Blackpink’s Lisa Keeps It Low-Key in The White Lotus

It’s been a little over a week since the third season of tv’s hottest show in 2025 “The White Lotus” has ended. To be honest, this season lacked the flair and charm that thee previous two seasons had. Even despite the highly buzzed ‘incest storyline’ or the over-hyped monologue of actor Sam Rockwell. 

But I digress. I am only interested in sharing my opinion about Lisa’s acting debut (correct me if I’m wrong). 

I was skeptical when I first heard the news of Lisa of Blackpink being cast in “The White Lotus”. While I recognize her immense talent as an “idol”, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Obviously the fact that she’s Thai was a big reason for landing her a role set in Thailand. But I also couldn’t help but wonder if she was cast just to promote the tv show (although one could argue that “The White Lotus” needed any extra boost). Or that she somehow used her “connections” to land a gig in a big tv show – and possibly ruin the show with terrible acting.

Fast forward to a year later and here’s my final verdict- Lisa’s involvement in “The White Lotus” was actually a pleasant surprise. I was pleasantly suprised to learn that Lisa was cast as a minor role – as one of the hotel staff. Any fans of “The White Lotus” (like me), understands that her role is small and would be one dimensional, with limited lines. But fans of Lisa would probably be disappointed with her limited airtime. But I was mostly glad that she made a safe choice, especially when comparing it to those of other Blackpink members, Jennie and Jisoo. 

With Jennie, she had a less than ideal debut in “The Idol”. Fans were startled to find that her portrayal in the show was a stark contrast to her usually cute and sophisticated image. And let’s not even get started with Jisoo. Despite being the first Blackpink member to act and lead in two K-Dramas, her acting skill is still like that of someone who has never acted a day in her life. It’s that bad.

So considering this, the bar to impress is quite low for Lisa. And so far, I think she has kept par with the low bar. For example, she’s had few lines in Thai with practically only one character (Gaitok). Also, she’s easy to impress since 80% of the time, she’s wearing her endearing smile. Of course, I can’t really speak to her actually acting in Thai. I’m not Thai so only Thai fans can be the judge of whether she sounds natural or not.

The point is, so far I’m satisfied with her minimal presence. I’m also not off-put by her safe acting choice. I mean this in a non-condescending way. At least she hasn’t yet shown that she is a terrible actress like Jisoo. Nor has she strayed too much from her image, like Jennie.

Fans could debate that her star power and her talents as an actor have been wasted. But the way I see it, she did the right thing. She can slowly increase her airtime as she dips her toes deeper in expanding her character range. 

For now, Lisa may be busy getting back to her roots as a performer, especially with Coachella and upcoming Blackpink tour. But I am curious as to what other tricks she may up in her sleeves as an actress. 😉