“White Lotus” - Episode 4

Story posted November 28, 2022 in CommRadio, Arts & Entertainment by Izzy Charboneau

The guests of the White Lotus Hotel in Sicily are now halfway through their stay, and none of them seem to be having the kind of vacation they planned for.

Daphne (Meghann Fahy) and Harper (Aubrey Plaza) wake up in the villa in Noto, with Harper excited to reveal to Ethan the secrets of Daphne and Cameron’s relationship, even though she has promised Daphne she won’t. 

Back at the hotel, Ethan (Will Sharpe) and Cameron (Theo James) wake up, hungover and, in Cameron’s case, in bed with our two young sex workers, Lucia (Simona Tabasco) and Mia (Beatrice Grannò). Ethan also tells Cameron that he won’t share what he learned about his old friend.

However, Harper shares with Ethan what Daphne told her about her husband the minute she gets back. Ethan on the other hand, decides to keep quiet, though it is unclear whether this is because of the cro code or because of tension with his wife.

Before leaving the room, Harper finds a condom wrapper that Cameron left behind, which causes her to think Daphne may be right about Ethan changing now that he has money, and she spends the day in a bit of a downward spiral.

Across the hotel, Tanya’s (Jennifer Coolidge) vacation is finally starting to look up when she meets a group of gay men who adore her, led by a man named Quentin, played by Tom Hollander, and they invite her to spend the day with them. She seems to realize this is just the thing that will help her feel better after being abandoned by her husband.

This is also good news for Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), who is now spending time with Quentin’s nephew, Jack (Leo Woodall). He is just the type of guy she was saying she wanted to have fun with on this Italian vacation.

This is bad news for Albie (Adam DiMarco), however, as Portia had told him they should spend the day together. Albie’s day continues in a bad way, as he also gets into a fight with his father, Dominic (Michael Imperioli) about his sister.

While Albie sulks, Lucia and Mia are discussing last night, and they seem to have switched roles a bit. Lucis is suddenly full of shame about what she does, while her formerly reluctant companion is seemingly enjoying the job now.

Mia tells Lucia she is planning to sleep with the hotel’s piano player, Giuseppe (Federico Scribani), because he said he’d help her singing career. Lucia seems really confused by this, but Mia is excited at the prospect.

Lucia has decided to forgo her regular job for the day, and actually spends the afternoon with the freshly abandoned Albie. She ends up having a nice time with him, as he seems more willing than her regular clients to listen to her talk about her hopes and dreams.

When Mia does try to sleep with Giuseppe in a chapel in the hotel, they encounter some problems, and she gives him what she thinks is a viagra pill she took from Lucia. While Giuseppe is performing at dinner, however, he collapses from whatever the pill really was.

At the end of the night, we see Albie and Portia at opposite ends of the bar, both accompanied by other people. The two seem to be engaging in a battle to make each other jealous, and it ends with both of them heading to their rooms with their respective dates.

After dinner, Harper asks Ethan again what happened last night, and he tells her Cameron asked him about investing with him, unsure of why Harper keeps asking. So instead of confronting him about the condom, she leaves the wrapper out on the bathroom counter. Is this Harper’s way of taking a page out of Daphne’s book and playing a little game with Ethan, or does she just feel that their marriage is extremely tense the same way the audience can?

Throughout the episode, we also see that the resort manager, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), has a little crush on one of her employees, a young woman named Isabella (Eleonora Romandini). She softens when speaking to her, and even ends up buying her a gift from a jewelry store that Isabella mentions liking. 

This is an interesting contrast to the last season, where the hotel manager had a crush on a younger employee and got him high instead of a gift. But this is likely just another example of writer Mike White’s unflinching ability to expertly express his social commentary.

This episode of “The White Lotus” is one of the best of the season, and is finally getting viewers to remember that some of this tension is eventually going to end in a murder, something it was easier to forget in the first few episodes.

Rating: 4/5

Izzy Charboneau is a second-year student majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact her, email ijc5186@psu.edu.