Why is Tanya considered to have screwed Belinda over? She gave her tons of no-strings attached cash. That's way better than being a business partner where you have to answer to an erratic woman.
It's implied that the cash is the gesture of a guilty conscience but is likely a much smaller amount than the investment Tanya might have otherwise made...
As good as the cash is, it clearly isn't enough for Belinda to open her own wellness center. After Belinda spent the whole week responding to Tanya's every whim, wrote an entire business proposal for her, and was encouraged by Tanya several times, it was basically a slap in the face.
While she did build up her hopes only to crush them, she still left her with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars. A nice amount for a few extra hours of having to deal with a neurotic woman.
Where are Armond's remains going? Why wouldn't they stay in Hawaii? Does he have family back in the US mainland, or are they being taken somewhere for examination?
They're likely being taken to his next of kin, who apparently live on the US mainland.
Where exactly did Shane and Rachel meet? He seems so embedded in his upper class circles, that it's hard to imagine them crossing? Is it explicitly stated?
It's not exactly impossible for a rich person to find himself within eyesight of a middle-class person, and given that she's established to be a Head-Turning Beauty, he likely pursued her the moment he saw her.
They’re from NYC, are they not? Manhattan is smaller than most people give it credit for and people from all social strata interact regularly if not socialize.
Season 2
Why does everyone eat dinner in the exact same place when there's so much nightlife in Sicily to explore?
Because it's the main restaurant at the resort and is included in their stay.
Someone actually makes a comment about the high prices at the restaurant, so their meals are apparently not included.
They don't always eat there: Albie and Portia go out to the same restaurant as Greg and Tanya in Episode 2. And then there's Daphne and Harper's stay in Notto as well as the (disastrous) nights Tanya and Portia spend with their newfound "friends." But aside from that, it's likely most of the guests aren't actually that adventurous and tend to prefer the easier, safer option at the end of their day. Plus, it's convenient for the plot (not to mention production) and reinforces the idea of the White Lotus as a Gilded Cage for the ultra-rich. As for Lucia and Mia, they hang out at the hotel for business reasons in addition to living it up on Dom's money.
If Lucia and Mia are in the business of getting people to pay them for sex, why are they so disgusted at the piano player? He's basically asking for the same thing as everyone else in the hotel is asking from Mia.
Being a sex worker is one thing. Using a position of power (having access to studio people) to extort sex from people is different.
So Mia is not a sex worker?
Not initially. Lucia suggests she try it.
Mia does eventually start bartering sex for a chance to perform at the hotel bar, but she does it on her terms.
Why didn't the Di Grasso's not think to contact their relatives in advance?
They didn't know for certain if there were any relatives there. And going to find out if they were was part of the adventure.
Did Quentin's friend who jumped off the boat survive? With all the talk by Jack of how dangerous those people were, wasn't his reaction a little underwhelming?
It's possible that Quentin exaggerated how dangerous his friends were in order to keep Jack in line.
Alternatively, it might be possible Jack needed to scare Portia as much as possible from cooperating with police and Quentin's posse had very little coercive power outside of Niccolo.
Quentin's friend who jumped off the boat wasn't one of the "dangerous friends." He's simply another of Quentin's fellow impoverished patricians who spend their money on partying. Only Niccolo is said to be in the Mafia, and his involvement means the Mafia is involved, so Portia might very well have been in danger had she stuck around from other Mafiosi who knew about the plot.
How did Quentin and Jack know that Portia was in the exact state of mind where she was looking for a bad boy and a vacation fling? For all they know, she could have had a boyfriend, or she could have just gotten out of a relationship with a bad guy and would not be interested by a mindless tryst? It seemed like a lot was riding on Jack being just the right match for Portia, who didn't know what she wanted over the course of a single week.
It's possible that Greg, who knew Portia, filled them in. Also, Jack was still good-looking and charismatic, so he likely would have been fine regardless of the exact personality type Portia was looking for.
It was likely an Indy Ploy. Greg is surprised and upset when he discovers Portia is even there, so she's clearly not part of the plan. Quentin likely just happened to have a young, handsome lover/prostitute who was capable of seducing Portia. Given that he's a free-spending bon vivant, that's not surprising. If the honey pot angle hadn't worked, they would have had to figure out something else.
If Niccolo was supposed to by Tanya's murderer, weren't there a lot of people who saw Niccolo at the party? That would tie the two together.
It could have been the intention. Quentin suggests that Niccolo may have some connection to the Mafia, so if the plan succeeded and Tanya's body was found afterwards, people would mostly associate it with the Mafia rather than Greg.
Didn't Niccolo mainly stay in the private room with her and Quentin?
Niccolo was just one of many people seen at the party with her days earlier. On the night of her murder, he would likely have several people willing to swear that he was with them the entire night.
It's possible most of the other people at the party know not to mess with Niccolo and whoever he's connected to and would never testify against him. As Quentin says "We don't use that word [Mafia] in Palermo." So they are probably all over the area and would intimidate or kill anyone who tried to speak out against them.
Applying Hanlon's Razor, the simplest explanation is that Quentin is an incompetent criminal mastermind and he simply didn’t think through all the aspects of the plan.
If Mia wasn't a sex worker, why was she helping her friend close the deal with a hesitant Dominic?
Lucia had been convincing her to try it.
Mia helped Lucia bag multiple clients simply by being there and didn't actually sleep with them (though she seems like she might have with Ethan had he reciprocated). In return, she got to share in the money, buy new outfits, and have a lavish week at the resort with her best friend. It's notable that when Mia does choose to barter with sex, it's not in exchange for money but for her career as a musician.
Why didn't Quentin take any precautions at all when he and Jack were doing it?
He believed that Tanya, and possibly Portia, were about to die, and thus wasn't worried about them finding out.
Quentin isn't a criminal mastermind. He's a bon vivant who was convinced by an old flame to take part in a get-rich-quick scheme out of desperation. He simply didn't anticipate Tanya wandering into his bedroom in the middle of the night. Who does that?
Tanya's behavior doesn't really match someone who is said in this season to be worth around $500 million. She has no staff in the first season despite being only barely capable of taking care of herself. In the second season, she has a single young twentysomething as an assistant who only seems marginally competent. She's also extremely impressed by Quentin's palazzo, acting as if she's never seen such opulence. You'd think someone with her wealth would be able to afford much better support and be very familiar with extravagant mansions.
That's an extremely good point about someone having very low staff and security for someone worth that much. It's hard to even say if Portia knows she's worth just that much. As for the second part, she's not impressed by the palazzo in a manner of someone who's never seen a mansion before. She's impressed in the matter of someone on vacation seeing something foreign and she's also excited that someone's lavishing attention on her.
Remember that being worth $500 million means that is the value of everything she owns. It’s stated that her father was a shipping magnate so she likely inherited his share of the company. But that does not mean she actually has that much cash. She certainly lives a luxurious life, but not one of ridiculous wealth on par with what Quentin claims to have.
Why is Albie painting The Godfather as some kind of male revenge porn thing? This isn't Rambo or a Logan Paul video. This is widely considered to be one of the best films of all time by pretty much every major film critic. Granted, film criticism might be a male-dominated field, but still...
Albie is clearly trying very hard to push back against his dad and also impress Portia. But he's not coming out of nowhere either: as much as The Godfather is admired, it's also been criticized for much of what Albie brings up (being a sexist macho fantasy that demeans women), as well as launching waves of stereotypes about Italians and the Mafia. See this 1997 article by Molly Haskell as an example.
as an example.