In Mike White takes us to a beautiful resort in Thailand focused on health and mindfulness. He's brought another group of headcases along with him, ensuring their stay on the lush island will be anything but recentering. Returning after over two years, the HBO series follows up its momentous second season with a dark dive into spirituality, death, Eastern religion, and transformation.

While season 2 tracked the bitterly hilarious downfall of Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya McQuoid, our guiding light this time around is Natasha Rothwell's Belinda, the cheery masseuse from Hawaii. The White Lotus season 3 keeps the format of prior entries — we are introduced to a violent event in a flash forward, the origins of which will be slowly revealed over the episodes. After that, we meet another group of wealthy, deranged vacationers who hope to reconnect in the jungles of Thailand.

The White Lotus season 3 cast is absolutely massive, with heavy-hitters like Parker Posey, Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, Jason Isaacs, and Walton Goggins ed by stars like Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Aimee Lou Wood, Charlotte Le Bon, among many others. The strength of The White Lotus lies in its delicious casting, but White doesn't let them off easily.

These episodes are another descent into barely controlled chaos. As always, White dabbles in the politics of what it means for white Americans to come to these places as tourists, but he uses this as a backdrop to explore something deeper about the context they bring with them to these locales. Thailand is no different — the local culture clashes with these people's Americanized perspectives on spirituality and connection to the self, leading to another excellent batch of episodes.

The White Lotus Season 3 Is Quietly Alluring In The Way It Unfolds

Vacation Brain Is Real

There's something hypnotic about this season of The White Lotus; the leisurely pace, the sprawling cast, and the various plot threads that weave in and out of each other feel more expansive than ever. It's almost as if the series is mimicking the vacation-brain that sets in when you're detached from the outside world and spending time with ones you love who could also drive you to the edge of madness.

It teeters on the edge of unwieldy, but White, who writes and directs all the episodes (six of which were shown to critics), knows just when to snap things back into focus, whether it be with biting humor, a menacing twist, or a newly added wrinkle in an already complicated relationship. It's a much darker affair this time around, something we were shown White was capable of in the violent ending of The White Lotus season 2.

Underneath the sheen of wealth and happiness is a real bitterness that drives each of these characters.

The darkness present here, though, is much more pervasive. Underneath the sheen of wealth and happiness is a real bitterness that drives each of these characters. Timothy Ratliff (Isaacs) loves his family, but he's forced to confront the fact that his choices may have brought out their worst traits. When everything he's built is on the precipice of destruction, it's unclear if his family will love him in spite of what he's done.

Rick (Goggins) ignores his young girlfriend Chelsea (Wood) as he ponders revenge. Three childhood friends (Coon, Monaghan, and Bibb) must contend with who they are now and whether they like the people they have become. When we begin the season, these relationships are already on the edge of implosion and their spiral is a sight to behold.

In The White Lotus Season 3, Vacation Is A Form Of Purgatory

Debauchery Reigns But Something Sinister Lies Under The Surface

This season, the guests at The White Lotus resort almost find themselves outside of time. It's as if they're in limbo. The resort encourages guests to lock away their phones and laptops for the week. Some acquiesce while others resist. Still, there's a distinct feeling of being completely disconnected, even as ripples from the outside world affect every character's decisions.

In one scene-stealing cameo, a character asks Goggins' Rick, "Are we our forms? Am I a middle-aged white guy on the inside, too? Or inside, could I be an Asian girl?" This captures so much of what White is trying to say when it comes to fetishization of Eastern cultures, Western perspectives of spirituality and how they can be co-opted in problematic ways, and this idea of transformation and rebirth.

The way this character, who is a white man, talks about identity is key. It's something he can slip on and off easily because the world has allowed him to. It's the same for Monaghan's high-profile actress or Isaacs' uber-rich financier. But what if the mask slips and stays off long enough to reveal your real self? And what if you hate what you see? Is there a chance for redemption and rebirth or are they stuck with the choices they've made thus far?

This severed connection to the self is at the core of this season, which asks much more introspective questions of its characters. That's not to say there isn't some of the show's trademark humor — hearing Posey say "Lorazepam" in her thick Southern drawl over and over again makes all the headiness worth it. There are also some twists that live up to the second season's turns, including another returning face that has a major impact on the season's events.

Some may find The White Lotus season 3 slow-moving when it comes to plot, but the added episodes give us time to really sit with the characters and the ideas, which have a way of creeping in unexpectedly. The rhythmic score, the beautiful locale — both expansive and suffocating — are all elements that add to a false sense of safety before White rips the rug right out from under us once again.

The White Lotus season 3 premieres on Sunday, February 16 at 9PM ET on HBO.