The White Lotus – Season 1
hboBad trips are having their moment in the proverbial sun right now: from the beach that makes one old in M. Night Shyamalan’s Old to the comedic hijinks throughout Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar, it seems like everything is a reminder that even a tropical paradise can’t make all your problems go away. That so many of these projects were written and filmed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic makes their messages prescient, but there is a retroactive naivety to vacation stories that were written before the whole world was forced to quarantine; a missing desperation for escape that was cultivated over the endless hellscape that was 2020.
Enter Mike White’s The White Lotus, the latest series from HBO that focuses on the dark, pulpy drama of the rich elite. Conceived of and shot during the pandemic, the season takes place over a single week at the high-class White Lotus Resort & Spa in Hawaii that begins with existential ennui and ends with a dead body. But though, a death looms large over the series from its opening moments, it is not the driving force of the story. Unlike similar series like Big Little Lies, The Undoing, or even the much-maligned Gossip Girl reboot, The White Lotus is first-and-foremost a satire full of tensely comedic moments. The mysterious death is just a minor aspect of all that occurs.
The central storylines are slightly interconnected character studies of the resort’s most pampered guests, all of whom arrive on the island from the same boat. There’s Rachel and Shane Patton (Alexandra Daddario and Jake Lacy): honeymooners whose whirlwind romance left them little time to actually get to know one another. Also aboard is Tonya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), a self-described “straight-up alcoholic lunatic” who is in Hawaii to toss her mother’s ashes into the sea. With them are the Mossbachers (Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Sydney Sweeney, and Fred Hechinger), who, along with their daughter’s friend Paula (Brittany O’Grady), have crammed themselves into a one-bedroom suite in a vain attempt to bring the family closer together. And lastly, the staff members of The White Lotus itself (Murray Bartlett and Natasha Rothwell) who are finally starting to buckle under the pressures of the guests’ constant needling and neediness.
Immediately these disparate personalities begin to clash, leading to the most fascinating part of The White Lotus: there are no heroes and no easy answers. A double-booked room becomes a petty struggle for superiority between a petulant brat and a remorseless hotelier. No matter one’s views on the initial mix-up, the escalations from both sides will leave audiences feeling conflicted.
Even the most noble of characters often have ulterior motives for their kinder actions. It creates an uneasy sense of tension through scenes that, at face value, may appear to be calm or even healing to the characters. The ‘friendship’ between Coolidge’s grieving but unstable Tonya and Rothwell’s overly hopeful spa director Belinda starts like a breath of fresh air before quickly souring when discussions of a potential business partnership begin.
That these people are all so damaged allows for the large cast of character actors and newbies to fully show a range that surprises and delights in equal measure. A boat scene in episode three becomes a masterclass in comedy as Jennifer Coolidge struggles with how to properly bid adieu to her mother, in a sequence that will likely shoot her to the top of 2022 Emmy predictions. Across the board, these performances are career-best work from everyone involved. It’s an embarrassment of riches with nary a weak link in the main or supporting cast.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, what really sets The White Lotus apart from its predecessors is the sumptuous and nerve-wracking score by composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer. With a few tropical notes, a single scene can shift from seemingly lighthearted and pleasant to uncomfortable and moody. Nearly every song is an earworm that sticks with viewers long after the closing credits.
A stay at The White Lotus isn’t for everyone, though. Between the casual cruelty and languid plot, some might feel less than thrilled about spending time with selfish navel-gazers. Likewise, some of the mature moments, including some nudity, sexual content, and a truly stomach-churning moment in the finale, may cause others to check out early. But those who finish the journey will be rewarded with the best piece of media to come out of the pandemic so far.
All episodes of The White Lotus will be available from 16th August on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW
