Mike White is shrugging off “White Lotus” critics.
The hit show’s creator hit back at criticism of the series’ “pacing and vibe” on Sunday’s episode of the “White Lotus” official podcast.
White, 54, acknowledged that these elements do “get under [haters’] skin.”
He noted that while there was “complaining about how there’s no plot,” he finds those kinds of comments “weird.”
The director explained, “Part of me is just like, ‘Bro, this is the vibe. I’m world-building. If you don’t want to go to bed with me, then get out of my bed. I’m edging you!”
He advised fans to “enjoy the edging” while watching Season 3’s eight episodes, including the show’s longest finale yet.
White joked, “If you don’t want to be edged, then get out of my bed. Do you know what I mean? Don’t be a bossy bottom. Get the f–k out of my bed.
“Don’t come home with me,” he continued. “Don’t get naked in my bed. Get the f–k out of my bed. Obviously, something is going to happen.”
The season came to a close Sunday, with two beloved characters — Rick and Chelsea — leaving the Thailand resort in body bags.
Aime Lou Wood, who played the latter, spoke about this “very, very, very moving” ending during a panel over the weekend.
“Mike kills hope. Because Chelsea has hope and he kills her,” the actress, 31, said. “But there was so much love in it. … That’s life, isn’t it? Just love and pain all the time.”
Her co-star Walton Goggins told his Instagram followers Monday that their characters’ arc was “only ever a love story hindered by unresolved … trauma” — one that mirrored his own life.
“I went to Thailand 18 years ago after a trauma in my life,” he revealed to Vulture, referencing his first wife’s suicide in 2004. “I understood, intimately, Rick’s frame of mind.”
The finale teased fans into believing Lochlan Ratliff had died after ingesting poisonous seeds from a fruit — but he ultimately survived the episode.
Additionally, his siblings, Saxon Ratliff and Piper Ratliff, and his mom, Victoria Ratliff, began to drink contaminated piña coladas before dad Timothy Ratliff, who poisoned the beverages, claimed the coconut milk was bad and trashed them.
Elsewhere in Sunday’s podcast episode, White revealed that he cut a scene from the finale featuring Piper and another unlikely character.
Piper, portrayed by Sarah Catherine Hook, was supposed to lose her virginity to Belinda’s son, Zion.
The scene between Hook, 29, and Nicholas Duvernay had too much of a “romantic rom-com vibe” to flow with the rest of the show, White told listeners.
“The White Lotus” is available to stream on Max.