‘The White Lotus’ season two finale: Arrivederci to one of our favourite guests

Will Sharpe as Ethan Spiller and Aubrey Plaza as Harper Spiller in ‘The White Lotus’

Seasons two’s finale of The White Lotus was unexpected, but also really normal by the show’s standards. For weeks, the question ‘Who’s in the body bag?’ has been on viewers’ minds… and the answer was far from all the conspiracy theories floating across the internet (We were maybe hoping it would be someone from the two married couples on the show).

Everything seems to implode in this episode; all that tension, doubt and uneasiness finally consumes the characters and the music doesn’t help. From that forsaken vase breaking while Harper and Ethan finally come together physically, to Portia waking up to find her phone missing, every event in the finale is just another reason for anxiety. 

The narrative moves faster than ever before and is the culmination of six episodes’ worth of tension.  We’ve wanted Ethan to confront Cameron since the beginning and he finally gives in, but does it give us a glimpse of a potential murderer’s emotions? No, not Ethan please. But he isn’t as nice as we want him to be either; Ethan refuses to believe Harper but expects her to believe him. After all, he did conveniently leave out kissing Mia.  

Meanwhile, Daphne knows of Cameron’s dalliances but she doesn’t deprive herself either. Her going, “Do whatever you have to do, to not feel like a victim of life,” and admitting that she has a trainer in the city who looks oddly like the father of her children is pretty indicative of this. And her walk with Ethan to Isola Bella leaves a lot to the imagination. 

There was always more to Mia and Lucia than the wounded birds Albie is attracted to, and we get to see their smarmy side finally. Lucia does feel a moment of remorse when she leaves his room with her bank account full — but it’s just a moment, as it seems only her and Mia have emerged unscathed. Also, shocker: dear Albie isn’t the sweet young Stanford graduate who viewers fell in love with in episode one, but is actually a manipulative man, much more like his father than he thinks. And Dominic is really trying to change!  

Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya McQuoid-Hunt and Tom Hollander as Quentin in ‘The White Lotus’

Our hearts go out to Portia, and Tanya who only came to Sicily to have a nice holiday and some quality time with the husband. But one other character has other plans; with hardly any screen time, Greg has successfully managed to make the biggest splash, literally, when Tanya falls into the sea. It is a sad moment because it almost seems like Tanya is going to make it to season three and beyond. Even she seems to believe so when she says, “You got this!” but this viewer had already predicted a sad end for Jennifer Coolidge’s now iconic role.

The show could have dealt more with Valentina’s story, and also given Jack a chance to open up to Portia, but they were always meant to be side characters while the others took centre-stage. 

Then, there are the many loose ends that the finale doesn’t tie up, which will haunt us forever. Was that really Greg in the picture with Quentin? Do Quentin and his friends only want the money for their houses? What is the real relationship between Jack and Quentin? Anyway, where is Greg? Does Giuseppe do anything at all to get back at Valentina? Does Albie ever find out about Lucia and his dad?

Do we need a season three?