"The White Lotus" Abductions (TV Episode 2022) Poster

(TV Series)

(2022)

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9/10
A rollercoaster ride of complexity
plutnhoj-260-1815935 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I dislike how Lucia's "abduction" was written in. It seems to demonize her sex work as a road that ends in abuse and control. There is unfortunately a lot of women involved in situations like this throughout the world- but she struck me as more of a sex entrepreneur instead of a victim of the trade throughout the season. This one feels thrown in and stereotypical- but it does add to the suspense, I guess. Valentina is my absolute favorite character this season. When she cancelled her birthday plans with Isabella... heartbreaking. But the scenes after with her and Mia are beautiful. I can only hope their journey is revealed further in the next episodes. Ethan is turning out to be much more complex than he gives off, and it's interesting to see how his insecurities and potential psychoses are being revealed. Is he being 'gaslit' by Harper or is she being genuine? Despite some of the turns that this episode took, it shows that everyone is dealing with their own struggles. Overall this season is a very well written story about the turbulence and fluidity (sexual and otherwise) of the human experience.
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9/10
Everything is wrapped up now!
aboalhyjaa8 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Watching this episode remembering how the last episode ended there was a few things didn't seem to add up but after seeing it i came up with a theory!

With Tanya i think that Greg was lying to her from the start. He targeted Tanya in season 1, pretending to be sick. He was in a relationship with "Bob" (who he called several times/aka Quentin) the entire time.

This is why he was getting fed up and annoyed with Tanya towards the end - he was getting worn out and wanted to be done with her. He wasn't leaving to go to Denver for work, he was going home to Quentin. I think he's there with Quentin and they'll get the prenup annulled due to an infidelity clause (infidelity that they set up together).

I Also don't think that Harper cheated. I think she's manipulating Ethan but unfortunately due to her manipulation her husband either will be a killer or dead!
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7/10
Motivations are becoming clear
Criticalstaff12 December 2022
The previous episode was a let down. A lot of random twist and unexplained developments. It looked like most of the story thread had to take an unexpected turn.

This episode is a bit better as it makes more sense and is more focused on characters motives rather than plot events. This episode we are (finally) starting to see people motivations more clearly and it feel somewhat refreshing.

The biggest reveal of course concerns the subplot of the gays and Tanya. Until now it looked somewhat uneasy and strange but there was no concrete element to say what was going on for sure. Now, it is clear that it's simply a giant con. Personally, I am a bit disappointed again that Tanya did not storm out of the room at the end, when she discovers it. She ends up in a number of situations where her behavior is not in line with her character. All this time, she was somewhat assertive and impulsive. Now that she is stuck in this surreal rabbit hole; most of that seems lost and forgotten, and she is now basically submissive and timid.

One thing that started to bother me, was the fact that the series was disconnected from its Sicilian environment. And the small acknowledgments felt more like lip-service than anything meaningful. Until now the show could have taken place almost anywhere. Yet, we finally got some immersion. The Di Grassos go to the countryside, have run-ins with the mob and a couple of typical Sicilian nonnas. Also the mob is mentioned! And the final party scene is very deliciously baroque and decadent. It feels Italian, it feels representative.

One aspect that was I liked very much was the whole Ethan-Harper-Cameron love triangle. First of all because it is a plot thread that is not as predictable as the others, and it is well executed. The role-reversal in the infidelity is very interesting, and justifies Harper's beaing a b-word earlier; it is clear that Ethan is very bad at communicating. The whole situation could have been diffused with a simple conversation between adults. Of course that would not make for an interesting show. But it is great to see him almost confronted with his own actions.

