User reviews

I really hope she gets some award consideration love. Every single scene she is in is cringeworthy, fun, and full of depth. She's killing it!

I went into watching The White Lotus not really knowing what to expect. I just finished the second season and now know why it's had so many great reviews and won so many awards. What makes this show so good is the acting and the writing. Each character is beautifully written and acted, not a weak link on either season. HBO always puts out great content and this is no different. It's not a show for everyone but I definitely enjoyed it. It's one of the rare anthology shows where both seasons are equally as good. I'm now looking forward to future seasons of The White Lotus and hope they stay as good as these first two.

It's not for everyone's taste but if someone likes weird and satiric humor, can enjoy cringe and slow-burn stories with layers then it would be one of the best from recent shows. Finally something different.

Acting and writing are on point too. After the utter Netflix nonsenses this show is like your first ice cream sundae after a year long diet with extra whipped cream.

The White Lotus is so much better than I expected. Both seasons have all-star casts from top to bottom and all do an incredible job. I can't point that out enough, both casts are perfect. Also, the visuals on this show are just beautiful. This series has already won so many awards for season one and I expect season two to win just as many. It's both funny and serious in how it shows the difference in classes and how some of the wealthy and privileged live their lives. There are no real villains in this show but definitely some frustrating and annoying characters. There are so many great characters that everyone will have their favorite and most annoying.

I will say from the start this isn't a series for everyone, it's different, there's tons of charecter development, and it's a show I'd find much more enjoyable binge watching then consuming one episode per week.

I've grown to love limited series, immediately there is a start and end point set out from the get go. There's no cliffhangers written with no exact conclusion in mind or series that goes on way past its shelf life. This series is so well done it gives you a definitive, acceptable conclusion that leave little if anything to conclude. It's great when a season of episodes ends and it leaves you begging for more, however it's also great to watch a short series that tells its story while manages to leave no stone on turned and you're satisfied with it's ending and enjoyed it. In a lot of ways I believe this series left a wonderful blueprint for future limited series to come.

Honestly, "reviewers"? This show is a true HBO show. It is quirky, uncomfortable, exquisitely written, beautifully acted, and is presented nakedly, warts and all.

I found the reviewers fell into two categories - love it or hate it. The "love its" praised it for what I praised it for (above). The "hate its" did not like that you don't have a joke, then a laugh, then a joke, then a laugh. This is an adult satire. When you reviewers write that you can't find anything to like about the characters, THAT'S the idea. You are supposed to delve into why you don't like them. You are supposed to not like what they do (or, if you're a little bit twisted, LOVE what they do). Brilliantly written by Mike White, it exposes the underbelly of people, yet still shows dignified people in the same context. You don't like water breaking? That is a natural occurrence. White mingles humanity with absurdity, and coats it with a sheen of money, power, and humility. These actors are willing to be bad people, honest people, people at the end of their rope, and people trying to understand what life holds for them. I have only watched two episodes, and I feel that this show could go in any direction and I'd still love it.

Season 1 is a gem. The writing and acting is amazing. I can't wait for every Sunday evening. I wish I wouldn't have started it so I could binge watch the hole thing. There are parts that it takes a few seconds for your brain to process and then bang OMG laugh out loud funny. Rewind watch again funny. The story telling is masterful. Only thing wrong with this show is can't find anything to it's equal wile waiting for the next one to be released. Now that the next one is being released I'm going to wait and watch it when it's all done this is a show that is hard to wait for every Sunday so I'll be patient and just binge watch it.

Right after "The White Lotus" debuted, a criticism that I read was that the series was the latest focus on so-called rich people problems.

Totally wrong! This series shows how there's no love among any of the characters. They're all screwed-up individuals. Basically, rather than present good guys and bad guys, the series asks the viewer "How complicit are you in the issues depicted here?"

Definitely see it.

O god, I miss message boards!

It will not be a review - it's a question - can someone explain me why the woman who is apparently very very rich (CFO of Google-like) goes on vacation in group of 5 adults and teens and rent an apartament that has only 1 bedroom?? Wtf? I'm probably earning less than maids of the people of that kind and I always get on my vacation place with two bedrooms although we travel as 3 persons - 2 adults and a kid (not yet even teen). Seriosuly, it really bothers me.

Honestly, this almost feels like an experiment, created to see if it's possible to cram as many cringe-worthy moments as possible in a show, before the viewers give up. It's beautifully packaged, no doubt, with good direction, good cinematography and generally good acting, but I physically hated each and every one of the characters - no one excluded - and spent all my time wondering why their behavior ranged somewhere from mildly deplorable to downright unbearable.

I think it wants to be a satirical commentary on a particularly pampered demographic in society: white, oblivious rich people. And sure, it's a fairly well-deserving target for scorn. But it's done in a rather ham-fisted way, with characters who incomprehensibly lack almost any social skills, or act cluelessly in what are otherwise pretty normal situations. It didn't need to be so on-the-nose with the critique - if it indeed is critique - is my point.

Though some of the first season was cringe-worthy. This second season is about as masterful as anyone could hope for.

