The Prestige TV Podcast - 'The White Lotus' Season 2, Episode 3 Recap

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

Bill and Joanna get together again to dissect their favorite scenes and performances from the third episode of the new season of 'The White Lotus' on HBO. Along the way they speculate on whether we'll see a Laura Dern appearance this season, debate Michael Imperioli's acting potency, and examine 'The Godfather' tie-ins to the episode (18:54). They end the pod by making their predictions for Episode 4 and revealing their Emmy favorite from the show so far (36:23). Hosts: Bill Simmons and Joanna Robinson Associate Producer: Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Yossi Salick, and I'm the host of Bansplain, a show where we explain cult bands and iconic artists by going deep into their histories and discographies. We're back with a brand new season at our brand new home, the Ringer podcast network, tackling a whole new batch of artists, from grunge gods to power pop pioneers to new metal legends and many, many more. Listen to new episodes every Thursday, only on Spotify. This episode is brought to you by Netflix's remarkably bright creatures. What if a Pacific office? was held the key to a mystery that could heal your heart. Well, that's Tova's reality. An elderly widow working at an aquarium. Tova forms an unlikely friendship with the cramudgeonly Marcellus,

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Every Sunday night, we break down the White Lotus, a really good show. We were expecting this show. to go off the rails. I didn't know what episode it was going to be. Episode three, we get after it. Debuttery. It starts happening.

Things. Things happen. What was your biggest takeaway? I feel like I've decided that this is a show about change. In this episode, like, can you change as a person or should you change as a person? Because we see all these characters, like, will be coming a show. obscenely wealthy change someone like Ethan, like in this sort of debauchery thing we see. Can Harper change or should she change and be like nicer if she wants to be, right?

Albi is, you know, Porsche asked Albi to be more aggressive. Can he do that? Can his dad, Dom, stop, you know, banging everyone with a pulse in San Domenico? Like, what, you know, are you capable of it? Should you, you know, that sort of, like, I think that's what this season's getting out. after in addition to all the obvious sex stuff. What do you think, Bill? Daphne is the only one who's comfortable with who she is, right?

Seems like. Every cast member we have. She just like, she lays it out when she's talking to Harper, Aubrey Plaza's character when they're hanging out near the end and they start having a deep conversation. And she's just like, yeah, he definitely cheated on me once. But I just use it to my advantage. I like my life.

And she just, she's the only one that's comfortable, which is why I think it's interesting. She's the one that starts the show in the first episode, right? She's the first one we see. She finds the bodies. She's the most stable character. Some things I was delighted about. I loved that Cameron, aka Happy Guy, Theo James. We knew it was in there. We knew it was lurking. We knew some darkness. Barely below the surface. Yeah. Yeah. We knew some darkness was going to seep out. It didn't seep out. It shot out like a water fountain. He was just as soon as his wife and Harper went away. He was like, let's get after it. He played the money card with Ethan, which we were waiting for. That finally happened and just had that look in his eye where it's like,

oh, man, this guy's, this guy's some trouble. He's ready to get it on. There's drugs. There's hookers. He wanted all of it. And I think that what that means, like, the Harper question is so interesting because, like, you and I have been talking the last couple episodes, like, she can definitely be off-putting there. She's abrasive, all of her stuff, but she's also right about everything. She's the one who said that, you know, Cameron was there just to get money out of Ethan. And she's the one who said that they probably, those people probably cheat on each other. And she's right about all, she had his number completely, perfectly. Yeah, the only time she wasn't right when she did the, in the last episode, they're probably talking about us right now and they weren't.

Oh, yeah. Just like having a little fashion show. But for the most part, yeah, she's definitely the most self-aware and the smartest person on the show and almost too smart for her and the good, which was why the journey she goes on in this episode, she's probably the most interesting character of this episode, right? It starts out where she almost turns herself into a Stefford wife. Right. She's like, I'm just going to play the game. It's very Nicole Kidman-ish, like the first 10 minutes. She's like trying to seduce the guy in the bed.

Yeah. She's wearing the little headband at breakfast and talking. about how great the sunset was, and you know it's not authentic. What do you mean by Nicole Kidman-ish? Like what- It reminds me of like how Nicole Kidman can assume different identities with the part, right? Where she can be like the super sexy, but she can also be like the school mom and she can just kind of move around.

Yeah, yeah. What I liked about that is that, you know, she's doing all of this ostensibly to make Ethan happy, right? Like you think I'm being a bitch. She's like, I never said the word bitch, right? She's like, but you think, you know, you think I'm being awful. I'll be nice. Kind of implicitly, the idea is like, to make you happy for you.

