The last resort...
AT first glance, this may look like a glossy American escapist drama, set in the sheer luxury of Hawaii’s White Lotus Resort… but this veneer soon drops away.
A six-part social satire, what starts with sipping cocktails, relaxing massages and plans to scuba dive, soon turns into something much more uncomfortable.
And it makes for excellent, sometimes uneasy viewing.
It has a great cast including Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario and Steve Zahn.
The plot follows the guests and staff at the luxury resort, where everything must appear perfect, even though absolutely nothing is.
It begins at the airport, where a couple of holidaymakers are quizzing newly-wed Shane about his holiday. “Didn’t someone die at The White Lotus?” they ask. Shane stares out to a body being loaded onto a plane – we don’t know whose.
The action cuts to a week earlier as a boat-load of VIPS arrive at the resort, ready for some R&R. But with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travellers, the hotel’s cheerful employees, and the idyllic setting.
A storm is approaching, tensions are mounting, and themes of race, consent and privilege rear their heads. Among the ones to watch are Shane (Jake Lacy) and his new wife Rachel (Daddario), who seems to be struggling. Britton plays an ambitious CEO with a neurotic husband, obnoxious daughter and bored son. Meanwhile, Coolidge is excellent as lone – and lonely – traveller Tanya, there to scatter her mother’s ashes. Funny, dark, gripping and topical, this is a holiday you’ll not forget in a hurry.