This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 3, episode 8, “Amor Fati.”
The White Lotus star Natasha Rothwell defends Belinda’s decision at the end of season 3. In the White Lotus season 3 finale, series creator Mike White didn’t give Belinda Lindsey (Rothwell) such a bad ending. The original cast member, introduced in the first season, agreed with Greg Hunt (Jon Gries) that she would not move forward with her suspicions regarding Tanya’s death in exchange for $5 million. Greg agrees, and Belinda leaves Thailand and a potential romance with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) behind.
In a post-finale interview with Variety, Rothwell pushed back on the idea that Belinda’s situation with Pornchai mirrors the dynamic that Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) had with Belinda. The two-time Emmy underlined all the differences, including the fact that Belinda never agrees to start a business with Pornchai and never even expresses any real enthusiasm about the idea. In the quote below, Rothwell also talks about Belinda looking out for herself:
I didn’t want to play that moment with guilt. If people rewatch this season, she never agrees to go into business with Pornchai; she’s just considering it. Which I think is a subtle but massive difference from Season 1, where you have Tanya being like, “Yes, let’s do it. Give me the papers. Show me your business plan.” She doesn’t lead him on. Pornchai was definitely more into Belinda and the idea than Belinda was. They both really liked each other and had feelings for each other, sexually and relationship-wise, but professionally, I don’t think Belinda was all in, because it’s impractical. Her son doesn’t live there, and there’s a lot of that she would have to figure out. So it didn’t have the same sting, but because Belinda knows what she went through, she’s carrying the weight of guilt. This is something I relate to my personal life. When you make a decision that’s best for you, it can be hard when someone else is not benefiting from it or is hurt by it, but it’s absolutely okay and necessary to make decisions that are in your own best interest. And we’re seeing Belinda make a decision in her best interest. For the first time, she’s not putting other people’s needs before her own.
What This Means For The White Lotus
It’s Just Not The Same
Rothwell correctly points out that Belinda doesn’t do any of what Tanya does in season 1. When Pornchai broaches the topic of starting a business, Belinda has a non-committal response. Even though Pornchai and Belinda like each other, there’s not much of an indication that it’s anything more than a vacation trip. There’s no suggestion, for instance, that Belinda was prepared to pack up her life and leave for Thailand.
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That’s a bit different from Belinda being actively encouraged by Tanya only to have the rug pulled from under her. In both cases, the women could be forgiven for doing what they believed to be best. But the attempt to make a connection between the two White Lotus characters, through Pornchai, is flimsy since their relationship is fleeting.
Our Take On Belinda’s Ending
It Was Odd To Focus On Pornchai’s Feelings
It’s a bummer for Pornchai to miss out on what could have been a meaningful relationship. But, oddly, he gets one of the show’s final scenes before The White Lotus season 4. It is a stronger argument to make that Belinda sold a bit of her soul for Greg’s money, albeit the viewer is left to focus on the sadness of a person that Belinda very explicitly never made any promises to and never even had much of a talk with about what relationship they could end up having. It doesn’t seem to fit in with what happened in the season overall.
Source: Variety
The White Lotus
9/10
- Release Date
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July 11, 2021
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Mike White
- Directors
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Mike White
- Writers
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Mike White