And Ethan the whole time's like, why? Why are you doing this? And then like when he, when she gets sort of like ensnared in this whole Daphne wants to go to Nodo and invites Harper and Ethan's like, you should go. Like sort of testing her. He's like, how far are you going to take this thing? You take it all the way to a day trip to No-Doh with Daphne that you don't want to do, you know? And I just, I like that reaction.

from Ethan. Like we can talk about Ethan later on the episode, but I like that reaction from him because he's not like, oh yes, finally, the Stafford wife I ordered is here. He's like, that's not who I'm married, you know, like, that's not necessarily who I want you to be. And I, well, wouldn't she say a little bit of a sexual awakening for her in the hotel, right? She sees the guy's dong in the episode and that, like, that's like an electric shock for her. He's flirting with her. She likes it. She's got, what is it? She's like a, what was her job? Like HR lawyer or, uh, Yeah, she's a lawyer, yeah, prosecuting, like, sexual assault claims and radical termination. Yeah, so she's going to work.

She's wearing, like, lawyer outfits and just, like, very businesslike, deep lawyer conversations and then goes home to her nerd husband who's probably been in front of a computer for the last six years. And during the course of this episode, she's, now she's experimenting with her identity. They have that great scene in the middle of the episode where I don't, I don't know how much of it was real and not real. but this show in general, this episode, I thought had some of the coolest visual stuff that they've ever done on the show. But that scene specifically were just a hundred men.

There's no women anywhere. It's just her. And all of a sudden it's like she's on stage as these guys are like leering at her. And, you know, she's just kind of thriving in it. But kind of she's like 20% scared and 80% kind of like, yeah, bring it on. I think that might be my favorite sequence

in all of White Lotus ever. is that sequence where she's surrounded by all the guys. It is definitely partially in her head because when Daphne comes back, like when the camera swings back with Daphne, it's just a mixture of men and women around her, right? But it's just sort of like, that's how it felt for her to have like, you know, three to five guys have their eyes on her. It felt like everywhere there's just men, the score changes. She's dressed like, I was thinking about, there's like a bunch of movies in the 50s of like

prim American girls going to Italy and having like a sexual awakening. Like that was a genre in like American cinema in the 50s. And then if you think back to like 19th century literature, if you prefer, but like the 80s and 90s, those like those merchant ivory films like adaptations of like room with a view or wings of the dove, like it's always these like buttoned up British people go to Italy and have this sort of like awakening moment of passion and that sort of stuff. But that goes back to that. like, is that just a vacation change?

Do you just have Awakening while you're on, in San Domenico on vacation? It's just your, like, Italy persona you're trying on. And do you keep it when you go back home? Or is that just like, I don't know, like, is Harper going to have some sort of like meaningful forever change? Is anyone going to have some meaningful forever change here? Or are they just going to like Tanya their way through life? And Tanya is just Tanya no matter where she goes, you know?

Well, there's, you figure there's no way. Hooker Knight is not going to come back. in some way. She'll come back. She's going to interrogate the guy and hey, what happened last night? He's going to handle it terribly because he's Ethan

and we'll be off. I have a question for you, sort of like on a moral compass sort of way. So one of the women comes up to Ethan tries to kiss him, Mia.

They do kiss. They kiss. But he's like, after like, you know, three or four kisses, he's like, no. And because she's not the like, she's not a sex worker. She's not done this before.

She's not pushing it. She's just like, no, okay. And then she walks away. And I think he's kind of lucky that it was Mia, not Lucia, because I think maybe Lucia was not walking away. Lucille would have been like, come on, let's go. But like, how guilty is he in your view of the events that happened this evening? Well, there's hookers.

There's cocaine and Molly. Molly, yeah. He made out with a pseudo hooker, I guess we could call her. the friend was in there getting it on. And at some point, and this is the great thing about shows like this, it all depend on the level of how he explains it when he's being interrogated, right? It's like, what do you not tell somebody? Are you lying?

Are you just leaving facts out? And I, you know, that character who, and again, we talked about it before, it's probably the, probably the weakest actor out of, out of like the main group. I think he was better in this episode because there was kind of more going on with his eyes than this one. But he's, I just think he's going to fold. I don't like I just feel like when Aubrey Plaza goes after him, he's going to give up the goods would be my guess. But that's a better thing to do, right? Like to be honest with you.

