The White Lotus season 2 finale spoilers follow.
After informing viewers that multiple guests wouldn't make it out of Italy alive, the new season of The White Lotus delivered on its ominous premise in a jaw-dropping finale.
With higher stakes than chapter one, Mike White's satirical anthology series went out with a bang in a sendoff aptly titled 'Arrivederci' — featuring the one death we all saw coming but wished we hadn't.
With an 81-minute runtime, the finale kicked off on a much more sombre, solemn note than the breezy, sexy mood The White Lotus Taormina had got us used to so far. Served by an eerie, foreboding score (paired with religious iconography and the ever-present Sicilian teste di Moro) the episode slowly unravelled the web of deceits characters had spun.
Proving how quickly a dreamy location can turn into a nightmare, The White Lotus season-two finale had a body count of four. Unfortunately, the episode laid to rest all hopes of having Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya McQuoid — the character connecting seasons one and two — in an already greenlit third instalment. The self-absorbed heiress meets her demise in this one, fulfilling a prophecy that cast a shadow on the entire season.
Related: The White Lotus has future revealed beyond season two
We'd left Tanya in the not-so-loving hands of her new friends, Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his bunch of queer, party-loving, mafia-adjacent pals. In episode six, 'Abductions', Tanya spots a picture of a younger Quentin with a cowboy who suspiciously looks like her equally suspicious husband Greg (Jon Gries).
'Arrivederci' confirms Quentin is in cahoots with his possible former lover Greg to nullify his prenup with Tanya. Her mafioso paramour Niccolò (Stefano Gianino) is to get his hands dirty by murdering the wealthy woman, allowing Greg, Quentin and the others to divvy up the inheritance.
Meanwhile, Tanya's assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) has been separated from her boss, stuck with the unhinged, increasingly aggressive Jack (Leo Woodall). Working for his "uncle" Quentin, the English lad is tasked with looking after Tanya's PA and preventing them from communicating.
Portia manages to use Jack's phone for a brief, panicky call, warning Tanya that she may not be safe. The latter realises Quentin's true intentions aren't benevolent when Niccolò joins them for dinner on the Englishman's yacht. The Italian thug carries the bag where he keeps his gun, as we learnt in the previous episode. Viewers don't have to see it this time to know that this Chekhovian weapon will indeed be fired.
Surprisingly, it's Tanya who pulls the trigger in a nerve-racking showdown, killing Niccolò, Quentin and Didier (Bruno Gouery), while Hugo (Paolo Camilli) dives into the Ionian Sea. At this point, Tanya is alive yet unable to leave the yacht to return to the resort.
She can't call Portia either since she accidentally dropped her phone in the water earlier in the episode. Frantically trying to find a way back, she's about to jump on Niccolò's speedboat but slips and hits her head. She ultimately drowns, revealing the lifeless, floating body Daphne (Meghann Fahy) finds in the prologue is hers.
Tanya's self-inflicted death is a nod to episode three, 'Bull Elephants', in which she seeks the help of a tarot reader only to hear she's in great danger and might die by suicide. Her accident is every bit as ironic as it is tragic, also leaning into the analogy with Puccini's opera heroine Madama Butterfly hinted at in episode five, 'That’s Amore'.
Though less deadly, the fates of the remaining holidayers are miserable in their own peculiar ways.
A paranoid Ethan (Will Sharpe) believes his wife Harper (Aubrey Plaza) has slept with his college frenemy Cameron (Theo James). When he confronts her, she admits Cam kissed her. This revelation gives way for Ethan and Cameron's toxic friendship to escalate into a physical fight, the peak of a clash that has been boiling under the surface for decades.
Sharing his doubts with Cam's wife Daphne, Ethan is surprised when she invites him to Isola Bella. The audience doesn't witness what the two are up to there, but there's a feeling this isn't just your regular hike.
Daphne's proposition is clearly sexual, as she subtly tells Ethan she has had to come up with some coping mechanisms to deal with Cameron's cheating (as in, sleeping with her trainer aka her maybe-babydaddy), and he should do the same. Her cool, unbothered wife veneer cracks for one moment, as Fahy conveys Daphne's heartbreak in a single, Emmy-worthy close-up.
The most bitter twist for the quartet comes later on. Struggling to recover from a dry spell, Ethan and Harper share a newfound sexual connection, feeding off their respective lies — much like Daphne and Cam's relationship.
This becomes apparent in the scene where both couples are PDA'ing as they wait to board their flight. Compared with their introduction on the boat in episode one, Ethan and Harper appear to have shed the unique traits of their imperfect romance, copying their friends' picture-perfect marriage façade.
It's a similar conclusion to that of season one, ending with Alexandra Daddario's Rachel staying in her dysfunctional marriage. The White Lotus shows, once again, that even the most morally-sound characters can be corrupted by power once they get a taste for it. In this case, it is not so much about money but about the sexual thrill deriving from manipulative schemes and secrets.
And manipulation runs in the family for our favourite patriarchy agents, the Di Grasso men. Leaning into his superhero complex, Albie (Adam Di Marco) intends to help Lucia (Simona Tabasco) get the money she needs to pay her violent pimp, Alessio.
Albie asks his Hollywood producer dad Dominic (Michael Imperioli), promising to convince his mum (voiced by Laura Dern) to take him back despite his sex addiction and affairs.
Related: White Lotus' Theo James says nude scene was originally "more graphic"
With the €50,000 in her bank account, a conflicted Lucia leaves Albie and is seen on friendly terms with Alessio, confirming she had been looking for an easy target all along.
Though this storyline disappointingly perpetuates negative stereotypes around sex workers, it also offers a different perspective on "nice guy" Albie. This Stanford kid gladly offers to play his mum to get what he wants, unveiling the performative nature of his feminism.
Yet, this doesn't seem to bother his initial crush Portia when they reunite at Catania airport. Still reeling from her ordeal with Jack, she finds comfort in Albie's unhealthy, predictable patterns.
And a week in Sicily sure isn't enough for Dom and his father Bert (F Murray Abraham) to move past their ingrained "boys will be boys" mentality. Deeply apologetic towards the women in their lives on the surface, they continue ogling girls half their age and act surprised when their Sicilian female relatives want nothing to do with them.
"What do we need men for?", these hardened women scorn them in episode six. With its finale, The White Lotus embraces this motto for at least some of its female characters.
Following her sexual awakening and transformation into a pantsuit power lesbian, hotel manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) finally softens up to her employees. Yes, even Rocco (Federico Ferrante).
After their night together, she grants her friend-with-benefits Mia (Beatrice Grannò) the pianist gig permanently, firing Giuseppe (Federico Scribani).
While Mia agrees to continue seeing Valentina, she suggests she and Lucia could introduce her to LGBTQ+ bars and "real" gay women. Their workplace, transactional fling may not last, but their bond provides Valentina with the support network and the fun she so desperately needs to come to terms with her queerness.
As for Mia and Lucia, this hustling BFF duo wraps the season with a stroll through Taormina's centre, living their own Italian dream — less cliché-y and more grounded in reality.
The scene brings a joyous closure for these two young women, whose lives have drastically improved in just a week. Together with Valentina's arc, their stories are an antidote to The White Lotus curse, causing guests to cave to societal pressures and only further sink into their pits.
We'd like to imagine these three happy and potentially joining the "good for her" cinematic canon, as we deliciously anticipate the next round in this hellish holiday saga.
The White Lotus airs on HBO Max in the US, and on Sky Atlantic, Sky Go and NOW in the UK.
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