The White Lotus: This Season 3 character might be the most confused (and fakest) yet, and she might be back in Season 4

The White Lotus has already given us a lot of dysfunction. Season 3 took things up a notch with its exotic Thai setting and jaw-dropping family secrets. We also saw the return of two familiar faces.

Season 3 of The White Lotus dropped us in the middle of the serene coastlines of Koh Samui, but there was nothing serene about what happened there. Death lingered in the air, Eastern spirituality set the tone, and every character seemed to be chasing something: be it peace, pleasure, or just a break from themselves.

The Ratliff family was one of a kind in the entire show. They brought with them a heavy suitcase of generational trauma and privilege. Among them, Piper Ratliff was the self-proclaimed spiritual seeker, middle child, and walking contradiction.

With her oversized white linen shirts, condescending eye-rolls, and a vague college thesis on Buddhism she hadn’t really started, Piper embodied the "above it all" trope. She came to Thailand to find herself, and she found out she’s not the person she thought she was.

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The White Lotus: Piper Ratliff embodied the "above it all" trope

Piper had the best intentions, or so she told herself in The White Lotus. She wasn’t just tagging along with her family to Thailand for sun and cocktails. She had a mission. A religious studies major with a senior thesis due, Piper convinced her family to plan the trip around her deep and philosophical journey into the heart of Buddhism.

She wanted to explore minimalism, escape the clutches of American materialism, and maybe come back as someone more evolved than her Prada-clad parents and mess-loving siblings.

But intentions don’t always survive reality. Piper’s plans fell apart faster than we expected in The White Lotus. That monastery stay was a disaster. She couldn’t handle the silence, the discipline, the heat, or really the fact that no one was interested in her intellectual hot takes.

Her big breakdown was both cringey and weirdly relatable, as she admitted that she hated every second of it and just wanted her creature comforts back. One moment she was quoting the Buddha, the next she was clutching her iPhone like a lifeline and asking for a poolside cocktail.

Piper stood out (and not in the way she probably hoped) in The White Lotus because of how utterly unaware she was of her own privilege. She wanted to renounce wealth, but only in theory. She lectured her family about spiritual awakening while enjoying first-class flights and luxury spas.

It was performative minimalism with a 5-star safety net. It is kind of like going camping with a full kitchen in your tent. And yet, her arc wasn’t just satire; it was kind of tragic. Piper was trying to become something better, but she didn’t have the grit or the self-awareness to go all the way.

Now, Piper might be back for Season 4. It's not confirmed. Nothing is, but there is always the possibility of characters returning in The White Lotus, as we have seen previously.

And honestly, that’s kind of perfect. Because imagine her post-spiritual breakdown era. She’s no longer pretending to be enlightened. She’s probably deep into some new aesthetic. Maybe cottagecore, or even a messy party girl, and trying to reclaim control of her image.

If Mike White brings her back in The White Lotus Season 4, it’ll be fascinating to see if Piper finally grows up or just reinvents her facade all over again. Either way, she’s bound to bring drama and hypocrisy to the upcoming season.

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