The White Lotus (Season 1)

 

The White Lotus is a show about a resort hotel chain of the same name, its employees, and the guests who vacation there. Season 2 just finished and people were talking about it on Twitter, so I decided to give it a watch. Otherwise I had never heard of the show and had no idea what to expect. It's a dark comedy and drama, where each episode follows the day in the lives of the guests and hotel workers. The first season is only 6 episodes, so the events on the show last a week. One of the interesting parts of this show is that most of the characters are generally unlikeable. As tensions rise throughout the week, it is difficult to know who to root for, creating at times some awkward scenarios. 

Armond and Belinda are the two hotel employees worth mentioning. Belinda is the spa manager, and she is the most likable person on the show. Surrounded by privileged white people, she gets excited when Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge - "The core of the onion!") begins discussing plans for Belinda to open her own spa. Of course, Tanya reneges on her offer in the end.  Armond is the hotel manager, who puts up with all the crazy guests, doing so with a smile. He's one of my favorite characters on the show. He is a recovering addict, however, and in a few short days the guests drive him off the wagon, where he becomes self-destructive. 

The Mossbacher family is an interesting dynamic. Mom is a powerful tech CEO, who can't let go of her job and hovers around the hotel rearranging furniture so that the background looks good on her conference calls. Dad (Steve Zahn) goes through two crisis on the trip. First, he was worried when his "balls swelled" that he had testicular cancer, then relieved when he found out he didn't have cancer. Secondly, he thought his dad died of cancer, only to learn he died from AIDS which he got from a homosexual relationship. This knowledge causes him to spiral, even admitting to his son that he had an affair and bought his mom $75k bracelets as a make-up gift. Daughter Olivia (Sydney Sweeney) isn't overly likable, but does provide some of the best comedic relief on the show ("Grandpa could've been butch" she says). Her friend Paula, who is on the trip with them, becomes increasingly frustrated with the Mossbacher family, and their privileged ways. So much so that she convinces one of the hotel employees to steal the mom's $75k bracelets. The poor son, Quinn (who is the third most likable person on the show), is forced to sleep on a lounge chair on the beach because Olivia and Paula won't let him sleep in the living room of their hotel suite with them. He becomes fascinated by the island life, and at the last minute bolts from the airport, deciding to stay in Hawaii. 

Finally, we have the Patton family, newlyweds on their honeymoon. Shane is wealthy and privileged, and he is the least unlikeable of all the characters in my book. They booked the Pineapple Room, but when they were placed in a different room, he converts his trip from a honeymoon to mission "Get the Pineapple Room". This causes him to tangle with hotel manager Armond, contributing to Armond's relapse and the eventual tragic ending of the week-long trip. Throughout Shane's obsession with Armond and the Pineapple Room, not only does he ignore his wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario, the second most likable character on the show), he criticizes her lack of success as a writer and is clueless to her wants, treating her like a trophy wife. As if this weren't bad enough, at one point his mom shows up (on their honeymoon!!), doubling down on her misery. She begins having serious doubts about their new marriage, and I thought she was going to leave him. Sadly, at the end of the season she is still with him.

I'd like to take a moment to discuss the music. It is awesomely intense and does a great job expressing the mood of the show. The general appearance of the show, along with the music, is great. The show does a good job expressing the beauty of the area surrounding the tension of the hotel guests.