Has the Wall Street Journal discovered that Tim’s alleged Southern accent sounds about as consistent as Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood accent and that he’s clearly an undercover Brit?
Vulture had a dialect expert critique his and Parker Posey's accents and he said they both were doing a fine job of a very specific type of North Carolina accent if a bit exaggerrated
Jason Isaacs and Daniel Craig were the UK’s first Louis and Joe in Angels in America, back in the early ‘90s. I’d like to think in the White Lotus universe they ended up together in a disreputable Raleigh law practice, with Parker Posey as Harper playing the beard.
He said "goal" at one point and it was so mangled I couldn't believe they kept that take, but then again I can't do a consistent English accent so glass houses.
I enjoy the meta-ness of having the son of such an iconic “macho” actor cast as someone who seems to be posturing as his idea of “a Man” and as someone desperate for his father’s approval.
A slow premiere that felt a bit too familiar. I'm most interested in the three ladies on their victory tour so far, but it's super weird how the Ratliff siblings feel like they barely know each other. And also the hypersexualization of Saxon's whole deal. His relentless pursuit of sex is obnoxious and speaks to a deep-seated inadequacy - not measuring up to his father, it seems like - all of it ringing just a little creepy.
Jason Isaacs and Walton Goggins are great, as always.
I enjoyed that a lot. Something about supremely out-of-touch characters is always so fun to watch, even if it does rethread familiar ground. I always laugh at every one of the rich folks telling the workers at the hotel totally inane background info about their family or lives that no one would ever care about hearing (least the personnel), because they're all SO used to others catering to their whims they can't help but blabber.
Also wild guess, but does anyone think the shooter in the intro sequence might be a monkey that got a hold of a machine gun? Would fit with the show's sense of humor.
This is my first season and I'm loving it so far! Even if I'm not getting all the callbacks to previous seasons. (Some like the fact that Natasha Rothwell was a major character on a previous season are made very obvious but others like what was going on with the bald guy are more mysterious to me) Here are the only critiques, observations I had which will make it sound like I liked it way less than I did when I really really liked it:
1. I didn't like that opened with a scene depicting the end of the story when the shit goes down or whatever. In general I find that device kind of hackneyed and agree with the Rick and Morty episode that deals with this. Why not just start the story where it starts? I get that the idea is it creates extra foreboding about how the bad stuff is going go happen etc. but it would've been menacing enough to see the armed bodyguards etc.
2. It's a real waste of Walton Goggins to have him play this taciturn grump. I agree with his character's girlfriend so far. He's boring
Other than that I loved it. Both the rich NC family and the three middle aged women are fantastic character ensembles and I can't wait to see what happens with them. Patrick Schwarzeneggar is killing it. He's so creepy. The theme of actual Buddhism in the form of the nearby temple existing alongside a more commodified colonized Western New Age version of it in the resort is really interesting
I like your point about “wellness”/commodified spirituality vs the genuine article (or at least an authentic historical temple). I wonder if Piper will ever actually get her interview with the monk…
Been here since season 1, but agree with you about the in medias res open. It's been the least interesting part of the show to me, but in fairness the show's been upfront about being much more interested in the murder than the mystery.
Yup 100% picked up some super weird incest vibes from the Ratliffs. Not sure if I want the show to go there or not.
And we'll see how it actually plays out, but the fact that the daughter didn't even set up an interview but just thinks she can walk in and talk to this monk...lol that's such a pitch perfect representation of white privilege.
I saw Quinn, Albie, and Lochlan all cut from the same cloth of the "hapless son" archetype, although Albie seemed to have things a little more together besides his romantic struggles. You may be right, though, that there is a Quinn-Piper parallel.
Overall, I thought it was a decent start and I appreciate that the show introduces its characters effectively and makes it clear who they are (at least on the surface), though it's hard to make too much of a judgement.