Like this is the whole thing is he's like, I don't lie. Cameron's like, you don't, I didn't know that. How weird? You know, everyone cheats. You don't lie? How odd? But if she says what happens last night, the answer is going to be some sort of. of a lie unless the answer is. So I went to dinner with this guy. He hit me up for money.

These hookers came over to our table. They had a bunch of drugs. We did them. And I got so fucked up that I ended up in the bathroom. Like that's the actual account of what happened. Oh, and Cameron had sex with at least one of the hookers. But I blacked out at that point. Right. He's not going to say that to her. Right. But I'm saying like that's that's the main guilt for me. If he doesn't tell her what happens, that's the main problem. because like, I mean, it's still a problem to wind up in your, I guess the problem is that moment. And this is another moment I really liked. I agree with you.

This episode had so many, like, inventive visuals. So well done. Yeah, it was like a movie. The moment when they're banging on the door. And, like, you know, we've had this montage of the party. The score has been really loud. He's falling in the pool. He's under the water.

He's watching what's going on. He's in his room. He's rolling. Like, he's on Molly. He's trying to, like, figure out what's going on. The party's in the other room and they're banging on the door. And it's almost like, like, hell and temptation is on the other side of the door trying to come in. And then he opens the door and in comes the party.

And it's like, that's a moment. That's a moment when he could have made a decision to keep the door locked and not join the party, but he didn't. Well, we know the episode ends. She's calling nobody answers. And then she sits on the bed. So it's like, okay. Likewise, he's not holding our hand, but he's like, hey, this, don't think this, this scene is over. Oh, no, no, not at all.

But yeah, I'm just curious. I don't know if I understand Ethan well enough to know what he's going to do when Harper asks him. Why didn't you pick up the phone? So the only time we've seen him caught in something where he could have lied was when he was jerking off. And she's like, what were you doing? He was like, I was jerking off. Look at it for. Yeah, he didn't lie.

So I don't know. Yeah, true. Yeah, so all the stuff with Harper. And then her like kind of, could you say she clipped? with Daphne. I think they mostly clicked, right? More than they have before. They had real conversations.

Yeah. There's something there. It was like the... I think when Daphne revealed that the whole like villa and Nodo thing, which by the way, nightmare, like absolute nightmare if someone entraps you into a sleepover,

but like the whole... Oh my God. The whole villa and Noto thing when Harper's like, oh, you're playing games with him. And she's like, yeah, we both do. It's like, hide and seek. And I think that

in that moment, Harper understood Daphne a little bit better and I think enjoyed that side of her where she's like, oh. Yeah, she thought Daphne was just this dumb and happy wife, basically. And she's like, oh, there's way more here. This is good.

Now I'm a little more in. We have, well, we have Tanya melts down completely. Still not loving everything with Jennifer Coolidge this season, honestly. Me neither. But I thought, The crying scene was really funny. I've been married four times. You told me it was three.

She starts wailing for 40 seconds. But other than that, you're right. I mean, the psychic stuff, it's every time she's in a scene now, it's kind of like, I will say, like getting to the other characters. Though something I mentioned in the previous episode is that the great British actor, Tom Hollander, was in the cast, and we see him in this episode. he's like eyeing her in the bar. So if her storyline starts to collide with his, like I love him.

He's never done anything wrong in his entire life acting wise. And so I'm excited like I'm excited for that potential collision of a storyline. Like what is what is Tanya plus whatever Tom Hollander is doing in the show? The guy in the bar is just sort of like waving at her, looking at her. What's going to happen there? That I'm interested in. Yeah. This is something I don't think they did in season one.

bringing in new characters over the course of the week, which is, which makes sense because that's what happens at a hotel, right? Everyday new people show up. So it shouldn't just be the same seven people for a week. Yeah. You should have some new wrinkles. I think other than Molly Shannon showing up a couple episodes. Yeah, as the mother.

Yeah. But like in terms of like new guests in the hotel, like, yeah, that. And I like that. I like that we're going to have a new. And also I like the way that storylines are sort of pink. around, which happened in season one, too, but like the fact that me and Lucia are, you know, were in the Dom Bert Alibi storyline and I'm now like jumped over to the Ethan and Cameron storyline. That's, that's fun, you know.

I think that's it for Greg. I think so, too. He was only in a couple episodes last season as well. So I don't think he's coming back. That would be my guess, unless for the finale. But, yeah. So we just, a lot of unanswered questions with Greg. Did he almost die?

Was it a game? Is he have another family? What the hell is going on? I guess we'll never know. I like that explanation though where she was like, he was like, you helped me, you found these doctors, right? I don't think he was like destitute before because he was staying at the White Lotus on his own before, right?

