The White Lotus looks and sounds as sumptuous as its titular hotel
Mike White's eye and ear for how privileged folks move through the world continue to be unmatched
TV Reviews Will Sharpe
There are many of us who thought it was (is!) a fool’s errand to try to follow up the wickedly delicious first season of Mike White’s Emmy-winning series The White Lotus. That Hawai’i-set entry gifted us career-making turns by Jennifer Coolidge (as a wayward romantic billionaire who gets her happily ever after) and Murray Bartlett (as a wound-up hotel employee who meets a tragic death) that put issues of privilege, masculinity, and pent-up desires into a tragicomedy that could just as easily make you laugh as make you gasp. But since we live in a world where nothing is ever allowed to end, HBO wisely asked White to turn what was intended as a limited series into that all too fashionable “anthology series” instead. Enter: The White Lotus: Sicily.
One of the triumphs of the series’ first season was the choice of setting. Hotels, after all, are particularly ripe for narrative exploration. They’re mirages unto themselves, buildings crafted around vibes that are designed to exist as dreamlike adventures for its guests. They’re meant to be temporary, ephemeral even. And, perhaps more to the point (given what White explored in season one), they’re sites of possibility. Our homes, our jobs, and our families can constrain us; a hotel in a far remote location (like Hawai’i or Sicily, say) emerges as an opportunity to try on different versions of yourself.
To judge by the cast of characters White has whisked to the Sicily outpost of the White Lotus hotel chain, it’s clear the mind behind Enlightened continues to be fascinated by the ways in which our everyday lives can become prisons of our own making. And what better way to explore that than to put a few couples through the wringer in a space precisely designed to have you enjoy the best kind of life you could ever imagine—if only, and especially, just for a few days?
That is if your vacation isn’t suddenly cut short by a drowned guest or two. (Yes, just like last year, it seems The White Lotus has a body count!) But, just like last year, we may spend less time trying to figure who (and why they) died than trying to follow the many interpersonal dramas White has cooked up for us this time around. Especially since he gives us, not even fifteen minutes in, a mythological metaphor that may well structure the entire season: the “testa di moro.” The Sicilian fable about a moor who, after seducing a rosy-cheeked young woman, found himself beheaded once his beloved found out he had a wife and kids back East feels perhaps like an all too pat and blunt warning sign, but then White’s writing for The White Lotus feels a tad more operatic than your everyday HBO fare.
So, let’s get to this year’s guests, a slew of couples who may not heed the moral of the story at the heart of that Sicilian legend: There’s Harper and Ethan (Aubrey Plaza and Will Sharpe), who are traveling with Cameron and Daphne (Theo James and Meghann Fahy). The former buttoned up couple look like the kind who cuddle up in bed with a book and discuss NPR and New Yorker articles. The other? Well, let’s just say that Harper noting they likely don’t read at all seems like an apt description of the gorgeous, all too affectionate couple who may or may not have voted in the last election. White has such an ear for vapid dialogue that any of the scenes with Cameron and Daphne are some of the funniest in this premiere episode. Like, “We do a lot of Dateline” and “Tell him I say hi and also congrats on not getting disbarred” are just amazing and tell you so much about these people and their approach to, well, everything from justice to entertainment.
Then there’s Tanya (Coolidge) who is now married to Greg (Jon Gries). Only maybe they’re past their honeymoon phase. He’s already checking how many macarons she’s eating and throwing a fit over her decision to bring over her assistant (Haley Lu Richardson’s Portia) to what he hoped was a romantic trip—after not answering her many texts. Rounding out the ensemble is a trio of men (grandfather, father, and son, at that) who are there on a trek to visit Bert’s (F. Murray Abraham) grandmother’s birthplace. If White Lotus: Hawai’i began prodding at the ways in which masculinity can weather men’s own self-image, that continues here. (What was Armond’s story if not a cautionary tale about how to navigate masculinity as a gay man who works in a place that demands he cower toward men who get off on the authority they lord over those like him?) Three generations of Italian-American men get to stand in for new ways of being a man—a single man at that.
