Next Episode

Rich People Problems: The White Lotus Season 1

• Niq & Jess • Episode 27

Share episode

The stunning shores of Hawaii serve as the backdrop for HBO's White Lotus, a darkly comedic examination of privilege that will leave you both laughing and squirming uncomfortably. At the luxurious White Lotus resort, three sets of wealthy guests arrive for what should be paradise but quickly reveals itself as anything but.

Jennifer Coolidge delivers a tour-de-force performance as Tanya McQuoid, a wealthy, boundary-less woman who arrives alone to scatter her mother's ashes. Desperately lonely and emotionally wounded from childhood trauma, Tanya latches onto Belinda, the resort's spa manager, whose natural healing presence becomes both a comfort and a target. We watch as Tanya dangles the possibility of funding Belinda's own wellness center, creating false hope while monopolizing the service worker's time both on and off the clock.

The relationship between these two women brilliantly illustrates the show's central theme: how those with wealth and privilege can unknowingly (or sometimes knowingly) exploit those with less power. Coolidge's masterful portrayal makes Tanya simultaneously sympathetic in her brokenness and frustrating in her obliviousness. When a mysterious man named Greg enters the picture, Tanya's attention shifts immediately, revealing just how fleeting her "commitment" to Belinda truly was.

What makes White Lotus so compelling is its refusal to offer neat resolutions or redemptive character arcs. These guests arrive at the resort as flawed individuals and leave essentially unchanged, much like real life. The show serves as a mirror reflecting uncomfortable truths about class, power dynamics, and the ways we use others to fulfill our own needs. Coolidge's unforgettable performance—from her drawn-out delivery to her hilarious attempt at scattering ashes into the wind—creates moments of genuine comedy amidst the show's darker themes.

Ready to check in to the White Lotus? This brilliantly crafted first season will have you eagerly awaiting your reservation for seasons two and three. Subscribe now to join the conversation about one of HBO's most talked-about series!

Contact Niq & Jess

Niq:

Hi guys, and welcome to next episode with your host, nick, and.

Jess:

I'm.

Niq:

Jess, and today we're going to be talking about White Lotus season one only because we're late to the White Lotus train and we are starting from the very beginning, and actually we I didn't know a lot about the show. Did you know what the show was about before you started?

Jess:

No, I had no clue. I heard people Everyone was saying that it was good, but I didn't know what it was about.

Niq:

Yeah, also, I only knew that it was about a hotel and I know that they were having like they had three different seasons, but I didn't know what the show was honestly going to be about. But I did spend like 13 years in hospitality management, so I tend to like stay away from hotel shows, but I thought like, okay, I'll give this one a chance.

Jess:

That's how I am with hospital shows. I completely get it, unless it's scrubs, I'm not doing it. I do love scrubs.

Niq:

So to give like a an overview of the show, at least of season one, because that's all that we know, um, this show takes place in a resort in hawaii and you're following three sets of vip guests. Yes, does that?

Jess:

sound.

Niq:

Right, that sounds right, and so, if I had to like say something that all three sets of guests have in common, in addition to all being fairly wealthy, they are also fairly miserable. Yes, no, everybody. Fairly miserable people, everybody which is. It's is funny, because one group is a family who's going on a big vacation, one group is a couple on their honeymoon, and then the last one is a lady by herself whose mom has passed away and she's trying to honor her last wishes by throwing her ashes in the ocean. So that's the character that I would like to start Our discussion of the show With. So she came alone To the White Lotus. She did Okay. So her name is Tanya, and we don't know how she got her wealth.

Jess:

No, it wasn't ever explained Not that I remember, I just how she got her wealth. No, you don't. Was it ever explained? No, it wasn't ever explained. Not that I remember, I just assumed she came from money.

Niq:

I do think that she came from money, but she might have acquired more money, like you know, through marriages and things like that.

Jess:

But yeah, her wealth is not explained.

Niq:

But from the moment you meet her, like she's kind of miserable, of miserable but I mean, at least she's in mourning.

Jess:

So you kind of understand.

