The White Lotus Review: Arrivals (Season 1 Episode 1)
HBO’s new limited series The White Lotus is set at a Hawaiian resort, but the series is not a vacation to watch. Instead, the satire created by Mike White (Enlightened) wastes no time poking holes in the idea of paradise.
The White Lotus Season 1 Episode 1, “Arrivals,” follows the arrival of a new set of guests to a high-end Hawaiian resort and reveals some of the issues they bring with them.
The White Lotus starts on a flash-forward where guest Shane Patton (Jake Lacy) reveals to fellow travelers that someone died at The White Lotus resort during his stay. He also angrily avoids questions about the whereabouts of his wife.
This storytelling choice immediately sets a darker tone for the show and casts a shadow on the guests’ arrival.
From that point, the premiere follows the problems the various guests encounter on their arrival day, ranging from the mundane to life-altering. Although the decision to switch so often between guests can hamper the episode’s pace, all of the storylines are entertaining and imbued with a darkly comedic sense that highlights the characters’ deeper flaws.
Shane obsesses over the resort giving them the wrong suite for their honeymoon despite his wife Rachel’s (Alexandra Daddario) assertion that she’s happy with the room. His obsession with the room mixup only builds throughout the episode while he remains oblivious to Rachel’s mounting concern that their marriage is off to a bad start.
These tense interactions combined with the opening scene make them the guests to watch with seemingly the most potential for future conflict.
Elsewhere on the resort, Mark Mossbacher (Steve Zahn) worries his pending test results will come back positive for testicular cancer and opines that his son is the same age he was when his own father died. Yet when given the chance to spend quality time with his son Quinn (Fred Hechinger) while snorkeling, he instead ignores his son and quickly abandons the outing.
If there’s a common theme among the guests, it’s that they’re so consumed with their own problems that they can’t see the bigger picture of their lives.
The only guest to really try to make an authentic human connection is Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid, who does not attempt to hide her emotional baggage or her literal baggage which includes her mother’s ashes. Coolidge, usually known for her comedic roles, still manages to bring some laughs but packs an emotional punch letting the character’s grief and hopelessness spillover during a spiritual spa session.
She and spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) seem to bond, but the question of how real the connection between guest and employee can be lingers.
Olivia (Sydney Sweeney), Mark and Nicole’s (Connie Britton) daughter, and her friend Paula (Brittany O’Grady) serve as the snide teenage Greek chorus of The White Lotus, not-so-silently judging all of the guests. They say all the mean things about the guests you might think (and worse), providing additional moments of comedy.
Pulling all of The White Lotus storylines together is Murray Bartlett’s Armond, the resort manager who herds all of these self-absorbed guests. It’s clear he’s seen it all at his job and comments on the guests’ need to feel seen and coddled.
Armond: They wanna be the only child. The special, chosen baby child of the hotel.
It’s ironic then that Armond displays the same lack of awareness as his guests, which Bartlett plays perfectly to comedic effect. His fixation on running a smooth operation leads him to not notice that his new trainee Lani (Jolene Purdy) is pregnant and in labor the entire day.
The scenario is equally as funny as it is sad. Lani explaining that she started a new job while pregnant because she needed the money presents a strong counter to the guests and their privileged problems.
The White Lotus doesn’t spend enough time on the staff to truly dig into any class divisions, but Lani’s story shows there’s significant potential for more exploration of that theme.
A few of the guests like Tanya and Rachel stand out as sympathetic, or at least less loathsome than the rest, but these mostly aren’t the kinds of characters you root for. They’re the kind that makes you repulsed to the point of being intrigued.
You might not care about or like these characters, but you also can’t look away.
If you’re looking for a show that satirizes the wealthy to tide you over until Succession comes back, The White Lotus is a great option. Although the first episode doesn’t dig too deeply into each character since it’s too busy introducing them all, there’s plenty of development left to mine throughout the season.
At the very least you’ll want to keep watching to find out who ends up dead.
What did you think of this episode of The White Lotus? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The White Lotus airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.