Every summer, tourists swarm into third-world countries to boast about the unique and vibrant cultures they experience. This incredible journey is something that they are otherwise unable to experience in their bleak lives. Like clockwork, these tourists invade every Hilton located on Google Maps and lock themselves in their $500-a-night rooms. “The White Lotus” is a satirical drama that explores this yearly occurrence, giving viewers a window into the rich and elite’s exotic vacations at a high-end hotel chain.
Making a show based around rich people is tricky. As the wealth gap grows, audiences become less attracted to the sparkly depictions of the one-percenters who have screwed them over in their own lives. While the show follows guests as they stay at these incredible resorts, what actually makes it is the staff behind the scenes. In contrast to the carefree lives of the rich, the employees of The White Lotus are constantly riddled with stress and hardships.
As messed up as it is, to compensate for the unfair advantage the rich have, creator Mike White puts the guests of the hotel in absurd and hilarious situations. In the first two seasons, Tanya, a sparkling and aging heiress who uses people emotionally, is the comic relief. Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, is so remarkably vain and oblivious that it’s camp. Ignorant and exploitative in the environments around her, Tanya is the most tourist a tourist can be.
Not-so-secretly veiled by the satirical nature of the show are powerful messages. The first season is based on materialistic values and just how easy it is to condemn them and, at the same time give into them. Tanya, despite being beloved, in the end succumbs to her greed, not just materialistic but emotional. Her ending is cruel, but in the end, she put herself there.
The show’s second season’s theme is similar, but it focuses more on the desire for control over others. Control is a catalyst as relationships devolve in conflict after conflict. The White Lotus shows no fear in serving people both the truth and their karma. It won’t hesitate to say that you aren’t an ultra-feminist, Stanford-educated young man; you’re just Kendall Roy in a white-saviour wig.
Brutally honest and refreshingly offbeat, “The White Lotus” is entirely iconic. From the casting to the writing, there is a reason why it’s the number one show streaming on HBO. The third season is streaming, and while at a slower pace, still very well-thought out and engaging. No matter how absurd the situations the characters go through are, at the end of the day, the major player is the relationships between characters, with elements that everyone can enjoy sprinkled throughout the show, making it easily digestible for anyone. I recommend this show to any and all.
