I was not prepared for how uncomfortable this series made me feel...
At first, it looks like one of those shows where rich people travel to beautiful resorts, drink expensive drinks and enjoy life while the rest of us watch from our phones but The White Lotus is not really about vacation... It is about people.... Terrible, complicated, selfish, lonely, confused people and somehow, that makes it very entertaining..
The series follows the guests and employees of a luxury resort called the White Lotus.. Each season takes place in a different location, with a mostly new group of characters. The first season is set in Hawaii, the second in Sicily, and the third in Thailand.. Every season begins with the suggestion that something bad has happened and the story slowly takes us back through the events that led to it..
Now what makes the show interesting is that it does not rush to give us heroes and villains... Almost everyone is flawed... Some people are rich and entitled, Some are insecure, Some are pretending to be better than they really are, Some are simply trying to survive their own problems while working for people who do not even notice them...
The first season especially does a good job of showing the difference between the guests and the workers... The guests arrive expecting perfect service but the employees are dealing with their own struggles behind the scenes.... The hotel manager, Armond, played brilliantly by Murray Bartlett, is one of the most memorable characters in the series.. Armond is supposed to be calm, professional and welcoming, but the pressure slowly pushes him toward a complete breakdown... Watching him try to maintain his fake smile while everything is falling apart was both funny and painful. Murray Bartlett really carried that role.. Jennifer Coolidge was also fantastic as Tanya... Her character is wealthy, emotionally damaged, lonely and sometimes completely ridiculous. You can laugh at her in one scene and feel sorry for her in the next. That is one of the strengths of the show. It makes you uncomfortable because you are not always sure whether you should judge someone or understand them.
The second season moves to Sicily and focuses more on relationships, marriage, desire and betrayal.. I personally found this season even more addictive because the characters were constantly hiding things from one another... Everybody seemed to be lying, cheating, manipulating or quietly planning something and the funny thing is that the show does not always make the drama loud... Sometimes a simple dinner conversation feels more dangerous than an action scene... A look across a table, a strange silence or one careless sentence can completely change the mood.... The writing is sharp but the pacing is slow. This is not a series where something explosive happens every ten minutes. It takes its time. Some episodes may feel like nothing much is happening, but underneath, the tension is building. Then suddenly, everything begins to connect.
I also loved the locations and visuals. The resorts look beautiful, almost unreal. The beaches, hotels, restaurants and landscapes create this perfect holiday atmosphere, but the characters are usually too miserable, selfish or distracted to enjoy it. That contrast is one of the show’s biggest strengths... However, the characters can be irritating and the story sometimes spends too much time watching privileged people complain about problems that most ordinary people would gladly have. The slow pacing may also test your patience but I think that irritation is part of the point. The show wants us to observe these people closely and ask ourselves why we are still interested in them... Maybe because, beneath all the money and privilege, they are still insecure human beings trying to feel important, loved or in control.
The White Lotus is not a feel-good series... It is funny, dark, awkward, uncomfortable and sometimes surprisingly emotional.. It is the kind of show that makes you laugh at a character, then suddenly makes you realise that the character is actually miserable.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. It is not about the resort. It is about the behaviour of people when they believe money, status or beauty can protect them from their own problems..
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Rating: 75/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