How their stories (oh, and the Italian escort, who’s already gotten on the bad side of the hotel’s manager) will all intertwine as the episodes unfold is yet to be revealed. But I will say this about this latest White sojourn: His eye and ear for how privileged folks move through the world continue to be unmatched, especially within the trappings of a very funny black comedy that looks and sounds as sumptuous as its titular hotel.
Stray observations
- As the season progresses I may need to pause and examine every single frame of the beautiful and provocative opening credit titles for this “Sicily” tour. Because oh my are they gorgeous, finding a fine balance between the beautiful and the grotesque, between the divine and the profane. In essence, it feels distinctly “Italian” in the way the country can sometimes be reduced to its artistic output while also feeling true to the mythology of the country that gets exported culturally on any given day.
- Was I happy that The White Lotus basically hogged the Limited Series performance categories at the most recent Emmy awards (where Coolidge and Bartlett triumphed over six of their respective co-stars)? No. But then I look at the amazing casting for this season and I understand why voters could be so smitten with the cast chemistry at work here. Should we begin making bets as to who’ll emerge as MVP? Might it be Aubrey Plaza’s low-key acerbic Harper? Or F. Murray Abraham’s flirty Bert? Or maybe Haley Lu Richardson’s harried Portia? Theo James’ brazenly bro-y Cameron? It’s truly a bounty of riches.
- White’s dialogue is gonna have me agonizing over which of his one-liners to isolate on any given recap. Let me offer just two this week: “Would you like a cup of tea?” which is a great way to sass your employees into working and “It’s a penis. It’s not a sunset” which… well, speaks for itself.
- Things I am now craving for myself for no reason* (*lots of reasons, actually): an orange knitted tee, sea foam swim trunks, and, so as to not sound as one-track-minded, three to five macarons.
- “I love a binge!” Same, same, same.
90 Comments
All I can say is I’m glad to be back on vacation with Mike White. The main cast is great, who doesn’t love Aubrey Plaza. But, again as in Hawaii, White has a fantastic casting director. Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannó as the “locals” were fantastic, together; they proved instantly charismatic. Throw in the hotel manager Sabrina Impaccitore whose utter lack of a filter, especially as a hostess, was hilarious.
Portia’s sweater, albeit short-sleeved, was making me itch with discomfort just imagining how hot it is there.
In the little bonus featurette afterwards, Coolidge and Richardson said it was actually freezing while they were filming. Still, same. How could Portia be wearing heavy knitwear without dying of heat stroke?
In the bit after the episode, they showed how cold it was while shooting, with actors donning puffy jackets between takes
I love how these characters feel very different from last season, but at the same time so specific to a certain type of privileged individual. Coolidge is both awful and sympathetic. And my god, the smugness of the asshole couple when Plaza describes the fish as “fishy”. Despite Plaza’s character being the most impressive person at the table, you see how quickly not being as well versed at expensive menus made her lose some self worth.
And my god, the smugness of the asshole couple when Plaza describes the fish as “fishy”. Despite Plaza’s character being the most impressive person at the table, you see how quickly not being as well versed at expensive menus made her lose some self worth.I don’t know if I read the scene the same way…Aubrey Plaza’s character had just tried to dictate the entirety of what both she and her husband would eat for dinner and rather brusquely turned down the one thing he wanted to order. It seemed to me like the other couple just felt awkward (as they did earlier when she quickly shuts down ever using the door between their adjoining rooms).Also I don’t think describing something as “fishy” is incorrect to say – I’ve always thought that’s how you describe seafood that has a strong smell and / or taste. But maybe I’m unsophisticated as well.
oh yah it totally was her deciding the meal, but I think they successfully shut her down by humiliating her for even considering the possibility that the fish at a White Lotus would taste “fishy”.
