The White Lotus
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Hell is other people on your vacation.
But before White delves into matters ontological, he TarantinosThe White Lotustimeline.
Jake Lacys Shane mopes at the airline gate, his fingers worrying his wedding ring.
Someone died on his honeymoon, and the remains are sharing his flight home.
Still, someone is dead;maybesomeone else is at fault?
Thats all we learn before White rewinds the tape to a week earlier.
So do we catch up to sad, ornery Lacy at the end of the premiere episode?
(No, it turns out.)
At the end of the series?
But every character we meet from this point forward is potentially seven days from death.
Whats more embarrassing is that hes throwing shakas from the resort ferry before he even checks in.
His new wife, Mrs. Rachel Between-Last-Names (Alexandra Daddario), is wearing sailor shorts.
Im not sure we can trust someone so obvious.
Shes in her funkiest pearls; hes wearing rubber-soled shoes.
Do they wear these items on the mainland?
Sometimes in the Hamptons.
The kids are here because their parents bought the tickets.
Of course their attempts are futile.
The swell is too big for Jet Skis, and the suites, while palatial, are too small.
And even the most remote place on earth isnt far away enough for the guests to escape themselves.
Mrs. Shane is stupefied, second-guessing the marriage before her lei even begins to wilt.
The Mossbachers, on the other hand, are struggling to hit vacation mode.
Olivia and Paula alternate between laughing at the other guests and performing their wokeness for Nicoles benefit.
The generational divide is loud, but its not real.
Nicole loves Hillary Clinton; Olivia calls her a neocon.
At least theyre happier than the Pattons, whose newlywed glow is fading faster than a spray tan.
Rachel is a 30-something journalist finding it hard to swallow the fact that shes not more successful.
This is not a guy who can quietly remove the hair from his entree and move on.
Shane is no longer on his honeymoon.
Pineapple Suite or bust.
What do we want?
When do we want it?
But when Shane was reading Malcolm GladwellsBlinkin bed, I laughed harder.
Its difficult to classify this show, which straddles comedy and drama, without knowing who dies.
Tanya is too pitiable to die in a comedy; Mark is too vapid to go in a drama.
Im not convinced the series really needs its opening in medias res rig at all.
Even if we didnt know someone died, death would feel nearby.
But still, the cardboard coffin cant be unseen.
c’mon let it be anyone but Belindas.