Niq:

Like you know she's not going to be happy, but it does feel deeper than that I right I was going to say if her mother was alive and she took this same trip, I think she would have still been miserable, because she made comments about how like she was unlucky in love and lonely and like in general, her life was not happy. I think her mother's death complicated an already unhappy life, though I can see that, yeah, and so one of the first things I noticed from Tanya is that she's someone who pushes boundaries.

Jess:

She has no boundaries. She has no boundaries at all. I don't even think she's aware that she's pushing them. I think she just does whatever she wants to do and she's a bit invasive in other people's space.

Niq:

Exactly so, as soon as she gets off the boat, because the VIPs arrive via boat, which I thought was interesting.

Jess:

So as soon as she gets off the boat.

Niq:

She starts asking the hotel manager where she can get a massage and he introduces her to Belinda, who is the spa manager, and Belinda's like oh know, there's no appointments. You know, there everything's booked up. And she's just like insistent, insistent on getting like a massage. And I can understand, like if your body is hurting and things like that, but at the same time, if there's no appointments to me, my next thing would be like okay, am I able to have someone come in and give me a massage? Can I get a massage in my room, instead of just literally hounding the spa manager as if you don't know how appointments work?

Jess:

And I think, like I said, I think she's never been told no before. You know she's used to her money being able to get her whatever she wants.

Niq:

Right. And so Belinda does decide to do something special for her. She doesn't give her a massage, but she's like, oh, let's do a consultation and I'll give you what. Does she call it A craniosacrum, I don't know, but it seemed like, oh, let's do a consultation and I'll give you what does she call a craniosacrum?

Jess:

I don't know, but it seemed like reiki to me. That's what.

Niq:

That's what it reminded me of well, but the lady said anything but reiki, so I don't think it was reiki yeah, she's like I'll take anything.

Niq:

It doesn't have to be right she was when she's doing something to her head, though it was like a cranios sacrum something, and so I honestly this was the beginning of the end of good things happening for belinda being nice to that woman. And so belinda she does like this consultation and so she's talking to this woman and it almost turns into like a counseling session and then she's like doing this like cranial sacrum head scratch thing with her and she's singing like this like Hindu chant or was a Sanskrit chant? It was some sort of like chant. Now, when I say the first time I watched the show, I was like man that looks nice and, honestly, the chant is really beautiful and it is very calming. I'm like man that is really really nice. I would let somebody do that to me.

Jess:

I feel like Blinda just has a calming presence. You know what I mean? I don't know, I can see, just like her whole essence kind of would like calm you down. But yeah, that woman did absolutely still kind of took advantage and made it her own therapy session she's a healer.

Niq:

But you can tell belinda is a healer, like, like you said, like she is a, she is a calming presence, but she just has it's just like you can tell like she makes people better by being around them. Like she, she, just she has the essence of a healer and I honestly feel like tanya felt that energy and was like I'm about to siphon off as much of that energy from her as I?

Jess:

yeah, no, it was definitely parasitic in nature. I guess it definitely was from the beginning and so okay.

Niq:

So she, tanya, ends up telling Belinda you know, that she really loves her services and she thinks that she's really amazing and that she thinks that she should have her own business and she would love to help her with that.

Jess:

How soon after those words left her lips Immediately Because you know it was bad. I was like she is not going to do it, she's not going to follow through. Or I was like either she's not going to follow through and it's not because she don't have the money she has plenty of money to even just waste. You know what I mean. I was like or she's going to take over, she's either going to make it all about her or be really controlling with it, or something like that. But I was like Belinda, you do need to start your own business, but this ain't the way.

Niq:

I agree, I do think that Belinda Does need her own wellness center. But I knew as soon as Tanya Said it was BS and I Knew it wouldn't even come To fruition. I knew there was got because she Is flighty, she's very flighty, and so I knew she wouldn't even stick with Belinda long Enough to have Belinda Created and then steal it from her. She's like she mentally she doesn't even have like that much in her to to let it come to fruition. So I was like come on now.

