‘The White Lotus’ Is Eerie, Inventive, and Addictive | by Ben Ulansey | Dec, 2024
Celebrating HBO’s unique streaming success in anticipation of its Season 3 release
Attempting to summarize The White Lotus, I begin to wonder what exactly it is about this show that I find so enthralling. It’s billed as a drama and can be pretty fairly categorized as solid dramatic fare. The most driving theme between the two seasons is romance, and romantic dramas have never exactly been the butter drizzle to my popcorn.
While directed by Mike White, the mind who brought the world School of Rock, there’s hardly a discernible common thread between the two projects apart from their unrelenting goodness. There’s a similar ingenuity behind the stories, and a similar tension-building within them. But the result could scarcely be more varied.
More than the romance, it’s the fully realized array of characters that makes the plot of The White Lotus so enticing. It’s the intrigue in how they’ll next cross paths with one another. There’s something oddly magnetic about the frenzied interplay between the rich vacationers on their lavish honeymoons and getaways.
Much of what colored the writing behind the show was White’s experience as a contestant on Survivor. He saw other contestants’ less savory traits, but also their more endearing…
