The White Lotus season 2

[Anonymous]

^^^
Some great analysis about the show and characters. I was in the camp that found the characters hard to warm to in the beginning but they gradually few on me.

Generally satisfied with the ending and the way they resolved tensions and plot twists.

However the two young hookers playing Alvie to get $50k euros , playing Valentina to get piano gig, beinf best friends with the hotel
Doorman who pretended to be an abusive pimp and being best friends with each other is not credible.

Sex trafficking of teen girls is a huge world wide problem and no less so here in the DMV. Not really comfortable with showing the young hookers as getting out of all their exploits with zero complications or actual dangers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Jack saved Portia’s life. He was probably supposed to kill her

He didn't strike me as a killer, just a hustler.

This. His "job" was to keep her busy and out of the way. As to whether he was attractive, his styling got worse and worse. He looked attractive in the beginning but by the end he was sweaty and greasy, made to drunk or hungover.

Then why didn’t he just say ok get out of the car, this is where I’m dropping you off. Why get out of the car, smoke a cigarette, look like he was conflicted, and say your smart don’t go back to the hotel, go straight to the airport and leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weeks..those 4 grossed me out...so every time Cameron cheats, Daphne is going to do something to make up for feeling like a victim...what an invitation for disease and disorder

No don’t you see - Daphne is the aggressor. Cam reacts to what she provokes, not the other way around. Don’t you see how she played Harper and Ethan? That’s the point of Daphne: she’s not a ditz; she’s a female psychopath. Psychopaths aren’t all out for violence. In her case it’s all fun and games. She’s says in the first episode she loves Dateline. She loves drama. Daphne sees the uptight couple and commences a little game called Let’s see how we can get this puppet to dance. She feels powerful by getting people to do things and make it seem like she’s innocent and it was their idea. When Harper asks Daphne if she thinks Cam cheats, she says you need to do whatever you need to do to feel better, you should get yourself a trainer. The idea of cheating never occurred to Harper before, and before you know it, she’s cheating!

Same dang thing with Ethan. Daphne knows her actions trigger Cam to cheat. She Does Not Care. She uses that to justify her bad behavior. “See, if Cam wasn’t such a bad guy, I wouldn’t have to do these things to survive in the relationship and not feel like a victim.” Go back and look - Daphne is the instigator of all the cheating. She gives Ethan the same advice, you do what you gotta do to level the score. Cam, Harper, Ethan, they all think in varying ways that they chose to behave this way. But they were manipulated into behaving this way.

At the end, Daphne’s like this is just another Saturday for me. It is immaterial that Harper and Ethan grew closer because of Daphne’s actions (unless of course it was to inspire Ethan to invest more with Cameron because he had a great trip, which in turn benefits her). Her main motivation is to drum up drama and skillfully manipulate people without them even realizing it was her. That is her superpower.

This is fanfic, not at all rooted in the source material. A wife can’t “provoke” cheating by leaving for a night. And she tried to get him to come but he refused because he wanted to… waterski.

Can had no idea she was going to stay away for the night. He did in fact only plan to waterski. It was only after Daphne dropped a bomb on Cam, that she was staying away unexpectedly and he realized she was punishing him, that he retaliated by waving the hookers over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ethan was a bigger mark than Albie.

Harper played him like a fiddle with psychological manipulation to get what she wanted — her filthy rich weirdo husband wrapped around her finger and impregnating her.

Cameron and his wife orbited him to corrupt him and bring them all closer, so when they get back Ethan will wire a boatload of money to Cam to “manage”. Asset management is just a scam to milk to money for management fees forever.

Nobody likes Ethan. People just want his money, even the snarky conniving lawyer he’s married to.

I don’t agree with this at all. Harper was not manipulative. She doesn’t seem to care about the money at all and is mostly concerned that it’s going to mess up their marriage (which it does). At the end she is kind of manipulative I guess, when they both ended up playing Daphne/Cameron games with each other, but that’s a result of everything that went down on the trip. She was not like that to start

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ethan was a bigger mark than Albie.

Harper played him like a fiddle with psychological manipulation to get what she wanted — her filthy rich weirdo husband wrapped around her finger and impregnating her.

