‘The White Lotus’: Jennifer Coolidge shines among toxic men in sexier season 2

Intoxicating, sexy, alluring and tense are all words that describe the second season of Mike White’s Emmy-winning HBO show The White Lotus (Premiering October 30 at 9:00pm ET on Crave in Canada), this time in Sicily, with the return of Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries, along with newcomers Michael Imperioli, F. Murray Abraham, Aubrey Plaza and Theo James.

The show’s second season begins with hotel guest Daphne (Meghann Fahy) taking one last dip in the water at the beach before her vacation comes to an end, but ends up screaming when she encounters a floating corpse. When resort manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) arrives under police presence, it turns out that “a few” bodies of hotel guests have been found in the water.

Similar to the first season, we then travel back in time a week earlier to a group of White Lotus Resort guests arriving by boat and are greeted by the estate staff as we observe the events leading up to this one fatal discovery.

The only guests remaining from season one are Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) and her now-husband Greg (Jon Gries), who met at the White Lotus estate in Hawaii. As Coolidge told reporters, she didn’t initially expect to return for the show’s second season.

“I didn’t think anything would repeat itself … so I was thrilled that we got to tell the story of what happened to Greg and Tanya because that was never talked about, I never heard that from Mike,” Coolidge said. “I love that Chapter Two is very different from Chapter One, … more has happened and time has passed, and it’s kind of interesting how something so romantic starts off, even with [Greg’s] Illness, and how it can then lead to something you never thought would happen.”

While Coolidge famously took home an Emmy award for her portrayal of Tanya in Season 1 of The White LotusShe admits that her “insecurity never wavers”.

“I didn’t get any more confident on White Lotus Two,” said Coolidge. “It’s kind of weird how the world works that nobody wants to be the first to give you a chance.”

The story goes on

“Nobody wants to give you the big thing because they don’t know if you can and they don’t want to take the risk. So Mike White did that for me in a big way because it didn’t happen and if it didn’t work out it would have been a terrible thing for him because he would have been in trouble with HBO or whatever. I’m just thrilled that he gave me this gift, this great role, and then what it does is…then other people say, ‘okay, so maybe you don’t screw it up,’ maybe if they give it to you a chance.”

“I like the second season even better”

Similar to the first season of The White Lotuseach guest, or combination of guests, comes to the property with their own personal dramas.

In season 2 we meet three generations of Di Grasso men, Albie with his father Dominic and Dominic’s father Bert (played by Adam DiMarco, Michael Imperioli and F. Murray Abraham respectively) who have traveled to Italy to explore their Italian heritage come . Dominic is a sex-addicted Hollywood star whose rampant infidelity destroyed his marriage to Albie’s mother, but his father Bert’s relationship with women is quite similar.

“I can’t remember playing a character that I enjoyed so much in a long time,” said F. Murray Abraham. “He’s just a pleasure. He’s funny, he’s cheeky and charming and I feel like I know him and I like him, I forgive his sins because I’m trying to forgive my own thing.

said Michael Imperioli while watching the first season of The White Lotus, he was particularly struck by the way Mike White found the “humanity” in a group of characters who were “very easy to be cynical and judgmental”. In Season 2, this beautiful design of the characters remains.

“Mike and I have been talking about sex addiction and as they say, in recovery… that you have to define yourself, only you can say you’re an addict, you have to come to that realization no matter what a doctor says, or therapist, a colleague or family member, until you come to that realization and accept that, you can’t really heal,” Imperioli said. “I find [Dominic] I’ve denied that for a long time, but I think that’s why this trip is maybe a turning point in his life right now, where he’ll sort of come to grips with it.

That Canadian actor Adam DiMarco will be cast in a role working so closely with award-winning actors Imperioli and Abraham. One of the scenes that DiMarco humorously highlights occurred on his first day at work and is shown in the first episode, where Albie goes to bed with his grandfather after a fall and Bert farts repeatedly.

