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Maui, Hawaii

Staff

Armond

"Sometimes, just watching them eat every night makes me wanna gouge my eyes out. The lotus-eaters."

Played By: Murray Bartlett

The manager of the White Lotus resort in Hawaii.

Benevolent Boss: Armond appears to be well-liked by his employees, and even his interactions with Lani are attributable to simple obliviousness, for which he feels very guilty.
Beware the Nice Ones: Armond is genial and polite almost to the point of being obsequious, but he's capable of showing a very nasty, exploitative side when pushed.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Armond is extremely friendly and polite with the guests, but underneath the facade he's a vindictive and duplicitous jerk to those he doesn't like, such as Shane.
Blatant Lies: When Shane rightly complains about not getting the more expensive room his mother booked for him, Armond straight up lies to his face and tells him he is in the right room.
Break the Haughty: Armond starts off the show as a superior know-it-all, but gets thoroughly broken throughout the week by his addiction, his rivalry with Shane, and the resort's calamities.
Dirty Old Man: Lusts after Dillon, who looks to be around half his age.
Fatal Flaw: His inability to back down from his conflict with Shane. He's not wholly in the wrong (though Shane is also the Jerkass Has a Point, as he didn't get the room he was supposed to receive due to the fault of the hotel), but his refusal to take the high road and just let things drop only results in his downfall.
Has a Type: Confides to Dillon that lean, long-haired Surfer Dude types really turn him on.
Heel Realization: Learning that Lani was pregnant her entire first day on the job, and he didn't even notice despite spending virtually every minute with her, prompts a good deal of guilty shock on his part. Averted when this contributes to him falling off the wagon.
Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Booking the wrong room for Shane. It's a genuine mistake, admittedly one he doesn't own up to Shane over, but it starts the cycle of his and Shane's petty feud (and it's clear Shane wouldn't be understanding about it), which leads him to falling off the wagon and ultimately to his death at Shane's hands.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Played with. He zigzags between being a "jerk" (being rude to Shane, ruining Shane's honeymoon), and "heart of gold" (his obvious care for his employees). He also has moments of self awareness and opens up to Belinda about his struggles with addiction.
Mr. Vice Guy: An unusually tragic example; while Armond is a recovering alcoholic who falls Off the Wagon over the course of the series and ends up doing a lot of selfish and exploitative things, the show also goes out of its way to demonstrate that he's a genuinely decent guy who is a Benevolent Boss to his employees and whose grudge against Shane is, if not justified, at the very least understandable.
Off the Wagon: A combination of stressful factors push him to break his five-year sobriety with the drugs in Paula's pack.
Revenge Before Reason: His inability to let Shane "win" ends up contributing to his own downfall as much as anything Shane actually did.
Silver Fox: He is played by an actor pushing fifty and has grey hair, but is also physically fit, tan, well-groomed, and very attractive overall.
Stepford Smiler: As the manager of a luxury resort, he's very good at painting a bright, broad grin on his face regardless of his feelings.
Straight Gay: He turns out to be gay, with no stereotypical traits.
Tragic Mistake: Double-booking the Pineapple Suite starts a long escalating feud with Shane that ends with him killing Armond, albeit accidentally.

Belinda

Belinda Lindsey

"I think you'll find this really cathartic."

Played By: Natasha Rothwell

The manager of the resort's spa.

Broken Bird: At the start of the show, she's a sincere, open person who's happy to help others, even if she's a little annoyed that she's helping rich people instead of the needy. By the end, she's fully closed herself off emotionally, refusing to lend an ear to Rachel's troubles, and fully transforming into an interchangeable, forgettable employee.
Good Parents: She's suggested to have a great relationship with her college-aged son, who calls her on his own accord to check in on how she's doing and encourages her to follow her dreams.
The Heart: Belinda is shown to be genuinely good at her job, kind to everyone, and looks after Armond when he falls off the wagon.
Living Emotional Crutch: Tanya latches onto her from the first day, and continuously inserts herself into Belinda's life.
Magical Negro: Deconstructed. Tanya clings to her for emotional support and life advice, but their relationship is fundamentally a transactional one, with Belinda putting up with her solely in the hope that she'll repay her kindness for the funding needed to open her own business. When Tanya is able to find fulfillment in life outside of Belinda through her relationship with Greg, she abruptly changes her tune about helping Belinda strike out on her own. Later, Rachel also approaches her for life advice, but by that point Belinda is too burned out by her dealings with Tanya to even feign interest. Essentially, the wealthy white characters see her as an example of this trope so that they can overlook the reality that she is her own person with her own struggles and ambitions.
Nice Girl: While she sticks as closely with Tanya as she does for the sake of financial gain, she is still presented as being a pleasant person who enjoys talking people through their problems. Her dream is to open her own spa that focuses on holistic work with people from all social backgrounds, which further shows that she has fundamentally good intentions.
Only Sane Employee: She's smart and sensible, and acts as the voice of reason to Armond as he starts to fall off the wagon.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Places all of her hopes into the belief that Tanya will assist her in breaking away from her job to start her own business, only to have it all ripped away from her when Tanya finds an outlet outside of her. Tanya does end up giving her twenty thousand dollars as thanks, which is more than most of the other Downer Endings in this series get.
Took a Level in Cynic: Belinda begins the story a warm-hearted spa manager with an interest in wellness therapy, if a little tired of healing the wealthy instead of the poor and needy. After Tanya goes back on her offer to fund Belinda's center, Belinda shuts herself down emotionally and intentionally distances herself from other guests like Rachel.

Kai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twl_kai.png

Played By: Kekoa Scott Kekumano

A staffer at the White Lotus who forms a connection with Paula.

Category Traitor: His brothers refuse to speak to him because he's working for the resort that was built on the land stolen from his family. Kai doesn't exactly like working for the White Lotus, but admits he has to make a living.
Meaningful Name: "Kai" is the Hawaiian (and Japanese) word for "ocean".
Mr. Fanservice: He's young, fit, and handsome and is seen shirtless in several scenes.
Nice Guy: One of the few decently nice characters in the series. Armond even describes him as a good kid who never caused any trouble for him.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Paula's scheme to free him from his job ends with him in prison.
Stupid Crooks: Goes along with Paula's improvised plan to steal Nicole's $75,000 bracelets, despite the fact that the plan puts all the risk on him and is liable to blow up in his face if any of the Mossbachers decide to return to the room...which is exactly what happens.

Dillon

Played By: Lukas Gage

A staffer at the White Lotus.

Ambiguously Gay: While he's willing to indulge Armond's lust for him, since he does it for the sake of having more leeway in his job it's not entirely clear if he's actually attracted to men himself.
Lust Object: To Armond, who's slightly obsessed with him.
Mr. Fanservice: He's a young, attractive man whom we see in various states of undress.
Surfer Dude: Has the long, wavy blonde hair, lean physique, and laid-back attitude typically associated with the archetype, though he is never actually shown surfing. Armond even calls him one while describing how he's exactly his type.

Lani

Played By: Jolene Purdy

A trainee at the White Lotus.

First Day from Hell: Lani's first day at the White Lotus is filled with inconveniences and humiliation — and then she's forced to give birth in her boss' office.
Mistaken for Pregnant: Inverted. She hid the fact that she was pregnant when she was hired, and is on the verge of giving birth for much of the pilot. When Armond learns she's giving birth in his office, he says he just thought she was fat.
My Secret Pregnancy: Lani goes her entire first day on the job without telling anybody she's pregnant — and then she gives birth in her boss' office that very night.
Small Role, Big Impact: She's just a trainee who disappears after the pilot (having given birth) but guilt over her secret pregnancy is part of what drives Armond to fall Off the Wagon, kicking off a chain of events that leads to his death.
We Hardly Knew Ye: In the first episode, she seems like she's going to be the Audience Surrogate as a regular woman just starting work at the White Lotus. However, she soon disappears and is only mentioned a few times afterwards.

Guests

The Mossbachers

Nicole

Nicole Mossbacher

"I’m tired of being a fucking punching bag."

Played By: Connie Britton

A CFO of a tech company and Mark's wife.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Nicole at first seems to be a pleasant enough (if controlling) woman understandably beleaguered by her whiny husband, bitchy daughter and loner son. When Rachel awkwardly approaches her as an admirer and asks for advice, Nicole gives her sincere, heartfelt advice. Then she learns Rachel wrote a slightly careless but flattering profile of her once, and doesn't hesitate to tear into her with a bitter, malicious little speech that shows her to be a thin-skinned, obsessive, ambitious person with a serious talent for cruelty. The way she reacts so viciously might imply that Rachel was entirely right that she "rode the wave of #MeToo".
Control Freak: Nicole is obsessed with controlling every aspect of her family vacation, and is constantly barging in to Olivia, Paula, and Quinn's room to Zoom despite having her own room.
Dead Sparks: By the time the series begins, there is absolutely no passion left in her relationship with Mark.
Girlboss Feminist: Downplayed, but a little there. Nicole is highly regarded as an inspirational woman that succeeded in a male dominated field and looks up to Hillary Clinton for the same reason, but there is some implication that her career is at least partly her lucking out in a problematic company trying to put the spotlight in a woman when they're implied to have made a toxic, possibly misogynistic workplace (as indicated by the lawsuits and mentions of the #MeToo movement). While with her family, she complains about how the world treats white straight men and how her company won't hire them anymore, but Olivia calls out that her company has historically not hired other groups.
High-Powered Career Woman: Nicole is a CFO at one of the biggest search engine tech companies in the world that has recently been struck by controversy, and she's the only breadwinner in her household. She rankles at the mildest hint that her position came in some part due to the controversy, asserting she climbed the corporate ladder on her own. She has a semi-permanent professional air to her, something her House Husband Mark and daughter criticize her for, and is only somewhat attentive to the interior lives of her children, who she very obviously both doesn't fully understand and doesn't seem that bothered to understand. And of course her husband struggles with feeling emasculated and impotent in the family next to her success.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Seems patterned on Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Facebook and co-author of Lean In.

Mark

Mark Mossbacher

"I just need someone in my life to respect me, you know?"

Played By: Steve Zahn

Nicole's husband and Olivia and Quinn’s father, who is dealing with a health crisis.