Cameron and his wife orbited him to corrupt him and bring them all closer, so when they get back Ethan will wire a boatload of money to Cam to “manage”. Asset management is just a scam to milk to money for management fees forever.

Nobody likes Ethan. People just want his money, even the snarky conniving lawyer he’s married to.

I don’t agree with this at all. Harper was not manipulative. She doesn’t seem to care about the money at all and is mostly concerned that it’s going to mess up their marriage (which it does). At the end she is kind of manipulative I guess, when they both ended up playing Daphne/Cameron games with each other, but that’s a result of everything that went down on the trip. She was not like that to start

Did they get married before he made all his money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ethan was a bigger mark than Albie.

Harper played him like a fiddle with psychological manipulation to get what she wanted — her filthy rich weirdo husband wrapped around her finger and impregnating her.

Cameron and his wife orbited him to corrupt him and bring them all closer, so when they get back Ethan will wire a boatload of money to Cam to “manage”. Asset management is just a scam to milk to money for management fees forever.

Nobody likes Ethan. People just want his money, even the snarky conniving lawyer he’s married to.

I don’t agree with this at all. Harper was not manipulative. She doesn’t seem to care about the money at all and is mostly concerned that it’s going to mess up their marriage (which it does). At the end she is kind of manipulative I guess, when they both ended up playing Daphne/Cameron games with each other, but that’s a result of everything that went down on the trip. She was not like that to start

Did they get married before he made all his money?

Yes. He had sold the company shortly before the trip, and the marriage was clearly several years along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weeks..those 4 grossed me out...so every time Cameron cheats, Daphne is going to do something to make up for feeling like a victim...what an invitation for disease and disorder

No don’t you see - Daphne is the aggressor. Cam reacts to what she provokes, not the other way around. Don’t you see how she played Harper and Ethan? That’s the point of Daphne: she’s not a ditz; she’s a female psychopath. Psychopaths aren’t all out for violence. In her case it’s all fun and games. She’s says in the first episode she loves Dateline. She loves drama. Daphne sees the uptight couple and commences a little game called Let’s see how we can get this puppet to dance. She feels powerful by getting people to do things and make it seem like she’s innocent and it was their idea. When Harper asks Daphne if she thinks Cam cheats, she says you need to do whatever you need to do to feel better, you should get yourself a trainer. The idea of cheating never occurred to Harper before, and before you know it, she’s cheating!

Same dang thing with Ethan. Daphne knows her actions trigger Cam to cheat. She Does Not Care. She uses that to justify her bad behavior. “See, if Cam wasn’t such a bad guy, I wouldn’t have to do these things to survive in the relationship and not feel like a victim.” Go back and look - Daphne is the instigator of all the cheating. She gives Ethan the same advice, you do what you gotta do to level the score. Cam, Harper, Ethan, they all think in varying ways that they chose to behave this way. But they were manipulated into behaving this way.

At the end, Daphne’s like this is just another Saturday for me. It is immaterial that Harper and Ethan grew closer because of Daphne’s actions (unless of course it was to inspire Ethan to invest more with Cameron because he had a great trip, which in turn benefits her). Her main motivation is to drum up drama and skillfully manipulate people without them even realizing it was her. That is her superpower.

This is fanfic, not at all rooted in the source material. A wife can’t “provoke” cheating by leaving for a night. And she tried to get him to come but he refused because he wanted to… waterski.

Can had no idea she was going to stay away for the night. He did in fact only plan to waterski. It was only after Daphne dropped a bomb on Cam, that she was staying away unexpectedly and he realized she was punishing him, that he retaliated by waving the hookers over.

Absurd. He was thrilled she was gone. What show were you watching?? Because it wasn’t White Lotus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^
Some great analysis about the show and characters. I was in the camp that found the characters hard to warm to in the beginning but they gradually few on me.

Generally satisfied with the ending and the way they resolved tensions and plot twists.

However the two young hookers playing Alvie to get $50k euros , playing Valentina to get piano gig, beinf best friends with the hotel
Doorman who pretended to be an abusive pimp and being best friends with each other is not credible.

Sex trafficking of teen girls is a huge world wide problem and no less so here in the DMV. Not really comfortable with showing the young hookers as getting out of all their exploits with zero complications or actual dangers.