Jess:

It's the character, the dangle in front of her, to keep taking her time and attention.

Niq:

Yes, and so she this starts her monopolizing Belinda's time. And so when you work in hospitality, it you work long days and you you spend the day giving of yourself and meeting other people's needs. And I can imagine like cause I worked corporate, I can imagine, because I worked corporate, I can imagine resorts are at an even higher level, the level of service, and you're wanting to create those special moments, those magic moments have those impacts because people are there on vacation and so you're already having to give of yourself. But Tanya literally was monopolizing all of belinda's off time, like in, like, basically like forcing her to have dinner with her. Um, at one point tanya decides that she wants to drop her mom's ashes in the ocean and she like convinces Belinda to get off work early to go on this boat trip with her. Mind you, all of this is unpaid, yeah yeah all of this actual job.

Niq:

It's either pulling her away from her actual job or it's after hours where she will be off for this unpaid labor and she's using her to make herself feel good, or it's after hours where she will be off for this unpaid labor and she's using her to make herself feel good. And she talks about being lonely and not wanting to, you know, wanting to have a man with her. And she talks about like her mom. And you can like, when Tanya talks about her mom, you can tell that, yes, she had a rough childhood growing up up. There was a lot of abuse, there was a lot of neglect. Um, you know, her mom was not a good mother to her and so it's not that I don't understand why tanya has those deficits, but at the same time, like, at what point are you accountable enough to say I understand how these deficits were created, but I need to do the work to fix them. Yeah, yeah.

Jess:

And she has the resources to fix them. Quite honestly, she does get all the help that she needs, but yeah, she likes to and she says it at some point.

Niq:

At some point she basically says that she attaches herself to people, you know she does, she does, she does and but here's the thing, you can tell that she's also one of those people who like try, who float from like spiritual practice to spiritual practice to try to like make themselves feel better without actually doing the deep work for change. Because even like, in the way that she speaks, one she said something about, in like she made reference to past lives. She was like she's like maybe I think she either says I'm like maybe I want to do some this in my next life or she's like I think this in one of my past lives. And she knows about all the like she knows about Reiki, she knows about all of these like different spiritual practices and different spiritual paths, and I am quite sure she's tried a lot of them. But without, but on a superficial level.

Niq:

You can tell she's very superficial Even did laugh, I'm not gonna lie, I did laugh. So when belinda was giving her like that, that first treatment like the sacral, cranial, whatever it was, and belinda starts chanting, and she starts chanting with her and belinda's like, oh you, I want to, and it's like, it's just like she just wants. I love her voice, I do too, I do too. I'm like she just wants to participate. You know what I mean. Like that's where it's very superficial, like, and she wonders why her life doesn't get better. You know she says that she uses money to control people, to get the things that she and she does, and so you're self aware of what you're doing, yet you're continuing to do it right because even when so like she drops Belinda like a bad habit when she meets a man, right, but she's still using her money to get the to dangle in front of the man.

Jess:

You know what I mean Like he kind of I don't know, he's kind of weird, he kind of goes in and out. I'm kind of confused with him because I was like you are at this super expensive resort but it don't seem like you on the financial level of these other people.

Jess:

I have my theories and I'm so when he kind of disappears and then comes back and then she wants to go to another resort and so she's like, oh, I can pay for it. I'm looking at her, she says she can get a plane or something, but it's very clear she's like communicating I have money, come with me.

Niq:

Right. So because I have watched so many different TV shows, like I recently did, a Lost rewatch there is. There's a show called Impostors. Did you ever see Impostors?

Jess:

I'm not sure it's about like con artists.

Niq:

It's about like this woman.

Jess:

Is it only like two seasons?

Niq:

Yeah yeah, it's also about con artists. There's a couple of other shows. I've watched recently about con artists.

Jess:

I was sad there was no third season.

Niq:

Right, I did enjoy Impostors a lot too. When she met him, I immediately got uncomfortable. I immediately got uncomfortable. There was something about it was something about the way that they met. It reminded me of Sawyer from Lost Like I don't know.

