The White Lotus (Season 1)

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⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This show is classic HBO. It takes a premise I have no business caring about, and through sheer filmmaking brilliance has you on the edge of your seat. Essentially, you are just following a few rich people as they vacation at a Hawaiian resort. In the beginning, there is a flash-forward where you see a dead body, so there is a bit of mystery there, but otherwise you just follow people as they do mostly normal vacation things as the dead body doesn't really factor into the main plot.

Usually I say the only thing I want in a tv show is a good guy who wants something. This doesn't have that. Almost all the characters are bad, or at least incredibly annoying. There is a humor factor for sure, with great portrayals of like, the super liberal white girl or the douchey finance bro. But mostly it's just incredible acting to make you interested in weird people. Jennifer Coolidge was incredible (and got awards I think) and Murray Bartlett was my favorite.

And then there is the fantastic videography, painting beautiful Hawaiian vistas, combined with a very eerie, memberable score. Again, just classic HBO stuff, spending the money to get this right, and elevating the things that often get ignored.

What an era of TV. This is a near perfect show and probably would have been one of my all time favorites had I watched 5 years ago. Now? It's just another great among greats.

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