Mike White’s Brilliant ‘The White Lotus’ Is Richly Drawn and Hilariously Dark

Everyone is aching for a getaway after the year we’ve been through. Who wouldn’t want to sit in the sun and enjoy the breeze as they sip a flowery cocktail brought over by a good-looking person ready to fulfill every whim? Vacations are meant to be a destination–a way to forget your troubles–but sometimes incidents that happen on an anticipated trip can seep into our everyday lives. Mike White’s The White Lotus is a richly written satire with a top-notch ensemble.

The cavalcade of guests staying at “the most romantic hotel in Hawaii” include a newly married couple (Jake Lacy and Alexandra Daddario), a woman mourning the death of her mother (hello, Jennifer Coolidge), and a family just trying to get in some quality time away from home lead by Steve Zahn and Connie Britton. They are welcomed to their stay by Murray Bartlett’s Armond, a smiling, charming manager whose Australian accent can only add to the allure of staying at an all-inclusive, oceanic resort. Natasha Rothwell plays Belinda, a spa manager who loves what she does but hates who she is doing it for. Armond tells a new employee that they are basically asked to play “tropical kabuki” and serve without putting a burden on the guests. The White Lotus feels like Upstairs, Downstairs but with more sunscreen and an open bar.

A lot of White’s characters live on the precipice of huge emotional breaks. I still have the image of Laura Dern ripping open the elevator doors in Enlightened burned vividly on my brain and his performance as Buck in 2000’s Chuck & Buck explored male friendship and loneliness unlike anything we’ve yet to see. In The White Lotus, the characters’ feelings are seemingly dormant because they are about to embark on a relaxing stay, so when emotions fly high, we don’t exactly know where they are going to land. It’s thrilling and dangerous wrapped in this picturesque, Hawaiian retreat.

The collaboration between White and Coolidge is a match made in heaven. We’ve never been given the pleasure of seeing Coolidge navigate sadder territory, but there are moments with her Tanya where you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The emotions are mixed so heavily that you end up doing both in the same moment. Tanya is a woman who used her wealth for transactional relationships, but you can feel how deep she is sinking into her own grief. The awkward scenes between Tanya and Belinda are some of the best of the series.

Barlett’s Armond is my favorite performance of the series because you don’t know how much he is going to lie to the guests to get out of a conversation he doesn’t want to be in. There is an impish, party boy glint in Barlett’s eyes at all times and when he truly unleashes his uncontrollable charm, you cannot tear away from him. Zahn has come a long way from lovable doof to conflicted father. His performance in The White Lotus couples well with those in Cowboys and Uncle Frank. Cast Natasha Rothwell in everything, please. She understands the line between comedy and drama so well that she crosses it in front of our very eyes in the sneakiest ways.

Much like White’s Beatriz at Dinner (which also co-starred Britton), tough conversations are held at the dinner table that confront issues of race and privilege. Are these characters going to do anything about the biases they discover about themselves or is it just screaming and blaming just to scream and blame? Does Sydney Sweeney’s Olivia actually think her parents can change their behaviors? Does she want them to?

These characters are so beautifully drawn that I can imagine them wandering around the resort and back at their homes. It feels like they are pulled directly from a best-selling source material but we are lucky enough that White pulled them out of his brain for this series. We do not get characters like these from a wholly original limited series very often.

When it comes right down to it, what is a real vacation? There is no place far enough away or a resort glamorous us enough for us to completely run away from the world and the conversations we are afraid and unwilling to have. A great time away can be a nice way to distract yourself, but your troubles will sneak back up on you without you even realizing it.

The White Lotus debuts on HBO on July 11.