Alliterative Name: Mark Mossbacher.
Animal Motifs: Monkeys, starting in Episode 3 (aptly named "Mysterious Monkeys"). He gives a speech to Quinn about how humans are just "monkeys," compares addiction and bad behaviors to a monkey, and even acts like a monkey (or gorilla) after getting drunk. It highlights his outdated and primal views on masculinity, relationships, and social politics.
Mark: We wanna be, like…superheroes and respectable fathers and pillars in our communities, whatever, but- but in fact, we’re just monkeys…living in our own little monkey pods, driven by base instincts to create these hierarchies and hump each other.
Bumbling Dad: He's not a bad guy and generally means well, but he's nowhere near as composed as his wife and frequently embarrasses his kids.
Drama Queen: Always seems to find a new problem to complain about incessantly. While the possibility of having testicular cancer is a reasonable thing to worry about, there's really no reason for him to take learning that his father was a closeted gay man as hard as he does other than a deep-seated need to be the center of attention.
Earn Your Happy Ending: He manages to come out of the White Lotus a more satisfied man, after dealing with a cancer scare, mounting family tensions and an existential crisis.
Freudian Excuse: After learning that his father was a closeted gay man who cheated with men and died from AIDS, Mark blames him for messing him up.
Heroic BSoD: Experiences one after he discovers his strict "man's man" of a father died from AIDS by having sex with men and not from cancer like he was told.
House Husband: Nicole is the breadwinner of the family, and her success and profile eclipses Mark completely. He feels emasculated by this, and expresses as much to Quinn, while also implied to be the reason why he cheated on Nicole.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Mark's fixation on masculinity and Drama Queen tendencies are both implied to stem from his feelings of inadequacy as a man due to being stuck in a loveless marriage with a wife infinitely more successful than he'll ever be and the strict, macho upbringing of his father who is later revealed to have been closeted. Mark learning about his father's Unmanly Secret (that he died from AIDS and not from cancer) is what sends Mark on his bender.
It's All About Me: Mark is self-absorbed to a frequently uncomfortable degree, starting with his health scare before constantly venting to the other characters about his feelings and resentments when they'd rather not hear it.
Mistaken for Gay: His drunken questioning of Armond about how anal sex feels leads to the latter becoming convinced that he has a thing for him. To his credit, Armond was also in the middle of a bender at the time.
Too Much Information: Facing something of a personal crisis, he gets drunk by the pool and spends the entire day oversharing with anyone who'll pretend to listen even going as far as to reveal to Quinn that he once had an affair with another woman.

Olivia

Olivia Mossbacher

"Making shit happen all the time is a compulsion."

Played By: Sydney Sweeney

Nicole and Mark's sardonic daughter who is a college sophomore.

Alpha Bitch: She's in college and a catty, unpleasant person.
Ambiguously Gay: She hates Paula having time for anyone except her and is jealous of Kai for trying to take her away. She also watches Paula and Kai have sex. While Paula mentions her hooking up with Paula's crush or boyfriend Trevor, she seems to have no interest in him whatsoever except as an extension of Paula. She also can’t take her eyes off Rachel when the latter disrobes for a swim.
Big Sister Bully: Olivia is dismissive and mean-spirited towards her brother Quinn, even demanding that he spend their family vacation sleeping in the kitchen.
Bourgeois Bohemian: She comes from a rich family and is quite the overbearing Soapbox Sadie for progressive issues.
"Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When Olivia finds out about Paula helping Kai to rob her parents, she seems to hold onto it as a form of emotional blackmail rather than financial or material, to make sure Paula can't get away from her.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Olivia fits this to a tee. She's a jerk to everyone except her friend Paula, spending her vacation complaining and making lots of rude remarks, even demanding her little brother sleep in another room.
Control Freak: A trait she seems to have inherited from Nicole. Olivia is very controlling and possessive over Paula.
Holier Than Thou: Not in a religious sense, but she clearly considers herself far above the other guests at the White Lotus, judging them harshly on the most superficial impressions.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Sydney Sweeney believes that her contrarian attitude toward her mother is born from her subconscious fear of being stuck in the shadow of a wildly successful woman. Her flippant treatment of everyone else can also be read as extension of this; she treats all others as being beneath her as a way of masking her subconscious fear of being nothing beyond the daughter of a genuinely accomplished woman.
It's All About Me: Paula mentions to Kai that Olivia frequently has to have what Paula has, even going so far as to try and win over Kai after she finds out about their fling, and holding her knowledge of the robbery over Paula's head in order to have the upper hand in their relationship.
Jerkass: Olivia is openly contemptuous of absolutely everyone save for Paula, and is highly possessive and controlling of even her.
Ms. Fanservice: Though she does not fit into this trope quite to the same extent as Rachel, she is still a young and attractive woman who is seen in revealing swimwear in every episode.
Parental Sexuality Squick: Olivia is mortified to hear her parents having sex in the next room.
The Peeping Tom: She follows her friend Paula out to see who she's meeting, then briefly watches as she's having sex with a young man outside.
Pet the Dog: She's genuinely frazzled when she finds out that her parents were attacked by a robber, which is the only moment in the series where she displays anything in the way of sympathy for them.
Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: A Deconstructed example. Olivia snidely points when others (particularly her family) display privilege or prejudices and drops a lot of social justice buzzwords, but it’s obvious that she is doing so more to feel superior to the rest than out of any genuine empathy or concern for the less privileged. It’s also made increasingly clear that Olivia has a high sense of entitlement that comes from her wealthy background and is unwilling to use that privilege to actually help.
Secret-Keeper: Played with. She learns of Paula's complicity in her parents' robbery and seems to be willing to keep it a secret.
Soapbox Sadie: She and Paula are very prone to sanctimony when it comes to their issues, and frequently butt heads with the more moderate Nicole.
Spoiled Brat: Olivia is on a luxurious vacation with her very rich family, but she's still very ungrateful for everything and looks down on her family.
Those Two Guys: Deconstructed. She's pretty much inseparable from Paula, but only because she actively undermines all of her attempts at branching away from her.

Quinn

Quinn Mossbacher

"Everything sucks at home. It's all dead."

Played By: Fred Hechinger

Nicole and Mark's socially awkward son.

Character Development: Grows out of his shell and learns to appreciate the world around him as the series goes on.
Covert Pervert: Olivia nearly constantly torments him about how weird and awkward he is, even accusing him of masturbating to Paula. While he does masturbate in the room next door (and on the beach), he's generally pretty polite about it.
Deadpan Snarker: Gets in a few jabs during his chats with his father.
Mark: I thought I knew my father, you know? I only knew the part that he wanted me to see. He hid the monkey, and that's what screwed me up, Quinn.
Quinn: ...you think that's what did it?
Dumbass Teenage Son: Downplayed. He's an awkward, irritable, and horny loner that others push around easily, but he's also shown to have the most empathy of his family and doesn't come across as particularly unintelligent.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Runs away in the last episode to stay with the friends he'd made.
Extreme Doormat: While he occasionally tries to stand up for himself, Olivia is able to order him to sleep in a cramped and unventilated bathroom and outside on the beach with a disturbing amount of ease.
Foil: To Olivia. While she's a Soapbox Sadie who preaches about social issues while largely staying within the resort eventually copying her parents and going back home to a pampered life, Quinn is a relatively apolitical teenager who winds up seeing a more authentic view of Hawaiian culture thanks to sleeping on the beach and befriending the rowers he meets there and puts his money where his mouth is by running away and living in Hawaii with them.
Hormone-Addled Teenager: Besides his sister's comments about his masturbation habits, Rachel complains to Shane that Quinn keeps staring at her tits, and he watches a lot of porn.
I Choose to Stay: He runs away from his family at the end of the series in order to stay on Hawaii.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a Phoneaholic Teenager who blows up at his family over minor things, but he's also the only one among them who seems to even attempt to empathize with others, and gradually develops a genuine appreciation for the natural beauty of Hawaii. And despite their differing personalities and Mark's less than easy personality, he does make a sincere effort to form a connection with his dad.
Like Father, Unlike Son: Quinn is an awkward, introverted loner who likes video games and isn't so keen on the outdoors. Mark, on the other hand, believes in traditional masculine roles.
Lonely Rich Kid: Implied. Nicole can only think of one friend he has...and he moved back to Japan years ago.
Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Olivia especially loves to torment Quinn about his weirdness, bringing up his apparent porn addiction and that he's generally very socially isolated. His masturbation in Hawaii is used as shorthand for his antisocial tech addiction, and his overcoming it is marked by the loss of his phone and Switch, and moves towards a more fulfilling life.
Never My Fault: Blames Olivia and Paula for the loss of his Nintendo Switch and iPad when they get soaked after he spends the night on the beach, even though what happened was entirely the result of his own actions.
Phoneaholic Teenager: Virtually inseparable from his iPhone and Nintendo Switch, until sleeping on the beach leads to them both being ruined.
"Ray of Hope" Ending: Quinn experiences one of the only explicitly “good” endings of his season; whereas everyone else is either unchanged or worsened by the end of the week, Quinn learns to appreciate his surroundings and absconds from his family to start a new life in Hawaii.
Took a Level in Idealism: Grows from a sullen, spoiled teenager into an empathetic and thoughtful young man who rejects his family’s materialism and greed.

The Pattons

Rachel

"I don't want to be a plus-one my whole life."

Played By: Alexandra Daddario

A young journalist who has recently married the rich Shane.

Audience Surrogate: As someone who recently married into money Rachel is the most "normal" of the guests, reacting as a non-wealthy person might to the displays of entitlement and extravagance. And unlike Paula, who is also in a sense proximal to wealth and power, she is consistently friendly from the get-go.
Awful Wedded Life: It's clear she isn't very happy with Shane, as much as she tries to hide it, and although they haven't been together very long at all.
Head-Turning Beauty: After toying with Rachel in a passive-aggressive conversation, Olivia's smug smile immediately disappears when she sees Rachel disrobe into her bikini, clearly intimidated by Rachel's statuesque figure. Later on, when Mark is drunkenly rambling to Rachel, Quinn walks up and immediately can't take his eyes off her.
Informed Attractiveness: Rachel is stated several times to be particularly beautiful even among a cast of attractive women, and it is an important character trait. She realizes that her husband only loves her for her looks, and she may have no identity other than being attractive.
Innocent Blue Eyes: She has Alexandra Daddario's striking blue eyes and is probably the most likable person on the show.
Morality Pet: A bizarre case of it since it doesn't make him any more sympathetic, but she is one to Shane. Shane keeps trying to make sure that his wife has a good time and is genuinely worried for her safety.
Ms. Fanservice: She cuts such an imposing figure in a bikini that Olivia is immediately dumbstruck when she sees Rachel disrobe.
Nice Girl: She's a friendly and sweet-natured person who makes an effort to be nice, even to strangers.
Quitting to Get Married: Discussed, and ultimately happens at the end. Rachel doesn't want to quit work since she got married to Shane (mere days ago in the story's timeline), but Shane clearly expects it to happen. She ultimately does.
Rags to Riches: Not "rags" per se but she mentions coming from a more working-class background where money was always an issue and doesn't quite know what to make of her new privileged life.
Shallow News Site Satire: While she doesn't work for a single outlet in particular (as she's freelance), her job as a digital journalist who gets paid dirt for writing puff pieces is derided by the other characters. Shane calls it "clickbait gussied up as some, like, high-minded trendy woke bullshit."
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Many characters comment on her beauty, but in turn Rachel finds it hard for people to take her seriously or see value in her outside of that.
Stepford Smiler: She's outwardly cheery but it's clear she isn't quite happy with Shane and is worried she made a mistake in marrying him. The finale where she reunites with Shane implies this is her future, as she's obviously fighting sadness when promising she'll eventually be happy.
Token Good Teammate: She's one of the few genuinely nice and polite guests at the hotel.
Trophy Wife: Over the course of her honeymoon she comes to the realization that her role in the relationship is to be nothing more than Shane's trophy wife. Kitty all but tells her so to her face and doesn't seem to understand why Rachel might not be into that idea.

