mysterious Monkeys,” is sex. Who’s having it, who isn’t, and what does it mean for them as individuals and couples?
By asking and answering these questions, the show also explores power dynamics between the characters.
For Rachel and Shane, it’s another aspect of their relationship where Shane tries to control her. When she questions whether their relationship is only based on sex, something she doesn’t want, he responds by manipulating her into second-guessing her concerns.
His tactics range from deplorable (flirting with the teenage Olivia and Paula to make Rachel jealous) to shallow (planning a romantic dinner without any real thought behind it). Although Jake Lacy made a career out of playing nice guys, it will be hard to picture him that way again after this role.
As much as The White Lotus positions Rachel as the sympathetic party, it’s hard to not question why she didn’t bother to ask Shane any of this before she walked down the aisle.
Although their conflict started out as interesting to watch, it’s become tiring. I wouldn’t mind if the focus shifted more to other guests or the staff instead of Shane and Rachel on future episodes.
Mark and Nicole’s relationship is slightly less toxic, but there’s still an obvious power imbalance that Mark begins to question. Learning about his father’s closeted sexuality, Mark reexamines what sex means to him in terms of both his manhood and his sexless marriage.
It leads to two uncomfortable yet funny scenes where Mark gets to unleash his frustration. The first is where a drunk Mark unloads his problems on an unexpecting Rachel who politely asks about his marriage and how he keeps the spark alive.
In the second scene, Mark questioning Armond about his sexuality leads the equally drunk Armond to cheekily proposition Mark for sex. (Armond is decidedly less funny in a later situation when he drunkenly hits on his employee Dillon.)
These Mark scenes are cringeworthy and entertaining, but “Mysterious Monkeys,” only brushes the surface of the real problem of Mark’s marriage to Nicole. It’s clear he feels no agency or power in his marriage anymore, but The White Lotus doesn’t bother to set up a real confrontation between them yet.
Nicole turns him down for sex, but we never really get to hear her perspective. Unfortunately, her characterization comes off as very flat.
The show paints her in broad stereotypes — the frigid wife, the overbearing mother, the bossy CEO. If the purpose of the character is to skewer the female empowerment/ girl boss trope, it’s not working. Although Connie Britton does her best with the role, I want to see her given more to do.
Paula and Olivia could also use more character development beyond delivering their searing Gen Z social commentary.
Olivia’s look of betrayal when she discovers Paula hooking up with the bell boy is very real. Yet the story doesn’t delve deep enough into their friendship and its dynamic for us to know why she feels so betrayed.
The girls have no problem pontificating to Mark about aspects of sexuality, so why can’t they have an honest conversation with each other about it? There’s more to uncover here.
The character who gets the most interesting material is Tanya, who finally decides she’s ready to scatter her mother’s ashes. She ends up changing her mind mid disposal but not until after she gives a maudlin speech.
She benefits from an almost literally captive audience with Belinda accompanying her and Rachel and Shane stuck on the boat due to Armond’s scheming. Them watching on in confusion and discomfort adds to the scene since having an audience seems to fuel Tanya’s emotion.
Jennifer Coolidge has done great work all season but this performance is her awards show submission reel.
Tanya: And what’s weird is I miss my mother, even though she was a big jerk!
She perfectly captures the haze of grief and pain the character moves through up until her big cathartic release on the boat. You can feel the heaviness through her body language and line delivery. The reveal that Tanya actually hated her mother but still misses her feels authentically conflicted thanks to Coolidge’s passionate performance.
Will the rest of the guests get the same moment of catharsis? We’ve seen mini-breakthroughs for some of the guests, but a lot of unsaid feelings are still bubbling under the surface.
I don’t imagine every character will deliver their truth with as much flair as Tanya, but I still expect we’ll see similar scenes as the season goes into its second half.
Additional Thoughts:
- Armond’s rapid breakdown continues to lack context. It’s hard to believe a few difficult guests and Lani’s labor mishap would be enough to cause all of this. Things are not looking good for him.
- How has Rachel not booked a flight home yet?
- It’s ironic that Quinn, with his electronics addiction, seems to be the only one who appreciates the resort’s natural beauty.
- When Olivia tells Nicole she looks deranged for her Zoom call and Nicole replies that she has “a filter for that,”… Priceless.
What did you think of this episode of The White Lotus? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The White Lotus airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.