The White Lotus Season 3 Finale Gives Us The Most Positive Family In The Show's History

This post contains spoilers for the season 3 finale of "The White Lotus," "Amor Fati."

Mike White's global anthology series "The White Lotus" has introduced us to so many dysfunctional families, all of whom have too much money and privilege and all of whom act abominably in various exotic locations across the world. Finally, in the show's third season, which takes place in Thailand, we get one functional family, and it's made up of just two people, both of whom are largely blameless as they're surrounded by wealthy lunatics.

We first meet spa manager Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) in the show's first season, set in Maui — but we don't meet her son, Zion (Nicholas Duvernay), until the third season, when Belinda takes a trip to Thailand to learn from the wellness staff at that country's fictional White Lotus location and Zion meets up with her there. While in Thailand, Belinda notices something odd: She recognizes Greg Hunt (Jon Gries), who's going by the false name "Gary," from her time as an employee at the Maui White Lotus, and she knows he was married to Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), an extremely wealthy heiress, before her untimely death.

In the season 3 finale, "Amor Fati," Belinda and Zion meet with Greg, who offered Belinda $100,000 to keep quiet about whatever may have transpired with Tanya in the past. After a pretty smart negotiation, Zion and Belinda manage to get Greg to agree to give them five million dollars, which they accept ... and when the money hits Belinda's account, the mother and son are overwhelmed by their brand new fortune. Sure, they did just grift $5 million out of a guy, but he's also a potential murderer, and Belinda and Zion gave "The White Lotus" its very first positive depiction of a family unit. Not only do they work together for a common goal, but they actually like each other, which is more than most families on this show can say. Belinda genuinely loves her son, and Zion fights for his mom. So what happens to them at the end of the finale? 

We know from the season 3 premiere of "The White Lotus" that Zion, while attending his de-stressing session with a wellness expert at the hotel, hears a gunshot from afar. Here's what happens before that: Belinda sends Zion to his session and goes to see Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul), the Thai resort's wellness expert with whom she had a little vacation fling, to tell him that they won't be starting a business together after all. This directly echoes what happened between Belinda and Tanya, the aforementioned dead heiress, in the first season. Tanya, who takes a liking to Belinda, promises the woman that she'll fund a wellness center with her considerable wealth, only to meet Greg and completely ditch Belinda for her new boyfriend.

Belinda's story comes full circle as she tells Pornchai that she's leaving Thailand, which immediately rules out the two of them starting any sort of wellness business together. It's genuinely gutting to see Belinda take after Tanya, the woman who so bitterly betrayed her — especially because she's being paid off by the woman's own husband, who potentially orchestrated Tanya's death in the first place. I wanted to believe Belinda was better than that. Money corrupts, though, and now that she's wealthy, Belinda has taken a page from the playbook of the woman who left her crestfallen.

"The White Lotus" season 3 is streaming on Max now.