She was wrong though. Whitefish is definitely not always fishy and it is a fair assumption that a restaurant at a high-end resort is not going to serve something off-putting. Although it is odd that a high-end restaurant would call a dish “whitefish” to begin with instead of naming the actual fish unless it was a catch of the day type situation. So wrong and making the dinner awkward for everyone…Of all the things that couple said and did, I found the fish thing to be the one moment where they were justified to act as they did. The rest of the stuff where he insulted her career, she talked about the not watching the news, he got naked in same room as her – that was all strange convo and behavior to me.
If they were in Michigan, instead of Italy, they’d have VERY nice whitefish indeed.
Or Minnesota, where you can expect the fisk to be properly luted.
idk they felt like total snobs, like they finally had a one up on Plaza’s character because they know fine dining better than her. Which is such a classic rich asshole move.
To each their own I guess. I thought Plaza’s character came across as the biggest snob personally – she’s standoffish the entire episode and it seemed like she couldn’t wait to get in private with her husband to criticize and insult Cameron and Daphne.I honestly wondered why she was even on this trip given it seems like she walks all over her husband and has zero interest in being on it.
She definitely looks down on the other couple. I think because she views herself as having a real job and career that is actually helping people. The other two are just some vapid rich people who don’t seem to care about anything.
Yes, but that doesn’t mean she’s not miserable and a drag to be around. She is so tightly wound she does not even know how to relax even when alone with her husband. My guess is that one of the plot lines will be her learning to take the stick out of her ass (possibly via Cameron putting his stick in her ass). It would feed into the infidelity mythology they conveniently explained early in the show (although she is not single; on that basis the mythology may more accurately apply to the storyline of the assistant or the whore’s friend).
Or even Greg has been married all along and seduced Tanya. Tanya (or her assistant) murder him.
Yeah there’s a hate-fuck vibe plot that seems to be developing.
Definitely, but I kinda hope it zigs a bit. Like, the lawyer gets convinced the bro wants to seduce her, but hubby doesn’t believe it. She feels gaslighted and tries to lure the bro into a compromising situation, set up to be witnessed by the husband, so she can prove to him that she has been right all along. The bro however passes that test, he really can’t stand her/is actually faithful to his wife. Aww! Of course they ultimately still end in bed together, but it’s purely revenge, because they have just caught their respective spouses in flagrante with each other.
But that’s probably just too bog-standard-farce, and also, not necessarily reason for murder, so probably not it.
Wow, I’m honestly shocked by this take. To me the dinner scene from episode 1 truly displayed how out of touch Plaza’s character is with her husband. She completely steam rolled over him. It has nothing to do with her concern that the fish is “fishy” – it’s the fact that she selfishly isn’t considering her partner’s wants/needs at all, which is further emphasized by their sexual incompatibility.
For all of Plaza’s character’s “worldliness”, she tends to lack social etiquette often and come off as “holier than thou”. Sure, the couple is very different than her and a bit eccentric (critiquing someone for not consuming any news is fair) but she makes little effort getting to know them and zero effort hiding how she feels about this couple that invited her and her husband on this trip.
Coolidge is both awful and sympathetic.Mostly awful.
I do go back and forth, thinking about how her new husband treats her and feeling sorry, yet realizing how she creates her own problems. I guess I have met a few—even when you aren’t working for them they make you feel like hired help but hope there is still an ounce of humanity within.
Well, I was referring to Coolidge’s performance, but Tanya as written is pretty insufferable.
She’s very needy.
Plaza’s character may have an impressive career, but she is a deeply unpleasant person. I’m really enjoying watching Plaza play a character who’s acerbic but genuinely unpleasant, rather than acerbic and funny.
I didn’t find her unlikeable. I think she’s deliberately foiled against the other wife as being construed as unlikeable because the things Plaza is unlikeable for are shit men pull all the time, and nobody would bat an eye.
I would find a male character who was smug, self-righteous, and incredibly judgmental of others to be equally unlikable.
was she really that judgmental? she’s assessing what her life might look like now that they have all this wealth. she’s being critical, something the other guests completely lack because they are so removed from reality.
I really feel like we watched two different performances. She’s uniformly dour and negative, and her “criticisms” are ultimately assertions that her lifestyle and life choices are always better.
