'Italian Dream' Brings Forth the Character's Experiences and Issues as They Settle in at 'The White Lotus' for Episode 2
We begin to see some of the dynamics amongst visitors and their couplings blossom in the episode titled, 'Italian Dream' which it may be for some of the characters, but for others, their vacation in Sicily may feel like a nightmare. Let's start with Tanya and her husband, Greg. With the couple seemingly argumentative throughout last week's episode, Greg sets forth within this installment to make Tanya's Italian dreams come true. He asks her directly what she wants to do with their first full day since her arrival and she responds in Tanya fashion, "I want to smoke a cigarette like Monica Vitti. I want to ride a Vespa with as a man in a skinny suit drives me around until we eat a large bowl of pasta with the biggest clams we can find." Tanya gets her wish as Greg sets off to fulfill this well-thought-out plan by his new wife. While Tanya is blinded by her wanderlust adventure, Greg has real issues with his new wife that the viewer could decipher from the offset; but he makes her aware of it directly in this episode accusing Tanya of discarding anyone of importance in her life. After rifling off the experiences with multiple assistants, friends and loved ones he breaks the news that he has to head back to the States for work (spoiler alert, we later discover it is because Greg is cheating on Tanya).
Whilst the McQuoid-Hunt relationship has more to unfold in the coming episodes, we jump to Tanya's latest assistant, Portia who is still in hiding from Greg amidst her being a young, attractive single woman in Sicily before finding herself entangled with Albie, Dominic and Bert Di Grasso. After sharing a breakfast with the generational trio, she's invited to walk amongst the cobblestoned streets to a historical landmark theater where we see Bert constantly question the lack of a presence of the rest of the Di Grasso family on a trip that was "not meant to be a boys trip." We discover in a later dinner date between Portia and Albie within the episode that Dominic is repeatedly unfaithful to his wife and that Albie has set out to be much more faithful and noble to his approach to women which then leads to the youngest Di Grasso asking Portia for a kiss goodnight before moving forward with the embrace. The episode centers around the family and their own separate engagements while setting the stage for another night of deceit from Dominic after adding Lucia and Mia to his hotel room much to the chagrin of the hotel manager, despite her efforts.
The foursome of Cameron, Daphne, Harper and Ethan continues to act on a character and marriage study amongst themselves trying to figure out who they really are behind the "rich mask" that they all are sporting. Cameron may be flirting with Harper, or at least is having some interesting interactions with her that don't seem as harmless as he's making them out to be. Ethan is sexually frustrated with Harper (and maybe frustrated in other ways too) however, it seems that this is the "normal behavior" of a good couple according to Aubrey Plaza's Harper. There is more to come of this series but for now, we get plenty more laughs and development while we still are trying to solve this murder mystery veiled as an elegant Italian-set extravaganza.
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