Mike White said he conceived of that plot line as basically Laverne & Shirley, with these two girls trying to con their way into parties to which they were not invited, and you route for them because they are funny and good hearted and have a good attitude. And that's basically what they were.

I think my favorite storyline wound up being Mia and Valentina, and I wish we could have seen Mia taking Valentina out to the clubs to meet her hot lesbian friends. I really liked that the season starts out with Valentina angrily trying to throw the girls out of the hotel and only reluctantly letting them stay when Dom intervenes, only for them to ultimately be exactly what Valentina needs to change her life for the better.

I also think people got too hung up on the "rules" of season one, which was more explicitly about class, and assumed that all the rich people would again get away with everything and the hotel staff or low SES characters would pay the prices, as in the first season. But this season was about sex, and the power of sex, and while in the long run Mia and Portia are unlikely to come out ahead, this season did show how being young and beautiful and willing to exploit sex for your own gains can pay off. For now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weeks..those 4 grossed me out...so every time Cameron cheats, Daphne is going to do something to make up for feeling like a victim...what an invitation for disease and disorder

No don’t you see - Daphne is the aggressor. Cam reacts to what she provokes, not the other way around. Don’t you see how she played Harper and Ethan? That’s the point of Daphne: she’s not a ditz; she’s a female psychopath. Psychopaths aren’t all out for violence. In her case it’s all fun and games. She’s says in the first episode she loves Dateline. She loves drama. Daphne sees the uptight couple and commences a little game called Let’s see how we can get this puppet to dance. She feels powerful by getting people to do things and make it seem like she’s innocent and it was their idea. When Harper asks Daphne if she thinks Cam cheats, she says you need to do whatever you need to do to feel better, you should get yourself a trainer. The idea of cheating never occurred to Harper before, and before you know it, she’s cheating!

Same dang thing with Ethan. Daphne knows her actions trigger Cam to cheat. She Does Not Care. She uses that to justify her bad behavior. “See, if Cam wasn’t such a bad guy, I wouldn’t have to do these things to survive in the relationship and not feel like a victim.” Go back and look - Daphne is the instigator of all the cheating. She gives Ethan the same advice, you do what you gotta do to level the score. Cam, Harper, Ethan, they all think in varying ways that they chose to behave this way. But they were manipulated into behaving this way.

At the end, Daphne’s like this is just another Saturday for me. It is immaterial that Harper and Ethan grew closer because of Daphne’s actions (unless of course it was to inspire Ethan to invest more with Cameron because he had a great trip, which in turn benefits her). Her main motivation is to drum up drama and skillfully manipulate people without them even realizing it was her. That is her superpower.

This is fanfic, not at all rooted in the source material. A wife can’t “provoke” cheating by leaving for a night. And she tried to get him to come but he refused because he wanted to… waterski.

Can had no idea she was going to stay away for the night. He did in fact only plan to waterski. It was only after Daphne dropped a bomb on Cam, that she was staying away unexpectedly and he realized she was punishing him, that he retaliated by waving the hookers over.

I think the big reveal with respect to these four was that Daphne is a much more enthusiastic participant in the cheating/deception than she let on, and that Cameron has also made compromises to maintain the marriage (basically, taking care of someone else's kids). Not only is she not the "victim," in many ways she's the villain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weeks..those 4 grossed me out...so every time Cameron cheats, Daphne is going to do something to make up for feeling like a victim...what an invitation for disease and disorder

No don’t you see - Daphne is the aggressor. Cam reacts to what she provokes, not the other way around. Don’t you see how she played Harper and Ethan? That’s the point of Daphne: she’s not a ditz; she’s a female psychopath. Psychopaths aren’t all out for violence. In her case it’s all fun and games. She’s says in the first episode she loves Dateline. She loves drama. Daphne sees the uptight couple and commences a little game called Let’s see how we can get this puppet to dance. She feels powerful by getting people to do things and make it seem like she’s innocent and it was their idea. When Harper asks Daphne if she thinks Cam cheats, she says you need to do whatever you need to do to feel better, you should get yourself a trainer. The idea of cheating never occurred to Harper before, and before you know it, she’s cheating!

