You really should catch up on The White Lotus satire on OCS

It’s an undeniable fact: HBO is the queen of American television. Of TheWire at Game Of Thrones Passing by Euphoria Where Succession, the cable channel constantly proves its inventiveness and only disappoints on very rare occasions. You would therefore be wrong to miss The White Lotus, available on OCS, which is clearly part of the top of the basket. This comedy with dramatic overtones was a hit at the last Emmy Awards ceremony in September, with 10 statuettes won. Renewed for a second season, which has just started with one episode per week, this scathing satire could well become your fall obsession.

So welcome to the White Lotus, where wealthy guests come to enjoy the tranquility of a luxurious hotel. Each season thus follows its share of characters, all more barred than each other, in a different country. If the first six episodes took place in the paradisiacal setting of Hawaii, these new chapters relocate the action to the heart of Sicily. Between problems of the rich, love conflicts and political discussions above ground, The White Lotus should manage to make you travel from your couch. Here are three good reasons to dive into its unique atmosphere.

A gallery of charismatic characters

You might as well get ready now: you’re probably going to hate every protagonist in The White Lotus. Almost all white, rich, capricious and full of themselves, the residents of the hotel are real slappers, really unbearable. But that’s what makes all the salt of the series: the contrast between the hypocrisy of a bourgeoisie increasingly comforted in its privileges and the almost tragic normality of the staff of the White Lotus. The first season thus follows a seemingly happy couple on their honeymoon, the hotel manager on the verge of a skid, a family divided between reactive parents and their children. wokeor even a woman who came to pour her mother’s ashes into the ocean…

All these characters have one thing in common: being embodied by great actors. It’s not for nothing that the series won two Emmys for its outstanding cast. Jennifer Coolidge (American Pieseries The Watcher) and Murray Bartlett (Looking, Iron Fist) have thus been justly rewarded for their astonishing interpretations of Tanya and Armond. In the first season, they rubbed shoulders with the fabulous Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) and Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), at the top of their game. For these new episodes, the White Lotus welcomes new residents, still as talented: Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), F. Murray Abraham (MythicQuest), Meghann Fahy (The Bold Type) or Theo James (The Time Traveler’s Wife) thus invest the place, in Sicily. Only Jennifer Coolidge reprises her role as the extravagant Tanya alongside her new husband, Greg. Promise you will love to hate them.

An incisive, almost uneasy tone

But the characters of The White Lotus wouldn’t be as exciting to follow without some truly exceptional writing. Series creator Mike White (Enlightened), thus manages to create a climate of tension during banal discussions between two protagonists, on the verge of implosion. His cynical tone inspires The White Lotus an often embarrassing tragicomic atmosphere, so much the characters form a caricature without even noticing it.

The dialogues of the series are thus small gems of writing, approaching in turn the cancel culture, racism or homophobia, all through the eyes of rich white people who think they can do anything. We let you imagine the degree of absurdity of some hotel guests, who obviously feel that we can no longer say anything in a world that removes their privileges much too quickly for their taste. Unfortunately, the second season struggles to maintain that level of humor. The spiciness of The White Lotus gets lost in plots that are far too centered around sex and far less charismatic characters. The series remains all the same a sharp and tasty criticism of a social class far too obsessed with its own navel.

Suspense and death

Besides being an intelligent, cynical comedy, The White Lotus has the not insignificant quality of setting up suspense from its first minutes. Each season thus always begins with a mysterious death, before proceeding to a flashback, a week earlier. A classic but effective process, which allows the creation of HBO to immerse us in a postcard that immediately rings false. We can then have fun trying to find out who the unfortunate victim is, or simply revel in the lives of characters who could potentially pass the weapon to the left at any time.

Each protagonist of The White Lotus obviously has its little secrets, revealed as this social satire takes its ease. Behind the idleness and the perfect bodies, you could thus be surprised by some darker or completely wacky plots. So don’t forget your sunscreen and take advantage of the (finally) gloomy weather to go on vacation to the other side of the world, to the White Lotus.

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