Niq:

If you like, he was a con artist and you watched him like con women out of money and there was a couple of con artists in that show, um but you watched him con women like, and she's like a lonely rich woman and just meeting this random guy, the way that she met him and like I'm like I immediately got uncomfortable and so now? So then I'm watching more and this one is a nutcase and she is. And this guy is like, oh no, I like how crazy you are. And he's also coughing a lot and pretending to be like. I'm not saying pretending to be sick, but I'm just like. He's like oh yeah, I'm deathly ill and I just want to love you. I'm just like this is all weird to me.

Jess:

I don't trust him oh no, he's not to be trusted at all.

Niq:

I don't know, like so, okay, so season two of White Lotus. Like I was, I finished season one and then, you know, automatically season two started and they were in Italy and there were different people on the boat. None of the people from the first season were on the boat. So then I turned it off because I'm like what? What is going on? So like overarching, I still don't really understand the show, cause I'm like I don't know any of those people on on this boat. So I turned it off. So I don't know, like if we ever like find out, if they like happily ever after like end up together.

Jess:

But I don't I don't trust him. I don't trust him either and I think for the most part and I haven't watched the other seasons either I think we will see Tanya Tanya again and we'll see Belinda again, but I think the rest of those characters it's going to be new people each season.

Niq:

Oh really, so we don't find it's going to be new people each season. Oh really, so we don't find out what happens to the other people?

Jess:

I don't know. I don't know that for certain, but I do think it's different guests each season. That's my guess, because I haven't watched it. But I think that's the premise, Because when I tried it, because I told you, I kept trying to look up the cast and it kept bringing season okay.

Niq:

So in the end, um, basically tanya, when did we start calling her? Tanya is her name? Tanya I was.

Jess:

That's what I'm with a friend named tanya. I do, so let's look. Is it tanya or?

Niq:

tanya. I think her name is tanya and I think we started calling her tanya because of our friend named tanya. But so Tanya like basically after monopolizing all of Belinda's time and getting her to do all of these like sessions with her, and like having Belinda counsel her and lift her up she basically right, dinners, all of these things like, and this is the thing.

Niq:

So, yes, like, these dinners may be nice, but they're resort food and she, she works at the resort, she's had this food before. You're not giving her anything special and I'm like to me.

Jess:

I'm like I would be uncomfortable, like I don't know. I just see it just seems like it's crossing the line and crossing about it. I would be uncomfortable as a person who worked there, having dinner with the guests and then going back like it just feels weird.

Niq:

It is. You are supposed to keep a certain distance from guests. It's like you you make the guests feel like they're closer to you than they actually are. Like, you want to, like, create those connections, you want them to feel friendly and you want them to want to come back, and you know, but at the same time, you're supposed to keep a certain amount of distance. It just makes sense.

Niq:

Now I have worked at hotels where we've had long-term guests, and I mean guests who have been there months, months, months, months, months and months and you do develop friendships. You really do. You really do Some people. You see the same people week after week after week, even if they go home, they come in and they're here two to three times. You have some people who are literally here for months and months and months straight. And so, yeah, you do develop some friendships, but it's to a certain right, you know it's to a certain point. And like, for example, honestly, like if you met someone who was a guest and they were investing, like wanting to invest in a business or start a business with you, like that is nothing you would ever discuss on property, nothing, nothing, because very easily she could have lost her job, right, right, and I don't think Tanya thought about that for a second. She literally like met Belinda and kind of made her like her personal assistant. Yeah, without the pay Right. You know, tanya never had a job.

Jess:

She doesn't consider stuff like that. She doesn't, and she certainly doesn't think about other people, how things affect other people so in the end, of course, tanya backs out on the deal.

Niq:

She does give her a wad of cash to make herself feel better, and I want to know how much cash it was and I want to know how much cash it was.

Jess:

And I don't know why she shoved it in that drawer. Because here's the thing as hurt as I might have been, that cash would have went in my purse. I might have went home early that day just to make sure I could put that cash in the bank. Because I'm not playing with you, I'm going to get something out this week.