I feel that there was too many twists and turns in the previous episodes just for the sake of it. Characters behaving and doing things out of the blue. That somewhat turned me off this series. It feels like this episode attempts to justify many of those previous choices after the fact. Some of it lands, some of it fails, like Valetina's arc. It looks like everything is geared towards a very sinister conclusion; you kinda expect the worst a bit like in Black Mirror. Yet, I do not feel like all these stories are as sophisticated and meaningful as we are told they are.
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10/10
Aubrey Plaza delivers a master class
lala37976 December 2022
It might come off a bit disingenuous to suggest that, more than a decade into her career, this is Aubrey Plaza's breakout role, but it is the absolute truth. The acting that she achieves in this series in phenomenal, but this episode truly leaves you breathless. You can't take your eyes away from her whenever she is on screen. I feel in many ways Aubrey Plaza has been the industry's pariah, a shadowed caricature defined by her roles, not by her talent. If you take nothing else from this episode, I hope that you at least appreciate how absolutely masterful Aubrey is in evoking the most gut wrenching sincerity in her most nuanced performance to date. She may be a comedic genius, but drama is where she soars.
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10/10
Abductions
solojere5 December 2022
Just when you think this show can't get any better, it does. This might be the tense episode of the White Lotus, yet. And it was also heartbreaking in its own way. I wouldn't change a thing about this episode. The way they have built up the tension between Harper and her husband and her husband's friend is amazing. Aubrey Plaza was an amazing choice. She seriously deserves an award for her performance. And she is so hot it's not even funny. But it isn't just their story. Every storyline is on point, and all the characters are captives in a way in their own mind and in their own personal circumstances. At first, I didn't like the grandson with the sex work, but now I think it actually works really well. They have an interesting dynamic, and it is fun to see how that relationship affects the father and the grandfather. It's just so good I can't wait to see see what happens next, and I can't believe it is ending.
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10/10
Can i just say wow
dannytartar7 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Oh my god, where to begin with??! I just read in a insta comment that the picture of Quentin's lover cowboy is with Greg, Tanya's husband! I mean i realized it soon enough that Quentin and the gay gang was untrustworthy but what a twist. And this isnt even my favorite part.

I might be wrong but i feel like for Daphne and Cameron, the whole point of this holiday was break Harper and Ethan in half. Im not sure if they are that smart to do that, It feels like a good twist that they introduced us Daphne and Cameron these idiotic lovers who "don't follow the news" and doesn't care about any global problems while Ethan and Harper were the smart ones in the room. The first attempt was made by Cameron at that night where they took M's. It didn't work out because Ethan is really loyal to Harper. But Harper was broken into the pieces with everything going on, Daphne gaslighted her to do "what she needs to do" to get even with Ethan, even though he didn't do anything. Now in this episode, we saw Ethan going nuts and we also went nuts because Mike White knows what's he's doing by not showing us some other perspectives.

Even that is not the situation, I am truly disgusted and amazed at the same time by the toxicity of Daphne-Cameron relationship. Daphne you really have the best solutions for the affairs of your husband, and Cameron you are really discreet man keep going. You have children for god's sake why are you acting like high school teenagers. Being witness to this feels so good. Like its not a basic drama, it makes you think about each characters psychological view and calculate the outcomes of their actions.

I am in love with every actor and every person involved in this show, the first season was amazing but this one is top tier drama. Such a fun ride and I'm glad I haven't missed this show. Brava to Mike White truly👏🏻
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10/10
Things heat up in next to last episode
dylio15 December 2022
The big reveal in the previous episode was that Jack the young lad from Essex is almost certainly not the nephew of the wealthy Quentin. We begin with Tanya having breakfast with her assistant and she definitely wants to tell Portia what she saw. Harper' still has suspicions about her husband and the hookers but she turns the table by deciding to get drunk with Cameron. Now Ethan is overtaken with fits of jealousy. The Di Grasso boys finally make the trek to their ancestral village. This leads to a scene which reminds me that contrary to popular opinion, Italian is not the language of love. It is in fact the premiere language for screaming at another person. Tanya makes a new friend (as well as discovering a very interesting photo) while her annoying husband is happily for all still absent. The question is who will kill whom in the next and final episode. I cannot wait to find out.
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6/10
Weakest episode yet
timmyhollywood9 February 2023
For those who love to watch people eat, have sex, and talk about themselves, look no further! The White Lotus season 2 is your show. And the epitome of this slavishness is on fully display here in episode 6!

How long do people stay at a hotel that probably costs $1k a night, anyway? Answer: Many many many nights. The grandfather, father, son trio talk about their Italian heritage and visiting a place nearby to search for distant relatives every day, multiple times a day - they don't go until now. Before today, they just drank and ate and slept with sex workers!