One nitpick I had was I found it hard to believe that a) that place would have such strict phone rules and b) even if it did, that someone staying there and paying all that money would be unaware of the rules
Interesting setup for the season. I don’t miss Jennifer Coolidge (fine in small doses, but not when she’s the focus), but I’m also not the biggest Parker Posey fan (outside of Dazed and Confused and Best in Show).
Saxon is a piece of garbage. Very much the southern rich kid who wants to be daddy, but isn’t. A southern Kendall Roy?
I really hope White doesn't go with that washed out lens filter for the whole season. It barely works as a filter on Instagram and even less so in long form filmmaking. Let us see things! Washing out any light while juicing any color to the point of acidity is exhausting on the eyes.
Maybe it's just because the first episode always covers the boat arrivals and one-by-one greetings and introductions to the resorts, but it really did feel too much like going through the motions from S1 and 2.
I don't know what's going to go down with the Ratliffe siblings but whatever it is, it's going to be fuh-reaky.
With the return of BLM guy I'm kind of wondering if we'll see Leo Woodall again too now. Perhaps taking revenge? Not that he has time to film White Lotus in addition to Bridget Jones and that math show.
Lots of archtypes looking for fleshed out characters to fill them :(
I'll give that criticism time to develop though, especially given what this cast can bring to the table (including letting Carrie Coon cry so soon into the season)
I wonder how this season will fit into the current political landscape. In retrospect the first two seasons with their (imho quite superficial) satire on "woke college culture" are a product of the Biden era so if White continues in this direction it could feel tonally off right now.
Do we know how the Ratliffes are all related to each other? Seems like Saxon might be a half- or step-sibling to the two other kids, since he doesn't seem to be overly familiar with them.
Sad they changed the theme song. Singing it during the opening had been one of my favorite ways to annoy my wife.
Has the Wall Street Journal discovered that Tim’s alleged Southern accent sounds about as consistent as Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood accent and that he’s clearly an undercover Brit?
Vulture had a dialect expert critique his and Parker Posey's accents and he said they both were doing a fine job of a very specific type of North Carolina accent if a bit exaggerrated
I swear, between the haircut and the accent for a minute I thought he was Daniel Craig doing another Benoit Blanc, haha.
Jason Isaacs and Daniel Craig were the UK’s first Louis and Joe in Angels in America, back in the early ‘90s. I’d like to think in the White Lotus universe they ended up together in a disreputable Raleigh law practice, with Parker Posey as Harper playing the beard.
He said "goal" at one point and it was so mangled I couldn't believe they kept that take, but then again I can't do a consistent English accent so glass houses.
I thought the character was English for the first half the episode.
I enjoy the meta-ness of having the son of such an iconic “macho” actor cast as someone who seems to be posturing as his idea of “a Man” and as someone desperate for his father’s approval.
A slow premiere that felt a bit too familiar. I'm most interested in the three ladies on their victory tour so far, but it's super weird how the Ratliff siblings feel like they barely know each other. And also the hypersexualization of Saxon's whole deal. His relentless pursuit of sex is obnoxious and speaks to a deep-seated inadequacy - not measuring up to his father, it seems like - all of it ringing just a little creepy.
Jason Isaacs and Walton Goggins are great, as always.
I enjoyed that a lot. Something about supremely out-of-touch characters is always so fun to watch, even if it does rethread familiar ground. I always laugh at every one of the rich folks telling the workers at the hotel totally inane background info about their family or lives that no one would ever care about hearing (least the personnel), because they're all SO used to others catering to their whims they can't help but blabber.
Also wild guess, but does anyone think the shooter in the intro sequence might be a monkey that got a hold of a machine gun? Would fit with the show's sense of humor.
Yes that's what my wife thought! Love that idea. Felt like way too many bullets were flying for a person(s) to conciously be doing it.