Niq:

Absolutely. I was like don't put that, because I have gotten some like. I was not someone who got tipped very often in the like industry Because I was one a manager and two, it was more of like a corporate environment. But there were times when I got like $100 tip, $150 tip. I didn't tell anybody, I didn't tell anybody. I put that in my that150 tip. I didn't tell anybody, I didn't tell anybody, I put that in my pocket. That was me. They didn't say oh, this is for y'all. They were like you have been so amazing, you have been so sweet, thank you for helping me with this problem.

Jess:

And so no, that went straight into my pocket Absolutely, and I'm still kind of mad Like please don't do this whole self-sacrificing thing right now. No, belinda, put that money in your purse.

Niq:

I think that goes along with her healing nature, that desire to put other people first and sacrifice Girl. No, I couldn't. I couldn't believe she. Belinda told her son about it so. I couldn't believe. Belinda told her son about it. So I'm like, oh, you really took that seriously.

Jess:

She did. You can tell when she starts crying at the end, when she realizes that it's not going to happen. She was heartbroken. That's been a long-term dream for her For that to become a possibility. No, she really did believe her and as much as you know because she's actually an employee and this woman is like encroaching on her time she's bothered. She still was very genuine with her.

Niq:

Yes, I guess, like once again I'm looking at it through the eyes of someone who spent way too long in hospitality Like people are always offering you things that they do not mean, like oh my gosh, you're so amazing, you should come and work for me and like all of these different things.

Niq:

You know, I'm going to send a letter and let them know how wonderful those letters never, like I might guess, will tell you anything to make themselves feel better with how much they encroached on you as a person, because they are always pushing the line and always asking, always needing, like things that are outside of the realm of normal. There's a certain amount of things that you are expected to do, you know and like that service. That's the whole point. There is always, always many people who are asking you to go above and beyond of what is normal and will willing to create problems for other people to have their needs met. And those people lie to you and tell you that it's worth it because they're going to do xyz. And it never happens, and I think maybe that's why, as soon as she said that I'm like girl, she's lying to you.

Jess:

It'll never happen. Yeah, I don't know. I feel bad for Belinda.

Niq:

I did feel bad for Belinda too, because I feel like she should have asked for something else. I feel like she should have when Tanya said oh, you know I can help you, you know I can pay for it, blah, blah, blah. I feel like Belinda should have said can you hire a business consultant for me who will help me formulate the plan? That way she wouldn't have to rely on Tanya's whims, because she has someone who can help her on Tanya's whims, because she has someone who can help her. And when she didn't do it immediately, belinda would have known oh, she's not serious and I need to stop wasting my time Because Belinda is there from morning to night.

Niq:

Yeah, managers, hospitality managers, we had the worst hours. Like there's no such thing as holiday, there's no such thing as weekends. Like you have to be on call 24-7. The thing I love most about my job is when eight hours hit. It does not matter I could be in the middle of something. Okay, well, got to go, I'll pick it up tomorrow. Nothing is life or death. Nothing is life or death. And in hospitality, everything is life or death. Three o'clock in the morning oh, the water went out. Well, I'm not a plumber, I still have to get up out of my bed, you know, even though I can't do anything to make the situation better. Okay, so I'm sorry, my uh, you froze for a second, but I think that was my internet okay, yeah, because you disappeared, so okay how did you feel about Tanya as a character?

Jess:

oh, I thought she was a really interesting character, especially for the show. You know what I mean. Like you know, yeah, she's a mess. She's a beautiful mess and it gave so much drama to the show. I enjoyed it but, like you know, I'm like, oh goodness, I feel for people who have to deal and it gave so much drama to the show. I enjoyed it but, like you know, I'm like, oh goodness, I feel for people who have to deal with guests like that.

Niq:

She was very, very entertaining. Okay, new question Do you think they wrote that role for Jennifer Coolidge specifically?

Jess:

Yes, yes, I mean everything. Like Jennifer Coolidge, her voice adds so much to every role she does. And just like the neediness and the long drawn out words, and I'm like, oh my god, yes, because like who else, I can't see anybody else do it now I cannot.

