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Connie Britton: "The White Lotus"

 I woke up thinking about "The White Lotus," and about a few great speeches.


Jennifer Coolidge worries that her new boyfriend will reject her once he reaches "the innermost layer." She says, "There are the polite layers, and layers under layers, but at my base I'm just an alcoholic mess. That's the core of the onion. And why can't we just go there right away?" Later, on a date, Coolidge bursts into tears, thrusts her mother's ashes at her man, and shouts, "I'M CRAZY! GO!!! FLEE THE CORE OF THE ONION!" And her date has the most romantic line in the series: "You're not that crazy. I still want to fuck you."

I also loved Molly Shannon--series MVP?--taking on the idea of the trophy wife. "It's not so bad to be a trophy. Trophies shine. They glow. They give the owner joy and pride...."

Steve Zahn: "Is it wrong to assault you, and steal your land, and make you dance a little dance at dinnertime? Sure. But that's America. People don't cede privilege. People fight to hold onto whatever it is they've got...."

Critics love "The Good Fight" because it takes on present-day politics (neo-Nazis, Trump, NDAs) when other prestige dramas ("Breaking Bad," "Friday Night Lights") shy away from actual current events. "The White Lotus" takes its baton from "The Good Fight." Without feeling like a sermon, the script addresses trauma, systemic racism, MeToo, climate change. Characters are half-aware of the problems in the world, but they tend to shrug or to opt for obvious hypocrisy, as is the case on this actual planet.

(Somehow, I'm led to think about Robbie Kaplan, and her dalliance with Andrew Cuomo.)

I can't wait for the final hour.
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