The White Lotus: Ciao

November 1, 2022 12:44 PM - Season 2, Episode 1

Two couples navigate awkwardness, an Italian American family deals with a conspicuous absence, and Tanya arrives with her new assistant.
posted by paper chromatographologist (10 comments total)

Season One is going to be hard to follow, but this looks pretty good.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:46 PM on November 1, 2022 [4 favorites]

Nothing can ever match Tanya on the boat with her mother's ashes but this one shows potential.
posted by Ber at 8:15 PM on November 1, 2022

I'm along for this ride until they drop the ball.
Initial thoughts:
* I like how this season is rhyming with the initial pilot.
* The guest lineup seems strong, but I'm doubting the staff will top Murray Bartlett's Armond
* I hope Jennifer Coolidge's husband has a more compelling arc than an obvious affair
posted by matrixclown at 8:33 PM on November 1, 2022 [5 favorites]

God, I love this show. I've been listening to the new theme song on repeat. (And I wrote up a shot-by-shot look at the new intro sequence, because I don't believe in restraint.)

It rocks that Mike White, of all people, gets to have HBO money thrown at him to go on a tour of beautiful places where people suck. And I'm excited for him to be covering Italy, the birthplace of horny people hating one another.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 5:41 AM on November 2, 2022 [12 favorites]

It's also very funny to me that, after Mike White's finally making a hit show by opening it with a mysterious dead body, his new season opens up by doubling down and giving us many dead bodies.

There's this voice in my head that just keeps insisting that Mike White is a writer of innumerable subtleties and astounding tactfulness, despite the fact that he's that goddamn blatant. (See also: the Internet's freak-out about a certain, ahem, mirror.)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 5:47 AM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I love that the location seems to be a fluid composite of several different places in Sicily. I believe the hotel itself is the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina - the one where we see Mount Etna in the background (good enough for Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn - probably good enough for you, bud). But the opening scene is just outside Cefalù which is about a 2 hour drive away - I think there is some Palermo too.

It so happens that recently, I saw Anthony Bourdain's extremely dystopian Parts Unknown episode on Sicily - so far this show is doing a better job of making me want to go back.
posted by rongorongo at 6:12 AM on November 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted- thanks for the breakdown of the intro sequence. It’s incredible to think of how much work and thought goes into it. Although, to my eyes, Shot 8A is a dog whizzing on a statue.
posted by cranberrymonger at 10:15 PM on November 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Solid first episode. Left feeling a little like it's a little too much like the first season; what I liked about that is how it came from out of nowhere and felt fresh and new. Curious if the second season can be novel enough to keep my interest.

I had no idea about how the cast was going to work, but carrying Jennifer Coolidge over is a smart move. Also they've got F Murray Abraham, what an actor. Didn't love this lecherous grandpa shtick so much this first episdoe but I'm guessing they won't waste his talents.

Here's info on filming locations (possible spoilers?). Like rongorongo said, Four Seasons' San Domenico Palace in Taormino, Sicily is the primary location.
posted by Nelson at 8:24 AM on November 19, 2022

I think that the fact that the staff speaks a language that the clients don't understand is going to create some pretty funny moments this season. You could kind of see that going on the way Francesca was speaking on the dock as the boat was arriving. I wonder if it will turn out that one of the visitors DOES speak Italian.
posted by urbanlenny at 8:00 AM on January 19, 2023

Absolutely agree re: dog peeing on Theo James in the opening credits
posted by aabbbiee at 1:42 PM on January 30, 2023