This. Plaza’s character’s feels like an all grown up Daria, but now unlikeable and smug in an unhappy marriage. As the argument the show is making that’s appealing to people like ohnoray is that because Cameron comes off as a bro and his wife a flighty airhead, we’re supposed to automatically hate them and they’re “assholes” even though they haven’t really done anything particularly bad (yet) to anyone.
lol what? he literally dismissed harassment cases as an employer as time suckers and purposely got nude in front of someone, and has no awareness of the world around him. If that doesn’t raise some red flags then idk, you might start wanting to wonder why you perceive Plaza’s character as the problem here.
This unnecessarily swarmy and condescending reply essentially demonstrates my point that Cameron and his wife are seemingly a lot more of a nicer and sincere person than you and Aubrey’s character are. Thanks! I look forward to your reply where you will double down on the dickish behavior for no reason at all than your usual hostility towards anyone who expresses a critical or different opinion than you.
Definitely agree.
What I found amazing about the scenes with the two couples is that even if Team Aubrey was “better” (morally speaking) I wasn’t always on their side. Sometimes the douche guy was actually ok. A little balance would be nice.. you can read and vote AND also have fun and kiss your spouse!
Jews haven’t been underrepresented in 77 years.
I think you meant to post this on twitter
Should we begin making bets as to who’ll emerge as MVP?My money’s on the hotel manager.
Season 1 remains incredibly overrated TV. OMG RICH PEOPLE HAVE PRIVILEGE AND ARE BAD?! It’s Emperor’s New Clothing TV.
It was pretty riveting when I watched it a year ago, but I’ve never had the urge to rewatch it.
It’s because beyond showing a dude taking a shit, it wasn’t all that great.
I agree, but at least it was entertaining. I just don’t get why we need another season of this. Especially with the same type of characters and most likely outcomes.
You’re not very bright if that’s all you took from the show.
Rounding out the ensemble is a trio of men (grandfather, father, and son, at that) who are there on a trek to visit Bert’s (F. Murray Abraham) grandmother’s birthplace. *in the voice of Penny Hartz* F. MURRAY ABRAHAM!!!!
Might it be Aubrey Plaza’s low-key acerbic Harper?What? Aubrey Plaza is playing a character that’s acerbic? Noooo – what a shocker!(I kid, I kid, I’d watch just about anything with the promise of acerbic Aubrey …)
I was probably as skeptical as anyone that the show would be able to capture lightning in a bottle twice, but given that the delights were mostly in the writing I suppose that’s easier to replicate than individual characters. The finale episode’s observations about the pecking order of privilege with Olivia -> Paula -> Kai in particular was fantastic.But wasn’t Gries dying in the first season? I thought he was at a high-end resort as a kind of last gasp (especially given he’d worked for BLM his whole career).
I thought he was dying as well and was thus surprised to see him back as her husband and seemingly in good health. Maybe she paid for him to get some really good healthcare, or maybe (since he seems so different than he did last season) it was all a long con to get her to marry him.
Yes, he was. But he seems to have either made a recovery, or there’s another shoe that will be dropping soon. Also, he doesn’t seem nearly as infatuated with Tanya already, so I wonder how much time has elapsed in the meantime.
He was never infatuated with her TBH. When she invited him to Aspen his response was “sure, I’ll keep the party going.” He obviously always thought she was pretty weird but hey, free trip to Aspen!
I’ll have to rewatch a couple old episodes, because I remember him as thinking she was weird, but really liking her. And now he just seems contemptuous and dismissive (which doesn’t seem entirely unlikely, having to deal with her). The bathroom phone conversation seemed like something to throw us off and will probably not be the affair it appears to be. But at this point, it seems to have been awhile that they’ve been together, since Tanya has worked her way up the White Lotus vacationer tiers.
I’m hooked already. That familiar “ominous, uncomfortable and entertaining” White Lotus feeling is back. Love the characters. Can’t wait ‘til the next one! And yeah, that Mike White dialogue is killer.
