The White Lotus season 2 episode 2 sees Tanya try to fulfil her Italian dream amid her husband constantly trying to ruin their vacation. Meanwhile, Harper tries to adapt to Ethan’s friends and Lucia gets herself and Mia access to the hotel.
Recap
The White Lotus season 2 episode 2 opens with Ethan going for a morning run while Harper heads off for a breakfast, again getting stuck with the couple she dreads most.
Upon returning to her room, she catches Ethan masturbating to porn before he haphazardly shuts the laptop and his undies. Harper offers to help him with his morning libido, but Ethan declines it, citing how she’s not a morning sex person.
Harper complains about Cameron and Daphne and how they say they never fight, for anything. Ethan tells her she feels threatened by them and Harper refuses that assessment.
Meanwhile, Bert, Dominic, and Albie head off for a tour of Sicily, and they get Portia to tag along. Before heading out, though, Dominic takes Lucia and Mia to the reception and gets them added to his room, telling Valentina that they’re his “local friends”.
During the tour, Bert keeps nagging at Dominic, telling him to sort his mess and marriage out.
Dominic says it’s beyond saving but Bert continues to insist, citing the most abhorrent examples from mythology as a comparison for Dominic’s mistake that led to his broken marriage.
Albie and Portia go for dinner and later share an awkward kiss followed by an awkward time.
Tanya has Greg complete her Italian dream of dressing like Monica Vitti, taking a Vespa ride, and feeling all chic while eating pasta at a restaurant.
She’s happy that she’s living her dream but she’s soon jolted out of it by Greg, who tells her that he needs to go for two-three days for some work.
He and Tanya have a spat and at the end of The White Lotus season 2 ‘Italian Dream’, Tanya wakes up to eavesdrop on Greg saying “I love you” to someone after he says seemingly something about Tanya being clueless.
Dominic tries to send Lucia back, telling her he’s got a real sex addiction problem but he can’t keep it in his pants for long when Lucia brings Mia for a threesome as well.
While they dive into the tub and turn up the heat, Harper and Ethan remain painfully devoid of any chemistry or sexual interaction, now even with Harper’s efforts at igniting some sort of a spark.
Review
- The White Lotus season 2 episode 2 ‘Italian Dream’ is much funnier than the season premiere and the characters come more into their own as they divulge their eccentricities and personal details.
- Daphne and Cameron surprisingly seem like normal humans for a moment even if the second most remarkable thing about the said moment is its brevity.
- Harper tries to get Ethan to get frisky and have fun with her but Ethan is (dis)content with unfinished sessions of rubbing off to porn.
- His aversion to Harper’s efforts might also be because of her very need to make said effort, now that she is visibly insecure and sure that they all hate her because she’s ruining it for everyone.
- Albie seems to be a mix of a sincere exception from his father and somewhat of a copy-paste, with his eagerness to plant that awkward kiss on Portia. But it might just be a cutesy attempt at a sexually repressed and awkward “nice guy.”