Shane

Shane Patton

"I'm not gonna let him ruin our honeymoon."

Played By: Jake Lacy

Accidental Murder: He accidentally stabs and kills Armond when the latter breaks into his room.
Apologetic Attacker: Apologizes to Armond after he stabs him in the chest.
Awful Wedded Life: Shane and Rachel didn't date long before marrying, and it shows. They alternate between newlywed bliss and irritable bickering, and the longer their honeymoon goes on, the more resentful Rachel becomes of Shane's petulant bro-tude.
The Bad Guy Wins: In a sense as Rachel ends the series planning to give up her career as he had wanted and he faces no consequences for Armond's death (though it was an accident).
Dramatic Irony: Believes Armond is actually a dangerous intruder when he breaks into the hotel room. All of Armond's and his personal vendetta has almost nothing to do with Shane killing him.
Entitled Bastard: He moves through life expecting the world around him to bend to his whims, and takes grievous offense when something doesn't go 100% his way.
Innocently Insensitive: He really doesn't seem to pick up on how hurtful some of his comments and behavior to Rachel are.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- He's a skin-crawling piece of work, but other characters acknowledge that he is right that the suite he was supposed to get was double-booked and Armond is lying. It doesn't engender any sympathy for him, considering what an asshole he is. It becomes more sympathetic that the hotel was going to charge him (or his mother at least) for it anyway too.
- Shane attempts to make up his behavior to his wife and book a romantic cruise that turns out to be a funeral trip. At this point, he's Properly Paranoid the now-drugged up Armond is trying to ruin his vacation.
- He's also acknowledged to be right (but no less of an asshole for pointing out) that Rachel's career as a journalist has so far amounted to little more than writing vapid clickbait and has no obvious signs of becoming anything greater.
  - Furthermore, he's right that their honeymoon is not a place where Rachel should spend time telling herself she's "working" by writing another vapid clickbait piece that she doesn't even have to, when the two of them should be enjoying the occasion.
Karma Houdini: Isn't shown to get in any trouble for accidentally killing Armond.
Kick the Dog: As much as he seems to love Rachel - genuinely, if superficially - he also constantly insults her writing, telling her that she's not really that good or accomplished, so she shouldn't mind quitting. He's right to an extent, but it's still a dick move.
Manchild: He's clearly a bit immature, with Armond even comparing him to a bratty child and Rachel later calling him a "man-baby" to his face.
Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: The crux of Shane's belief system. He believes that Rachel's job is to be pretty and to be his wife, while his job is to make the money and "defend" her, although Rachel has no desire for him to do so.
Momma's Boy: Shane has zero self-awareness of just how much he depends on his mother, and how quick he is to go whining to her about any difficulty he encounters. He's also delighted to have her come along on his honeymoon.
Pet the Dog:
- He actually wants his wife to be happy on their honeymoon and tries a few times to make it right. However, also see Kick the Dog.
- In episode 3 he genuinely helps Tanya deal with the stress of spreading her mother’s ashes, despite how much the whole situation irritates him.
Mr. Fanservice: He's an attractive young man who is seen shirtless several times.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Has some very outdated views on gender roles, expecting Rachel to give up her career and simply be a housewife. A rich society housewife who doesn’t need to do any housework and can devote herself to whatever innocuous pet projects she finds, but a housewife nonetheless.
Properly Paranoid: Shane is not wrong that Armond is attempting to screw with him for literally no reason (other than class resentment).
Shady Real Estate Agent: A more advanced version as his family are clearly very wealthy, but Shane works in real estate and is generally a petty, unlikeable, spiteful dick.
Skewed Priorities: He's on his honeymoon in Hawaii with his beautiful wife, but he's obsessed with trying to get the right room at the expense of everything else. A Downplayed Trope because the money is in five figures and Armond is actively trying to ruin his honeymoon.
Spoiled Brat: As Armond correctly observes, despite everything Shane has, he can only focus on what he doesn't have — the right room — to the point of letting it detract from what he does have (Rachel, his money).

Kitty

Kitty Patton

"Everybody's got to make their money somehow."

Played By: Molly Shannon

Shane's mother, who paid for their honeymoon and drops by for a visit.

Jerkass Has a Point: Kitty actually points out there's a lot that Rachel can do with her money that's genuinely important like charity work as well as running her own foundation. It's not the kind of lesson she wants to hear but Rachel's job is a very minor one at the paper where she works and mostly consists of gossip taken from other reporters.
Idle Rich: Kitty is appalled that Rachel would ever want to work.
My Beloved Smother: Kitty. What else do you call someone who crashes her son’s honeymoon?
Obnoxious In-Laws: Leaving aside the fact that she crashed their honeymoon, every single interaction she has with Rachel drips of passive-aggressive condescension. Practically one of the first things to come out of her mouth is to zero in on what is probably the sole point about Rachel's physical appearance that could be considered a flaw (i.e. Rachel's extreme paleness). Later she all but tells Rachel to her face that's she's basically a Trophy Wife.
Wealthy Philanthropist: She alleges that spending time on the boards of charities and the like is a better use for a rich woman's time than a real job. However, Rachel isn't all that receptive, and Kitty herself is she's clearly not too interested in the philanthropy aspect of it all.

Other Guests

Paula

"I guess it's not stealing when you think that everything's already yours."

Played By: Brittany O'Grady

Olivia's college friend.

Became Their Own Antithesis: She's filled with contempt for the resort, seeing it as a colonialist holdover where wealthy tourists come to live a life of luxury, exploiting the native locals in the process, and then just disappear leaving ruination and misery behind them. She manipulates Kai, a native local, into trying to steal from the wealthy family she's a guest of, only to run back to the mainland with them when it all goes south, leaving Kai ruined and left to pick up the pieces himself.
But Not Too Black: Though she's clearly black, her lighter skin than the other people of color at the resort^note suggests that she's also more welcomed by the (white) Mossbachers.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the privileged young Rich Kid Turned Social Activist and Uptown Girl who gets in touch with the colonial history of a place and defects for love. She does have a brief romantic and sexual relationship with Kai, and concocts the plan to rob the Mossbachers to help him. It completely backfires on him, ruining his life and gets him thrown in prison.
Hypochondria: A Running Gag has her and Olivia list off the various hyper-specific physical and psychological ailments she ostensibly suffers from as an excuse to not have to do a thing they don't want to.
Hypocrite: Like Olivia, she's a Soapbox Sadie who frequently expresses disgust and discomfort with The White Lotus's exploitation of native Hawaiians while she vacations there on someone else's dime, yet her plan to rob the Mossbachers out of spite is dumped onto him, running the risk of ruining his life.
Jerkass: She's as much of a jerk as Olivia is, although she shows a softer side around Kai.
Ms. Fanservice: Like Olivia, she's a young and attractive woman who is seen in revealing swimwear in every episode. She also receives a brief sex scene with Kai later on into the series.
My God, What Have I Done?: She's visibly broken up when she finds out that her scheme to help out Kai only ended up landing him in jail.
Satellite Character: Deconstructed. While her presence at the resort (and by extension the series as a whole) is entirely dependent on her status as Olivia's friend, it is gradually revealed that Olivia is so possessive of her that Paula can't develop a life outside of her without Olivia going out of her way to meddle in it.
Soapbox Sadie: She is as moralizing about racial and social issues as Olivia, but is shown to be almost as superficial and hypocritical.
Stress Vomit: Spends the duration of Mark and Quinn's scuba trip vomiting into the sea out of anguish over Kai being arrested for the robbery.
Stupid Crooks: Her plan to have Kai steal the $75k bracelets is riddled with so many holes it is a wonder Kai made it as far as he did. As Olivia points out later, if Kai chooses to tell on her, Paula is doomed and the police will find a trail of evidence to back up Kai's story. Not to mention that even if the plan had succeeded... anyone Kai tried to sell the jewelry to may have questioned how he came by it.
Those Two Guys: With Olivia, although Paula does start to push away from their dynamic.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her ill-conceived plan for Kai to rob the Mossbachers' safe doesn't just land Kai in hot water, it also leads to Shane becoming paranoid enough to keep a knife by his bedstand for protection, with which he accidentally kills Armond, who had broken into the room while high on the drugs that Olivia and Paula brought to the resort.

Tanya

Tanya McQuoid

"Oh, it's a good feeling when you realize that someone has money. 'Cause then you don't have to worry about them wanting yours."

Played By: Jennifer Coolidge

A troubled woman who visited the Hawaii property soon after her mother's death. She later visits the Sicily property, having married Greg in between seasons.