His eye and ear for how privileged folks move through the world continue to be unmatchedCounterpoint: Succession
Correct.
white lotus, succession and righteous gemstones all tell similarly well-realized versions of different tiers of rich/privileged. i don’t think the roys or gemstones would be caught dead* at a white lotus resort, for example.*that’s not a pun about how people die at white lotuses.
You (Manuel Betancourt) and others are misusing and not understanding the word “privileged” for the characters on this show. We don’t know how any of these characters grew up and/how they obtained their money. Do we just assume because they are white and on vacation at an expensive resort, that they are “privileged”? Who’s to say that these characters weren’t born into low-income and then worked hard at school and then at their career and now have some money? And what is the threshold and parameters for being “privileged”?
Pardon my Italian, but your comment is a crock. You don’t need to “know how any of these characters grew up and/how they obtained their money” i.e. you don’t have to “have had a privileged upbringing” to be “privileged” in the here and now. By your twisted logic, someone like Mark Cuban who was “born into low income” and “now has some money” is not privileged today just because he had humble beginnings. *mind boggles*
your mind is *boggled* because it is small, closed-off, and full of racism. To me you are cloaking your racism and inferring that only white people are privileged? What is your exact parameters and rules for being privileged? Tell me exactly how Mark Cuban is privileged. Without going into these characters early backgrounds and without really knowing someone’s complete history and then automatically labeling someone as privileged is a sure sign of your jealousy and hated.
Ohmygosh!Maybe someone else has the patience to explain to you (again) that the terms “he is privileged” and “he had a privileged upbringing” are not synonymous – because I’m tapping out. I thought my response was dazzlingly clear.Hope you didn’t dislocate your arm while making the epic reach that, from my response, I am “inferring that only white people are privileged”. Mark Cuban. Oprah Winfrey. Vladimir Putin. None of them had privileged upbringings. But all of them, in 2022, are highly privileged individuals.Try looking in a dictionary. Any dictionary.Or try talking to a human being. A patient human being.
take a deep breath…then exhale. Repeat…Now chill, buddy.why did the author of this article use the word ‘privileged’ in his subtitle?:“Mike White’s eye and ear for how privileged folks move through the world continue to be unmatched”I don’t need to use a dictionary to understand and know the meaning of privileged or entitled or spoiled. I already know exactly what it means. And I know exactly the difference between “he is privileged” and “he had a privileged upbringing”. And I know the difference between saying something like “it was a privilege to have met you” and any other way you can use or interpret the word “privilege”.Instead of privilege, Manual could have easily have used the word rich, affluent, opulent, wealthy, upper-class, well-off,….search for synonyms at THESAURUS.com“Mike White’s eye and ear for how folks….But nowadays – and in this review with its subtitle – you are too naive and blind to know how and why he was using the word in question. It’s a derogatory stereotype that you use for people that you think (but don’t know for a fact) either had a privileged upbringing and/or are privileged.
You just said a whole bunch of nothing.You’re a rude, annoying and, worse still, unimaginative troll.
“Privileged” is not an insult. It’s a descriptor.
Start here:
https://psychology.umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2016/10/White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdf
Lol the hit dog hollers. The premise of the show is “rich ninnies act horribly” not “we’re going to re-affirm the myth of the rich person who deserves it”. Also yeah, if you can afford an Italian getaway at a luxury resort, you’re privileged. I would feel privileged to go to a luxury resort. The distinction is that I’m not offended by people stating a fact.
This season has many of the fun elements of season 1, but the only dynamic that felt fresh and legit subversive was the one between Cameron and Harper. He clearly engages in subtle but distinctly #metoo behavior in the hotel room (that sort of privileged “obliviousness” as he undresses in full view and without warning) but Harper clearly found herself conflicted. There is certainly energy between the two, even though Harper cannot stand the guy. I think this is an honest take: sometimes you’re attracted to people you shouldn’t be. I’m genuinely interested in where this will go. But I do hope The rest of the stories don’t yet feel fresh. The whole assistant subplot is borderline sitcom.I think season 1 didn’t work hard enough to explore the lives of the locals (not just the staff but the actual locals) in a resort town. The Kai plot line pointed to some of the dissonance of the local population and the carefree existences of the wealthy hotel guests. Hopefully, the story line involving Beatrice Grannò and Simona Tabasco will take things further. Sicily is a beautiful, but troubled place. There’s a lot they could bring to the show. Aubrey Plaza is Latina and Will Sharpe is Asian — and they self-describe (within the reality of the show) as “passing” POC. Even so, this show feels super white, cast-wise. I was hoping they could have brought in a bigger range of backgrounds to the guest lineup. Unlike season 1, which was a pandemic quarantine rush job, they had a lot of time to plan for this.
