The White Lotus just aired its second season finale. The series, which satirizes the lives of the upper class, featured plenty of twists and turns for the audience. Its dark comedy and beautiful visuals have proven to be a winning formula for HBO; and The White Lotus' second season finale drew in double the amount of viewers when compared to its first season finale.
The series functions mostly as an anthology series. Each season features a cast of new characters and a new location. With the exception of Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya, very few plotlines carry over from one season to the next. This season, the action shifted to Sicily where there were four main plots at the White Lotus location there. Aubrey Plaza portrayed Harper, who felt alienated from her husband Ethan (Will Sharpe) after their recent acquisition of wealth. Joining them on their vacation was Cam (Theo James) and his wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy).
Meanwhile, Dominic Di Grasso (Michael Imperioli), his son Albie (Adam DiMarco), and his father Bert (F. Murray Abraham) are on vacation to reconnect with Bert's Sicilian roots. Tanya is on vacation with her husband, Greg (Jon Gries), whom she met in season 1 of the series. She secretly brings along Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), her assistant, for the ride. Season 2 of The White Lotus wouldn't be complete without the Sicilian locals: Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) is the manager at the White Lotus who's undergoing a sexual awakening, while Mia (Beatrice Grannò) and Lucia (Simona Tabasco) try to get a leg up by engaging in sex work.
What Happened to Harper and Ethan?
Harper and Ethan's marital woes finally come to a head in the season finale. The two have an argument after Ethan can't shake the feeling that Harper's cheated on him with Cam. The audience doesn't get to see what actually happened between Harper and Cam, but Harper insists that the two only kissed before being interrupted by Ethan. Ethan is skeptical and expresses that he cannot trust Harper after this.
He then heads to the beach, where he gets into a fight with Cam. The two are eventually separated by another guest, but Ethan heads off to tell Daphne about the possible affair. Daphne has a moment of heartbreak before composing herself, and the two head off towards an island together. There's a deliberate attempt at ambiguity here: Ethan and Daphne may have had sex on the island, but the audience isn't privy to what actually happens between them. It's left up to interpretation.
Later, however, Ethan and Harper have a lengthy sex scene - it seems that they've forgiven one another, or, perhaps, they've fallen into the same cycle of infidelity that Cam and Daphne are stuck in. The four are seen at the airport, seemingly happy and affectionate with their respective partners.
What Happened to the Di Grassos?
Having arrived on the island to reconnect with Bert's Sicilian heritage, the Di Grassos don't actually accomplish much of that. Their plotline is actually anchored in their relationships with women; both Dominic and Bert have tainted their respective son's view of romance by cheating on their wives. Albie, the youngest Di Grasso, is eventually scammed by Lucia into giving her €50,000. Albie shrugs this off, but he got the money by telling his father that he'd vouch for him being a changed man. Albie does, in fact, keep up his end of the deal, and Dominic's wife seems ready to reconcile, or is at least willing to try.
The Di Grassos seemingly each represent a man stuck in that same cycle of infidelity, just at different points in his life. Albie is a man who thinks he'll never cheat, but who easily falls for women and doesn't have a good grasp on romance or what he wants beyond being reasonably happy. Dominic is a man who's nearly destroyed his marriage with constant infidelity; he blames his father for this, because Bert spent his whole marriage cheating on his wife, which made his wife "bitter", according to Dominic. At the end of the episode, the camera focuses on each of them as they stare at a beautiful woman who walks by them.
What Happened to Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya and her assistant Portia?
Tanya's storyline was perhaps the most tragic in season 2. It turns out that Greg was after her money the whole time. He leaves his wife in the middle of the vacation, claiming he has to go home to handle some work. Tanya then meets up with some "high-end gays" in her words, led by Quentin (Tom Hollander). It turns out that Quentin is working with Greg, and is trying to lure Tanya into a false sense of security using drugs and sex (he hired a man named Niccolo, played by Stefano Gianino, to seduce her).
Tanya eventually figures out their plan with the help of Tanya's assistant, Portia, who's being held hostage (though she doesn't realize this at first) by Quentin's "nephew", Jack (Leo Woodall). This causes her to panic, and she loses her phone as Quentin has her board a boat that will allegedly take her back to Sicily. Niccolo eventually joins them on the boat, and Tanya excuses herself to use the restroom. She finds Niccolo's bag and realizes it contains everything he needs to kill her, including a small revolver. Tanya cries as she shoots down Niccolo, Quentin, and all but two of the men on the boat. The two men flee from Tanya, who tries to escape. She sees a lifeboat on the side of the boat, but while she tries to jump off, she hits her head and drowns.
It turns out that it was Tanya who died at the beginning of season 2 of The White Lotus. Daphne finds her body floating face-down in the water. Portia luckily escapes this fate, having endeared herself to Jack, who lets her go to the airport, but warns her not to try anything. Portia finds Albie there and asks him about the body discovered at the White Lotus, and realizes Tanya is dead. Portia then asks Albie for his phone number, and the two presumably resume their romance from earlier in the season.
What Happened to the Locals?
The locals in The White Lotus season 2 get a more positive ending than in season 1. Valentina spends the season becoming more confident as a lesbian. She'd had a crush on Isabella (Eleonora Romandini), a concierge, throughout the season, but accepts a relationship between the two won't be possible. After having slept with Mia, who later tells Valentina that she and Lucia will take Valentina out to some gay clubs, Valentina seemingly becomes more confident and happier.
Lucia's work with Albie pays off. Throughout the season, she's been stalked Alessio, a man whom she tells Albie has forced her into sex work. After having successfully gotten a large sum of money from Albie, Lucia wanders off before he wakes up. She and Mia, who's become the singer and pianist at the White Lotus, meet up in the streets of Sicily, smiling and happy. It's revealed Alessio is actually just a bellboy at a local hotel, and Mia and Lucia walk off arm in arm into a crowd, where they disappear.
The White Lotus played out exactly like it promised it would. Throughout the season, there was plenty of foreshadowing of what was to come, and plenty of mythological allusions that ended up mirroring the fates of the characters. Its twists and turns have helped it trend on Twitter more than once. The viral nature of the show has probably secured a few more seasons to come - and who knows what the next season of The White Lotus will bring?