Abusive Parents: Her speeches in Episodes 3 and 5 of the first season indicate that her childhood was an unhappy one, with frequent bouts of mental and emotional abuse from her parents. During season 2, Portia mentions that while her father may not have gone as far as molesting her, he was pervy and inappropriate with her and ended up committing suicide.
The Alcoholic: She's frequently seen drinking alcohol and popping pills throughout the show, and even admits as much in "The Lotus-Eaters".
Bad Boss: By the time she visits the White Lotus Sicily, she has picked up a personal assistant, whom she expects to spend the whole week locked up in her room just in case she needs her. Greg mentions that Portia is the latest in a line of assistants and doesn't expect her to last long.
Cheated Death, Died Anyway: She survived the murder in a Hawaii hotel, just to come back to the White Lotus in Sicily, successfully fight off a conspiracy to killer her by literally killing her would-be murderers first, and then drown while escaping from the scene of her heroic self-defense.
The Chew Toy: Tanya might be insulated from consequences by her enormous wealth, but she has gone through a lot of suffering, most of which is played for Black Comedy. Her childhood was marked by her wealthy, abusive parents; her mother has just died when she comes to Hawaii. She's an alcoholic. Then she appears to earn some happiness, but Greg never loved her and married her for her money. Then he planned to kill her, conspiring with Quentin to do so. Though she manages to kill him, she then drowns while trying to swim back to shore.
Commitment Issues: One of her defining traits. It applies to both relationships, where she fears that she'll drive everybody away from her, and in business, like when she leaves Hawaii without establishing the spa she planned with Belinda.
Consistent Clothing Style: Tanya tends to wear an assortment of long, flowing dresses in exotic and elaborate jewel-tone prints, usually but not always caftan style.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As clueless as she can be, she also manages to take out a boatload of would-be assassins by firing blindly.
Desperately Craves Affection: A lonely woman who wants company and affection, but who is convinced that she'll alienate anyone she gets close to.
Establishing Character Moment: Her first scene, where she bothers Armond for a massage, tells us everything we need to know about what a fussy, anxious, oblivious person she is.
Fag Hag: In "In the Sandbox" she befriends Quentin and his crew of gay men. She confides in Portia that she prefers their company because she finds other women depressing. Meanwhile, Jack tells Portia that Quentin and co. love hanging out with "old, rich hags".
Freudian Excuse: Her mother was a real piece of work who was constantly cruel and abusive to Tanya and telling her she'd never amount to anything and her father is said to have acted inappropriately before taking his own life, leaving Tanya with her abuser. It's really no surprise that Tanya ended up the disaster of a person that she is.
Hates Being Alone: Tanya really doesn't do well on her own and will turn into a crumbling mess the second she feels abandoned.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Tanya is truly desperate for any affection or companionship she can get and will cling to anyone who shows it to her, usually driving them away in the process.
Incest Subtext: Her relationship with her father was tainted by a non-consensual version. He was very inappropriate with her, and it's implied he committed suicide to stop himself from molesting her.
Jerkass Has a Point: She's very rude to Portia, especially when Greg's around, but does warn her to stay away from "emotionally unavailable men" and later compares Portia to a younger version of herself, seemingly genuinely. She also does eventually tell Portia about Jack and Quentin, although probably later than she should have.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Invoked when Tanya says that she believes her Italian vacation going wrong is punishment because she didn't start the spa with Belinda like she promised.
Large Ham: She's very theatrical, prone to screaming, crying, and hysterical meltdowns.
Pet the Dog: While she leaves Belinda without starting the spa they had planned, she does give a parting gift of $20,000—not that it makes Belinda feel better.
Prone to Tears: Cries more often than just about any of the other characters.
Pronouncing My Name for You: She's quite particular about the pronunciation of her strange last name (pronounced "mc-wad.")
Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Her wealth is almost half a billion dollars, but she doesn't have the best track record with life choices.
Sleepy Depressive: When Greg leaves Tanya - though it's only for a few days - she retreats back to bed and wants Portia to wait on her.
Spoiled Sweet: Played with. Tanya is generally nice, sweet, and very wealthy. But she's ultimately very self-centred and superficial, as seen in her leaving Belinda without the spa.
Statuesque Stunner: While she's a bit older and can be rather wacky, she's still shown attracting men in her age group with little difficulty, and she's the tallest woman in the cast at 5'10.
Too Much Information: Tanya is a compulsive oversharer, prone to doing things like taking over a boat to unpack her unhappy relationship with her abusive, nymphomaniac mother.

Greg

Greg Hunt

Played By: Jon Gries

An official with the Bureau of Land Management who is at the White Lotus Hawaii for a fishing trip with his friends. He later convinces Tanya to visit the Sicily hotel with him.

Face–Heel Turn: By the end of Season 2, he's gone from a crude but somewhat charming and sympathetic partner to a bitter Gold Digger who masterminds a plot to kill his wife.
Gold Digger: He planned to murder Tanya for her money.
The Hedonist:
- He likes to indulge in pleasure to excess, whether it's alcohol or sex with Tanya. Justified, see Secretly Dying below.
- No longer the case in season 2. Tanya's wealth helped cure him of his illness, and he lost his carefree attitude as a result. This significantly strains their relationship.
Love Interest: For Tanya, whom he accepts with all her crazy...at first.
Pragmatic Villainy: After it is revealed in the season 2 finale that Greg was plotting to kill Tanya with the help of Quentin, it makes more sense why he was so eager to make Portia return to the US. More likely than not he wanted Portia to leave so it would be easier to kill Tanya.
Secretly Dying: As it turns out, he has some unspecified illness that's killing him in Season 1, hence why he's so exuberant and eager to live life to the full.
Serial Spouse: By the time of Sicily, he is on his fourth marriage.
Throwing Off the Disability: After marrying Tanya, Greg is able to recover from his "terminal illness" within what seems like a matter of months.
Took a Level in Jerkass: He was introduced to Tanya and the audience as a charming, if somewhat down-on-his-luck guy. By Season 2, he seems much more resigned to her and somewhat irritated by her flightiness. And that's not including how he presumably plotted to kill Tanya for her money with Quentin...and succeeded.

Taormina, Sicily

Staff

Valentina

"Not in my hotel."

Played By: Sabrina Impacciatore

The manager of the White Lotus resort in Sicily.

Brutal Honesty: She speaks her mind almost to the point of being insulting to the guests.
Closet Gay: She's a closeted lesbian, never having slept with a woman before Mia even though she's in her 50s (to judge by the actress's age). Mia coaxes her to come out after this, and says she'll direct Valentina to some lesbian bars.
Consistent Clothing Style: Valentina almost always wears bright trouser suits with a patterned shirt.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: She's the polar opposite of Armond, the previous season's hotel manager wrangling her staff and wealthy guests.
- While he was a Benevolent Boss who always strived to be polite to the guests even if he hated their guts, Valentina is borderline rude to the guests and constantly berates her underlings.
- Like him, Valentina is gay. But while Armond was openly so and implied to be quite experienced, Valentina seems to have a more complicated and withdrawn attitude towards her own sexuality, and has never actually acted on it until she sleeps with Mia.
- While Dillon was receptive to Armond's advances, Isabella is not receptive to Valentina's, and is actually engaged to Rocco.
- Armond ends his season succumbing to his addiction, fired from his job and ultimately dead. Valentina not only survives but finishes the weekend as a less bitter person and more comfortable in her own sexuality.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Having started off the week bitter and repressed, Valentina is shown to be much happier when she comes to terms with her sexuality and is able to express genuine kindness and happiness for other people.
Distaff Counterpart: To Armond, insofar that both are gay resort managers who thirst after a younger member of staff (Dillon and Isabella), but Armond is a gay man while Valentina is a lesbian.
Earn Your Happy Ending: She finally acts on her sexuality by sleeping with Mia and, if Mia is true to her word of introducing her to some friends, might be able to get into a relationship with a woman soon.
Iron Lady: Unlike Armond who could be controlling but cared about his job, Valentina rules the resort with an iron fist and ends up controlling (or at least trying to do so) even what the guests are doing, being quite judgmental of them.
Ironic Name: "Valentina" calls to mind "Valentine", though Valentina is mostly unlucky in love and romance, though there is hope for her at the end.
Lack of Empathy: When informed that one of the hotel's guests has drowned, her first reaction is a relief because the sea is not hotel property, so the White Lotus is not liable.
Late Coming Out: Valentina is clearly somewhat older (played by a 54 year old actress) and accepts she's a lesbian only once she has had sex with Mia, after admitting it's her first time with a woman.
Lipstick Lesbian: Valentina, who's always impeccably made up in elegant pantsuits with her hair down, turns out to be a closeted lesbian attracted to her female employee Isabella (who's straight). She later has sex with Mia.
Mean Boss: She is constantly berating and criticizing her staff.
Pet the Dog: She's initially presented as a bitchy manager, but the season's third episode shows she feeds stray kittens during her lunch breaks, so she's not all bad.
Took a Level in Kindness: Over the course of the week, Valentina comes to terms with some truths about herself and seemingly resolves to be better to her employees. Rocco, whom she is always seen berating, reacts with abject surprise when she spares a kind word for him in the finale.
Transparent Closet: Mia almost immediately discerns that she's a lesbian, seducing Valentina.
You Need to Get Laid: Although Mia propositions her for other reasons, once she finds out Valentina is a virgin, this is essentially her reaction. She turns out to be right, as after they have sex Valentina is able to get over Isabella and become more at ease with herself.

Rocco

Played By: Federico Ferrante

A staffer at the White Lotus in Sicily.

Beleaguered Assistant: He is Valentina's main punching bag whenever she needs to vent about her underlings' incompetence.
Removing the Rival: He is on the receiving end of this trope when Valentina removes him from the cushier front desk position and exiles him to the pool, so he won’t be able to flirt with Isabella, whom Valentina is greatly attracted to.

Isabella

"I love how you handle everyone, especially the men."

Played By: Eleonora Romandini

A staffer at the White Lotus in Sicily.

Distaff Counterpart: For Dillon. Both are somewhat flat characters who are noticed by their boss for being relatively nice and very attractive. Both have their bosses flirt with them.
The Generic Girl: She displays no remarkable characteristic other than being friendly and very pretty.
Secret Relationship: She and Rocco are recently engaged but they have not informed anyone until Isabella tells Valentina.

Guests

For Tanya McQuoid and Greg Hunt, see their entries in Hawaii above.

The Di Grassos

Bert

Bert Di Grasso

"They used to respect the old. Now, we're just reminders of an offensive past everybody wants to forget."

Played By: F. Murray Abraham

The 80-year-old father of Dominic and grandfather of Albie.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His charming personality and kindness are genuine but they exist alongside a callous personality who doesn't seem to understand the pain his numerous infidelities put his wife and son through.
Casanova Wannabe: Hits on every young woman who crosses his path, most of whom are young enough to be his granddaughter, yet never has success with any onscreen.
The Cassandra: Bert is crude and Albie and Dominic might not like what he has to say, but he is highly astute about human nature and correctly predicts the mindset that will govern Albie in the second half of the week.
Cool Old Guy: While he's far from being without his flaws, Bert is a charming, easygoing guy who remains spry and witty into his eighties.
Dirty Old Man: The man is 80 years old but is constantly hitting on every pretty young woman who crosses his path. His son and grandson both call him out on it.
Freudian Trio: The Id. While all of the Di Grasso men have intense sex drives that constantly cloud their decision-making, Bert is an outspoken Dirty Old Man who puts forth no effort to keep his in check, believing it to be the nature of men to lust after women, and is the least introspective of the three.
Gasshole: Farts a lot. He likes to blame it on the prosseco.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- Despite his open sexism, he figures out what's up with Dom, Lucia, and Mia quickly. He is also right to suspect that Lucia's relationship with Albie is an act and women can be as manipulative as men.
- He also objects when Lucia appears to be abducted by Alessio, although the whole thing turns out to be a put-on.
Mr. Vice Guy: Bert is a jovial, friendly guy who frequently reveals himself to be surprisingly insightful and well-spoken, but he's also an unapologetic sex addict who caused his family a considerable amount of pain through his numerous affairs.
Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The In-Between. He's a Dirty Old Man who cheated on his wife countless times throughout their marriage, yet is also a cheerful Cool Old Guy prone to espousing grandfatherly wisdom.
Obliviously Evil: According to his son he never even noticed the considerable emotional abuse and pain he put his late wife through with his philandering.
Pet the Dog: His praise of Mia's performance in the bar is part of what leads her to get the pianist job full-time.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: Repeatedly insists that he can still maintain an erection at his age in a way that implies he's self-conscious about his declining sex drive.
Three Faces Of Adam: The Prophet. The eldest of the three De Grasso men, he has no greater ambitions during his trip to Sicily beyond enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting in touch with his Italian roots. While we eventually learn that he had his own struggles with balancing his sex drive with his personal relationships, he is unable to reconcile them due to his wife already being dead.
Troll: During a car ride he starts questioning Lucia about her employment, knowing full well that she is a prostitute, seemingly for the sole purpose of making Dominic squirm.

