The White Lotus

What’s it about?

Guests and employees stay at an exclusive tropical resort in Thailand over the span of a week. With each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travellers, the hotel’s cheerful employees and the location itself.

The facts

• Created, written and directed by Mike White
• English and Thai languages
• Runtime: 60 minutes per episode
• Starring Natasha Rothwell, Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Lalisa Manobal, NZ actress Morgana O’Reilly
• Each episode drops on a weekly basis. This featured decision is for the first three episodes.
• Set in Thailand, filmed at the Four Seasons Resort in Koh Samui

Why did it get this rating?

This series was self-rated by Neon. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

The show starts to bring in themes of incest and sexual kinks from around episode five onwards. These themes are discussed or implied but limited events are shown on screen.

Offensive language

There is occasional strong language, such as ‘f*ck you’, ‘m*otherf*cker’, ‘sh*t’ and ‘d*ck’. Characters use language to offend or for emphasis.

Nudity

Two brothers share a hotel room. One gets up to use the bathroom, momentarily leaving the door open. We see that he’s fully naked – his buttocks are shown, and in the bathroom mirror reflection we briefly see his penis.

A female character takes her shirt off to reveal her breasts while straddling her partner, who fondles them briefly before the scene cuts.

A male character leans back while wearing a robe, which falls open and exposes his penis. The shot is brief but clear.

A male character takes his pants off and swings his penis around before jumping into a pool. This shot is from a distance and brief.

In episode seven we see men fully clothed partying in a hotel room with multiple women who are topless.

Sex scenes and sexual themes

There are references to sex, ‘getting laid’, and different types of porn. While the two brothers spend time together, the older brother appears to be obsessed with finding a woman to have sex with at the resort, as well as references to his sister needing to have sex. He asks his younger brother what type of porn he wants to watch before deciding to go to the bathroom to ‘jerk off’. On his iPad screen, you see a brief but blurry shot of a porn video thumbnail.

A character complains that they didn’t get a ‘happy ending’ during a massage.

There are several sex scenes which are brief or shown in flashback with rapid editing. We see men and women topless but their lower half is covered by sheets.

A character has hungover flashbacks to being in bed next to his brother having sex with a woman. In the flashback we see his hand moving under the sheet implying that he was masturbating at the time.

A character describes her partner's sexual kink of wanting to watch other people have sex, after his childhood experience of secretly watching his parents have sex.

Violence

An armed robber enters a store, pointing their gun at people, before taking off with jewellery. They later hit someone over the head with their gun, leaving them with a bloodied head.

We see characters ringside at a Muay Thai match, cheering during the fighting. There's no blood shown but we see fighters knocked to the ground.

Suicide themes

In Episode 5, a character struggles with suicidal thoughts, displaying increasingly unusual behaviour throughout the episode. In the final moments, he writes a note and raises a gun to his temple, only to hastily hide it when a family member walks in. This emotionally intense scene may be distressing for viewers affected by suicide.

In Episode 6, there are two dream sequences involving suicide. In the first sequence, you see the shadow of a character shooting himself in the head. The shot cuts to his wife who discovers him dead on the floor with a pool of blood around his head. In the second sequence, a character shoots his wife before turning the gun around and shooting himself in the head. The camera cuts before you see any details.

A character talks about his mother, who overdosed on drugs and died when he was a child.

During a heated discussion, on the phone, a man can be heard yelling “I’m gonna f**king kill myself” twice. However he does not die, as he calls back at a later time.

Drug use

A character is shown smoking a joint and begins acting unusually while panicking and sweating shortly after. Later, he says he thinks the marijuana was "laced" with something.

A character is dependant on the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam and constantly appears out of touch with reality. This character gives a pill to a family member to help them sleep, and they immediately start to rely on them.

Characters take ecstasy during a party and are shown in a "high" state for a long time afterwards.

We see multiple characters snorting a white powder substance from a table, and another character lights up and smokes from a glass bulb during a hotel party scene.

When content stays with you:

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• The White Lotus, Season 1 (featured decision)
• The White Lotus, Season 2 (featured decision)