Conversations have become repetitive. Ethan complains to Cameron that Aubrey Plaza thinks HE's the one who had sex with a prostitute, but he's already told Cam this, like twice. Does Aubrey Plaza think he did it? Yes, maybe, maybe not, definitely.

And wasn't Tanya's husband supposed to fly home for two days? That was like episode 2. It feels like a week and a half ago. Do they ever talk on the phone? No. It's like he was just written off the show.

The hotel manager subplot doesn't quite work- it feels forced and has gone nowhere.

People swim, and look forlorn, and eat. And they drink. The only change really comes from the Sopranos guy, who's stopped sleeping with hookers and looking at porn. Tanya's character kind of grows, and has a nice moment with Portia early in the episode, but then she's doing blow later with the same gay guy friend she saw having sex with his "nephew" the night before.

Lucia's pimp was introduced late, like episode 5, so we have some other possible murder in the offing. Now he takes her into his clutches. Uh-oh!

Whenever the show starts to drag, which is does a lot, eerie music plays and we see an image of a creepy statue or a stormy sky.

Ooooh the mystical secrets of Italy...

Driving the people mad with lust and jealousy!

No, the ghosties aren't driving this madness. It's because the people staying here at this ridiculously opulent resort are insulated and shallow.

I have to say, TWL season 2 started with some promise. Aubrey and Ethan commenting about the state of the world before the redhead and Cam poohpoohed such talk (and didn't understand much of it), that was cool, and felt true to life. But soon Aubrey and Ethan are acting just as bratty and spoiled and vapid as cam and his wife are.

It must be the island's spooky juju!

No, it's just what happens when you put people into a situation where they have nothing to do but eat and drink and screw and think about themselves. Welcome to hedonism. Even the nice kid who gets rejected by Portia just starts banging one of the sex workers. Oh, I know they "like each other," but come on. I stopped rooting for that kid the second he acted like Portia no longer mattered to him. He's now as shallow as everyone else.

Halfway through episode 6, I've tuned out. I'm sure the big reveal ending of who dies will be amazing. But unless the whole place gets suddenly hit with ballistic missiles and they ALL die (except the sex worker who sings - save her) it wouldn't satisfy me at this point.
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7/10
Beatrice Granno's episode
safenoe3 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
So here we are with Abductions, the penultimate episode of season two of The White Lotus, and I must admit the portrayal of Tanya and her descent into ennui is quite tiresome and boring, but what do I know because Jennifer Coolidge won an Emmy Award. Anyway, Beatrice Granno's rendition of You Belong to Me in the resort lounge was so beautiful and emotional, and she stole the scene and almost the whole episode, especially with her birthday entertainment for Valentina towards the end of the episode. Also Jack is getting tiresome and obnoxious and all init. Anyway, still no resolution on the dead bodies from episode one.
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3/10
Like watching a hostage video
lbowdls7 December 2022
Seriously what is wrong with all of you people liking this second series. I really feel I'm watching a hostage video- of course especially Aubrey Plaza always acts like she's in one in real life. Seriously it's like watching both impending doom and doom already occurring, and really not caring about any of them if the end in doom either. These people are so boring. Not just people with foibles or actual bad behavior which can also make them interesting and when watching anti heroes you still root for them. As in the first series with Murray Bartlet's brilliant character. Seriously I hope they all end up dead in the ocean. You're wondering who will divorce first or who will kill themselves first, except this time most of them deserve it. And the fact that there's a whole bunch of bodies in the sea brought up in the first episode, not a single murder which bring intrigue, makes it even more who cares it's just a serial killer. Or it is all the cast members just dying to get out of this insipid 'story'!

Thank god only one episode to go!
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1/10
Sex sells
dileerl9 December 2022
I used to love the show. Season one was much more tasteful and had more class. Season two is nothing but sex, more sex and more sex. Even my daughter in her 20s said this season is all sex. You really lose the storyline. There's so many good actors in that show. There are so many things that they could do to make it really funny. The story line gets really old fast. If people really want to see that much sex they need to go to a porn shop. The produces need to get their heads out of the gutters. I'm an no longer a fan. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Raunchy! Don't watch it. Waste of time.
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