“When I worked with Michael and Murray and got on the show, I was a little intimidated at first because they’re just such acclaimed, great actors and I’m just this Canadian boy,” DiMarco said.

“The second we started getting to know each other, … [we’d] Talk about the themes of the show, talk about our fathers, our relationship with our fathers, talk about sex or the relationship to sex. They both have such great stories that it was just fun to be a fly on the wall during some of those conversations. When it came to actually working and shooting the scenes, I felt very comfortable around her, and maybe I’m projecting, but at times it felt like our relationship dynamics were similar to that on the show.”

Relatable couple dynamics

The White Lotus Season 2 also introduces us to two pairs of pairs, Daphne (Meghann Fahy) and Cameron (Theo James), and Ethan (Will Sharpe) and Harper (Aubrey Plaza). Harper is skeptical as to why Cameron, one of Ethan’s college roommates, actually invited her on the trip and is quick to point out how vain Cameron and Daphne are, but we also recognize that her relationship with Ethan may not be as stable as they believe .

“When you meet [Ethan]he seems a certain way, and ethan and harper together, their relationship is at a certain point where they tell themselves that they are good together, that they love each other, that they are honest with each other, but they are actually be as honest with each other as they think they are about the toughest issues they carry?” said Will Sharpe.

“I love the nature of the journey, the peaks and valleys that the characters go through, and being able to show all the different colors and sides of Harper was really challenging but really fun,” added Aubrey Plaza.

“I think it’s very understandable to deal with these couples who are struggling in their marriage and see them at a rock bottom in their marriage. I think it’s always interesting to delve into this dynamic when people have been together for a very long time and are trying to rekindle their relationship and rekindle the fire there. I think it’s just so relatable, so I loved that.

“The b-tchy you are, the more it works”

What connects all these characters together? Similar to the first season, Valentina, the resort’s manager (Sabrina Impacciatore), juggles the demands of her guests while embarking on her own personal journey.

“I was very surprised [Mike White] directed me to be repulsive, aggressive and tough,” said Sabrina Impacciatore. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, they’re going to hate me. What can I do?’ And I was really, really worried … but he kept telling me, ‘Sabrina, the more daft you are, the better it works.'”

“When I finally got to play the other role of Valentina, the other side of Valentina, I loved going in that direction, which was completely opposite. To explore the hidden garden that she wanted to protect because she was so vulnerable and so innocent, like a little child who doesn’t know herself and through whom she gets to know herself [meeting] people they speak to.”

Unique in the second season of The White Lotusthe hotel staff is not the only bridge between all the guests, there are also Lucia (Simona Tabasco) and Mia (Beatrice Grannò), friends and sex workers who call many hotel guests to clients, much to Valentina’s dismay.

“We wanted to bring that cutie because I think what really comes out when you look at it, … there’s so much cuteness, but what they’re doing out there isn’t cute at all, but when they’re together they’re really one on one.” one another,” said Grannò.

“We also built on each other’s personalities and what we already knew about each other and swapped bits and pieces of ourselves throughout the shoot and that’s what happens with the characters,” Tabasco added via a translator.

Season 1 vs Season 2 of The White Lotus

For everyone who loved season 1 of The White Lotusseason two has some similar beats but a different energy that much of the cast has pointed out due to the filming location in Sicily, where the location almost becomes a character in itself.

It’s likely that some will be tempted to compare season 1 details to season 2, though The White Lotus remains one of the best shows to watch, unrivaled in its character development.

“I don’t think it’s so different that anyone who really reacted to it in Season 1 would be disappointed,” said Meghann Fahy.

“I would hope that people don’t go into season two with too many expectations, and I think that’s probably a really difficult thing to do. [Mike White] really doesn’t play what people expect him to do, nor is he the kind of person interested in fixing something that someone had a problem with the first time, he’s not the type… So I think people might be surprised by those little things that he decides to think outside of the mold of a show that has multiple seasons, he breaks that mold in his own way.”