I agree – the assistant subplot is (granted, the series is young) idiotic. First – Greg would certainly be intimately familiar with his wife’s personal assistant, so the friction is confusing and forced. Two – once he’s expressed disappointment with her presence, can’t Tanya simply say – “go shop…see the town…bar-hop, go have a meal in the village – I’ll have my phone and text you if I need anything”. Of course she could. Instead we have this dumb Three’s Company-esque nonsense where she’s hiding behind a menu two tables away from them. It was truly bad. A skilled assistant for a mega-monied person would be gifted in the art of being present or un-present, as the occasion demanded – it just seemed silly.
I thought the assistant was relatively new hire for Tonya so maybe her husband didn’t know her that well.
I think the themes explored will be disassociation, disconnectedness and failures to communicate.
Wackiness ensues.
Regarding the race of the cast, isn’t the fact that it’s mostly white people one of the main themes and points of the series?
You’re absolutely right that whiteness and its implications were front-and-center in season 1, given the contrast with the locals, but season 2 is set in a European country (albeit one with some North African and Middle Eastern heritage) — there simply isn’t enough contrast to make that kind of point this time around (and it was kind of already made in season 1). I would have expected them to mine different themes this time around, including the ways in which privilege can be complicated within and among various racial groups. Rich Black people go on vacation. So too do Asian Americans and Latinx people and those of South Asian descent and so on. Also, why is everyone from America? Wouldn’t we expect to see people from the UK, China, the Middle East, etc.? Honestly, you’re often more likely to find those nationalities in Italian resorts than Americans. In summation, I’m just a bit bored by the familiar choices made in the main cast as of episode one (which, let’s be fair, is going to be the core group focused on this season).Random picks for dream cast: Michelle Yeoh, Julio Torres, Himesh Patel, Michaela Cole, Isabelle Huppert, Bashir Salahuddin, Danai Gurira, Steve Coogan, Deepika Padukone…
Kinda sounds like you’re criticizing the show for not being what you want it to be, and not for what it is. You’re not wrong about a lot of it, but those are basically “they should have done this instead” kinds of criticism, and its possible they did think about that but you know, the writer and creator of the series was better suited for writing about americans instead of people from other countries.
It’s less that I wish a creator read my mind than that they plowed any new ground beyond a change of setting. (Again, this is early days, so possibly moot, but I’m betting not.) Much of this is a symptom of White foregoing a writers’ room, a tool that helps you clear out the cobwebs and tap into multiple backgrounds. White wrote season 1 alone because it was a rush order — completely understandable, but also the reason he overlooked rich questions related to the local Hawaiians (White even admitted this to Vulture) — but he had all the time in the world to assemble a room for season 2.That room could have pushed the story into new territory and helped him avoid his blind spots (we all have them).I am very much NOT an auteur person. Singular talents are of course a thing (White is one of them) but they’re only as good as the collaborators they choose.
Cameron and Daphne reminded me of every rich white person I’ve ever met that described themselves as “socially liberal, but fiscally conservative.”
“Does it still… get…” “What? Hard? Yes.”hahahahahahahaha
I’m curious to see if White chose Sicily because it has a relatively high poverty rate, and there are visible signs of it all around. Having been all over the island, including the beach at Cefalù where they shot the opening, Sicily is not as picturesque as movies make it seem. It is really rundown. Next to beautiful gated hotels there are homes that look bombed out. I can’t think of many equivalents where you have rich tourists and poor locals squeezed together so tightly.