So I don't think he was like broke. But Tanya has like money, money, right? And so she helped him get better. And then, you know, she's like, then you had more years to live and you didn't want to live them with me. And I was sort of like, that's devastating, but also probably true. where he was like, yeah, I can see spending the rest of my life. And then when the rest of your life stretches out, you're like, maybe not.

Maybe not. Maybe you're not the person. Well, it goes back to like her whole thing, which he lays out in the previous episode, was your, you're transactional. Yeah. You use people and then you discard them. And he basically used her and then discarded her. He used her for the doctors.

It was like, good. Thanks for saving me. I'll see later. That's true. I mean, like, I'm always inclined to be sympathetic to Tanya, because she's like, so pathetic in so many ways. But then she does the shit with Portia where she's like, I'm going to pass out here, but you can't leave.

I got the new vanity fair, sit down on the couch and just like sit here until I need you. And it's just like, man, let the girl go outside. Come on. Right. Well, let's talk about her because she was good in this episode. So the thing with her and Albi just, Albie just isn't happening. There's just no chemistry at all. And he's such a loser.

The whole, the godfather scene was one of my favorite scenes. When he's laying out his godfather theory, and the grandfather's so pumped out. But it goes back to what we talked about the last episode, right? Those three generations. And what did he say? He had some good ones. You're nostalgic for the solid days of the patriarchy.

Men love the godfather because they're emasculated by modern society. And then he throws in the gender as a construct that's created in the grave father goes, you spend all that money at Stanford, he comes back brainwash. It was just, it was like a three minute scene, but I was like, I can spend like an hour with these three characters. Talking about the godfather. Yeah, just just not getting along. Well, I think it's so interesting because it's like, I've been thinking about this,

trying to crack the puzzle of these three guys. And I feel like Dom is like somewhere in the middle of his dad and his son, which makes sense generationally, right? but like his dad's a creep, right? He's a lech, right? But then Dom is also like, you know, paying sex workers and like shoving them out the door in the morning and stuff like that that's going on. And then Albi is like, I mean, yeah, like too timid and like, you know, spouting some stuff that is like parody of wokeism out of Stanford University. But like.

But like I feel like Dom is at this crossroads where he's like, am I my dad? am I just going to like fuck up my marriage irrevocably and be my dad but I also don't want to be my son because that's not quite who I am so like who am I in the middle of all of this and I think it's really interesting that the key moment the grandfather instead of being horrified like my god you're you've just fucked up your life now you've two hookers leaving your room in the morning he kind of had a little light in his eye about it right he's like hey I saw the two right I saw those two ladies leaving your room. But almost like he wanted details versus like being being depressed that his son was just

off the rails. But that's because he's like, this is normal. This is what men should do. And like Dom being like, Dom having that conversation with Albi about, okay, first of all, we should say we were talking last week about like, or whenever we were talking about like, who's the voice of the wife on the other side of the phone. It was Laura Dern is what many, many people. So I was going to drop that on.

I heard that. Yeah, it was Laura Dern. Laura Dern. That actually, so a couple things. That makes me feel like less inclined that she's going to show up because, you know, Laura Dern worked with Mike White on Enlightened. And so I feel like this could just be a favor. He's like, hey, Laura, can you just like record this phone call for me? I completely disagree. I have no inside info, but I thought that was a pretty big breadcrown. Yeah. Like if it's a favor, that's a pretty weird favor. It's like, hey, we just need you on the phone for 40 seconds. that's like that has to pay off.

It's Laura Dern. She's a famous actress. She's won awards. We're seeing her. Okay. I feel like it could go either way. But I do feel like, like, if they hadn't made enlightened together, I'd be like, well, Laura Dern is definitely showing up now.

But since they're like, they made a show together and they're like, he could call Laura Dern up for this, I feel like it's possible that she doesn't show up. But either way. And a famously, famously rocky relationship, right? Which I think as they were doing the show. I think there was a lot of stuff going on and there was co-creator thing and things like that. But I think now they're in a pretty good place.