Dominic

Dominic Di Grasso

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twl2_dom.png

"Movies like that exist because men already do have that fantasy. We're hardwired."

Played By: Michael Imperioli

A Hollywood executive, son to Bert, and father to Albie.

The Atoner: Dom has destroyed his relationship with most of his family, especially his wife Abby, and clearly feels guilty about it. He does take some steps over the course of his vacation to try and fix this, namely trying to cut things off with Lucia and making a deal with Albie to have him put in a good word with Abby, which gives him a chance to reconnect. But the last scenes of him in the finale suggest he still can't stop checking out other women and this will continue to be a problem for him.
Alliterative Name: Dominic Di Grasso. Curiously, he shares this trait with Mark Mossbacher, his season 1 counterpart.
Casting Gag: Dominic is a successful movie producer working in Hollywood, which was the life goal of his actor's most famous role Christopher Moltisanti.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Mark Mossbacher. Both are fathers and husbands with strained relationships with their wives and children who struggle with their senses of masculinity across their seasons and are revealed to have had affairs, but while Mark is a House Husband whose problems stem from his feelings of inadequacy over not being able to live up to the image of manhood impressed on him by his father, Dominic is a successful Hollywood executive who instead grapples with the realization that the image of manhood passed down to him by his father is a toxic and self-destructive one.
Freudian Excuse: He blames the constant infidelity that led to the breakdown of his marriage on his father Bert, who apparently emotionally mistreated Dominic's mother so badly that she would cry herself to sleep. Bert dismisses his concerns, saying that The Power of Love should be able to see such issues through.
Freudian Trio: The Ego. Like his father, he's a sex addict whose extramarital affairs have strained his marriage. Unlike his father, he is aware and resentful of this and spends the season trying to reconcile his desire to make amends with his wife with his libido.
Gloomy Gray: Dom has gray hair and spends most of his vacation either displeased, uncomfortable, or embarrassed.
Hypocrite: Dominic criticizes his father for hitting on women young enough to be his granddaughters, but he had already booked a prostitute young enough to be his daughter before even arriving at the hotel.
Ignored Aesop: Dominic saw the effect that Bert's cruelty and cheating had on his mother, who died a "bitter, broken woman" by his own words. Even so, he cheated on his wife to the extent that she only screams at him over the phone. Deconstructed, as Dominic's awareness that he has fallen into the very same patterns he resents his father for serve as a major source of grief for him throughout the season.
I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: He defends the toxic masculinity of men like the Corleones to Albie, saying men are "hard-wired" that way. He attempts to backtrack in private, but his son reminds him that he still needs to own up to how his sex addiction destroyed his marriage and change his ways.
Jerkass Has a Point: Like many characters in this series, Dominic is a flawed person who still makes some valid points. He gives his father a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and points out how Bert's attitudes towards women affected him. And he's also right that Albie is benefitting from Dom's money, making it easy for Albie to ask for 50,000 euros for Lucia, since it's no skin off of Albie's back.
Karma Houdini:
- Dominic not only falls back into his sex addiction without any consequences but he successfully manages to buy Albie's support on the situation with his wife and Albie is able to convince Dominic's wife to stay with him.
- And on top of that, Albie never finds out that Dom hired Lucia in the first place and had sex with her multiple times before he did! Bert learns this pretty quickly and never tells Albie either, making him complicit.
Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The Mean. He spends virtually all of his screentime being quietly miserable. Justified in that his marriage is in jeopardy and he's going through an existential crisis as a result of it.
Parents as People: He tries his best to be a good father to Albie who has deep resentment towards Dominic for his affairs and the hurt they caused his mother, a fact Dominic is aware of and feels immense guilt over. It's also shown he got this from Abe who regularly did the same to Dominic's mother and is aware he's repeated the same pattern.
Perpetual Frowner: Constantly upset or agitated by something going on in his vicinity. It’s justified, though; he spends most of the week either fretting over his family’s issues or cleaning up his mess with Lucia, instead of just enjoying his vacation.
Silver Fox: Dominic’s in his 50s and is still quite handsome—an easy feat considering his actor, the imposing Michael Imperioli. Lucia tells him she approves of his appearance.
The Stoic: Irritated melancholy is just about the only emotion he's ever shown expressing.
Three Faces Of Adam: The Lord. He's a successful middle-aged man with a wife and adult children struggling to keep his family together after an affair he has threatens to tear it apart.
Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: Dom’s uniform of drab, neutral jackets and shirts stands out against the vibrant wardrobes of the rest of the cast. It emphasizes his choleric nature and many secrets hiding below the surface.
You Are What You Hate: Resents Bert for causing his mother endless distress through his affairs, yet begins the season having done exactly the same to his own wife.

Albie

Albie Di Grasso

"I refuse to have a bad relationship with women."

Played By: Adam DiMarco

A recent college graduate traveling with his father and grandfather.

Became Their Own Antithesis: Albie rejects his father and grandfather's misogynistic views, resents his father's infidelities, and proclaims himself a feminist to Portia. By the end of the season he manipulates his mother into reconciling with his philandering father so he can be in Lucia's good graces. The final scene shows the three of them eyeing a beautiful woman at the airport, emphasizing that Albie is ultimately just like them.
Corrupt the Cutie: Albie is the youngest and most idealistic Di Grasso, full of hopes for the future and generally kind to all women, almost to a fault. By the end of the season, he ends up manipulating his mother into staying in a loveless marriage to Dominic just to get the money he wants, showing that he's on the path to ending up just like his father and grandfather.
Cynicism Catalyst: Lucia playing him. He takes it well, but it's implied to be the tipping point beyond which he loses his "nice guy" attitude towards women for good.
Dogged Nice Guy: Albie is genuinely nice, but he also is shown to be embittered by Portia's rejection and pursues her even after she's turned him down (albeit not very clearly), and complains that women don't want "nice guys".
Freudian Trio: The Superego. The youngest of the Di Grasso men, he is heavily implied to possess the exact same raging sex drive that caused his father and grandfather to ruin their respective marriages. Unlike them, he does not believe this to be a sufficient excuse for their behavior and makes a concerted effort to suppress it.
Graceful Loser: He doesn't seem all that broken up once he learns that he was the mark in Lucia's con. When Portia asks him about it, he just casually admits that Lucia played him. Probably helps that his family is rich enough that 50,000 euros means nothing to them.
Has a Type: He tells Portia that he is drawn to wounded women.
I Can Change My Beloved: Implied to be behind his self-proclaimed thing for "wounded women"; for all his seemingly progressive talk about women and gender, he likes the idea of taking a woman with issues and 'fixing' her.
Meekness is Weakness: Albie is a sweet, peaceful guy who hates direct confrontation. This is what leaves Portia ultimately unattracted to him, and he even allows Lucia to be abducted by a man he believes to be her abusive pimp. He's also so nice he appears to be quickly pegged as a potential mark by Lucia and Mia.
Nice Guy: He claims to be one, saying he's the nice one in relationships and is the peacemaker in his family.
Nice Guys Finish Last: Albie bemoans that most girls don't want "nice guys" to Portia, and he gets scammed by Lucia due to his niceness. He also literally finishes last in the sense that it's implied he and Portia will get together at the end of Season 2.
Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The Nice. He's a self-professed Nice Guy who opposes his father and grandfather's outdated views on women and sex and finds himself naturally drawn toward Broken Birds.
Stepford Smiler: According to his mother, Albie is just as pissed at Dominic as his wife and daughter are over Dominic's affairs, but he just pretends everything is OK to avoid confrontation.
Three Faces Of Adam: The Hunter. A young man eager to break away from the womanizing legacy left to him by his father and grandfather in pursuit of true love. Over the course of the season, his idealism is repeatedly tested and he's forced to come to the realization that he's ultimately no different from them.
Token Good Teammate: Relative to his father and grandfather, Albie is the nicest and best-intentioned member of his family.
You Are What You Hate: It's implied that, underneath his Nice Guy persona and his enlightened dismissals of his father and grandfather's attitudes towards women and gender, he's not as different from them as he likes to think.

The Spiller/Sullivan Party

Harper

Harper Spiller

"Is that what happens when you're rich for too long? Your brain just atrophies?"

Played By: Aubrey Plaza

A labor lawyer and Ethan's wife.

Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: Deconstructed. While Harper is outwardly a Wet Blanket Wife and Ethan a Henpecked Husband, she insists that her marriage is more authentic than Cameron and Daphne's is because they don't keep secrets from each other. Despite this, we quickly see that their relationship is completely lacking anything in the way of intimacy, with Ethan's quiet resentment of Harper's nagging causing a rift to form between them. On the other hand, Daphne and Cameron are steadily revealed to have an incredibly twisted relationship that, while built on genuine love and superficially happy, has caused and continues to cause both of them great amounts of pain internally. Ultimately, both the Spiller's relationship with honesty but without affection and the Sullivan's relationship with affection but without honesty are presented as unhealthy in their own ways.
Brainy Brunette: Harper is a talented labor lawyer and a clearly perceptive, smart person with dark hair (also in apparent contrast to the blonde Daphne, who's also more than she seems).
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Rachel Patton in Season 1. Both are the wives of rich men who chafe at their newfound wealth and genuinely want to do something good in the world, and both end up ignoring uncomfortable truths for the sake of their respective marriages. However, Harper and Ethan's trust issues stem from their sex life, whereas sex was the one part of Shane and Rachel's relationship that wasn't a problem (at least until Shane's other Jerkass behavior disrupted it). Moreover, Rachel's arc has her slowly realizing she's lost her financial independence and is doomed to be a Trophy Wife with minimal agency, whereas Harper still has her job as a Crusading Lawyer and a much greater amount of control at the end of the series.
Crusading Lawyer: She works as a labor lawyer, helping employees stand up for unfair or toxic working conditions. This socially-oriented profession is part of why she's uncomfortable with her newfound wealth. While Daphne spouts platitudes about it being noble work, her wealthy jockish husband Cameron scoffs at it, saying it leads to a lot of baseless investigations, to Harper's displeasure.
Deadpan Snarker: As is standard for Aubrey Plaza, Harper has a very deadpan and caustic sense of humor and expresses her contempt and judgement of others through cutting remarks.
Dead Sparks: At the beginning of the season, enough distance has been built up between Harper and Ethan in their marriage that he would rather masturbate than have sex with her when propositioned. Harper's ensuing depression serves as her primary conflict for the rest of her stay at the White Lotus. Resolved by the end of the season when the two have passionate sex with each other and are shown acting very affectionate at the airport.
Did They or Didn't They?: Has some kind of encounter with Cameron in her hotel room, though the exact nature of it is left unclear. While she insists that they didn't go past kissing, Aubrey Plaza believes that it went farther.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After spending the entire season frustrated with Ethan's lack of sexual attraction towards her, they finally have passionate sex by the end of their trip.
Excellent Judge of Character: In the very first episode she tags the Sullivans as more dysfunctional than they act and speculates that their sudden interest in the Harpers is because they want something from Ethan's new-found wealth. By episode 3 she is proven correct on both counts.
Eating the Eye Candy: When Cameron strips naked to put on the borrowed swimsuit, Harper can't take her eyes off his ass and junk.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: The melancholic. She's blunt, perceptive, and intelligent, but also more sensitive than she lets on and prone to acting egotistically.
Holier Than Thou: Initially takes a lot of pride in looking down on Daphne and Cameron for being vapid, inauthentic people with a Happy Marriage Charade. Over the course of the season she's made to confront the fact that her own marriage is in some ways even less stable than theirs.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: A trait that she curiously shares with Cameron, despite disliking him a lot. She's right about Daphne and Cameron's hollow marriage, but she's also shown to be jealous of their peace and the clear attraction between them, which she feels is lacking between her and Ethan.
The Killjoy: Harper can't stop herself from criticizing Ethan's laidback attitude and his friends, Cameron and Daphne, even when she sees that it's being a buzzkill. She is also aware of this trait and tries to tamper it, unsuccessfully for the most part.
Meaningful Name: Harper is reminiscent of "harpy", a common way to describe a nagging wife.
Ms. Fanservice: She's a young, attractive woman seen in various states of undress and sexual encounters throughout the season.
The Peeping Tom: It happens so quickly that she doesn't have much time to react, but Harper does stare at the mirror when Cameron is changing and sees him naked, the beginning of long-simmering tensions between her, Cameron, and Ethan.
Rags to Riches: She grew up in a middle class family and wasn't rich when she married Ethan. She still is not used to being rich.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: Her choice of clothing gradually becomes more revealing and provocative as the season progresses, reflecting her mounting sexual frustration and growing resentment of Ethan's supposed infidelity.
Token Minority Couple: She's a Hispanic woman in a relationship with an Asian man, and they're the only major non-white characters featured in the second season. Harper mockingly notes this herself in the first episode, questioning if the Sullivans were motivated to invite them on the trip due to them being the only non-white couple they knew.
Wet Blanket Wife: Deconstructed. Harper has all the hallmarks of the nagging, killjoy wife, but she also tries (and struggles) to embrace the joy of a luxurious Italian vacation, and she's significantly more suited to argument (as a lawyer) than most examples.

Ethan

Ethan Spiller

"We've always been honest with each other."

Played By: Will Sharpe

Harper's husband, whose company recently made him rich.

Always Someone Better: Ethan struggles with feeling emasculated by Cameron due to deep insecurity, which gets even worse when Harper compensates by bragging about her own sexual experience.
Asian and Nerdy: He's of Asian descent and made his money from tech, and (along with his Latina wife Harper) is one of the most book-smart and socially conscious of season 2's roster. More dramatically, his white friend Cameron frequently emasculates him, which Ethan resents.
Beware the Quiet Ones: He's far more soft-spoken than his loud Fratbro friend Cameron, but Ethan clearly has harbored resentment over the years and even attempts to kill him in a jealous rage towards the end of the series.
Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: Deconstructed. While Harper is outwardly a Wet Blanket Wife and Ethan a Henpecked Husband, she insists that her marriage is more authentic than Cameron and Daphne's is because they don't keep secrets from each other. Despite this, we quickly see that their relationship is completely lacking anything in the way of intimacy, with Ethan's quiet resentment of Harper's nagging causing a rift to form between them. On the other hand, Daphne and Cameron are steadily revealed to have an incredibly twisted relationship that, while built on genuine love and superficially happy, has caused and continues to cause both of them great amounts of pain internally. Ultimately, both the Spiller's relationship with honesty but without affection and the Sullivan's relationship with affection but without honesty are presented as unhealthy in their own ways.
Clark Kent Outfit: Ethan possesses a sculpted muscular body comparable to Cameron's but generally keeps it hidden beneath conservative clothing to reflect his lack of confidence and repressed sexuality.
Clothing Reflects Personality: He generally dresses in modest floral print button-ups and cargo shorts, contrasting the more revealingly-dressed Cameron and emphasizing his status as a reserved, passive person.
Corrupting Pornography: Ethan prefers watching pornography and masturbating to having sex with his wife. This drives them apart and also seriously lowers Harper's self-esteem.
Dead Sparks: At the beginning of the season, enough distance has been built up between Harper and Ethan in their marriage that he would rather masturbate than have sex with her when propositioned. Harper's ensuing depression serves as her primary conflict for the rest of her stay at the White Lotus. Resolved by the end of the season when the two have passionate sex with each other and are shown acting very affectionate at the airport.
Did They or Didn't They?: Has some kind of encounter with Daphne after revealing that their spouses potentially cheated on them with each other, though whether it was sexual in nature is deliberately left ambiguous.
Easily Forgiven: Cameron isn't upset with him at all after he tries to drown him in the finale. In fact, he seems to respect him a little bit more.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: The phlegmatic. He's quiet, easygoing and accomodating, but also passive-aggressive and conflict avoidant.
The Friends Who Never Hang: While his relationships with Harper and Cameron get explored in depth, he virtually never interacts with Daphne despite sharing many scenes with her. They finally share a scene together one-on-one in the season 2 finale, which ends with Daphne giving Ethan the advice he needs (and possibly more) to reignite the passion in his marriage.
Green-Eyed Monster: Ethan has a chip on his shoulder from Cameron 'alpha-dogging' him in college ( including stealing girls Ethan liked), and is implied to be jealous of Cameron and Daphne's more fun, carefree marriage ––and that Cameron can get away with cheating. His jealousy is taken up a notch when he believes that Harper slept with Cameron to get back at him for Ethan's supposed infidelity.
Henpecked Husband: Deconstructed. On the surface, he is the passive husband completely under the thumb of his Wet Blanket Wife, but we quickly learn that he is in many ways equally as cold to Harper as she is to him, just in a more passive-aggressive way. In particular, his refusal to be intimate with her causes her great amounts of distress throughout the season.
Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Ethan prefers jerking off to having sex with his wife, reflecting the unhappiness in their marriage and his sexual repression.
Mr. Fanservice: While his body isn't shown off to quite the same extent as Cameron's is, he's still a young and attractive man whom the audience gets to see in various states of undress and sexual encounters throughout the season.
The Quiet One: Generally keeps to himself, and is the least talkative out of anyone in the two couples.
Red Herring: Word of God has stated that Ethan's character was deliberately set up to make viewers suspect that he would be the cause of the season's murder, with his status as The Quiet One obscuring his thoughts for much of the season and his bubbling resentment of Cameron and Harper giving him probable cause to murder either of them. In actuality, while he does attempt to drown Cameron, he fails and ultimately ends the season in a better place than he began.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Cameron's Manly Man. Ethan is soft-spoken, works in tech, and takes on the more submissive role in his marriage whereas Cameron is outspoken, works in finance, and is the more dominant half of his marriage. Ethan dresses more conservatively while Cameron wastes no opportunity to show off his body. Ethan believes in the importance of communication in a relationship and immediately feels guilt when he lies to his wife, whereas Cameron sees no problem in routinely cheating on Daphne despite genuinely being in love with her.
Tech Bro: A hunky and intelligent young man who made a lot of money from selling his tech company.
Token Minority Couple: He's an Asian man in a relationship with a Hispanic woman, and they're the only major non-white characters featured in the second season. Harper mockingly notes this herself in the first episode, questioning if the Sullivans were motivated to invite them on the trip due to them being the only non-white couple they knew.
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: After telling Harper what happened in the night she was in Noto, he says she should feel "lucky" that he didn't have sex with any of the prostitutes Cameron solicited.

Cameron

Cameron Sullivan

"Incompetence, it makes me homicidal."

Played By: Theo James

Ethan's roommate from college, a rich and handsome man who now works in finance.

