The third season of The White Lotus opens with a shot of a monkey in a tree, and that's not the only time the animal makes an appearance in the premiere (or the rest of the season, for that matter). There are live monkeys, statue monkeys and monkey sounds throughout.
"My personal feeling is we're animals and this season in particular is about people trying to reach their spiritual dimension at this animalistic base," creator Mike White says in press notes provided by HBO. "There’s this kind of conflict between wanting to be this spiritual creature that has an idealism and working towards something that's some semblance of goodness, and then there's this antic monkey side that keeps putting you in situations that are compromised."
Related: Everything to Know About 'The White Lotus' Season 3
The season is set in fictional White Lotus in Thailand, where all manner of emotionally-stunted rich people have convened to cherry pick the practices of Buddhism (meditation, vegetarianism) while indulging in some more superficial forms of self-care, like facials. ("Everyone in L.A. is talking about it,” Michelle Monaghan's character Jaclyn, a TV actress, says of the location.)
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Despite being surrounded by Thailand's natural beauty and ensconced in a resort that spoon-feeds mindfulness, this season's guests can't seem to shake their distractions—their monkeys—long enough to benefit from the offerings. Jaclyn, Laurie (Carrie Coon) and Kate (Leslie Bibb) are overcome by petty insecurities and old high-school jealousies. Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) is desperate to make her angry older boyfriend (Walton Goggins) happy. Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is simply too horny to function. In the opening scene, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell)'s son, Zion (Nicholas Duvernay), is receiving a guided meditation when he notices a monkey in a tree and finds himself distracted by the animal itself. "Let us calm our chattering monkey minds," his wellness concierge, Amrita, says before the camera cuts to a shot of the wild interloper.
The concept of the "monkey mind" comes up often in Buddhist teachings, referring to the way the human mind will jump from one thought to the next, like monkeys swinging from the branches of a tree, and in turn prevent people from achieving mental clarity and peace. Through meditation and mindfulness, one can, in theory, calm that inner monkey.
So what does all this monkey business mean for the season?
There's a scene where Laurie steps out onto her balcony and sees a troop of monkeys skittering up some trees. She runs in, elated, to tell her friends. "Just don’t feed them," Kate says. "Monkeys can be aggressive."
Just one episode into The White Lotus's third season, it seems as if the monkeys are going to be well fed.
Related: ‘White Lotus’ Season 4 Location Scouting Currently Underway at 2 Different Four Seasons Resorts: Source (Exclusive)
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