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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Honesty is the best hotel policy. The penultimate episode of Mike White’s The White Lotus (titled “The Lotus-Eaters”) enters a pretty wild twist in events. This review will include spoilers, as the title of the article suggests. Please read ahead at your own discretion.
Plot Summary
As per HBO, here is the synopsis of this second-to-last episode.
As Armond (Murray Bartlett) attempts to do damage control, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) tries to redirect Tanya’s (Jennifer Coolidge) focus to her business proposal. Paula (Brittany O’Grady) grows increasingly disillusioned with the Mossbachers. A sidelined Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) begins to question her future. Nicole (Connie Britton) rebuffs Mark (Steve Zahn) for airing their dirty laundry to Quinn (Fred Hechinger).
Jake Lacy appears as Shane Patton, while Molly Shannon appears as the character’s mother, Kitty. Sydney Sweeney plays Olivia Mossbacher.
Kekoa Scott Kekumano appears as Kai, Paula’s fling and a hotel staffer. Meanwhile, Lukas Gage plays Dillon, another staffer at the hotel.
Alec Merlino, Christie Leigh Volkmer, Michael Trisler, Loretta Ables Sayre, Russell Satele, Brad Kalilimoku, Shea Lokahi Timothy Fabiana, Nathan Feitos, Imani McNorton, Denton Kukahiko, and Jesse James Steele also make guest appearances in the episode.
Discussion
First of all, I must say…what an insane episode of The White Lotus! Heather Persons and Bob Allen return as the editor and assistant editor, respectively, in this wild episode of White’s series. With their editing is Cristobal Tapia De Veer’s chilling musical scoring and Ben Kutchins’s excellent use of cinematography.
Themes of Class Issues
White continues to juxtapose the working class and the upper class. We see this with Paula and Rachel. Mark has a monologue that sets off the former’s course of actions:
Obviously, imperialism was bad. [Colonizers s]houldn’t kill people, steal their land, and make them dance. Everybody knows that, but it’s humanity. Welcome to history. Welcome to America. I mean, what are we gonna do? … Nobody seeds their privilege, that’s absurd. It goes against human nature. We’re all just trying to win the game of life. How are we going to make it right?
There is a longer part to his speech, but his point is that they shouldn’t feel bad for what their ancestors did. He believes that that part of history is over and that everyone should get over it. Now, before I get to my point, let’s look at the working class women’s perspectives.
Paula and Rachel
Paula made a not-so-wise decision in urging Kai to rob the Mossbachers’ hotel room safe. The wrong move here was putting her grandmother’s locket inside with their personal possessions. She should have put the necklace that Kai gave her instead, although this plan would least likely work. As someone who lives on a Pacific island, I know for a fact that theft in places such as hotels do happen. Additionally, robbing the rich occurs too. Not everyone will agree with it, but it depends on their social background. Lower-middle class people may steal as a means of survival, while middle-upper and upper class individuals do not share this sentiment.
Kitty tells Rachel that she should be proud to be Shane’s trophy wife. Of all the women who want to be gold diggers and what-not, Rachel is one of the few who wants to be successful and make money her own way. Kitty declares that it is her power to make her husband happy. This should not be the case. We should know better by now that women do not exist solely to make men happy and that we, as individuals, provide happiness to ourselves. This is why Rachel herself is not happy at all during this trip, and it’s suggested that marrying Shane was a mistake itself.
This is a rather difficult and heavy topic to discuss and one that I want to first bring up before anything else. The easy answer is people should feel remorse for past actions. These are inherent traits that are (and can be) passed down from generation to generation. That’s how change works: by not repeating history. Are we truly “the same people” as those before us?
Themes of Truthfulness
Speaking of happiness, we must address Quinn’s pursuit of it. Now that he is without a phone, a gaming device, a computer, etc. he has to find happiness (the real kind) elsewhere. After learning of his grandfather’s closet homosexuality, the Mossbacher boy finds himself embracing his sexuality. He paddles a canoe with a group of local boys because it’s what makes him happy.
Mark is also trying to convince his wife, Nicole, that telling his son the truth about his infidelity was a choice made with the intention to gain respect. In response, she says that she is trying to avoid dealing with these matters while on vacation. Nicole… Two episodes ago, you were trying to spend that time on business calls rather than with family.
After the Mossbachers and Paula learn that an employee committed a robbery in their room, Olivia notices (and maybe suspects) that something is wrong with her friend. Maybe she really sees this as Paula being sad about the situation or maybe she thinks something is up.
Performances and Character Developments
I cannot say that even one actor in this episode performed poorly. Even Kekumano and Gage served as integral to the narrative of the episode in their own rights. Sweeney is a little backgrounded in the episode, and if I had to say, Britton and Zahn do just fantastic together as Nicole and Mark. O’Grady does just as great in her role of Paula.
Nicole and Mark are parents with differing beliefs, much in the same way that Shane and Rachel are. While Nicole and Shane are both the breadwinners of the respective couples, it’s Nicole and Mark who have had more experience in their marriage. This makes it easier for them to make up, while Shane pretty much dug a hole up for himself.
Paula is this character that was mysterious at first but is an individual who wants to do the right thing. Especially as a woman of color, she can sympathize and empathize with Kai, despite their milieus.
I loved Coolidge and Rothwell together. Coolidge is the chef’s kiss of drama and shows that she’s come a long way from American Pie. She still has a whole of talent in her bag. Tanya is this woman who is emotionally broken because of her own parents, delivering some good lines for the episode. In regards to Rothwell, she is a massage therapist, but I don’t know to what extent she can serve as a psychological therapist.
Final Thoughts
I do apologize for coming out with this review a little late (and with the finale coming tomorrow). It is only because I needed to see this episode a second time to confirm my notions about what White brought from teleplay to the screen.
“The Lotus-Eaters” is a clever title for the episode, as it plays into the Greek mythological term. (And oh, how Bartlett delivered such a poetic line during one of the final scenes!) It does seem that a lot of these guests would rather make the hotel their home rather than a place for temporary stay. I mean, of all the other actors, Daddario should already know. She played a character in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief who dealt with the “lotus food”.
Mike White’s limited series, The White Lotus, is now on HBO; and with a second season confirmed to be on the rise, it’s not so limited. Check it out now! And take a look at our reviews on The White Lotus Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4.
Have you seen the former half of this limited series? What are your thoughts on it? Let us know! For more comedy-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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