The White Lotus - A Vacation to Remember

(Review)

By Sabrina Lettera

The White Lotus is a comedy drama with a different cast and location each season. It is focused on the guests’ stay at the White Lotus Hotel. Drama is seen between the guests and hotel staff, creating tension between everyone. 

Season one took place in Hawaii. In the first of the six episodes, the guests got off a boat and were greeted by the hotel staff. They were escorted in golf carts to their suites. 

The guests arriving consisted of a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, parents with their son, daughter, and daughter’s friend, and a single alcoholic woman named Tanya who was grieving her mothers loss and brought her ashes on the trip to dump in the ocean. 

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, where season one was filmed. 

Photo by: Eli1023

Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, was played in an interesting way. She came into the hotel just wanting to grieve her mother, but ends up meeting a man at the hotel who then becomes her husband in season two. Coolidge does a great job of portraying a woman who just wants comfort, but also relies on alcohol to deal with her problems. Viewers can see her character develop by watching her meet a nice man, when she just wanted to weep in her sadness the whole vacation.  

Season two took place in Sicily, Italy. Like the first season, the first episode starts off with the guests getting off a boat and being escorted to their rooms. 

The guests arriving in Italy were Bert, Dominic who is Bert’s son, and Albie who is Dominic’s son. Then there are two couples on vacation with each other because the husbands do business together, as well as another appearance from Coolidge, on vacation with her husband who she met in season one. 

Taormina, Sicily where season two took place. 

Photo by: Scott Wylie

This season was, in my opinion, more dramatized than season one. The guests had secret romantic relationships with each other, sex workers were involved, and trust between couples was lost. 

In both seasons of The White Lotus, there is a character death in the last episode. The first episode of the season always starts off foreshadowing what will happen in the end, without showing who dies. The rest of the season, viewers try to figure out who will die with clues given in the episodes. 

Usually, it ends up being someone no one expected. Episodes are meant to throw viewers off, making them think it’s going to be someone they thought of, when really it’s a surprise to everyone in the end. 

Season three of The White Lotus came out February 16th, with only the first episode dropping. Episodes will drop every Sunday on HBO. This season takes place in Thailand, with appearances from Patrick Schwarzenegger, as well as the hotel spa manager from season one. 

Drama will surely be involved, and based on incidents from previous seasons, a death will be seen in the end. It is up to the viewers to see if their predictions were correct during the last episode, which will premiere on April 5th.