The White Lotus was a failure in its attempt to satirize whiteness

Observer

The Mike White HBO satirical dramedy is "a show about whiteness that frequently gestures towards prodding something deeper about the possibility of whiteness’s power being, if not toppled, then at least destabilized in some way," says Kyle Turner. "But these grand, and frankly romantic, signals are unsent like a mistaken Gmail before the time has run out. It feels, like some of its cinematography, muddled, both feeling an impulse to critique whiteness with brittle humor about money, autonomy and discourses du jour, but stops short of being actually satirical, sincerely destabilizing anyone’s sense of status safety. Rather than a laceration, it licks at what feels most like 'boo boos,' while it’s unable to decide whether we’re watching humans or arch parodies of the affluent and unapologetic. It’s this tacit embarrassment to go in on these concepts that frustrates me most, as someone who is very fond of White’s usually tender, deft hand at balancing tone, seeing both flaw and beauty, good intention and awful execution. I still believe Enlightened to be one of the best pieces of art in the 21st century. But, unfortunately at the White Lotus, power will not be displaced, status quo will not be disrupted, and critique will waver. It’s not really about the ones most at risk or made vulnerable by that power inequity. It’s mostly about those who are, if not at the center, then at least have some of the greatest proximity to it, which would be less bothersome if it had more precision in its aimed poisoned arrows. It’s not about history or politics, either, which would be fine if it didn’t constantly orient itself around the idea of being about history or politics. The show looks sheepishly at exploitation and imbalance, and then covers its face with a shit-eating grin, congratulating itself for glancing at everything in the first place. The gorgeous title sequence by Plains of Yonder features beautiful, delicate wallpaper designs of sea creatures and presumably Native people canoeing, and as the sequence goes on, the ink on the paper begins to bloom and bleed. That’s what the show needed: to bloom and bleed. But it didn’t. The petals just wither and wilt."

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• Let's hope The White Lotus Season 2 doesn't become True Detective Season 2: "In television and movies, the guiding philosophy is that anything done well is worth doing again," says Brian Lowry. "The first medium has also become infinitely richer since it began offering more limited series, shows that tell a finite story with a clear beginning, middle and end. That's a far cry from the formula that has traditionally guided the TV business, which hinged on coming up with a concept -- think Law & Order -- and replicating it for as long as an audience would keep showing up for it. The allure of the streaming age has included a shift toward shorter commitments, allowing viewers to catch up and consume something like White Lotus (on HBO Max once it's all over, that is) in a single weekend. Once the experience is completed, it's onward to the next title, although with something this good, not necessarily upward."
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