Paradise is back, in Italian, and hornier than ever.
HBO’s acclaimed first season white lotus Exploring the barbed politics of privilege, power, and colonization, this second season of the current anthology series puts pressure on the turbulent politics of sex.
Showrunner and director Mike White moved the fictional five-star White Lotus Resort from Hawaii to Sicily, introducing a (almost) all-new zoo for wealthy patrons and their supporters. Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Ethan (Will Sharp) are invited on a vacation by Ethan’s former college roommate Cameron (Theo James) and his wife Daphne (Megan Fay). Ethan and Harper are newly rich, and although Ethan recently sold his start-up business, their traveling companions have long been “cold” by their vast wealth. F. Murray Abraham), his Hollywood executive son Dominic (Michael Imperioli), and Dominic’s son Albie, the generational divide is clear in the Di Grasso family. (Adam DiMarco) awkwardly navigates an elephant in a first-class suite that is Dom’s serial flirtation with Albie’s mother. Finally, kind-hearted, brainless heiress Tanya McCoid (Jennifer Coolidge) is a familiar face among Sicilian arrivals. This time, she’s newly married to her beau from last season, Greg (John Gries), and her disgruntled twenty-something assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson). I took
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Like the previous season, Episode 1 (titled “Chao”) sets the stage for a murder mystery. It opens with a delightfully effervescent Daphne striking up a conversation with the newly arrived and reminiscing about a week of vacation. “Italy is very romantic,” she says. “You’re going to die. They’ve got to drag you out of here.” On that optimistic note, Daphne leaves them to take her final dip in the glistening Ionian Sea. All is well until she feels something in the water. A hotel employee reports that there are multiple bodies to be recovered from the sea. However, the identity of the murdered person and the killer is not so easily determined. The show takes us back seven days before the ensemble arrives.
Greeting guests is this season’s nervous, perfectionist hotel manager, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore). And in the background watching guests disembark from an ivory yacht is Lucia (Simona Tabasco), a sex worker hired by one of the arrivals, and her best friend Mia (Beatrice Granno). is.
As new guests settle into their rooms, they are also introduced to the seemingly ubiquitous colorfully painted ceramic head statues, tastefully placed throughout the resort.they are based on brown, the legend of a Sicilian girl who was seduced by a Moor. Upon discovering that her lover already had a wife and child with her, she cut off his head.”That’s a warning to her husband, baby,” jokes Daphne. “Wound and round and buried in the garden”
It is clear that there is no compatibility between couples who vacation together. Harper is cold and standoffish at first, refusing to even pick up a champagne flute to toast the impending holiday together. However, we soon learn that she is threatened by Daphne and Cameron. I am afraid it will become.
Their mates’ suspicions only increase when Harper and Cameron walk into her suite alone to borrow Ethan’s swimming trunks, having lost his luggage on the way to Sicily. Cameron undresses right behind her as she rummages through her toiletry bag. His bare ass is in full view, reflected in the huge, plain mirror that Harper stands in front of him. She was perplexed and she is now resentful. (In the meantime, Cameron is the obvious frontrunner for his douchebag, a resident this season, but unlike Shane last season, he presents a more cunning and calculated presence.)
The foursome aren’t the only ones facing marital problems. only. Tanya complies—hey. More specifically, she told her exhausted attendant, “Keep her down and don’t come out of her room.” Just in case Tanya needs emotional support later in the trip.
This makes Portia hysterical. She returns to one of her sunbeds adjacent to the resort’s pool and confides in her friend, crying into her phone. “She’s a miserable mess,” she says. “If I had $500 million, I wouldn’t be miserable. I would be enjoying my life.”
At the poolside, Portia meets Albie. Albie temporarily escapes from the company of her cranky, unruly farting grandfather and her crook dad. As they chat, Bart falls down the stairs leading to the pool and accidentally falls to the ground. Alvy, worried that her 80-year-old grandfather may be suffering from a concussion, rushes to his rescue, but a fallen Bart is now only preoccupied with Portia’s presence. “Who’s the girl?” he asks his grandson.
It’s this ultra-masculine treatment of a woman that pits Di Grasso against Di Grasso in a multi-generational journey. Both Alvy and Dom see Bart as a senior pervert, with his endless attempts to flirt with any breathing woman within six inches of him. However, Dom’s string of infidelities earns him no points either. “Girls don’t have to be exposed to old man crap,” Alvy tells them both at dinner.
Lucia and Mia try to enter the hotel, but are quickly confronted and escorted by Valentina. A delicious exchange then takes place between Lucia and Valentina, with the latter despising Lucia’s profession. Provoked, Lucia exclaims, “Who pays to have sex with you? A strained, ugly bitch!” Brava!
Forced to sneak outside the hotel until they can sneak in, Lucia tells her friends to have a threesome with her and her still-unknown client so they can make double the money. Mia seems intrigued by Lucia’s life, but eventually declines the offer, citing her recent heartbreak as the reason for her inability to participate.
When the duo are finally able to evade Valentina’s watch and enter the resort, they are based in the hotel’s restaurant bar, where Mia is charmed by a singing piano player. Leaving the bar to perform, Mia gets the chance to approach singer Giuseppe. Giuseppe seems to have only half-registered what she’s saying before asking the price for the night, a shocking question for Mia who quickly walks away, but she throws her drink in the face not before.
Meanwhile, Lucia materializes in front of the client’s door. She knocks and lo and behold, Dom answers. is anyone surprised? The two drink and chat.Dom is kind of disappointed (after all, he did However Calling his ex-wife in a ridiculously unsuccessful bid to get her back hours earlier), there isn’t much to cooperate with Lucia on the conversation. “It’s hard to have a conversation right now, but you’re so beautiful,” he says. “I’m glad you’re here.” No words needed for the rest of the night.
Chelsey Sanchez HarpersBAZAAR.comcovers pop culture, politics, and social movements.