White Lotus Season 2 review: It’s all about sex and money and still not exciting

2.5/5

The White Lotus Hotel in Sicily welcomes a new set of guests – college buddies Ethan (Will Sharpe) and Cameron (Theo James), who are vacationing with their wives Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Daphne (Meghann Fahy); the three Di Grasso men comprising grandfather Bert (F Murray Abraham), his son Dominic (Michael Imperioli) and then his son, Albie (Adam DiMarco), in search of their Italian roots and Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), who is vacationing with her husband Greg (Jon Gries) and assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson).

Review: A White Lotus property by the beach in pristine Sicily and a bunch of guests, each of who have their own baggage. Tech entrepreneur Ethan, who has come into a wee bit of money after selling a company, and his wife Harper, are super honest with each other, so they realize that something’s amiss in their relationship, which is probably why they agree to go on a holiday with his college buddy Cameron and wife Daphne, who can’t seem to keep their hands off each of other. Cameron’s got a bit of roving eye, which Daphne is well-aware of, but unwilling to break up their family of four (including two young kids), she turns a blind eye and has fun on the side too. To the public eye, Cameron and Daphne couldn’t be more in love.

Dominic is currently estranged from his wife, while his daughter is also not talking to him, because he’s got a bit of a sex addiction problem. The first thing he does at the White Lotus is to arrange a couple of escorts, Lucia and Mia (who harbours dreams of becoming a singer) to keep him company during the trip. Albie, meanwhile, strikes up a friendship with Portia, after Tanya asks her to stay away but still around. Portia too is interested in Albie, until Greg returns to the US on some pretext and a bunch of party-happy gay men befriend Tanya. One of them has an English ‘nephew’ who instantly takes a liking to Portia. Disappointed, Albie finds solace in Lucia, but for her, he is just an easy mark.

The actual story is that of Tanya, who appears to be having issues with her newest husband, Greg. She thinks he’s having an affair but doesn’t know for sure, until she figures out that her new friends are all part of an elaborate scheme that Greg’s trying to pull off to get hold of her money.

White Lotus Season 2 is not half as fun as the original one, although it should be because it is about sex and debauchery. There is a lot of nudity, across genders – most of the young men seem to have at least one mandatory naked butt shot. The story-telling, this time around, feels lazy and not one character stands out, unlike Season 1, which made hotel manager Armond, for instance, unforgettable. There’s just not enough drama going around. The Ethan-Cameron-Daphne-Harper quartet feel like a pointless addition to the season. Guessing they needed a few drop-dead sexy bodies in swimwear.

At seven episodes, White Lotus is at least two too long, and would have benefitted from some sharp editing. It takes too long to build to some sort of tension, only to have it all unravel in a few minutes. The mystery surrounding the floating body also turned out to be one big joke. This can’t even be called an anti-climax, because there was really nothing exciting about this show.

Verdict: If you loved the satire from White Lotus Season 1, and are expecting an encore, well, you will be in for a disappointment. You’ve got to really lower your expectations, but even then, you may just be better off watching something else.