It starts a bit slow, the first episode, but soon finds its legs and impresses again and again, captivating me as if I weren't quite seasoned. It feels like a review of every thought I've ever had at a vacation resort, many of which I'd long forgotten. On that score alone it's a delight, but not to worry, it goes way beyond that to flirt with opera-like heights of drama and beauty something quite appropriate given its setting in Sicily.

Given the excellence of the acting and the seeming effortlessness of the story I would have to say Mike White, this series' creator, is some sort of unsung genius. The guy seems unaware of boundaries coupled with one of the sharpest eyes for detail I've ever seen.

This is currently my favorite show that's running (honestly though, it doesn't have much competition). The music is phenomenal and I hope the composer wins an award. It's not everybody's brand of comedy, but just because something isn't lol funny doesn't mean it's not funny. Although we're at episode 3 and nothing of huge significance has happened yet, I'm 100% invested in the characters and can't wait to watch it every week.

I am obsessed about season 2. There are so many fascinating characters and the performance of the actors behind them is superb.

I enjoyed the first season. It was cruel, real and funny. The characters are horrible people and because of that I don't think it's for everyone. But I personally had a great time watching it.

The second explores different type of relationships (father-son, lovers, friends, employer-employees) in such an interesting and entreating way that I just wanted to see the next episode to keep watching them interacting. The focus is more on gender, which I also love. It definitely entered my top favorite shows.

I believe the use of the music in episode 2, nearly overpowering the dialogue in some sections, was intentionally done to further enhance the unsettling mood of the entire episode. There's a lot bubbling under the surface of these characters, and it's about to start boiling over soon.

If you don't like many of these characters and find them hard to root for, that's intentional too. Mike White writes characters that challenge you and leave you feeling conflicted. He wants us to have an inner dialogue with ourselves as we watch. As to what's around the corner, I can pretty much guarantee you we have no idea (unless you've read the scripts). But fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

I've watched the first episode, and several times was wondering just where it was headed. I've decided that it isn't going somewhere in particular yet, it's going to follow these different characters and see where they go; tension is clearly building between several of them, a few are cyphers...can't say I was "liking" it but it intrigued me, I'll watch more. Interesting and sometimes recognizable people, in a particular sort of situation. Yes, interesting.

This could and should have been so much better. The writing is barely mediocre as is the overall production. Jennifer Coolidge's comedic talent is wasted here. The characters weren't that interesting and the ending, in my opinion, was anti-climatic.

Yes, almost all characters are extremely unlikable, but I think that's the charm of The White Lotus. You can definitely still see each of their motivations and I feel like the writers were very self aware of the stereotypes they put in each main character. The comedy for me was on point, but it might be disappointing for people who prefer punchline jokes. The music was pretty awesome and it set a very specific tone to the series.

The story is pretty good, but my main criticism is that it makes you think that all the characters' side stories would come together at some point, but I just didn't think that happened in a satisfying way. The different groups only interact with each other on a few scenes, and with very few exception, the encounters barely make any difference to the plot. Besides, some side encounters make no sense, like the quick appearance of the pregnant lady from the first episode. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell she was there for.

All things considered, I highly recommend it to people who like satirical comedy. Great main characters and pretty good storyline.

Started out as an interesting and tense take on a dark comedy, and then it soon became clear that the creators weren't entirely sure of the tone they were going for. Odd juxtaposition of establishing shots, building score and often mundane dialogue. Different is good, but not at the detriment of substance. Would've been a better film if it leaned into the thriller aspects or the black comedy, but struggles to balance both, and the disappointing finale shoehorns the character development that was missing from the the rest of the season. I think it's worth a watch, but if you start to feel like your attention is waning, it's a good point to stop. There's no unfurling mystery with a nice payoff... I actually forgot about what's hinted in the first scene.

There was so much hype around this show and I just don't get it. I knew there'd be a problem after the first episode when there was no hook- nothing happened to get me interested I spent pretty much the first 5 episodes waiting for something to happen. I just don't see the point of this show. I'm at a loss. If you want to watch a show about a bunch of white people on vacation doing vacation things, this show is for you. Jennifer Coolidge was good in it as well but not jaw dropping because her character was pretty one note. And all the characters are pretty much unlikeable. After it was over, I apologized to my boyfriend for suggesting it.

I am giving this eight stars as this is another Mike White series and they take a while to build. Enlightened definitely got better as it went along. Jake Lacy and wife Alexandra Daddario are a great pairing at being a bad romantic pairing. Nice to see the great Steve Zahn back in something as well. Jennifer Coolidge is hitting another high water mark as a clearly disturbed woman. Love the setting and music as well. Great summer series. Love i!

The first season of the show gets a nine from me. It's tight, consistent, darkly humorous, and its social commentary is nuanced and central to the show. Season two gets more like a six. It's good enough for me to watch a season three, but overall season two is less interesting because it feels more like a slow moving trainwreck of a tabloid story. The writing is just too obvious and lacks the nuance necessary to make the excesses interesting or meaningful. That doesn't make it bad television, but it does move it to the "maybe" category of recommendations for me - except for Aubrey Plaza's performance. She is excellent and definitely worth showing up for. Overall, the show is engaging and has plenty to say. If they can move past the sophomore slump of overly obvious excess, I'd love to see more seasons.