But I think in the moment, they probably weren't. But I think that, like, the reason that getting a Laura Dern for that phone call matters, even if we don't see her, is that in this episode, when Dom is like, stops the son in the hallway, he's like, hey, listen, man, I'm not who you, I'm not my dad. I'm not who think I am. I'm a feminist. And we're like, maybe. But he's like, he's like, listen, I didn't pick some brainwashed zombie,

stepford wife, I picked your mom, who is a really cool, like, smart lady. You know, and so I'm like, yeah, this guy married Laura Dern, like a Laura Dern character. Like, that does make me respect him. And then I do the math and I'm like, but then he mercilessly cheated on her apparently. So like that makes me respect him less. But at the end of this episode, we see him walking away from the bar. He's looking all around and all these young women everywhere he goes. It's sort of like similar to Aubrey Plaza.

surrounded by all those men, like everywhere he looks, there's some young, tempting woman in the bar, and he walks, he walks away. So can he change who he is? Can he be different? I don't know. I don't know either. So speaking of moms, when we tape the first two episodes, my mom hadn't seen any episodes yet. So now she's caught up with the first two. So I saw her a couple days ago. And obviously, as we could have predicted and guessed, loves season two. It loves how off the rail. and sex crazy it is. She had an interesting Michael Imperioly note. Oh, tell me.

She thought he was the weak link in the show. Oh, interesting. Why? And that he's just not that good of an actor. And she's like, you know what? He's basically playing Christopher again. And I don't even think he plays characters. I think that's just who he is and everything.

And she's like, she's basically, he's basically Christopher in this. Like an older, whiter-haired Christopher with it. So you didn't watch sopranos. so it's hard for you to compare. But when she said that to me when I watched the third episode, I was like, fuck, my mom's in my head with this. He, I don't really know, like, he's playing everything very tight, right? And we're basically supposed to read his reactions to stuff.

He's also not doing a ton. And maybe that's the choice of how he's playing that character. But I also, like, I still don't have a feel for him at all after three episodes. we as you said like the choice he makes at the end of the third episode is interesting but i don't know is he like if he's addicted to sex i'm not seeing that from him with some of the interactions right it's always like begrudgingly he's doing it but just in general like i don't know what this guy cares about and i'm confused by the i'm confused by the portrayal i guess is my point i get all the other characters he's the one i don't get that's so interesting like i think that he like i do think there

has to be some sort of sex addiction thing going on. I think he's struggling with, in theory, he just wants his everything to be okay with his wife and with his daughter, who I guess is also not talking to him. He's sort of. But if you wanted that, you're not getting hookers at the hotel, like the first two nights with your son and grandfather there. That's what Alby says. He's like, you have to actually change. You have to change in order for this to be better. And so we're seeing the first tiny baby steps of him trying to change. Will that stick? Can you change in order to do this? I like him and this.

Again, you're right. I can't compare it to Christopher or not. But I do think that earlier conversation we had about like Aubrey Plaza playing an Aubrey Plaza type and Jennifer Coolidge playing a Jennifer Coolidge type, I think that might be something that really excites and attracts Mike White that like I was reading an interview where Aubrey Plaza says this role was written for her and the Jennifer Coolidge role was written for her. And so I feel like what Mike White is doing is like, here are these actors, I know the note that they can play.

So I'm going to write a character that's definitely that note that they often play. And then I'm going to sort of, again, I think of him as casting like a reality show because he's such a reality show guy. Like he's like, okay, here's my cast of Survivor Season 2 or White Lotus Season 2. What archetypes, what personalities do I want in here? I want an Aubrey Plaza type, bumping up against a Michael Imperiole type, bumping up against a Michael Imperiole type. bumping against this. And so I think it's a feature not a bug that these actors are playing these archetypes that we've seen them play over and over and over again.

Yeah, that's fair. Here's here to be my counter. Yeah. And I know this wouldn't happen because he's too famous and too successful to be in the show. But if Robert Downey Jr. Yeah. Or Sean Penn. Yeah.

Was playing that Dom character. It would be so much more interesting. Like some of the choices, I think, that the actor would make, you'd be going on for a ride, right? There would be some sort of look in their eye that you could read and play off of just in a different way. So I don't know. I almost feel like the character has too much firepower for Michael Imperial, even though

I like Michael Imperiali. Well, I think, I mean, there is also, it has to be some pleasure in watching, like, an actor from the Sopranos debate the merits of the godfather, right? Like, there's like, you know. That was good. Yeah, they do cut to him at one point. And it's like, Jesus Christ, I'm back at Bada Bing. By the way, that was my, we talked about the settings of this show.

The fact that that place existed, I had no idea. The, where Apollonia got blown up and that's now like a tourist attraction or a restaurant. I watched that scene like seven times because I was like freeze framing stuff. Like, oh my God, and they have a car with a mannequin and what is this place? And the scenes rerunning? I just couldn't believe that existed. Do you not agree with Porsche, though, that it's a bad thing? taste to have a mannequin sitting in a car and just like hearing in the background.