That’s like every touristy island all over the world.. at least in my experience. And just fancy places in general. Like the Hamptons, with fancy tourist stuff and seriously poor people blocks away. Or the Bahamas..
I’d argue that Sicily is unique with just how decrypted the island has become for the people who live on it (despite it being a tourist destination). There are so many abandoned homes that many cities have programs where they will sell them to foreigners for €1 if you will commit to renovating the home.
“Mike White’s eye and ear for how privileged folks move through the world continue to be unmatched”
You’re telling me that a rich guy is good at portraying other rich people?
Astonishing.
It’s certainly nicely produced, directed, stylized, and well-acted for the most part- but the writing?? I don’t know.
I am not a fan of Jennifer Coolidge’ act in general, and they are really force feeding us a so-called plot line for her here that played terribly in this opening episode. I can’t stand her character and I think her acting is one-note, but she’s become a gay icon for it, so he’s casting her again, no matter how implausible.
F. Murray Abraham as an incredibly annoying, way-too-much-farting, harassing, attention whore of an old man…irritating and not compelling.
Aubrey Plaza is so over-the-top with irritation towards a seemingly friendly, grounded couple with kids, that she seems to hate and hardly identify with – yet they stated had been planning this trip forever. Makes no sense. And his strip down scene to change his shorts was ridiculous, knowing she is so hostile towards him – matched only by the lameness of her husband’s response to that news. It all played out like it was in fact written by a gay man – the gratuitous ass and dick shot, the nonchalance of a dude stripping in front of his friend’s wife. Hey, it’s not the locker room at the Y.
Not what I was expecting from the glowing early reviews I had read.
His writing is not great. Season 1 was overrated, I don’t get the praise.
Feel like regarding Aubrey Plaza’s character and her attitude towards the other couple, it’s intentional. She is quick to judge them and make decisions on who they are as based off mostly superficial things, and acting like she knows exactly who they are already, despite having never known them at all. She is representation of what is essentially high brow snoberry disguised under intellectualism and social liberalism. She would never describe herself as elitest, and would take offense to being called a snob, but would call you ignorant white trash immediately after being told off for her attitude.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in the season, we learn two things: The other husband (the naked guy) actually is facing baseless “me-too” like accustations (he mentions this off handedly earlier, and it’s clear from Aubrey’s reaction that she doesn’t buy it as being fraudulent) and that Aubrey’s character will attempt to have sex with him, but he would actually turn her down as he really does care for his wife. Judging from her interactions with her husband, she walks all over him and the fact that he lets her do it, is a big turn off to her. She doesn’t like that it’s turning her off, and she refuses to acknowledge that it’s due in part to her own actions, but she’s insecure so instead of facing up to her own feelings, she projects anger out towards the husband instead. Essentially, she is someone who will judge a book it’s cover, then get mad at you when you say that’s what she did, and accuse you of doing the same thing.
That was almost exactly my theory, but now that you’re saying it, I don’t think that Cameron’s me-too-vibes are entirely baseless. I also think he will resist Harper’s seduction if it comes to that, because he genuinely cares for his wife and/or considers Harper simply off-putting, but he did show her his ass on purpose. Maybe just to mess with her, put her off balance? Or maybe it’s him who’s trying to lure her into a compromising situation, to prove to his buddy that she ain’t shit. He clearly thinks his friend could have done better. Maybe because he’s got designs on him himself? At dinner, when wondering about his friend’s lack of game in college, he says “I would do you” – why not take him at his word for that?
I also don’t think that the Harper’s attitude is the biggest problem in her marriage – or if so, merely indirectly. Sure, she’s clearly miserable, and in a way, her pushy demeanor probably got her into that mess – because this guy wouldn’t have married her, if she hadn’t told him to. Because he’s simply not actually into her. Cameron suggests that at college Ethan was always too busy for sex, and even though Harper hates Cameron and has found a way to disagree with everything else he says, she’s quick to confirm that this is still the case. I don’t think she saying that to undermine Ethan – she has just acquiesced to eat the damn fish, because she’s noticed she’s creating that impression. You get the sense it spills out of her in spite of herself – she’s clearly genuinely frustrated about it!