This is my first season and I'm loving it so far! Even if I'm not getting all the callbacks to previous seasons. (Some like the fact that Natasha Rothwell was a major character on a previous season are made very obvious but others like what was going on with the bald guy are more mysterious to me) Here are the only critiques, observations I had which will make it sound like I liked it way less than I did when I really really liked it:
1. I didn't like that opened with a scene depicting the end of the story when the shit goes down or whatever. In general I find that device kind of hackneyed and agree with the Rick and Morty episode that deals with this. Why not just start the story where it starts? I get that the idea is it creates extra foreboding about how the bad stuff is going go happen etc. but it would've been menacing enough to see the armed bodyguards etc.
2. It's a real waste of Walton Goggins to have him play this taciturn grump. I agree with his character's girlfriend so far. He's boring
Other than that I loved it. Both the rich NC family and the three middle aged women are fantastic character ensembles and I can't wait to see what happens with them. Patrick Schwarzeneggar is killing it. He's so creepy. The theme of actual Buddhism in the form of the nearby temple existing alongside a more commodified colonized Western New Age version of it in the resort is really interesting
If it wasn't also clear, the in medias res opening is *ALSO* a carryover. He's done it every time. It's baked into the format at this point.
It'll be great to have your perspective here this season!
I like your point about “wellness”/commodified spirituality vs the genuine article (or at least an authentic historical temple). I wonder if Piper will ever actually get her interview with the monk…
Been here since season 1, but agree with you about the in medias res open. It's been the least interesting part of the show to me, but in fairness the show's been upfront about being much more interested in the murder than the mystery.
Yup 100% picked up some super weird incest vibes from the Ratliffs. Not sure if I want the show to go there or not.
And we'll see how it actually plays out, but the fact that the daughter didn't even set up an interview but just thinks she can walk in and talk to this monk...lol that's such a pitch perfect representation of white privilege.
Either that or there's something else going on with the daughter
I saw Quinn, Albie, and Lochlan all cut from the same cloth of the "hapless son" archetype, although Albie seemed to have things a little more together besides his romantic struggles. You may be right, though, that there is a Quinn-Piper parallel.
Overall, I thought it was a decent start and I appreciate that the show introduces its characters effectively and makes it clear who they are (at least on the surface), though it's hard to make too much of a judgement.
One nitpick I had was I found it hard to believe that a) that place would have such strict phone rules and b) even if it did, that someone staying there and paying all that money would be unaware of the rules
Interesting setup for the season. I don’t miss Jennifer Coolidge (fine in small doses, but not when she’s the focus), but I’m also not the biggest Parker Posey fan (outside of Dazed and Confused and Best in Show).
Saxon is a piece of garbage. Very much the southern rich kid who wants to be daddy, but isn’t. A southern Kendall Roy?
I really hope White doesn't go with that washed out lens filter for the whole season. It barely works as a filter on Instagram and even less so in long form filmmaking. Let us see things! Washing out any light while juicing any color to the point of acidity is exhausting on the eyes.
Maybe it's just because the first episode always covers the boat arrivals and one-by-one greetings and introductions to the resorts, but it really did feel too much like going through the motions from S1 and 2.
I don't know what's going to go down with the Ratliffe siblings but whatever it is, it's going to be fuh-reaky.
With the return of BLM guy I'm kind of wondering if we'll see Leo Woodall again too now. Perhaps taking revenge? Not that he has time to film White Lotus in addition to Bridget Jones and that math show.
Lots of actors I like! :)
Lots of archtypes looking for fleshed out characters to fill them :(
I'll give that criticism time to develop though, especially given what this cast can bring to the table (including letting Carrie Coon cry so soon into the season)
I wonder how this season will fit into the current political landscape. In retrospect the first two seasons with their (imho quite superficial) satire on "woke college culture" are a product of the Biden era so if White continues in this direction it could feel tonally off right now.
Do we know how the Ratliffes are all related to each other? Seems like Saxon might be a half- or step-sibling to the two other kids, since he doesn't seem to be overly familiar with them.
The things TV makes us type.