Niq:

I'm like, did I honestly feel like either they wrote that role for her specifically or, once she was casted, they went in and edited, edited the script to fit her more, because it's just, it was so perfect. It was the way that she says things and her mannerisms and her facial features. She was talking about her mom on the boat and I was laughing and I'm like this is, I'm like this is so terrible, but no one else is going to make me like laugh during that time Right and carry it off that well, you know they're sad and mourning, but it is still hilarious, oh my god even the way she was throwing her mom's ashes off the boat was funny to me because it looked like she was like the ashes were blowing back.

Niq:

I'm like, can you like just throw them away, like maybe not directly into the wings. I'm like y'all got her mama ashes in y'all cups. I know you do, I, I know you do, I know you do. Like the way she was like scream, crying, like I was just dying. I was dying, laughing on the screen.

Jess:

It is hilarious it is.

Niq:

it is when she was like talking to the girls at the beach and you like we have all been in those conversations that you do not want to be in, but you do not know how to extricate yourself. And the person isn't being me and a rude, they're being nice, but you're like I don't really actually want to talk to you. How am I going to get out of this situation?

Jess:

I just want to get this personal this quickly and you know what, right quickly. I'm like looking at that time because those girls got on my nerves, but in that moment I felt for them because I was like I feel like people do that to teenage girls a lot, because there was a few moments where people were having overly personal conversations with them. I just feel like I remember that that's weird.

Niq:

It's like you want to I'm not going to say steal their youthful energy, but at the same time you kind of do want like that attention to rejuvenate you from like younger people.

Jess:

That's what it seemed to me, yeah, but I was like oh no, these poor girls.

Niq:

Yes, and like, honestly, like they're not teenagers.

Jess:

Like they're in college.

Niq:

They're in their 20s, but they do come off as very young compared to everybody else.

Jess:

They give off teenage vibes. They do.

Niq:

Because they're mean girls.

Jess:

Because they're so stuck in that mean girl phase. But it's still weird, I'm like, but still, yeah, that's still weird, I'm like, but still, yeah, that's still weird. And then, and she wasn't even the only person that did it, she was just the weirdest okay.

Niq:

So my question do you feel like greg, which is the guy that tanya meets, is her retribution for pulling out of the deal with belinda? Because I don't. I just feel like he is going to either break her heart or scam her.

Jess:

I think he's going to do both and she can afford it.

Niq:

So, no, so you don't think she's his retribution, no, he's her retribution.

Jess:

He would have to really scam her out of a lot for it to be retribution. Because, like one, if you get your heart broken, this dude is given all the shady signs, all of the shady signs that he gives. So, like you, seeing what you want to see at this point, you know right. And then she's got enough money to lose. You know, if you want to ignore all the fact that, like he's like, because he he spent the night with her, he disappeared, gave all the vibes of like hey, this is supposed to be a one night thing. And then he decided, when she was trying to like say, oh, this isn't right, this isn't okay with me, and he's like no, I want to sleep with you again.

Niq:

And then I'm like and then she sleeps with him again she's desperate, she's, she's desperate, and I think he is once again because I don't trust him. I feel like he's testing her to see what he can get away with. You know what I?

Jess:

mean, I just don't know that he's a con artist on the level that he's going to really get away with enough to really make any difference in her life. She's just going to get a bruised ego.

Niq:

I don't know. Also, I think that he feels like he's smarter than her and that's not his fault, because she thought when he said he worked for BLM, that he meant Black Lives Matter, and I think that, just looking at him, that would not be my first thing.

Jess:

I looked at him and was like he definitely never worked for Black Lives Matter. I'm pretty sure he's against it.

Niq:

Right, and he all but said that he was like Black Lives Matter. Yeah, how did you get there? What about me? You made that shit up. You really did. Yes, and she even told Belinda he worked for Black Lives.

Jess:

Matter. I was like Belinda and I haven't met this man new to Agent Knox.