Apollonia! I was thinking about that too. So apparently, so San Domenico where they filmed, apparently, you know, is where a lot of the godfather's filmed. And apparently there's like a museum and like gift shops dedicated to the godfather around there. Yeah, like you could just sort of marinate in the Francis Fort Coppola of it all. But I was thinking about that.

I was like, is this here not just because Mike White's like, isn't it wild that this exists? Let's film a lunch here. But also, if you think then about Dom and that conversation with Albie in the hallway where he's like, I married your mother, then you have to think about, like, what is it like to marry an Apollonia versus what is it like to marry a Kay? Right? Like, those two different kinds of women challenge you or don't challenge. Like, Apollonia is not a challenge to Michael at all, right?

But Kay is a challenge. And Kay ultimately doesn't fit his life or what he wants. but like I feel like he's he's telling himself, I married a K, because that's what I wanted, was like someone who was going to push back on me and not an Apollonia who only exists in that movie to be killed and upset and upset Michael, you know. You obviously don't know my whole K. Corleone take. Tell me your K. Corleone take. I think one of the, the weak spot of the Godfather franchise and one of the worst characters

one of the worst written characters, just completely inexplicable from start to finish. Well acted. Not a diss on Diane Keaton, but like, but like he disappeared for years and just showed up. She's walking.

And she's like, okay. This bunch of school kids down the street. And he's like, I'm sorry. There's some things you don't know, but you're the one. It's like, wait, what? You moved to Italy. You didn't tell me.

You married somebody else. Right. And now I'm like, let me just leave these kids in the street and go back to you? That was the weirdest godfather moment of any episode, any movie. I do not disagree with you. That is absolutely true. But Kay as a character who, you know, tells Michael he's a piece of shit and is like, leaves him and all this.

She has to. Yeah. It finally does. Yeah. You need that character. Like that character matters even if I agree with you, some of her choices are completely inexplicable. It matters that Michael closes the door on her, you know, and,

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So what's coming on with her? She just hates everybody. I think she's... I don't know what her endgame is. I think she's definitely a repressed gay woman. Because when Isabella comes up to her and she's like, I really admire you. And her whole like, because it starts with her, there are all these men hitting on her. And she's like, fuck off.

Leave me alone. Every day with these men, yada, yada, yada. And then this nice hotel employee of hers comes up and is like, I admire you. And her whole face like blows open with like lust. and desire, which is similar, you know, like Armand in season one, not just similarities and then both being potentially queer, but also Armand, like, fucks up a lot of things in pursuit of lust. Yeah.

And so I'm just wondering if this, like, she's got this tightly rained in thing, and then you finally see her see something that she wants, it feels like to me in this Isabella character who's like, who just comes up and very professionally is like, I admire you. And she's just like, all she hears is like, you, you want me? Is that what you want? Like, that was sort of my read on that exchange, you know? I thought it was really interesting. Interesting.

Yeah, you're right. Any interaction she's had with a man on this show has not gone great. It seems like, you know, it's not much different than Armand in season one, that that job dealing with the people you deal with every week just makes you hate human pigs after a while. I don't know if like season three, season four, it'll be interesting if just that, That's just who the hotel, the hotel manager, actor, actress will change, but it would be the same thing. Like that, that frozen, thin smile. Yeah.

Deep down, you know, they just hate everybody. I mean, if you've worked in the service industry, it's like, it's tough to like people at the end of the workday. Yeah, I identified with it. All right. So then we have, oh, the only other thing I guess I have, we didn't talk about it was Cameron, AKA Happy Guy. And Ethan, just their relationship, which I thought. was pretty interesting because, you know, having definitely gone through it where you have these different friends that you meet at different stages of your life, depending, you know,

and some people have more success, less success, whatever. And then how people react to that where people like, you're good friends with or maybe not great friends with. But then it's like, why is this person want whatever? Like, that's interesting. They want to go to lunch. I wonder why. And, you know, and I think Ethan's starting to feel that for.