Affably Evil: According to Daphne, Cameron is more "naughty" than true evil, but he works for some truly shady "Bernie Madoff monsters" and tries to get Ethan involved in illegal activity. In general, Cameron's charming demeanor hides his lustful and somewhat predatory nature, in addition to his ease with lying.
Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: Deconstructed. While Harper is outwardly a Wet Blanket Wife and Ethan a Henpecked Husband, she insists that her marriage is more authentic than Cameron and Daphne's is because they don't keep secrets from each other. Despite this, we quickly see that their relationship is completely lacking anything in the way of intimacy, with Ethan's quiet resentment of Harper's nagging causing a rift to form between them. On the other hand, Daphne and Cameron are steadily revealed to have an incredibly twisted relationship that, while built on genuine love and superficially happy, has caused and continues to cause both of them great amounts of pain internally. Ultimately, both the Spiller's relationship with honesty but without affection and the Sullivan's relationship with affection but without honesty are presented as unhealthy in their own ways.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: He genuinely does not seem to understand that there's a problem with repeatedly cheating on his wife so long as he continues loving her, and similarly sees no problem with attempting to financially exploit Ethan and steal his wife despite sincerely considering him to be a good friend. He's also shown to not be hypocritical in this thinking in the finale, as he holds absolutely no ill will toward Ethan despite the latter trying to kill him.
Clothing Reflects Personality: Frequently goes shirtless and rarely leaves his chest covered on the occasions when he doesn't, reflecting his status as a confident, show-offy alpha male.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He shares several surface similarities with Shane Patton from the first season, being an entitled former Fratbro with a possessive but well-intentioned relationship with his wife. Whereas Shane is a newly wed whose behavior generally comes across as childish, however, Cameron has been married for many years and comes across as more mature and thus sinister.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is actually kind of pissed at Ethan because he didn’t contact him so they could engage in insider trading before Ethan’s company was sold. It is very telling that his own wife brings up fraudster Bernie Madoff in the same breath as Cameron's coworkers.
Did They or Didn't They?: Has some kind of encounter with Harper in her hotel room, though the exact nature of it is left unclear. While she insists that they didn't go past kissing, Aubrey Plaza believes that it went farther.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For all his infidelity and amoral behavior, he genuinely loves Daphne deeply.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: The choleric. He's outspoken, charismatic, and a natural leader, but also competetive, self-centered, and cruel.
Fratbro: He is heavily implied to have been one when he and Ethan were in college together, since Ethan alludes to his hedonistic macho proclivities. He starts displaying the same tendencies the second he gets a full day away from his wife.
Gag Penis: Based on what Harper (and we) see in the mirror in the first episode of Season 2, Cameron seems to be well-endowed.
Handsome Lech: Cameron is an incredibly good-looking and charismatic man who constantly seeks out extramarital affairs. He isn't picky so long as he gets to have sex with beautiful women, and is shown to be perfectly willing to solicit prostitutes and seduce his friend's wife to do so.
Happily Married: Deconstructed. While he and Daphne are an extremely affectionate couple who genuinely love each other, Cameron routinely cheats and engages in a number of other dubious activities that cause her no end of grief. As the season progresses, we learn that Daphne has learned to engage in a number of heinous deeds herself to "get back" at Cameron, to the point where their children are heavily implied to not be biologically his. While their marriage is a loving one, it is by no means a healthy one.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: During an argument in episode 5 Ethan accuses him of being jealous of Ethan's greater intelligence, with his arrogant personality and chasing after women Ethan had a connection with being an attempt to reassert his superiority. It's implied to be partly accurate and partly Ethan projecting his own insecurities onto him.
Mock Millionaire: Downplayed. While he is indeed very rich, Theo James has stated that Cameron, for all his posturing, is now much less wealthy than Ethan after the latter sold his tech company. It is implied that this partially motivates his attempt to seduce Harper as a means of reinforcing his status as top dog in their power dynamic from college.
Mr. Fanservice: Cameron has an impressive, sculpted physique that nicely reflects his alpha male personality and he absolutely loves showing it off.
Offscreen Villainy: Daphne describes Cameron's work friends as "Bernie Madoff monsters", with the implication that he is a Corrupt Corporate Executive who has engaged in numerous similarly illegal activities himself. As far as the audience gets to see, though, the worst he manages in this respect is trying and failing to get Ethan to engage in insider trading with him.
Pet the Dog: Firmly establishes that his love for Daphne is the real deal when discussing being beside her while she had a cesarean section giving birth to their second child. He describes seeing her in such a state as a nightmare and fights back tears as he recounts the memory.
Rich Bastard: He's very wealthy and lacking in morals, cheating on his wife and thinking little of engaging in insider trading.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Ethan's Sensitive Guy. Ethan is soft-spoken, works in tech, and takes on the more submissive role in his marriage whereas Cameron is outspoken, works in finance, and is the more dominant half of his marriage. Ethan dresses more conservatively while Cameron wastes no opportunity to show off his body. Ethan believes in the importance of communication in a relationship and immediately feels guilt when he lies to his wife, whereas Cameron sees no problem in routinely cheating on Daphne despite genuinely being in love with her.
Toxic Friend Influence: As soon as they get a night apart from their respective wives, Cameron starts trying to goad Ethan into a full blown night of Hookers and Blow, after previously trying to guilt-trip him about not engaging in insider trading. By the end of the season his callous attitude has inspired adulterous feelings in Harper and violent tendencies in Ethan.
Two-Timing with the Bestie: It's revealed to be almost a point of pride for Cameron that he's slept with any girl Ethan had feelings for.

Daphne

Daphne Sullivan

"If anything ever did happen, do what you gotta do to make yourself feel better about it."

Played By: Meghann Fahy

Cameron's wife, a cheerful and friendly stay-at-home mom.

A Lighter Shade of Black : While she has her own part of the blame in the Ethan/Harper conflict because she enables Cameron's behavior she is portrayed as the most sympathetic of the two because unlike Cameron who was a social butterfly, she doesn't have as many friends and she is only nice to Ethan and Harper during the whole time they stay at Sicily.
Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: Deconstructed. While Harper is outwardly a Wet Blanket Wife and Ethan a Henpecked Husband, she insists that her marriage is more authentic than Cameron and Daphne's is because they don't keep secrets from each other. Despite this, we quickly see that their relationship is completely lacking anything in the way of intimacy, with Ethan's quiet resentment of Harper's nagging causing a rift to form between them. On the other hand, Daphne and Cameron are steadily revealed to have an incredibly twisted relationship that, while built on genuine love and superficially happy, has caused and continues to cause both of them great amounts of pain internally. Ultimately, both the Spiller's relationship with honesty but without affection and the Sullivan's relationship with affection but without honesty are presented as unhealthy in their own ways.
Brainless Beauty: Played With. She's gorgeous and wealthy, but Harper judges her for being apolitical and for not sharing the intellectual pursuits of Harper and Ethan. In "Bull Elephants" Daphne reveals herself to be more self-aware than Harper initially thought, but has just made peace with how her husband is probably up to no good in her own way and decided to simply enjoy the enormous privileges her marriage has afforded her.
Best Served Cold: Judging by Cameron's reaction to his kids, he suspects they're not his, as Daphne hinted to Harper they weren't. However, in order to preserve his hedonistic lifestyle, Cameron accepts them as his own — but he's not happy about it.
Beware the Nice Ones: Daphne is an unfailingly sweet and cordial person…who plays mind games with her husband and all but admits to cheating on him.
Cheating with the Milkman: She hints to Harper that she is having an affair with her personal trainer as a way to cope with the stresses of her marriage.
Did They or Didn't They?: Has some kind of encounter with Ethan after he reveals that their spouses potentially cheated on them with each other, though whether it was sexual in nature is deliberately left ambiguous.
Dumb Blonde: Zigzagged. Daphne is blonde and seems somewhat ditzy, but, though not traditionally intellectual, it becomes clear that she's far from stupid.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: The sanguine. She's bubbly, charming, and empathetic, but also repressed, impulsive, and enabling.
The Friends Who Never Hang: While her relationships with Harper and Cameron get explored in depth, she virtually never interacts with Ethan despite sharing many scenes with him. They finally share a scene together one-on-one in the season 2 finale, which ends with Daphne giving Ethan the advice he needs (and possibly more) to reignite the passion in his marriage.
Happily Married: Deconstructed. While she and Cameron are an extremely affectionate couple who genuinely love each other, he routinely cheats and engages in a number of other dubious activities that cause Daphne no end of grief. As the season progresses, we learn that Daphne has learned to engage in a number of heinous deeds herself to "get back" at Cameron, to the point where their children are heavily implied to not be biologically his. While their marriage is a loving one, it is by no means a healthy one.
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: She tries to show a picture of the personal trainer that she is likely having an affair with to Harper, but ends up "by accident" handing over a photo of her children, which implies that he might be the actual father.
Ms. Fanservice: She's a beautiful young woman seen in various states of undress throughout the season.
Nightmare Fetishist: The main reason she likes Dateline is for all the reports about gruesome murders.
Obfuscating Stupidity: It's easy to assume that Daphne is just an oblivious Brainless Beauty who doesn't know or care about Cameron's sketchier activities. But by the end of Season 2 this is revealed to be an act: not only does she know her husband runs with a bad crowd and actively cheats on her, she is implied to cheat on him right back. This becomes clear through multiple conversations she has with Harper and Ethan where we see she's far more perceptive and manipulative than she seems.
Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Though it's likely she did cheat on Cameron, her relationship with Ethan and Harper was genuine, also nothing comes off of her being a fan of murder series.
Spoiled Sweet: She has a ton of money and doesn't need to work, but is a ball of sunshine towards strangers. Harper snidely thinks that Daphne's bubbly demeanor is because she's too rich to care about the world's problems.
Stay in the Kitchen: A sympathetic female character who fully has this viewpoint, Daphne tells Harper that she actually pities men for having to go out and make money, saying that it's women who have the better deal by being able to love their kids and be with them. She also means this mainly as a comfort to her and Cameron's mostly sham marriage.
Stepford Smiler: An interesting example. She is not so unaffected by Cameron's behavior as she seems; rather, she takes her own steps to keep her breezy composure and, in her words, "not feel like a victim". Which ranges from indiscriminate use of Cameron's money to having affairs and secrets of her own.
Trophy Wife: Daphne seems fully aware of her status as a trophy wife to Cameron, and views it with some degree of pride, to Harper's horror.

Other Guests

Portia

"I don't know, feel, like, fulfilled and have an adventure, and, like, I'm sick of fucking TikTok and... and Bumble, and just... screens and apps and sitting there binging Netflix. And I just... I just wanna, like, live. I just wanna live my life, so badly."

Played By: Haley Lu Richardson

Tanya's young assistant, who recently graduated from college and is uncertain of her future.

Aimlessly Seeking Happiness: She talks to Albie about yearning to have an adventure and to find something new.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: She states early on that she's looking for a "caveman." This ends up horrifically backfiring on her when she gets involved with Jack and almost gets murdered because of it.
Audience Surrogate: As a young working-class woman stressed out by the extravagance around her, Portia is the "normal" one of the season 2 crop of guests.
Beleaguered Assistant: Tanya is a handful at the best of times, and Portia is reduced to tears having to deal with her.
Be Careful What You Wish For: She spends the entire season wishing she could be free of Tanya and meet a guy who will "get her blood pumping." In the end, Tanya gets murdered, and the handsome bad boy who swept Portia off her feet was in on it, leaving her terrified.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Portia, like Paula, is the less wealthy tagalong who strikes up a romance at the resort. Portia is more beleaguered and less intellectual than Paula is, and the power disparity between her and the person who paid for her to come to the White Lotus (her boss, Tanya) is much more apparent.
Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life: Portia explicitly says that she's bored of social media and not living her life, but she has no idea how to live or have an adventure. The adventure she does have in Sicily is not one she planned for, and she's genuinely terrified.
Master of the Mixed Message: As Albie becomes more transparently interested in her, Portia starts flirting with someone else without first making it clear to Albie how she feels. It's suggested that this is because she has no idea what she wants.
Meaningful Name: "Portia" is the main character of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, a play about the competing interests between love and money and set in Italy - all traits that it has in common with Season 2 of the show.
Morality Pet: Ultimately to Jack. Though he threatens her, he lets her return to America and go unscathed after Tanya's death.
Nice Girl: Despite her constant anxiety, she is nothing but friendly to everyone she encounters. It is implied she has put up with Tanya more than her other assistants both for fearing a lawsuit and because she doesn't like to have confrontations with people.
Not So Above It All: Tanya claims Portia reminds her of her younger self. On its face, this appears ridiculous, but there are signs Tanya isn't mistaken:
- Portia is perpetually miserable, much like Tanya, despite her relatively cushy life as an assistant who is paid to go on vacation with her boss (and doesn't appear to really do any difficult work as part of her job, even if dealing with Tanya is not exactly easy).
- Portia is often self-absorbed, like Tanya, and is more interested in just distracting herself with having a good time than interrogating her own feelings. She also uses Albie as an emotional crutch to dump her complaints about work on, not that he complains.
Phoneaholic Teenager: Though in her early twenties and not a teenager, Portia is a deconstruction. She talks about being addicted to her phone and "scrolling", but it clearly makes her miserable and she dreams about having a more fulfilling life offline, but she admits that she doesn't know much about actually having one.
Wardrobe Flaw Of Characterisation: Portia has an eclectic assortment of clothes with incredible variety, ranging from very beautiful to downright hideous. She frequently mixes and matches clothes, which causes her outfits to appear cluttered and fussy. This showcases how she spends too much time in her head and online looking at clothes and buying them in the hopes of emulating Instagrammers, instead of living her own life and forming her own taste.
You Remind Me of X: Tanya says that Portia reminds herself of her. Despite the wealth gap between them, both were once lost young women (detailed under Not So Above It All).