Niq:

I agree, belinda was like I don't know about that, right, and she was right. So I don't know. I hope we get to find out, um, what happens, because I, just like I said, he made me feel uncomfortable, but maybe it's because I've recently watched a lot of con artist shows. Um, but she also, she's just like the perfect mark. She's the perfect mark, but like I said it.

Jess:

Just it feels like she's got money, money. So I'm like how much is he really going to get off of her? You know what I mean if she loses. But if she loses, like, if this woman is like we could take a plane to the next resort, if she loses a couple hundred thousand and she's fine, that's what I that's true. No, you know, this is going to be a blip in her story.

Niq:

I mean I think she said she's been married quite a few times, so like she's probably been like amassing, like alimonies or like settlements as she goes on she gives me money, money, vibes, so I'm like she's going to be fine.

Jess:

This man is going to pay for his next couple of years and she's going to be fine.

Niq:

Because she never asked how much anything costs, Like when she wanted to charter the boat. She doesn't ask how much anything costs, Nothing, Even the business that she said that she wanted to invest in. She never asked her hey, how much do you think you would need as seed money? Which is another reason why I feel like Belinda should have known that she wasn't serious, because she didn't even say hey, I can invest X amount of money. What is your budget? She only refers to me as an I'll pay for it.

Jess:

And again, that didn't throw me because I think she's got that level of money where it doesn't matter, you know.

Niq:

But when people have a lot of money they are honestly a little more fruitful.

Jess:

If you're an actual business person, if you were born into money, you ain't never had to have a job, you've never run a business and the money's just always there. You've just continued to amass your money's growing money. It means nothing to you. She's the kind of rich where, like okay, yeah, my friend wanted to develop this, you know, unicycle yoga stand? Sure, you know what I mean. To develop this unicycle yoga stand? Sure, it makes no difference to her.

Niq:

Right, okay, so why do you think her character was put into the show?

Jess:

I don't know. She's a very interesting character for the type of show that it is.

Niq:

Yes, what are they trying to tell? What are they trying to tell? What story are they trying to tell?

Jess:

I don't know. I mean, I guess, like how rich people interact with the rest of the world, I don't know, but she definitely seems like to me the kind of person that would go to that kind of resort. You know, and to me it was also odd that you would go to a resort to spread your mom's ashes and not just charter a boat.

Niq:

I agree, I do agree. Maybe she was looking to meet a man, I don't know. I think, because I feel like each like set of guests are telling a different story. There's some they interact, but I think they're each telling a story and I honestly feel like her story is about how people push boundaries and how they will take people who have so much will take from people who have so little.

Niq:

I can see that, you know, because all Belinda has is who she is, which is essentially like a healer, and I feel like in the time that Tanya was there, she tried to wring as much out of Belinda, to absorb as much from her Belinda to absorb as much from her as she can, you know, and gave her all of these false promises and, yes, she did end up like giving her, like that envelope full of money. I still feel like Tanya came ahead, came out ahead oh yeah, absolutely so.

Niq:

I honestly feel like that's. That was what they were saying. It was like almost like a cautionary tale of understanding what real currency is, and it's not necessarily money, because Tanya came with all the money in the world and you could not find someone who was more miserable, more empty, searching for love, searching for for meaning, searching for happiness.

Jess:

Connection, but in the most usury kind of way.

Niq:

Right, and so, once again, instead of doing the deep work in healing, now she's got attention from Greg, a man, and OK, everything is all good until what happens when that situation goes wrong. She's back in that same, like this place of despair, and what is? She's going to be? Looking back, you know, looking, who knows, maybe she'll go to tibet next time, you know, and try to buy a monk or something. She'll just buy another one. Like I, there's a amount of pity. I have a certain amount of pity towards her.

Niq:

I don't know if it's because Jennifer Coolidge makes her character likable you know, even in her like, even though she's a terrible person, she's a likable character and I'm invested. I'm invested in her healing because I'm like, oh man, like who would she be healed?

