The White Lotus Review: The Lotus-Eaters (Season 1 Episode 5)

The haves and have-nots become even more divided on The White Lotus Season 1 Episode 5, “The Lotus-Eaters.”

It was only a matter of time until things reached a boiling point at the resort. Not a single guest arrived on the island without some sort of baggage, but the unpacking process was slow. Now with everything out on the table the real trouble can start.

However, this is not a typical story about people solving their problems in an emotionally satisfying way. It’s a story about how some privileged people get to continue avoiding their problems while others are forced to confront them and the conflict that results. 

Take Paula for example, who reached her breaking point on The White Lotus Season 1 Episode 4, “Recentering,” and decides to take desperate action against the Mossbachers. 

Her plan for Kai to steal Nicole’s diamond bracelets seems like a noble effort on the surface, but the reality of the plan is grimmer. She thinks she’s doing the right thing and getting payback for Kai’s family being displaced by the resort. Really she’s only taking him down a worse path than he would choose for himself.

Maybe because the payback is more for herself than for Kai. It’s telling that she refers to “people like you,” instead of “people like us,” when talking to Kai, indicating deep down she knows even she comes from a position of relative privilege when it comes to his situation. 

What she really wants more than to help him is to get back at the Mossbachers for their continual humiliation of her, especially from her fake friend Olivia. 

Ironically, Paula’s plan ends up making the Mossbacher family even stronger. When Nicole and Mark return to the room early, the shock of Kai’s robbery creates an opportunity for the couple to bond. Mark’s family views him as a hero for “rescuing” Nicole, and he finally gets the unearned respect he craves.

Paula is correct that the Mossbachers won’t actually miss the $75,000 bracelets, and as a result, the only people she ends up hurting are Kai and herself. She must live with her guilt while the Mossbachers live on in blissful ignorance about why they were targeted in the first place. No lessons are learned on their part. 

Elsewhere on the resort Rachel also finally opens her eyes to her situation while Shane remains oblivious, insulated in his bubble of wealth. Her taking off her rings and walking out on Shane creates a dramatic scene, indicating she’s realized their marriage was doomed before it started. 

It’s perhaps not as harsh a lesson as Paula’s, but Rachel is similarly one of the few characters on The White Lotus who doesn’t come from insane wealth and therefore one of the few who has to confront the truth rather than hide from it. 

Her marriage may have triggered her identity crisis, but her lack of identity must have existed before she met Shane since she agreed to marry him. Now she must decide who she wants to be, realizing she’s not cut out for a life of hiding behind money. 

All of these tribulations for the have-nots of the resort are summed up by Armond when he shares Alfred Tennyson’s poem, “The Lotos-Eaters,” with Belinda after they’re burned by Shane and Tanya respectively. 

Armond: Death is the end of life; ah, why should life all labor be?

Armond is talking about the guests, who he mockingly suggests are the “Lotus Eaters,” but also about life in general. He’s asking why life has to be so hard for everyone except for these privileged few.

It’s not that you can’t empathize at all with any of the other guests on The White Lotus. I genuinely believe Tanya’s trauma has taken its toll on her, and Jennifer Coolidge is very compelling in the role.

But look at how she uses others without even realizing it. She may share the same onion metaphor used in Shrek to describe her layers, but her self-reflection isn’t half as deep as the fictional ogre and comes off as self-pitying instead. 

Connie Britton gives a fantastic performance on this episode as we finally see Nicole’s perfect veneer crack and she unleashes all of her pain and frustration with her marriage. Like Tanya though, her humanity and vulnerability don’t make up for how she treats other people.

The point is people like Tanya and Nicole get to feel their pain and then go on with their lives because their power and privilege insulates them from any real reckonings. It’s not fair but true to life. The characters on The White Lotus who end up losing are the ones who never held much power to begin with like Paula or Belinda.

If the people with power aren’t the ones learning the lessons, they continue to leave destruction in their wake. The ones without power are left picking up the pieces. 

The question left for the finale is, just how much further can the destruction can go?

Additional Thoughts:

• The poem hints at a darker suggestion that the only escape is death, making this the third week in a row that Armond keeps the number one spot on my “characters most likely to die” list.
• The ongoing gag about Paula’s made-up allergies is still one of my favorite jokes on the show.
• Armond got himself together remarkably fast for someone recovering from a two-day bender.
• Quinn is the only person at the resort experiencing happiness, but you can’t ignore the irony of him wearing a shirt that says “end homelessness,” while staying at a resort that displaced Native Hawaiians.
• Will we learn Kai’s fate, or will he become another footnote like Lani?
• It may be my own stress from watching the show, but the background music seems to get more intense with every episode.

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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