Same dang thing with Ethan. Daphne knows her actions trigger Cam to cheat. She Does Not Care. She uses that to justify her bad behavior. “See, if Cam wasn’t such a bad guy, I wouldn’t have to do these things to survive in the relationship and not feel like a victim.” Go back and look - Daphne is the instigator of all the cheating. She gives Ethan the same advice, you do what you gotta do to level the score. Cam, Harper, Ethan, they all think in varying ways that they chose to behave this way. But they were manipulated into behaving this way.

At the end, Daphne’s like this is just another Saturday for me. It is immaterial that Harper and Ethan grew closer because of Daphne’s actions (unless of course it was to inspire Ethan to invest more with Cameron because he had a great trip, which in turn benefits her). Her main motivation is to drum up drama and skillfully manipulate people without them even realizing it was her. That is her superpower.

This is fanfic, not at all rooted in the source material. A wife can’t “provoke” cheating by leaving for a night. And she tried to get him to come but he refused because he wanted to… waterski.

Can had no idea she was going to stay away for the night. He did in fact only plan to waterski. It was only after Daphne dropped a bomb on Cam, that she was staying away unexpectedly and he realized she was punishing him, that he retaliated by waving the hookers over.

She was punishing him for not doing what she wanted, which was to go to Noto. Instead of saying directly that she was upset with him, she did what she wanted while simultaneously punishing him by triggering his insecurities. The Noto palazzo was boring and pointless when they had a whole resort already at their fingertips. She did it to train Cam to go along with what she wants. She also punished him by having some other man’s baby. They seem to accept that this is their relationship. They both jockey for position and punish the either when they don’t get what they want. But they also both love and feed off that drama aka “mystery” as Daphne calls it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weeks..those 4 grossed me out...so every time Cameron cheats, Daphne is going to do something to make up for feeling like a victim...what an invitation for disease and disorder

No don’t you see - Daphne is the aggressor. Cam reacts to what she provokes, not the other way around. Don’t you see how she played Harper and Ethan? That’s the point of Daphne: she’s not a ditz; she’s a female psychopath. Psychopaths aren’t all out for violence. In her case it’s all fun and games. She’s says in the first episode she loves Dateline. She loves drama. Daphne sees the uptight couple and commences a little game called Let’s see how we can get this puppet to dance. She feels powerful by getting people to do things and make it seem like she’s innocent and it was their idea. When Harper asks Daphne if she thinks Cam cheats, she says you need to do whatever you need to do to feel better, you should get yourself a trainer. The idea of cheating never occurred to Harper before, and before you know it, she’s cheating!

Same dang thing with Ethan. Daphne knows her actions trigger Cam to cheat. She Does Not Care. She uses that to justify her bad behavior. “See, if Cam wasn’t such a bad guy, I wouldn’t have to do these things to survive in the relationship and not feel like a victim.” Go back and look - Daphne is the instigator of all the cheating. She gives Ethan the same advice, you do what you gotta do to level the score. Cam, Harper, Ethan, they all think in varying ways that they chose to behave this way. But they were manipulated into behaving this way.

At the end, Daphne’s like this is just another Saturday for me. It is immaterial that Harper and Ethan grew closer because of Daphne’s actions (unless of course it was to inspire Ethan to invest more with Cameron because he had a great trip, which in turn benefits her). Her main motivation is to drum up drama and skillfully manipulate people without them even realizing it was her. That is her superpower.

This is fanfic, not at all rooted in the source material. A wife can’t “provoke” cheating by leaving for a night. And she tried to get him to come but he refused because he wanted to… waterski.

Can had no idea she was going to stay away for the night. He did in fact only plan to waterski. It was only after Daphne dropped a bomb on Cam, that she was staying away unexpectedly and he realized she was punishing him, that he retaliated by waving the hookers over.

Absurd. He was thrilled she was gone. What show were you watching?? Because it wasn’t White Lotus.

Nope. Go back and watch how surprised and hurt he was that she wasn’t coming back. Then he says she’s punishing me, THEN he gets into the mindset to level the score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^
Some great analysis about the show and characters. I was in the camp that found the characters hard to warm to in the beginning but they gradually few on me.

Generally satisfied with the ending and the way they resolved tensions and plot twists.