Quentin

"A world without beauty is not a world I'd want to live in. I'd also die for beauty, wouldn't you?"

Played By: Tom Hollander

An English expat who hosts Tanya and Portia at his Palermo villa.

Affably Evil: He's always polite and charming to Tanya and never does anything to harm her directly...but he's also trying to murder her.
Asshole Victim: He's shot dead by the woman who he was plotting to murder.
Complexity Addiction: His plan to murder Tanya is needlessly complicated and involved way too many people. Even if it had worked as intended, it would have left a ton of loose ends that might had gotten him caught afterwards.
Depraved Homosexual: An upper-class gay Englishman who appears to have manipulated, if not outright forced, Jack into a sexual relationship, plotted and ultimately killed Tanya for her money.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Quentin tells Tanya that he still loves and would do anything for the American he loves, Greg, despite knowing that he's straight and will never love him back romantically.
Gay Best Friend: He feigns being this to Tanya, taking her to the opera and to his house to cheer her up after Greg leaves her. It's a setup from the beginning - he's manipulating the situation to kill Tanya for Greg to inherit her money.
The Heavy: Greg was apparently in on the plan with him, but Quentin does all the dirty work, maybe because of The Power of Love.
I Am Very British: He's a posh Englishman with an appropriately posh-sounding RP.
Impoverished Patrician: Quentin is an aristocratic Englishman with a gorgeous, if somewhat decrepit, Palermo villa. But he doesn't actually have any money, which is at least part of the reason he's in on Greg's plan to kill Tanya.
Incompatible Orientation: With the American cowboy that he still loves after decades, whom he describes as being the one person he might ever have loved. Greg.
The One That Got Away: Quentin muses to Tanya that he once travelled America as a young man, and fell deeply in love with a heterosexual cowboy, who was the only time he's ever loved anyone truly, but whom he could never truly have. This turns out to be Greg, whom he's still working with to murder Tanya.
Stupid Crooks: His plan to kill Tanya is so needlessly complicated and riddled with holes that the only reason it gets as far as it does is that his target is not very bright. And when the plan inevitably blows up in his face it costs him his life.
Wealthy Yacht Owner: He's a rich expat who impresses Tanya and Portia when he takes them out on his yacht for the day. though he may not be as wealthy as he lets on.
Wicked Cultured: He's impressively literate in high culture, including opera, classic works of fiction, high fashion, and fine cuisine and spirits. It later becomes clear that he was plotting to murder Tanya the whole time.

Jack

"If you can’t be satisfied living now, here, you’re never gonna be satisfied."

Played By: Leo Woodall

Quentin's 'nephew'.

The Alcoholic: Portia begins to get uncomfortable with how much Jack drinks. Their second night out together is plagued with him becoming increasingly drunk, physically aggressive and aloof to her concerns. It's ambiguous, however, if his drinking is just part of the plan to keep Portia occupied. On the night of the final party, his drunkenness becomes an excuse for the pair not to return to Palermo.
Dark and Troubled Past: He confesses to Portia that he was once in a 'hole' that was 'deep and dark' and is brought to drunken tears just thinking about it, being vague about the details.
Faux Yay: He seems to be straight but has sex with Quentin, probably for money and/or some form of security.
Jerkass Has a Point: While Jack is a bit of a prick, and becomes increasingly dismissive of Portia, he is astute by calling her out for her self-pity. While Portia commiserates about the world 'falling apart,' Jack points out this is the easiest time in human civilization to be happy and fulfilled. He even asks her if she think she'd fare better during the Middle Ages. When he drunkenly implies he isn't Quentin's nephew, and may have been a wayward street kid, he again calls her out for being unaware of her relative privilege and comfortable life.
Street Urchin: His behavior suggests he may have been one (and this implies he may not be Quentin's real nephew), as he seems familiar with how to successfully dine and dash and evade a pursuing restaurant employee, and his monologue to Portia reveals he was once in a 'dark hole'.
Uncertain Doom: His last scene is him dropping Portia by an airport and saying is best for her if she just leaves. We never get to see how he reacts to finding out that Tanya killed Quentin and whether he's even going to be rewarded by Greg.

Locals

Lucia

Lucia Greco

"Let's fun!"

Played By: Simona Tabasco

A young prostitute who occasionally services the hotel's guests. She's close friends with Mia.

But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Implied. Lucia doesn't think much (if anything) of scamming the Di Grassos, accurately assuming that they are wealthy, privileged men who'll be fine. Albie's ending suggests that her betrayal is what leads him to become no better than Dominic.
The Chessmaster: At first, it would seem that surprising your client by asking for money after sex, as Lucia does with Albie, is bad business, when the smarter move would be settling things up front. However, it's implied that this might have been the plan all along, since that awkward moment plays on Albie's notion about Lucia as a Broken Bird and Hooker with a Heart of Gold and eventually allows her to milk him and his family for 50,000 Euros by pretending to be abused.
Damsel in Distress: Lucia is being followed and harassed by a man to whom she owes a large sum of money and seems to be in some sort of danger if she cannot pay him back. It turns out this man is actually a friend of hers posing as a threat so that Albie will give her some of his father's money, making it an Exploited Trope.
The Fashionista: She wears several well-coordinated and eyecatching outfits throughout the season, implied to be on Dominic's dime.
High-Class Call Girl: She's dressed quite nicely, worldly, charming and gets paid up to 2,000 euros for one night with clients.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Lucia's a kind, cheerful young woman who's also a prostitute. She also appears to develop genuine feelings for Albie. It's subverted in the end: she cons his family out of 50,000 euros by putting on a "wounded bird" act, knowing Albie would fall for it hook line and sinker.
Love Father, Love Son: She services Dominic, but then sleeps with and grows to like Dominic's son Albie.
Ms. Fanservice: She's a gorgeous young woman, and when she goes to the hotel she wears dresses that draw many people's attention. As a prostitute, she has an active sex life, and the audience sees her topless with Albie multiple times.
Not Staying for Breakfast: After she gets 50,000 euros from the Di Grassos she spends one more night with Albie but sneaks out of the room just before he wakes up. It's this act that convinces him he'd been played.
Predatory Prostitute: Downplayed. She's not villainous, but she's very savvy and realizes that Albie is naive and romantic. She sleeps with him and shows attachment to him while feeding him a sob story about wanting to escape her violent pimp. Albie gets Dominic to give her 50,000 euros to help her out and she triumphantly blitzes off with the money without bothering to say goodbye to him.
Unproblematic Prostitution: Double Subverted. At first, she is very upfront about liking her job, even trying to recruit Mia into it, but a few episodes into the season she starts to have second thoughts about her situation. She sticks with it, though, and manages to fleece the Di Grassos of 50,000 euros. The last scene is of her and Mia triumphantly walking through the streets of Taormina.

Mia

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twl_mia.png

"I just want to sing. Maybe I should just sleep with the piano player."

Played By: Beatrice Grannò

A young woman who dreams of being a musician. She's close friends with Lucia.

Ambiguously Bi: She has sex with both men and women over the course of the season, but it is not clear if she does it out of genuine attraction or purely to get what she wants. Mia says that she is a "little bit gay", and she thinks "all women are". However, after sleeping with Valentina, she says that she needs a "proper girlfriend". This does not help clarify if she's really bi or not.
Beautiful Singing Voice: For all of Mia's naivete, she is a genuinely great singer and pianist. Bert comments that her performances as the lounge singer is a massive improvement over Giuseppe.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Spends much of the show engaged in various wacky antics with Lucia and the other people at the hotel, but she's also a talented pianist and singer who rightly deserves her position as the bar's entertainer.
The Chanteuse: She's a lovely young woman who proves to be an extremely talented singer. She elicits applause from the hotel guests when she performs for them at dinner.
Gaydar: She very quickly discerns that Valentina is a closeted lesbian and seduces her.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: For Valentina, she's kind, forgiving and loyal, helping her embrace being a lesbian while having sex with her to get the singer position at the hotel.
Mistaken for Prostitute: When she's with Lucia at the hotel, everyone assumes she is also a prostitute. However, as she does have sex with people to get jobs they aren't that far off.
Sleeping Their Way to the Top:
- She decides to sleep with Giuseppe the lounge singer in the hopes that he will introduce her to contacts in the music industry.
- She offers to have sex with Valentina in return for the chance to fill in for Giuseppe while he is in the hospital. Valentina agrees, and it turns out Mia's the first woman she ever slept with.

Characters / The White Lotus

Edit Locked

Maui, Hawaii

Staff

Armond

Played By: Murray Bartlett

Belinda Lindsey

Played By: Natasha Rothwell

Kai

Played By: Kekoa Scott Kekumano

Dillon

Played By: Lukas Gage

Lani

Played By: Jolene Purdy

Guests

The Mossbachers

Nicole Mossbacher

Played By: Connie Britton

Mark Mossbacher

Played By: Steve Zahn

Olivia Mossbacher

Played By: Sydney Sweeney

Quinn Mossbacher

Played By: Fred Hechinger

The Pattons

Rachel

Played By: Alexandra Daddario

Shane Patton

Played By: Jake Lacy

Kitty Patton

Played By: Molly Shannon

Other Guests

Paula

Played By: Brittany O'Grady

Tanya McQuoid

Played By: Jennifer Coolidge

Greg Hunt

Played By: Jon Gries

Taormina, Sicily

Staff

Valentina

Played By: Sabrina Impacciatore

Rocco

Played By: Federico Ferrante

Isabella

Played By: Eleonora Romandini

Guests

The Di Grassos

Bert Di Grasso

Played By: F. Murray Abraham

Dominic Di Grasso

Played By: Michael Imperioli

Albie Di Grasso

Played By: Adam DiMarco

The Spiller/Sullivan Party

Harper Spiller

Played By: Aubrey Plaza

Ethan Spiller

Played By: Will Sharpe

Cameron Sullivan

Played By: Theo James

Daphne Sullivan

Played By: Meghann Fahy

Other Guests

Portia

Played By: Haley Lu Richardson

Quentin

Played By: Tom Hollander

Jack

Played By: Leo Woodall

Locals

Lucia Greco

Played By: Simona Tabasco

Mia

Played By: Beatrice Grannò

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