[HBO] The White Lotus

[hepcat]

My first car was technically a Bond car.

A 1972 Javelin.

[Hrothgar]

Not a bad ride:

[hepcat]

[Smoove_B]

Not sure if anyone else watched the first episode of S3 last night, but I thought it was great.

I was really impressed with how much was conveyed in certain scenes without a word of dialogue being spoken.

As expected, Parker Posey is a delight. I'm not really sure where it's all going (which is what I say at the start of every White Lotus season), but I'm definitely interested.

[hepcat]

I hadn’t been keeping up with the casting news or even trailers for the new season, so it came as a shock to me when

Spoiler:

Greg appeared. I was shocked…but then pissed he survived season 2 and Tanya didn’t. I know she’d run her course, but Coolidge is so damn funny.


Also, the incest family makes me uncomfortable.

[Kraken]

Dang it, now Wife is agitating to re-sub to Max. Something else gotta give. Time to bust Netflix down to ad-supported, methinks.

[Smoove_B]

I hadn’t been keeping up with the casting news or even trailers for the new season, so it came as a shock to me when

I hadn't been keeping up either and was also surprised to see the same.

And yes, there was...uncomfortable. I'm still not entirely sure what the theme is, but it feels like Hatchett (Goggins) is going to be the key. I also forgot his girlfriend (the actress) was in it - she was really good in Sex Education on Netflix.

[Kraken]

I gather White Lotus is dropping one episode per week?

[hepcat]

They always do that with all their HBO original shows.

[Kraken]

Then I don't need to re-sub to Max for a couple of months. Sign up, binge White Lotus, peace out.

I did bust Netflix down tonight because I'm not using it, so Wife's commitment to lobbying will determine whether wait-to-binge overcomes WANT NOW.

[hepcat]

Well, here’s a bit of trivia I didn’t know. White Lotus creator Mike White (who I actually remember more from his small movie and tv appearances over the years) was a contestant on Survivor in 2018. He also casts his fellow survivor cast mates in small roles on White Lotus.

[Kraken]

Wife is cool with waiting to binge White Lotus. She would rather take advantage of a 6-months-free Apple TV offer from Verizon so that we can watch a show there whose name I can't remember. Severance, maybe? I think they might also have Doctor Who there, so I'm in. I haven't seen The Doctor since BBC America left YTTV.

[hepcat]

Disney has Doctor Who. Although Tubi has a lot of the classic Doctor Who available.

[Smoove_B]

There aren't too many actors I can recognize simply from their voice, but Ep2 surprised me - didn't realize he was going to be on the show (sorta).

The only word I can use to describe S2 so far is "uncomfortable". There's lots of really weird tension this season.

[hepcat]

This show shares a trait with Mad Men that I always found fascinating: They can create a sense of dread in just about anything. It could be a child petting a cat, and after 30 seconds of it I’m anxiously looking at the background for an oncoming truck.

[YellowKing]

I caught up with the two Season 3 episodes today and I'm loving the awkward/cringe factor that this series is so good at creating. The more socially awkward the sequence, the more I delight in it.

If I may do a little psychoanalysis on myself, I think it's because I live in a permanent state of feeling socially awkward, so seeing other people experience it makes me feel slightly more human.

They can create a sense of dread in just about anything.

To piggyback on that, part of that dread has you second guessing the most minor interactions. Was that person rude because they're an a-hole, or do they know something we don't? Am I reading too much into this? Or did the writers KNOW I would read too much into this, and the character IS just being an a-hole, and the writers WANT me to think there's something else going on? I feel like Vizzini in The Princess Bride.

[hepcat]

Okay, time for my first prediction about what's going on with at least one of the characters:

Spoiler:

Goggin's character is so intent on finding the husband of the resort owner because he believes that person to be his father. I made this assumption after Goggin's back story to Greg in episode 2. I think he's there to confront the man. Whether it's to extort him or simply confront him, I don't know.

Oh, and I suspect that Parker Posey's mother character may turn out to be the worst of the lot.

[Smoove_B]

Regarding your Ep2 spoiler, I think you're close - but Ep3 might have implied something else:

Spoiler:

He doesn't think she's married to his father; he thinks the man she's married to killed his father - he's out for revenge.

Was kinda surprised at the very contemporary reference made during dinner between the three ladies!

[hepcat]

Yeah, my theory was off, I guess. Oh well, I'm still sticking to the theory that Parker Posey's character is the villain of this season!

She's just truly awful.

[YellowKing]

At first Parker Posey's accent annoyed me as it sounded more like what Hollywood thinks North Carolinians sound like as opposed to what they actually sound like, but it's grown on me as she's just so darn good. In a way her weird accent makes her more unlikeable which works in context.

[Smoove_B]

Feels like things are coming to a slow boil now as the various plot elements are coming together. It's funny - there's very little action (snakes aside) but the character-driven drama is off the charts; I was completely engrossed for the entire hour and it was over in a flash for me.

[hepcat]

If you describe the show, it sounds like a cheap soap opera. If you watch the show, it feels like an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

[YellowKing]

I thought the same thing after episode 4 ended. I was thinking, "That's the most entertaining show I've ever watched where almost nothing happened." Obviously I'm just poking fun - every character had some tidbit of development that I'm sure will be absolutely crucial to the story. But action-wise you could sum it up as "a bunch of people went on a boat."

The show is like a good croissant. Really thin layers of character development stacked on top of each other - each one so delicate you can't really appreciate it on its own, but when it all comes together it's magic.

[Jolor]

Still wondering if Parker shouldn't have killed that fly in the first episode...

[YellowKing]

I watched a short clip from an interview with Parker Posey about her accent in the show, and she said it was developed from a funny voice she and Christopher Guest would do when she was filming "A Mighty Wind." (Exaggerated southern voice, "Parker, NOOOOOOO!") That, along with her love of southern women roles in films became this intentionally comic over-the-top mashup. And apparently Mike White, who she said has a great sense of humor, loved it.