However the two young hookers playing Alvie to get $50k euros , playing Valentina to get piano gig, beinf best friends with the hotel
Doorman who pretended to be an abusive pimp and being best friends with each other is not credible.

Sex trafficking of teen girls is a huge world wide problem and no less so here in the DMV. Not really comfortable with showing the young hookers as getting out of all their exploits with zero complications or actual dangers.

Mike White said he conceived of that plot line as basically Laverne & Shirley, with these two girls trying to con their way into parties to which they were not invited, and you route for them because they are funny and good hearted and have a good attitude. And that's basically what they were.

I think my favorite storyline wound up being Mia and Valentina, and I wish we could have seen Mia taking Valentina out to the clubs to meet her hot lesbian friends. I really liked that the season starts out with Valentina angrily trying to throw the girls out of the hotel and only reluctantly letting them stay when Dom intervenes, only for them to ultimately be exactly what Valentina needs to change her life for the better.

I also think people got too hung up on the "rules" of season one, which was more explicitly about class, and assumed that all the rich people would again get away with everything and the hotel staff or low SES characters would pay the prices, as in the first season. But this season was about sex, and the power of sex, and while in the long run Mia and Portia are unlikely to come out ahead, this season did show how being young and beautiful and willing to exploit sex for your own gains can pay off. For now.

That definitely made me get most of my predictions wrong. I did not think Tanya would die, and I definitely did not think things were going to work out perfectly for Mia/Valentina

It is definitely a very sunny portrayal of prostitution. Not saying prostitution is always terrible, but a situation like that (happy, independent, well-adjusted women getting what they need by manipulating men) is probably one in a million. That storyline reminded me that this show was written by a man

[Anonymous]

Anyone who tried to convince me in real life that Daphne “provoked” Cam into the hooker incident, I would immediately red flag as a domestic abuser. That’s such an abuser line of reasoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who tried to convince me in real life that Daphne “provoked” Cam into the hooker incident, I would immediately red flag as a domestic abuser. That’s such an abuser line of reasoning.

I mean, no one is saying it was justified. But Daphne was playing a game with him and it becomes increasingly clear throughout the show that she has her eyes wide open when it comes to his cheating. I don't think she wanted him to do that specific thing, but she was looking to create drama by staying away for the night. She knew something would go down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^
Some great analysis about the show and characters. I was in the camp that found the characters hard to warm to in the beginning but they gradually few on me.

Generally satisfied with the ending and the way they resolved tensions and plot twists.

However the two young hookers playing Alvie to get $50k euros , playing Valentina to get piano gig, beinf best friends with the hotel
Doorman who pretended to be an abusive pimp and being best friends with each other is not credible.

Sex trafficking of teen girls is a huge world wide problem and no less so here in the DMV. Not really comfortable with showing the young hookers as getting out of all their exploits with zero complications or actual dangers.

Mike White said he conceived of that plot line as basically Laverne & Shirley, with these two girls trying to con their way into parties to which they were not invited, and you route for them because they are funny and good hearted and have a good attitude. And that's basically what they were.

I think my favorite storyline wound up being Mia and Valentina, and I wish we could have seen Mia taking Valentina out to the clubs to meet her hot lesbian friends. I really liked that the season starts out with Valentina angrily trying to throw the girls out of the hotel and only reluctantly letting them stay when Dom intervenes, only for them to ultimately be exactly what Valentina needs to change her life for the better.

I also think people got too hung up on the "rules" of season one, which was more explicitly about class, and assumed that all the rich people would again get away with everything and the hotel staff or low SES characters would pay the prices, as in the first season. But this season was about sex, and the power of sex, and while in the long run Mia and Portia are unlikely to come out ahead, this season did show how being young and beautiful and willing to exploit sex for your own gains can pay off. For now.

That definitely made me get most of my predictions wrong. I did not think Tanya would die, and I definitely did not think things were going to work out perfectly for Mia/Valentina

It is definitely a very sunny portrayal of prostitution. Not saying prostitution is always terrible, but a situation like that (happy, independent, well-adjusted women getting what they need by manipulating men) is probably one in a million. That storyline reminded me that this show was written by a man

Agreed. Also the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold-and-no-stis is such a boring trope, even if the actresses did a great job with it.