the first time. Like, oh, this guy that I was friends with, but I didn't really talk to that much. And I hope he just wants to be friends with me, but you can see, like, oh, my wife was right. I mean, I've not, I've not experienced Ethan's, like, transformative amount of wealth change and circumstance, life circumstance. But, like, things can happen where all of a sudden, yeah, people who you haven't heard from in a long time want to talk to you. And then you find out that they want something from you. And that is definitely like something that changes the way that you, you kind of have to start putting your guard up when that happens in your life, you know, if that's something that

happens to you. And like, I'm fascinated. Again, I, I, Mike Wade is someone who's gone through a like, a transformative wealth change in his life. And I think he's interested in, and Ethan is sort of his vessel for that of like, can you stay who you are once you be because like if you're obscenely wealthy like how can you not change like we see this all the time with like celebrities and stuff like that like when the world suddenly revolves around you when you can have anything you want when like everything is you know at your

fingertips and no one is telling you know how does it not fundamentally change who you are and that's the that's the conversation that Harper and Daphne have where Daphne's like it you know is Ethan changed. with all this wealth. And Harper's like, no, weirdly, he's exactly the same guy he ever was. And I feel like in this episode we're starting to see some cracks. Like I thought it was really interesting when Cameron's like, everyone cheats. And Nathan's like, really?

They do? You know, sort of not like. Right. No, that's not for me. But he's just sort of like, oh, well, if that's the world order in this echelon of wealth, everyone just cheats. Fidelity is for the middle class. Like, is that who I am now?

Pretty soon it'd be wearing the eyes wide shut tape. Yeah, Fidelio time. Yeah, exactly. What do we think Ethan's company was? Did he say it? Oh my God, if he said it. Is it like a software company? Like I don't even...

It feels like it has to be some kind of Silicon Valley tech situation. Like tech software created. I loved that inner, like Cameron is, who you call happy guy, is a personality type I like absolutely hate. But that conversation that he has right before the jet skis where he's, where he lays his cars on the table and basically says, like, invest your money with me. But like the way he runs that conversation where he puts Ethan on the back foot, he's like, how could you not tell me? Ethan's like, that would be a legal question mark. But he was like, oh, that's okay, man.

You'll make it up to me by just investing, you know, in my firm. I make people money sort of thing. I was like. Yeah, it's like overconfidence crossed with ego, crossed with just full of shitness. But that actually works in the real world. Like you actually, I love that scene because you can see why that guy is successful. He puts people on the defensive and he's just like basically makes you think, why the fuck wouldn't I invest with that with this guy?

He's got so much confidence. He's so cool. I just want to be in his orbit. It's like when we hear all the time, you know, you know when you like see, I don't know, my best example is like a screenwriter, a screenwriter who constantly gets another chance and another chance and another chance on everything they make is bad. And you start asking people in the industry, you're like, how does this person keep getting more and more chances?

And they're like, oh, he's just extremely good in the room. And that just means you can walk into the room and convince the people with the money. The people with the money are always like nervous because they don't want to like lose their money. And so someone comes in with all the confidence in the world is like, your money is so safe with me. Here's my vision. And you just sort of like dazzle a room full of people.

that like good in a room confidence can get you so far despite like if you look down on paper and look at their track record you're like this this person has written 10 terrible movies why do they keep giving him movies and it's that like insecurity around money and just sort of like yeah the power of of faking until you fucking make it I guess you mentioned the jet skis that was another great visual scene what did that mean to you going at each other I don't I think it's Mike White fucking around and he's he loves this underwater and in the water camera stuff but he was trying to say something with the two guys going at it and it felt like a game of chicken for a split second where that became like just a dick swinging moment right and it's like who's gonna break and that

you know camera it's just gonna keep going straight I think was the point it was hard to say who veered off though I did that was the thing is like I was expecting that to be like a game of chicken and it will teach us something about the character of these guys but then the camera didn't show us really like who veered and how they felt about it. It just kept like the wide drone shot of them. Like, again, I don't want to be like too cynical, but like there's a small part of me that's like, did Mike White just want to have a jet ski day?

Like he's like, let's all get on jet skis. Yeah, maybe. That's the thing. I think this was some of that, at least this episode was just about let's fucking go in Italy. Let's go. We'll be on jet skis. We're going to be in these really cool parts of Sicily.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that Nodo place. And we're going to go. All right, predictions for episode four because this is pretty action-packed and it feels like we're going to,

now we have to kind of transition into the second half of the show. We only have seven episodes. Yeah. So it feels like we're probably going to move from first half, everything that's been laid out. We have the hookers now with... Cameron.

Two of the three plots, by the way. As you said, they're with the three generations. They're already over there with those guys, but now they're with these guys. Plus, they're kind of with the, in the hotel bar too. Yeah, the lounge singer guy. Somebody have connective tissue with everybody but Tanya.

Yeah. Oh, and then the only other thing we didn't mention is it feels like a portion and Albi, that's whatever that pool guy was. Oh, yeah, guy in the pool. She was so much more thrilled by a guy in the pool than Albi. So I don't know where her journey goes.