Jess:

I don't know if she'll ever get there, and I don't know if that, if White Lotus, is like giving any kind of resolution for any of the characters, because to me, like they start miserable, they end miserable. You know what I mean. Like they start miserable, they end miserable. They don't develop in that way.

Niq:

Yes, I think I had to. I think I figured that out after my second watch, that you're not going to get closure. Just watch the story and learn what you can from the story. But we're not tying anything up in a neat little book.

Jess:

No, and I mean, and while you do get like, you develop you they. They do develop them like in that you understand more about them and who they are, but they don't have like a like a redemption arc, like they're not going to get better as people.

Niq:

Right, right, because I, I mean I honestly like that's really not realistic, that one like you go, you start a vacation as a terrible person and at the end of it you're no longer a terrible person. Terrible people go on vacation all the time and still come back terrible. So I mean, I guess it's you know. In that sense I think I'm just used to TV and I'm asking myself okay, what kind of story are they telling? But didn't we learn from the TV show the resort like what a story is? And a story doesn't necessarily have to have a beginning, middle and end, or story doesn't necessarily have to have a beginning, middle and end, or it doesn't have to explain itself. Sometimes you just get a glimpse into someone's life.

Jess:

Yeah, and I guess that's what it feels like a glimpse into each of their lives.

Niq:

Right and I like it. I like it because it's something different and I think it challenges my views on what TV should and should not be or what it could be. Right, I guess it's about. I'm like TV can be anything, but I just once again, I like it when people take chances, but I just once again, I like it when people take chances. I like it when people do something different and, although I was really shocked when season 2 started and I didn't recognize anybody on the boat, that was probably the best thing for me, you know, because I watch. You know, I'm currently watching the Handmaid's Tale, so like.

Jess:

I don't know, I give up each season. There's like you know, I'm currently watching.

Niq:

The Handmaid's Tale. So, like I don't know, I give up. Each season there's, like you know, the same. We've been following the same people and the same story. So, yeah, I need something different. I I have. Yet I never fully catch up because I always start back from the beginning and it gets to be too much and I have to take breaks and then the break is like a year long and I always start back from the beginning. But I've gotten farther than I've ever gotten before. So I'm on season four, and so I'm feeling very proud of myself. I'm proud of you too, that I'm pushing. I will never keep the season four.

Jess:

Because I'm like, like listen, I read the book so many years ago in college and that was not as traumatizing as this show. So I'm like I've read this show, but the show is so much more traumatizing, and I'm like you know what. I don't have to do this to myself. I love me. There's no reason for me to continue to do this.

Niq:

I actually saw the movie when I was a kid. To myself, I love me. There's no reason for me to continue to do this. I actually saw the movie when I was a kid and, like when I look back on it, I did not understand what was going on in that movie at all. And even now, to this day, the only part I remember is when, like, the handmaids attacked a guy and killed him and one of the handmaids was like I think I got a piece of his ear and I like carry that memory with me from childhood. But I don't remember anything like about the rest of the movie and I really don't.

Jess:

I know I did not have an understanding of what that movie was about, I think we did one of those things where we read the book in class and then we watched the movie, but all I remember is Serena Lovejoy talking to Fred and smoking. That's the only scene that I remember.

Niq:

Yeah, I just the show. This show is so, it's so, it's so violent and it's so traumatic and it's so triggering, but at the same time it's like we are like a stone's throw away and so I'm like I need to watch it. I need to, I need to watch it, but I need to, I need to, I need to watch it. But I'm sorry, you know me, I've drifted off, but I think is there any other like themes, as it pertains to like Tanya, that you want to.

Niq:

I'm sorry, tanya, I think that's kind of it for me, with Tanya, of all the three, her story is the lightest and so as we go in we'll dig deeper and deeper into the thematic elements. But I think that was like a Her story is kind of like an appetizer into the stories of the show. I agree, I think that was like a Her story is kind of like an appetizer Into like the stories of the show. I agree. Alright, guys, we hope you enjoyed this episode. We'll look forward to the next episode when we're going to continue to discuss the White Lotus. Bye, guys, bye.