White Lotus

In the first-season finale of The White Lotus, Tanya McQuoid tells Belinda, the manager of the spa at the show's titular hotel, that she's determined to ...

Instead of getting played or demeaned like the staff and locals in season one, the locals team up with White Lotus staff to stick it to the Establishment. Only those who understand that they could be a mark as well as a beneficiary in their own transactional relationships get to live to see another day and, presumably, another stay at a White Lotus. Then there’s the person who doesn’t emerge at all from the events that happen in Sicily: Tanya McQuoid, whose story is evidence all by itself of the importance of understanding the transactional nature of relationships. The characters who enjoy the most notable moment of triumph in the finale are Mia and Lucia, and it’s not an accident that they also happen to engage in the most blatantly transactional relationships. They both get what they came for, so to speak, and stroll happily through the streets of Italy as if their cares have completely dissolved, which, for now, they have. Ethan was never really friends with Cam in the first place; he was just engaged in a yearslong competition to prove his own worth. But it also signals that these men are on the same page now, incapable of hiding their sexual desires but also more comfortable with their similarities in that regard. And when we last see the two couples in the airport, they are sitting separate from each other as if they are two sides of the same dysfunctional marital coin. White communicates the idea that Harper and Ethan have something akin to real intimacy through visual language. While one might assume naïve Albie still doesn’t grasp that Lucia took advantage of him, he disabuses us of that notion when he reconnects with Portia at the airport and tells her that he got played. But when you consider which of the guests comes out of that weeklong experience unscathed — you know, relatively speaking — it’s the ones that have accepted that partnerships involve negotiation and are honest with themselves about that. “The Best Things in Life Are Free” is the song we hear as the season-two finale concludes, and it is definitely deployed ironically.

Leo Woodall talks about the life-changing moment he found out he landed the role of Jack in Mike White's award-winning series 'The White Lotus.

“He did the right thing, but he’s not that nice of a guy. Woodall also explained that Jack's decision not to kill Portia is about who he is as a person, more than his feelings for her. Though Jack decided not to kill Portia, he dropped her off in a deserted and dangerous area. The series will return for a third installment following a new group of guests at another White Lotus property. The fans don’t know much of his backstory other than Quentin helped him when he was in a dark place. He does the right thing in the end.” He gives you just enough so that you are fulfilled and satisfied.” When it got to that bit, I started to think about his backstory, but there’s something so genius about Mike’s writing that I didn’t want to compromise what he’d done.” In one scene, he told Haley Lu Richardson’s Portia that she was his “job.” It was terrifying for her; she even asked if she’d been kidnapped. White doesn’t spoonfeed his audience, and though he answers many questions, he still leaves some things unsaid and undone. For Leo Woodall, who portrayed Jack in the second season, landing this role was life-changing. He had been through a few rounds of Zoom auditions and had battled Covid more than once.

While Jennifer Coolidge's hopeful, glamorous, dullard of an heiress, Tanya McQuoid, successfully shot up her conspiring friends, she met her fate just moments ...

“We were towards the end of the show, and it got sent back to Rome the previous night by mistake. The tour recreates the moment from the Italian masterpiece when Michael Corleone’s wife Apollonia is killed with a car bomb intended for her husband. It uses a mannequin - sporting an undeniably similar dress to the one McQuoid wears throughout her last ever episode - who meets a fake fiery death in a homage to the scenes shot for the film in Sicily. Alerted by American writer Evan Ross Katz on Twitter, McQuiod’s finale dress bears a striking resemblance to another doomed character from The Godfather - the scene of which appears in The White Lotus. But it appears there was a clear sartorial clue that pointed to McQuoid eventually being revealed as the body found floating in the waters in front of the resort in the very first episode. The end of McQuoid, who also starred in season one, may have come as a surprise to those who had the likes of roommates turned feuding husbands Cameron and E, or the kindly, naïve teen Albie pipped for a drowning.

Did those two really just kiss when left alone together? And what happened in the cave?

“Did Ethan and Daphne have some kind of a dalliance on the island or whatever happened? “The question of whether Harper and Cameron did more than the kiss, I think probably that’s just all that happened,” White said. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.” It’s never explicit whether Ethan and Daphne hook up to retaliate against their spouses. “Meghann’s character is one of the most accepted characters on the show because of her warmth and bubbliness, her energy. “It kind of brings back that first kind of sexual charge that happens in the beginning of relationships and sometimes fades away over time.” “At the same time, the way Daphne rectifies the situation is she does some pretty appalling things to feel a level of power over Cameron. From episode four, Tanya found herself caught up with a cabal of bad gays. “The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White said. “By the end you’re like, ‘Well, maybe what Ethan and Harper needed [was] just a small dash of what Cameron and Daphne have.’ It feels like Cameron, to me, is one of those guys that’s not really going to change,” White said. “At the same time, there’s some time that isn’t really accounted for and I think that’s why it’s eating at Ethan.” “I think she feels oddly attracted to this monster that is Cameron, but she’s also trying to use the incident to wake Ethan from his existential and sexual reverie,” James said.

The resort: While you can find four-figure-a-night accommodation dotted along the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, only Orpheus Island has inbuilt ...

Instead, the “premium” “resort-style” setting we’ve come to expect could be found at the shiny new [Marriott](https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/meldl-melbourne-marriott-hotel-docklands/overview/), where the white lounger-lined infinity pool has views over … [Jackalope](https://jackalopehotels.com/), but their emphasis on art and wine feels a bit too niche for the world White Lotus has been building. Add to that the very real economic issues facing the region and you’ve got a perfect upstairs-downstairs situation, but the manor is a yoga shambala. When the newly minted Greg (Jon Gries) checks in to deal with a pesky cancer recurrence, is there a chance she’ll uncover the dark secret behind his fortune? The premise: Rugged and astonishing, Australia’s far north-west is as remote as you can get. So I’ve assessed five possible candidates based on the existence of a suitably six-star set (sorry Qualia, you’ve been banned from competition after Ticket to Paradise); narrative and thematic potential; and which characters would work best in the setting. There’s also a fair bit of erotic potential in couples feeding each other oysters straight from the sea. And at over $3,000 per person, per night, it’s right in that White Lotus sweet spot. Suitability: A cold, dark destination is not what an international audience would anticipate from an Australian vacation, which could make for a very White Lotus exercise in thwarted expectations. The second season of Mike White’s auteur anthology White Lotus came to its perfectly sticky end on Monday, and like a 1%er who can never be happy no matter how much I take and consume, I’m already ready for season three. The mood: This is Tasmania. The clear White Lotus winner.