"The White Lotus" Concludes

Both the linked article in this post and my own comments contain spoilers about the HBO limited series, "The White Lotus."  If you have been watching the series and have not  yet seen the finale, you may want to come back to this post after you have watched that episode. 

I will say this.  HBO's recently concluded limited series was interesting.  Filmed in Maui, it was amazingly beautiful to look at, and it offered some pretty good performances by the actors (I will be addressing one in particular a bit later), and it offered a view of a slice of life and human nature that was absolutely abhorrent to watch.  One of the best comments about it that I saw came in a Facebook thread when someone said "I continue to watch in the hopes that everybody in it will die."  Yep, the characters in this one, almost every single one of them, were awful.  

I am not going to try a summarize this story of wealthy, privileged, white American one percenters as they griped and moaned about their lot in life  while condescending to those that they considered beneath them.  Instead, I will recommend that you read this analysis and summary of the series  by the Washington Post's Emily Yahr.   It is the best article that I read on the show since the series ended on Sunday.

As I said, all of the characters, some to more degrees that others, exhibited terrible traits and personalities.  The worst of all was the character Shane Patton, played by actor Jake Lacy.

Shane was a 30 year old, self-centered, silver spoon, spoiled brat millionaire who was at the White Lous resort on his honeymoon with his new wife Rachel, an aspiring journalist who still has to worry about her college loans.  The only time that Shane shows any interest at all in Rachel is when he talks about how beautiful and "hot" she is, or when he is having honeymoon sex with her.  Early on, Shane realizes that the gorgeous suite that they are in is NOT the suite that he - or rather his mother (who later shows up on their honeymoon) - had booked for them.  He spends the rest of his honeymoon week obsessing about getting into the right room, which was occupied by others, and making life miserable for Armand, the resort manager, and Rachel.   There may have been portrayals of bigger jerks in the history of movies and television, but right now, I am having a hard time thinking of who it might be.

Although he has a number of acting credits to his name, I was totally unfamiliar with any previous work of Jake Lacy, but I will say this:  He must be a pretty good actor because I will have a hard time ever watching him in anything that he may ever do in the future without intently disliking him as I think of the detestable Shane Patton.  If he plays Jesus Christ in a movie some day, I'll probably end up hating Jesus.  That's how convincing he was.   

Perhaps the best summary of him came in the final episode when Rachel finally had enough and told him that "he spent his honeymoon throwing a week long tantrum and ran to his Mommy to fix it when she showed up on his honeymoon."  I wanted to stand up and cheer.  But did Rachel actually follow through on her feelings?  You'll have to watch and find out.

My friend Elena made the following observation about the series:  "I watched, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend out to anyone."  That sums it up pretty well.

Two Stars from The Grandstander.

And, oh yeah, there are already plans for a Season Two of "The White Lotus, and yes, I will no doubt watch it.