Arrivederci, White Lotus! What a surprise that was...

The second season of 2022's most addictive TV show has come to a close. But not all our questions have been answered.

The second season of 2022's most addictive TV show has come to a close. But not all our questions have been answered.

This review contains spoilers.

I can not fathom how on earth The White Lotus writers managed to surprise us with an ending no one picked. I mean it. It’s unfathomable. 

There have been hundreds of theories. What has felt like thousands of hours of unpacking the cryptic clues laden throughout the highly-addictive second season. And, millions of people across the globe working together in an unfruitful bid to uncover who dies in the final episode.

But for what? For the genius writers behind the award-winning show to drop a bombshell none of us saw coming. It’s the pooping and the stabbing from Season 1 all over again. 

At this point I wonder if I’m the one who dies in the season finale of The White Lotus.

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) December 11, 2022

None of us knew Tanya McQuoid would be a killer.

In fact, show me someone who predicted Tanya would bear a loaded gun to shoot out a handful of gays and a pseudo-gigolo, and I’ll show you mille maiali volanti (read: one thousand flying pigs, but Italian!) 

And then, for our Monica Vitti-aspiring heroine to meet her doom with a finite thunk, drowning deep in the Mediterranean, still adorned in floral tulle? A twist not even the most perceptive of viewers could have foreseen.

That is the beauty of The Lotus. Unpredictable. Unimaginable. Sometimes even a bit unbelievable.

Harper, Ethan, Cameron and Daphne. Picture: Binge.

It's been a long time since a television show has captured the eyes and ears of audiences the way this one has, and its brilliance lies in how the writers walk the line between satisfaction and discomfort, to keep watchers perpetually on edge. The final episode was no different.

There was satisfaction in the demise of Tanya, and a definitive answer to the 'Who dies?' question posed at the beginning of the season. But discomfort in not knowing whether Greg scraped up her fortune in the wake of her death and if he was, truly, having an affair.

Ethan and Harper rediscovering their lust for one another made for a satisfactory conclusion to their tumultuous narrative arc. But knowing Ethan's sexual flame was probably reignited by a brief coital encounter with his best friend's wife, Daphne? Discomforting.

And then, seeing peppy prostitutes Lucia and Mia use their wily wits to swindle seedy Albie and his father Dominic out of tens of thousands of euros was satisfactory, to say the least. However, knowing poor hotel manager Valentina is probably their next victim, leaves the viewer with an overwhelming sense of uneasiness.

Albie. Picture: Binge.

In the Unpacking Episode 7 segment following the episode, series creator Mike White conceded he didn’t want to kill Tanya but “she’s such a diva, larger-than-life female archetype, it just felt like we could devise our own operatic conclusion to Tanya’s life and her story.”

Plus, he suggested that Greg’s narrative might not be over. “It feels like there’s got to be somebody who’s going to track it down to Greg," he said. "But maybe you’ll have to wait to find out what happens.” 

And so, after seven weeks of speculation, theme song dance remixes, and endless shots of crashing waves, we bid arrivederci to The White Lotus.

See you next year. But until then, I can’t be the only one who’s booked a trip to Sicily, no?