Depending on how you viewed it, the success of “The White Lotus” Season 1 was either a blessing or a curse. For fans of Mike White’s cult series “Enlighted,” it felt like a second chance at the writer-director job it deserved; To be more than a niche, overlooked series that would pull HBO’s plug. But for those who believed that HBO should have firmly dropped another hit limited series in “Big Little Lies” within the confines of the limited series (instead of following up with a disappointing second season), it was “The White Lotus”. It felt like it — which was billed as a limited series and competed as such at the Emmys — was tempting luck.
Luckily, “The White Lotus” Season 2 is a clear success.
Now, for those who used to believe that the show was just poor little rich people with problems, that opinion certainly won’t change with this second season taking place in Italy. This Poor Little Rich People Remain – and the poorer, less wealthy people they are used to – a story of problems, along with another murder mystery component. But “The White Lotus” Season 2 is a huge, more epic sequel, its latest one that juxtaposes the week-long leisure lives of the poor little rich people in a way that is arguably even more impressive than the first.
Technically, the glue connecting the two seasons is the location, as this season takes place at the White Lotus Resort in Sicily, Italy, and recent Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge is returning as Tanya (John Gries also plays Mike, Tanya’s son). Now-husbands return.) But as in the first season, White creates characters with a familiarity that makes these out-of-touch holidays wildly compelling. Perhaps, even more so than the first season, they are more hardcore than the “real” ones; But it’s how White plays with these fanatics is what makes them so interesting. And, all in their different ways, sad.
White has stated in interviews that this season is fueled by sexual jealousy and sexual politics of men and women, with inspiration stemming from ceramics. “Testa di Moro” vase – the vase that has been present throughout “The White Lotus” Season 2 – he saw in Sicily. While the first season had sex, season 2 is undeniably sexy, from the location to the characters to their status as they find themselves.
Despite finding someone who loves and wants her and has married him in Mike (they’re on a couple’s vacation here in Sicily), Tanya is even more miserable than in the first season, when she was in mourning. This grief goes to Portia (Haley Lou Richardson), Tanya’s assistant, who is suffering a quarter-life crisis (at best; a mental breakdown at worst) while working for her. Other focal guests at White Lotus include Di Grassos – Dominic (Michael Imperioli), his aging father Burt (F. Murray Abrahams), and his college graduate son Albie (Adam DeMarco), finding his roots in Sicily – and Two married couples clash on a strange couples journey: Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Ethan (Will Sharper) and Daphne (Meghan Fahy) and Cameron (Theo James).
As in the first season, the ensemble cast remains an interesting case study of what audiences should sympathize with, if at all. Tanya remains an eye-catching showstopper, as sad and clueless as the series continues to show her. Because of Coolidge’s resemblance to how sad Tanya is and could be, there’s a desire to feel for her, but then there’s a constant reminder of her silliness, her immaturity, and her belief that things should happen to her just because she’s rich. Is.
As for Harper, Aubrey Plaza plays a character who is described as (among other things) a “clever” at one point, but it’s interesting to see how and why she reacts and tries to And to find out how right or wrong she is doing it. Harper often feels like the lone character in the couple’s travel quartet who seems to acknowledge how bizarre things are. Cameron and Daphne are in a wealthy bubble of their own, Cameron in particular is a bad guy, and Ethan is trying to keep up, as he and Harper are the new rich. But “The White Lotus” doesn’t manage to make him a “hero” nor does it really make anyone a hero, as Plaza gives an impressively complex performance—it really looks like he’s in the faces of those guys. Laughs who thought, “Parks and Recreation,” that there was only one thing she could do.
And de Grasso is interesting because the series’ takes manhood and accountability across three generations. Imperioli’s Dominic is easily the character that audiences should point to as a “bad guy,” but there’s also DiMarco’s alby, sensitive son, who is progressively coming across as more of a “nice guy” than a good guy. , like with bits of dialogue that often feel like they came out of a college feminism textbook.
One of the major criticisms of “The White Lotus” Season 1 was the portrayal of Native Hawaiian characters; While it was tracked with the self-centered and self-contained nature of the guests, it was something White admitted she would have to consider once the show came out. This second season seems to include more of a local Italian perspective with both the hotel staff and the local girls, but it doesn’t quite “make up” for the first season. There are class dynamics, but any racial dynamics this season only come from the story of the couple’s journey. But more importantly, the “local girls” — Mia (Beatrice Grano) and Lucia (Simona Tabasco) — are some sex workers. it’s probably not The Sicilian experience, however, is in line with this season’s more sexually-based storyline and the experiences and reactions that bring to mind some of the characters living in this White Lotus.
This season also has more of a voyeurism, treating and shooting these characters like the art that fills Italy (White directs every episode). This is especially noticeable when it comes to Lucia and Mia, but there’s also something that White has quietly used in her directing style to judge these characters as much as the audience certainly does. We do.
It’s also meant to show off the temptation of this season, which really wraps you up in the story. The temptation of Italy, the temptation of the locals and the guests of the White Lotus, the temptation of wealth, the temptation of the fall. To go back to the murder mystery, it all appears to be enough to kill. That is, Mike White has done it again.
“The White Lotus” Season 2 premieres Sunday, October 30 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and will be streaming on HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
