Every season, a group of people arrive at a fancy resort overseas. The first season took place in Hawaii. The second season took place in Italy and now this season is in Thailand. Often, the group of people who comes to this resort is wealthy or rich in some way. The show in general is to show how awful these wealthy people are. It's meant to skewer or satirize them, by depicting them doing awful things and treating others in awful ways. Creator Mike White crafts funny scenes or lines of dialogue with great actors delivering that material in hilarious performances. That can be entertaining to some degree. It can also be frustrating to another.
What was frustrating about the first season is how the Hawaiians are mostly backgrounded. One Hawaiian character got some dialogue and a role in the narrative, but no one who watched that season could name that character, let alone the actor who played him. There was a Black woman in that first season who had a substantial role and the actress who played her even got an Emmy nomination. When that same Black woman returns in this season, it gave me hope that the minority characters wouldn't be backgrounded or sidelined, as is typical of these shows.
Natasha Rothwell (How to Die Alone and Insecure) reprises her role of Belinda, the aforementioned Black woman who was a masseuse at the hotel in Hawaii. She gets an opportunity to learn about the programs at the same hotel chain but in Thailand. She spends the days in Thailand and while she's there, she gets a visit from her adult son, Zion, played by Nicholas Duvernay (Bel-Air and Purple Hearts). During the visit, she sees a man whom she recognizes, a man who lies about his identity. When she investigates, she suspects that the man is wanted for murder.
One aspect of this series is that each season is essentially a murder mystery. As we are introduced to the various characters, we get hints of who might be murdered and who might be the murderer. Almost all of the characters are painted in ways that make them all potential victims or potential perpetrators. Most of those potential people are red herrings and it's not really a guessing game. It's merely a slow build to what could be considered a thriller but White's sensibilities are more comedic, so it's never really a thriller. Belinda looking into a possible murderer certainly has some thrills, but her storyline mostly spins its wheels. It's actually not a major storyline here, which is a shame because Rothwell deserves more. She does get a brief romance with an attractive Thai employee named Pornchai, played by Dom Hetrakul (The Man with the Iron Fists 2 and Bangkok Dangerous), but we get nothing further about her life leading up to her time in Hawaii or even between that first season and now. Her presence feels like nothing but a red herring.
Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age and Fargo) co-stars as Laurie Duffy, a lawyer who possibly has a drinking problem and is separated or divorced. She's on vacation with her two friends. It's supposed to be fun and relaxing, but initially all they do is gossip behind each other's backs. Laurie is all smiles and all compliments when all three are together, but when Laurie is alone with one of her friends, Kate, played by Leslie Bibb (Iron Man and Popular), she gets very catty. Often, what she gossips is about how the other friend, Jaclyn, played by Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible III and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), is pretending or putting on a happy act when Jaclyn's life isn't perfect or all that happy at all. It's presumed that Laurie is experiencing the same, or she's projecting. She claims to be happy, when really she isn't.
Even though she's at a luxury resort that is designed to give them activities to do or ways to enjoy the property, Laurie and her friends always try to get out and explore the country, which is something that happened in the previous season. Helping Laurie is a Russian guy who works at the hotel named Valentin, played by Arnas Fedaravicius (The Last Kingdom). Because Valentin is young and attractive, he becomes a kind of wedge between the women and particularly Laurie.
Jason Isaacs (Mass and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and Parker Posey (Superman Returns and Scream 3) also co-star as Timothy and Victoria Ratliff, a married couple with three children. They're from North Carolina. They're very wealthy, mainly because Timothy owns a business that is very successful. In fact, Timothy's eldest son, Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger (American Sports Story and The Staircase), works for the company and makes good money doing so. When Timothy gets bad news that the authorities have raided his business and wants to arrest him for money laundering and other corporate crimes, Timothy begins to panic and doesn't want to return home, feeling as if he'll go to prison and his family will lose everything.
So many people have lost everything, had to go to prison and had to start over. This is certainly true of people of color, but Timothy and his family are so privileged and so spoiled that the idea of not being as wealthy as they are is so horrible that Saxon and Victoria say things like they'd rather not live, if they have to be poor. It's perhaps a prequel to something like Schitt's Creek (2015). Timothy doesn't tell them this bad news. He basically keeps it secret, as he basically wrestles with how to resolve this, including whether he'll go on the run or commit murder-suicide.
Walton Goggins (Justified and The Shield) plays Rick Hatchett, a seemingly wealthy person too. He was the son of a wealthy man who did land deals in Thailand. Rick is currently in Thailand, vacationing with his girlfriend. However, he is clearly not there for fun and isn't even trying to have fun. He instead seems like a man on a mission and even his girlfriend recognizes it. It becomes more and more evident that he's on the hunt for someone, someone on which he's going to get revenge, possibly deadly revenge. The emotional toll put upon him throughout is probably enough to get Goggins yet another Emmy nomination.
Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite and The Pretender) reprises his role from the previous seasons as Greg Hunt, another middle-aged, wealthy man with a girlfriend, probably less than half his age. The problem is that he now goes by the name of "Gary." Belinda learns that he changed his name likely because the authorities are searching for him. If you remember the previous seasons, then you remember that Greg was married to a woman his own age named Tanya, played by Emmy-winner Jennifer Coolidge. What happened to Tanya and why he doesn't acknowledge her is a huge question mark. Greg seems to be dangerous but how dangerous is he?
Tayme Thapthimthong (Thai Cave Rescue and Farang) rounds out the cast as Gaitok, a security guard at the hotel. He basically sits in a booth at the entrance and keeps note of the cars or whoever else is coming in and off the property. There are other security guards who walk around the hotel. Some of whom are bodyguards for the owner of the hotel who is a famous actress, at least well known in Thailand. Those bodyguards bully Gaitok, thinking he's too soft or too weak to be in security. He is admittedly more of a pacifist and more of a gentle Buddhist.
However, when robbers barge into the hotel and steal some jewelry from a boutique on site, Gaitok's boss says he can't be as gentle any more. He's given a gun and told he needs to learn to use it. Gaitok also has a crush on a woman who works at the hotel and she pushes him to be tougher. The question becomes if he will change or somehow act like more of a badass. In a subtle way, it's a story about manhood and masculinity.
White's series, as well as his other work, have often dealt with manhood or masculinity. White is openly gay, so tackling issues of masculinity comes with the terrain. Of course, with this series, he can't help but include some gay or queer aspects. There is a speech that is delivered by Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell in Episode 5 that set the Internet abuzz. However, the queerness that's been teased since Episode 1 is regarding Patrick Schwarzenegger's character of Saxon and his younger brother, Lochlan, played by Sam Nivola (The Perfect Couple and Maestro). There has been sexual tension between the two since their arrival in Thailand. Saxon has been overly concerned and interested in his sibling's sex life, wanting to share in it oddly. Lochlan has been subtly looking at his brother, while nude, suggesting some incestuous attraction. It's curious to see how it's acted upon and how White resolves it, which unfortunately he doesn't.
Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 8 eps.
Available on Max.