Why Belinda's selfish White Lotus finale moment was the best outcome

The fan-favourite returnee of the season, I practically squealed with glee when it was initially announced that Natasha Rothwell would be reprising her role for the third run of the hit HBO series.

Since her return, she's used her voyage to Thailand as a research trip of sorts, working in the spa with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) while developing a feet-kicking worthy romance with him in the process.

They swapped anecdotes about their dreams of opening a spa, even going so far as to say they could do it together.

But Belinda's blissful holiday bubble was burst on the arrival of Greg (Jon Gries), a mysterious figure that she seemed to recognise from his time at the Maui resort. Her sense of doom about Greg wasn't misplaced, though, as she quickly found out about his implication in Tanya's (Jennifer Coolidge) mysterious Sicily death.

The latter half of episodes this season was plagued by an impending sense of dread within Belinda, not least because it appeared as though Greg was carving out a nefarious plan for her.

Would Belinda be the one to meet her demise at the end of the season? Well, thankfully not! Instead, Belinda came out on top as the White Lotus guest that we'd likely all default to wanting to be.

Riding off into the sunset on a luxury boat with her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) by her side, the pair were overjoyed at making it away safely with $5 million in their back pockets.

But Belinda is human, and was understandably choked up waving goodbye to Pornchai as he stood with the rest of the staff.

Viewers, rather understandably, have been split over Belinda's decisions in the finale. Sure, did that final moment of Belinda waving at Pornchai tug on the heartstrings? Of course it did. But as I am loath to remind you, Pornchai is simply someone that Belinda has been getting to know for just one week, and their plans never made it past preliminary chatter.

Realistically, would you go into business with someone that you've known for only a matter of days? Would you also remain on an island with a suspected killer and the very man you've accepted hush money off of (just down the road, may I add)?

This is in no way a defence of accepting bribes, but when the cards are dealt, you may as well play the game, right? Season 1's Belinda was sweet and somewhat naive about the way that rich people work. Despite working to serve them for years at the Maui resort, Belinda happily and wholeheartedly believed that Tanya's offer of investing in her spa idea was to be a dream come true.

Tanya blew off dinner with Belinda and, eventually, the business plan altogether in favour of turning her sights to Greg. Like a magpie, she was after the next shiny new thing.

It's probably easy to forget after the memeification of Tanya that, within the series, she was actually quite a deplorable character. She flitted her wealth about much like the rest of the residents of The White Lotus, and may have provided plenty of memorable lines but ultimately toyed with Belinda's emotions and sense of self.

There's very clear irony, then, in Belinda's actions of season 3 being carried out in a way that mirrors the now-deceased Tanya. Belinda's being selfish, just like most of the guests within the Mike White series – and most of humanity, if we're being honest. And you know what? That's OK!

Belinda didn't ask to be your moral compass of the series, nor was she slotted in to simply be the amenable member of staff caught in the crossfires of someone else's story.

Being faced with the prospect of accepting Greg's money or choosing to make an enemy out of a potentially violent individual, the choice appears simple. So, rather than take the $100,000 originally offered, Belinda takes her son's advice to haggle for more. She wasn't expecting Zion to go for the jugular at $5 million, but if you're going to take a payout, you may as well make it a substantial one.

As you start to assume that Zion and Greg are in the driver's seats of the deal, it appears that Belinda is subtly calling the shots, even feigning a bit of amateur dramatics to get Greg thinking she's too honest and more of a threat than he thinks.

Ordering Zion to go back into that room to make Greg scared and secure that multi-million dollar deal was simply genius.

But what about Pornchai? Need I remind you once again that while their blossoming relationship was a very sweet part of the season's story, Pornchai was simply a holiday romance. Belinda was having a deserved Hot Girl Summer, if you will.

When Zion presses his mother about the pair's future plans, Belinda sighs and summarises it perfectly: "Can't I just be rich for five f**king minutes?"

While we don't know much about her backstory or Zion's own life, it's clear that Belinda has worked hard throughout her life and has regularly put her wants and needs on the back burner for the sake of others, including a ream of ungrateful but very wealthy clients.

She could've spent the following moments fretting over Pornchai and worrying over other people but she chose not to. She's purely thinking of herself – and also, the future of her son – which is something that I don't think she's really done before.

While shows do illicit natural responses from its viewers, it's worth thinking about whether many are disappointed in Belinda's actions because of the way in which her character was presented to us as being a smiley staff member and then, this time around, as a smiley guest/temporary spa worker.

Underneath her service industry smile – and not to make the show too deep – Belinda's a human like the rest of us, and our sense of morality can often wane when the bell rings to herald in $5 million, I'm sure.

We can hope that Belinda will follow through on her plans to open up a spa and do something meaningful with her newfound wealth. Or she could simply succumb to the greed of it all and start to emulate most of the people in the series – such is the poisonous cycle of extreme wealth.

While I'd not want to consider the latter and do have genuine hopes that Belinda will follow through on her promises, let's just let her be rich for five minutes. Say what you like about Our Belinda, but ultimately, she is the real star of the season.

The White Lotus season 3 is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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