My take is that Ethan married Harper, because it was the path of least resistance, and she has never really been his type. I suspect he’ll end up cheating with Daphne, someone he would never have dared to even dream about before he got rich. Cameron’s probably got his number right – he really is the original incel who settled for a Harper/Becky, because he was convinced the Stacys/Daphnes are only for the Chad’s/Cameron’s of this world. Poor Harper! Right now she’s clearly over-compensating her insecurity in an obnoxious manner, but my bet is her insecurity is not unfounded.
I think it would be fun to have a proper love quadrangle – Harper actually wants Ethan, who actually wants Daphne, who actually wants Cameron, who actually wants Ethan. Cameron will finally convince everyone to have an orgy, and then everyone will be crushed when it becomes apparent, why everyone else agreed to the plan.
I wasn’t too into Jennifer Coolidge’s performance in season 1 either (exception: her rant to Belinda about wanting to show the guy the core of her onion–that was pretty good), but I laughed loudly at her seduction technique in this episode.
“Back East” – where do you think the Moors were from?
If you go east from Sicily for long enough, you’ll hit the Iberian peninsula and then the western coast of Sicily.
(But to be fair, there was a long part of history where the term Moors was used to mean Muslins in general).
Just wondering , if one travels from California to Italy, does one fly east or west? And are the flights mostly direct?Series is off to a good start. The bloom is definitely off the rose for Greg and the walking pile of misery and neediness (aka Tanya). I’m curious to know more about the other end of that furious phone call Dominic and his wife (?) had.
I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Christuffah (it’s impossible not to say it) in this series. He’s great at portraying such despicable characters who you can’t help but feel for, despite knowing that they are the source of their own problems. Definitely interested to know more about what happened between him and his wife as that reaction she had to him felt like such seething rage that’s been boiling for a long, long time.
East. It’s 6,600 miles to Sicily that way. If you went west from LA, it would be over 11,000 miles.
*the divine and the propane
I did not find anything enjoyable about the hotel manager (or any of the hotel’s staff for that matter). In the first season, it seems like they wrote it in a way that encouraged you to root for the staff (even when Murray was doing despicable shit, literally), but in this first episode it seems like the writing is trying to encourage us to root against the hotel manager.
Why? Personally I find her very likable and funny.
She seemed pretty unhappy and is a shitty boss to the staff. I didn’t find any of her lines funny, but I guess some of that may have been the result of her accent throwing some of the comedic timing off.
Honestly, I know there is legitimately zero chance of this happening but if Season 3 of The White Lotus doesn’t include Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in a “Knives Out” crossover, I’ll be very disappointed.And yes, I know Seasons 1 and 2 follow the structure of “how dunnit” rather than “who dunnit” but I just know what I want and want what I want.
Quite liking the show so far. As an Italian, I found the music choices quite peculiar and I thought I could share some more details about them. For example, the song at the beginning is “a far l’amore comincia tu” (could be broadly translated as “if you want to make love, you start”). The song is by Raffaelle Carrà, one of the most famous singers and LGBTQ+ Italian icons (recently deceased)And then the show goes a completely different way and includes a couple of songs by Fabrizio De Andrè, arguably the most famous Italian singer-songwriter, heavily influenced by French music tradition (George Brassens and the likes). You could think of him as the Italian version of Bob Dylan, although more heavily political and left-leaning (we are talking about anarchism or there about). The first song they include is “Bocca di Rosa”, the story of a young woman who arrives in a small town and quickly begins sharing her body and her love with all the males there, causing envy in the local female population who ends up chasing her away: The second song by De Andrè is “Preghiera in Gennaio”, written after the suicide of the colleague and friend Luigi Tenco (most famous suicide in Italian music world):I will stop here for the time being, but let me know if you are interested and I can share more info ad trivia from an Italian perspective about the next episodes.