Mike White returns to write and direct each and every episode of the new season, with Jennifer Coolidge as the only returning character.
Depending on how you look at it, the good fortune of season 1 of “The White Lotus” was either a blessing or a curse. For fans of Mike White’s cult series “Enlightened,” it was like a moment of possibility for the writer-director. paintings to get the attention it deserved; be more than a niche, a new series in which HBO would tune out. But to those who think HBO has left some other lucky limited series on “Big Little Lies” firmly in the realm of limited series (rather than proceeding with a disappointing moment of the season), it sounded as if “The White Lotus,” which was billed as a limited series and competed as such at the Emmy Awards, It was a temptation for fate.
Fortunately, season 2 of “The White Lotus” is an unmistakable success.
Now, for those who believed that the screen only presents problems with the rich little guys, this opinion will not really be repositioned with this current season taking place in Italy. A history of trouble, plus some other details of the murder mystery. But season 2 of “The White Lotus” is a more epic and expanding sequel, weaving together the week-long vacation lives of your last deficient little rich in a way that is arguably uniform. More impressive than the first.
Technically, the glue connecting the two seasons is position, as this season is located at the White Lotus Resort in Sicily, Italy, and recent Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge returns as Tanya (Jon Gries also returns as Mike, Tanya’s husband). But as with season one, White creates characters with a familiarity that makes those disconnected travelers incredibly compelling. Perhaps, even more than in the first season, they are more archetypes than “real” people; however, it’s White’s way of playing with those archetypes that makes them so interesting. And, in their own way, sad.
White has stated in interviews that this season is fostered through sexual jealousy and sexual politics of men and women, with inspiration coming from the “Testa di Moro” ceramic vases, vases provided in season 2 of “The White Lotus,” which he had noticed in Sicily. While there was sex in season one, season 2 is undeniably sexy, from the location to the characters and the setting they’re set in.
Although she discovered someone who loves and desires her and married her to Mike (after all, they are on holiday as a couple in Sicily), Tanya is even more depressing than in the first season, when she was grieving. he reaches Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), Tanya’s assistant who is going through a quarter-life crisis (at best, an intellectual collapse at worst) while running for her. Other important visitors to White Lotus come with the Di Grassos: Dominic (Michael Imperioli), his elderly father Bert (F. Murray Abraham) and his Albie University-educated son (Adam DiMarco), in Sicily to find their roots, and two face married couples on an awkward couple trip: Harper (Aubrey Plaza)
As with the first season, everything remains an attractive case that examines who the audience is intended to sympathize with, if any. Tanya remains a flashy star, as depressing and clueless as the series continues to show. Because of Coolidge’s sympathy and Tanya’s sadness, there is a preference to feel for her, but then there are the constant reminders of her flaking, immaturity, and confidence that things will be covered for her just because she is rich.
As Harper, Aubrey Plaza plays a character who even describes herself as a “shrew” at one point (among other things), but it’s appealing to see how and why she reacts the way she does and find out how wrong she is. It is in the law to do so. Harper feels like the only character in the couples’ travel quartet to recognize how strange things are. Cameron and Daphne are in their own rich bubble, Cameron is more commonly a villain, and Ethan tries to stay upstairs, as he and Harper are newly rich. But “The White Lotus” manages not to make her the “hero,” or anyone else the hero, because Plaza provides impressive complexity functionality: it actually feels like she’s making a laugh of those who thought, because of “Parks and Recreation,” that she can only do just one thing.
And the Di Grassos are attractive because of the program’s vision of masculinity and duty for 3 generations. Dominic de Imperioli is easily the character the audience intends to refer to as the “bad guy,” but there’s also DiMarco’s Albie, the picky son, who slowly becomes more of a “great guy” than just a great guy, with selection pieces. Dialogue that gives the impression of coming directly from a textbook of educational feminism.
One of the main criticisms of season 1 of “The White Lotus” was its portrayal of local Hawaiian characters; although this follows the selfish and selfish nature of the guests, it was something White said he had to do after the show’s launch. It doesn’t fully “compensate” for how the first season unfolds. The dynamic of elegance is there, however, any racial dynamic of this season only comes from the history of couple travel. But, more importantly, the “local girls”: Mia (Beatrice Grannò) and Lucia (Simona Tabasco): are a couple of sex workers. It’s probably not the Sicilian experience, although it’s still consistent with the more sexual narrative of this season and the reports and reactions that some characters who stay in this White Lotus would have in that spirit.
There is also more voyeurism in this season, treating and filming those characters as the art that fills Italy (White directed each episode). This is something you notice at first when it comes to Lucia and Mia, but also anything White uses. in his taste for directing to judge in silence both those characters and the audience.
It is also there to show the temptation of this season, which is what surrounds you in the story. The temptation of Italy, the temptation of locals and visitors to the White Lotus, the temptation of wealth, the temptation of decadence. To go back to the murder mystery, everything is enough to kill. I mean, Mike White did it again.
Season 2 of “The White Lotus” airs Sunday, October 30 on HBO at nine p. m. ET and airs on HBO Max at nine p. m. ET/6 p. m. PT.