6 Moments From ‘The White Lotus’ That Are So Relatable If You Travel
If The White Lotus has a thesis statement, it is this: Traveling does not absolve you of yourself.
If you are miserable and unfulfilled, then you will be miserable and unfulfilled on a beach in Thailand. And yet, you and I, and our fellow travelers, will speak in superlatives about every trip. “It was amazing; it changed my life; it was an incredible experience.” This, of course, leaves out the food poisoning, the earth-shattering fight on Day 2, and the many hours of checking TikTok for new Likes. As long as travel remains a signifier of luxury and privilege, then no one will ever be honest when describing it; the idea, after all, is to achieve status and respect. Any declaration of imperfection would be admitting to others, and one’s self, that a portion of those two weeks brought you down a notch. So, you lie: it was amazing; it changed your life; it was an incredible experience. But you are still yourself.
If any of that struck a chord, then these six moments from The White Lotus will be painfully relatable.
Season 3: Carrie Coon is all smiles until bedtime
In Season 3 of The White Lotus, Carrie Coon plays Laurie, who comprises one third of a superficially tight-knit friend trio. But Laurie and her longtime friends, Kate and Jaclyn, are clearly more complicated than they seem. Kate and Jaclyn endlessly shower each other with insincere, hyperbolic compliments that suggest jealousy or at least insecurity. Meanwhile, they ice out Laurie, and at one point, subtly minimize her status as a single mom. It’s no wonder that Laurie ends the night sobbing in her room. That said, if you’ve ever traveled with a big group of friends with a less than perfect dynamic, then you’ll immediately see yourself in Laurie. A big, fancy resort cannot magically cure a toxic friendship.
Season 1: Olivia and Paula pretending to read
If you haven’t pretended to read at a pool while secretly checking out everyone around you, then are you even alive?
Season 2: Portia realizes her vacation boyfriend is not marriage material
If you’ve never had a vacationship, then you’ve at least had a vacation crush. And if you had a vacation crush, then you probably realized, eventually, that your dream man or woman was just another Average Joe, but with an accent. However, you probably realized this after the vacation ended and you were already at home, crying about the pile of work in your inbox. Season 2’s Portia, on the other hand, realized this while she was still on vacation – after her vacation boyfriend, Jack, almost murdered her. Be less like Portia!
Season 2: Tanya’s travel fantasy doesn’t come true
The hilariously un-self aware Tanya enters Season 2 with an elaborate fantasy of what Italy should be. She imagines herself dressed like a movie star on a Vespa with a man in a “slim fitting suit.” The fantasy also includes aperitivos, pasta, a sea at sunset, and being “very chic and happy and beautiful.” Then she accidentally swallows a bunch of bugs and her husband tries to murder her. But there’s a moral here, too. Vacation fantasies are just that: Fantasies. When you come in with too high expectations, you leave disappointed. That’s how people get Paris Syndrome, which is a real disorder in which people fly to Paris and are immediately disappointed.
Season 1: Shane throws a fit over not getting the room he booked
Whether people like to admit it or not, privilege associated with wealth is something that transcends gender, age, race, and culture. No matter where you visit in the world, there will always be one loud, entitled tourist complaining that their ocean-facing, fully stocked, $500,000-a-night honeymoon suite does not have enough pillows. You have probably rolled your eyes at this person and thought, “Wow, I would never do that,” while secretly wishing that you could afford an ocean-facing, fully-stocked, $500,000-a-night honeymoon suite.
Season 1: Tanya overcommits
It’s actually kind of devastating when Tanya reneges on her agreement to fund Belinda’s business proposal. On the other hand, this interaction is less a window into Tanya’s mind than it is a reflection of how often people overcommit while on vacation. Who among us hasn’t flown to another country and immediately fancied themselves a new person – one who books 4:30 A.M. sunrise kayak trips – only to cancel said kayak trip after the free cancellation period has already ended? Traveling does not absolve you of yourself. If you don’t do five extreme sport activities per day in Milwaukee, then you probably won’t do five extreme sport activities per day in Hawaii, either. You will, however, tell everyone that your Hawaii trip changed your life.