You said it when we did one of the, one of the first two episodes about where she was on the phone and she's like, I just want to get railed by some Italian guy. So I feel like maybe that's where we're going with her. I think I miss read the Albi thing a little bit because I do think that Mike White is saying, like, I kind of thought like, oh, there's no such thing as too respectful. And in the context of this one young woman's fantasy of Italy, there is. She wants to be, like, again, to go back to, I don't know, Room of the View,

which is a movie that I love. It's like Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day-Lewis and Julian Sands. And Daniel Day-Lewis is this like buttoned up, uptight, prissy, her prissy fiancé. And then Julian Sands is just this like hot bohemian guy who grabs her in a field and kisses her. And it's all about Helena Bonham Carter being like, which do I want? Like obviously she wants the guy who grabs her to field and kisses her. And I think that that's like, like, pool guy is the like guy in a field who grabs you and kisses you in the context of this story. Like that's what Portia wants.

That's her Italian fantasy. I think she's been really, really good. Who do you think, like, who would be your Emmy favorite for this show so far? From what we've seen, three episodes. So far from what I think Aubrey Plaza, honestly. I think she's. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah.

Theo James, maybe for like, who plays Cameron, maybe for like a supporting. Oh, by the way, we taped that, we taped those first two episodes before the show aired. And of course, the first episode goes up and he's trending on Twitter after. Cameron? Like that whole night, Theo James is trending on Twitter because of the bathing suits. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That became like a 12-hour dialogue.

Yeah, because he gave a conversation about like how it was originally longer and all this sort of stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. And it was more explicit and all this stuff. I thought that was funny. Yeah, I would say Aubrey Plaza. I think Haley Lou Richardson might be lingering a little bit too. We'll see if Aubrey can land the plane in this next couple episodes.

Yeah, and so like predictions for the future, I mean, I mean, I think you're exactly right that, like, Harper, who is a lawyer is, like, coming back to, you know, to see why her husband didn't pick up the phone. I think that's definitely. So we have that. You said that Tom Holland, you're convinced he's going to be involved somehow. I mean, they laid the seeds with that. Yeah. So what is that going to happen?

Like, what is that plus Tanya? We have the Laura Dern possibilities. Laura Dern. Just never know. Can't be ruled out. Just seen her the suitcase. I don't know what happens with Tanya and I'm not positive I care

but maybe Tom Hollander is a part of that and then I'm guessing Haley Lou it's probably going to move away from Alby so I don't know what happens to Alby so maybe maybe somebody else joins the hotel that he can go after

or else his storyline is just going to die. Yeah it's definitely pool guys time to shine in the narrative here. That's that's yeah. The grandfather dropping dead during the vacation can't be ruled out. Cannot. In any episode.

And then Valentina, who knows? Maybe she's having a little awakening as well. I think she's about to come unglued, honestly, like in the model of Armand. Because, like, again, like, she has such a, she has such a wound so tight existence. And now we've seen something she wants. And, like, those kinds of personalities. But we know she lives. Oh, yes, we do know she lives.

Yeah, the Death Watch. We know she lives. and we know Daphne lives. Other than that, and I went back and I watched him getting in the first episode to see if Daphne

went to Theo James. And it's hard to tell who the guy is that she's like, there's a dead body in the water and there's a guy that she's with, but it was, they kind of hide it.

You can't see who it is. Can't tell if it's Cameron. Okay. So it could be Cameron. But we'll know. I'm sure we'll get more clues as the next couple episodes go. But yeah, we know,

you know, my, I would guess, It's Lucia and her friend if I had to pick just because... I hope Lucia and Mia live and thrive. I don't want that for them. But the morality, like we talked to this before, but the morality of season one is like it's not like the good guys,

you know, triumph in season one. That's not the morality of this universe. So we'll see. Yeah. All right. Joanna Robinson. Bill Simmons. If you missed it,

Joanna Mallory broke down all of the Crown episodes that happened on Netflix that were dropped. Season 5, mixed reviews, mostly like the show, but I think in general, I don't think this was like an A plus season. You got to watch it for, yeah, you got to watch it for Debicki, though. Like, if you are interested in Princess Diana at all, you have to watch what Elizabeth Debicki is doing here.

Because it's like a lot of actresses have played Princess Diana recently, but I think Debicki is the best out of all of them. Oh, wow. Okay. All right, there you go. This was produced by Chris Sout. Thank you, Chris. And we will see you on Sunday night after episode four.

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