When The White Lotus debuted on UK screens last August, it arrived shrouded in hype, and was seemingly the perfect series for increasingly inegalitarian, “new normal” times. Like another HBO hit, Succession, it expertly skewered the privileged, although there was more of a satirical edge to this tale of teenage mean girls, troubled heiresses, and happily unhappy families rubbing shoulders with increasingly frazzled, rictus grin-wearing employees at a luxury Hawaiian resort. Most of the White Lotus guests were white and upper middle class; all were intolerable. There was an unforgettable scene featuring an errant poo and, of course, the small matter of the big box marked HUMAN REMAINS which was loaded on to the travellers’ return flight at the end of the first episode.
As its six episodes unfolded, the question of which of the castaways would meet their end on their luxury break ultimately became less central than observing the slow downfall of the people whom long-suffering masseuse Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) described as “fucking up the world”. Add in an Emmy-winning turn from Jennifer Coolidge as the oh-so-screwed up (yet undeniably pathos-inducing) Tanya, and it was the perfect mix of warped humour and confronting reality.
