For some people, Sunday is a day for religion or rest. However, Trojan Ariel Ehrlich has a different spiritual experience every Sunday.
“I have been watching The White Lotus as religiously as some people read the Bible,” Ehrlich said.
Ehrlich is just one of many Trojans captivated by the third season of HBO’s hit show, described by the network as a “sharp social satire.”
The White Lotus follows wealthy hotel guests at the namesake fictional resort chain. Each new season features a new resort, exotic location and star-studded ensemble cast. It also opens in whodunnit style, featuring a flash-forward sequence showing the unidentifiable body of one of the hotel’s guests. The current season takes place in Thailand and was mostly filmed at the Four Seasons Resort in Koh Samui.
“I wanted to save it until Wednesday to space out the week, but then I watched it within five minutes of it dropping. I couldn’t wait.” Ehrlich added.
But not everyone shares the same infatuation. Sophomore Colin Fraser gave the show a shot, but couldn’t stick with it. “I watched the first couple of episodes and it didn’t grip me enough to watch the rest of them,” he said.
There are students like freshman Roxie Richburg, who haven’t started the season at all but are surrounded by its influence. “All my friends talk about it all day,” she said. “I just haven’t had the time.”
But the dedicated fans don’t just watch The White Lotus, they breathe it.
Across the board, USC students tend to favor season two, set in Sicily. “That was the one where everyone kind [of] knew what was happening,” said USC sophomore Canela Castro, who has watched all three seasons. “Season one was a little introduction, and season three has been a little slow, but I still like it.”
In the third season, many characters stand out as memorable villains, but Parker Posey’s role as Victoria Ratliff has been widely successful and inspired a strong fan base across social media and real life.
A popular audio clip of Posey’s exaggerated Southern accent has been widely circulated on TikTok, making the character — and Posey’s portrayal — even more popular.
“Victoria Ratliff… that woman is a god to me,” Ehrlich said.
As fans gear up for the upcoming finale on Sunday, April 6, they cannot get enough of finale predictions and are crossing their fingers that their favorites make it home from Thailand.
[Warning: spoilers below].
Many students had similar predictions about the final episode. “Greg is going to go on a rampage and try to find [Belinda],” Nash speculated.
Sophomore Sophie Muncy also agreed, “I think Belinda might die, she’s getting herself into a sticky situation [with Greg].”
Another popular guess was that someone in the Ratliff family would die.
“Saxon will die — my prediction is that Timothy will take the poisonous fruit and turn it into a protein shake, but before he can poison the family, Saxon will drink it and die,” Ehrlich added.
Freshman Dylan Foley believes inescapable chaos across the board is coming, in typical White Lotus fashion.
“The police will come to the hotel for someone and everyone is going to think it’s for them and all will go crazy,” she said. She also thinks Mook’s speeches about violence and killings are foreshadowing a tragic accident — “Gaitok will try to defend her, but she’ll accidentally die.”
As Sunday approaches, White Lotus fans anxiously await who makes it out of the resort, who gets caught in the chaos, and, of course, who the body will be.