Who knew the cringeworthy antics of the megarich tourists who frequent exotic holiday destinations could be so interesting? And so cringeworthy.
The clever crime series-cum-travel show taps into two of television’s most popular genres to produce excellent watching. The intrigue is clever, and the ensemble cast all deliver good performances. The tempo of The White Lotus starts out slow each season as the characters and their conflicts are introduced before reaching a crescendo, as all good shows should, towards the end.
The seasons always start with what happens at the end – and then unfold from the beginning. It’s a cinematic technique I have always liked and was perhaps done best by the late, great David Lynch in Mulholland Drive. (Watch it again. It’s genius.)
It’s a window into the lifestyles of the rich and famous – although mostly rich in the case of these holidaymakers who travel to exotic locations. The first season is set in Italy, the second in Hawaii, and the third in Thailand. The destinations are duly beautiful and exotic – unless those places are your home, and then they are, well, home. However, for the rest of us, they are the exotic places people yearn to visit.
But the rich and famous lives in this series are, how can I put this politely, not very interesting. The characters are self-obsessed, bicker with siblings or spouses about trivial things, and show a painful disregard for the hotel staff.
What makes White Lotus work so well is that it portrays the lives of two sets of people: the fabulously wealthy guests and the often downtrodden employees who cater to their every whim. And have to do so with a smile.
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This other side of the luxury is what makes the show so engaging. The lives of the staff – or “under stairs” to use the British phrase – are laid out as they smile politely. It’s sometimes heartbreaking when an ultrarich guest engages with a masseuse in one season, seemingly delivering a dream opportunity. However, the whimsical, shallow, and wealthy guest drops this escape after meeting a new romantic interest.
I often found watching The White Lotus as uncomfortable and distressing as Netflix’s first season of Monster, about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. I don’t like the people depicted in the series. The guests, I should say, not the employees whom you feel empathy for. But that is the point, isn’t it?
The producers of The White Lotus are showing us a version of this ultra-wealthy world where the inheritors of wealth and successful tech bro entrepreneurs have such enviable lifestyles. But there is little enviable, even likable, in many of these people. Whether it is an accurate depiction or not is moot. The TV show wants its viewers to be outraged and cringe with indignation on the luckless employee’s part after they’ve been left in an awkward position again.
The quality of actors is also noteworthy. Each season has a few big names and a number of up-and-coming actors.
Season three, for instance, features Patrick Schwarzenegger (yes, Arnie’s son), Parker Posey and Jason Isaacs in one family. Isaacs barely speaks but gives an unbelievable performance using mostly his facial expressions.
The excellent Walton Goggins is a (troubled) guest, as is Michelle Monaghan. Thai-born K-pop star Lalisa Manobal plays a young Thai working at the hotel, the very picture of innocence, a delightful on-screen mismatch to her real-life status.
Other actors like Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Rothwell and Jon Gries give great performances, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
The White Lotus is binge-watching TV at its finest.
