Day 98 - The White Lotus of it All in These Foolish Things

Hey, Mike White, have you been reading my diary?

I’m not going to post any spoilers for the three of you who haven’t watched Season 3 of The White Lotus yet.

I was fascinated by this season’s cast of characters - especially since one of the main storylines is about a trio of women vacationing together on a girls trip at a very exclusive resort in Thailand (where this season takes place). It was immediately eerily familiar to me during their introduction on Day 1 (episode 1). The women had known each other since childhood, and they were there to reunite and celebrate their lifelong friendship for a week of togetherness.

They all live in different places in the United States: East Coast, West Coast, and Texas (which is a whooooole other “coast” in the center of the country. See: “Gulf of America” and the fact that Texas kinda feels like a whole other country, separate - but not - from the rest of the US), and they all have their individual and very unique lives, yet they are bonded in this sisterhood of knowing each other for nearly their whole lives.

And I was like, ooooh! This reminds me so much of my college girls and the trips that we take nearly every year…this is going to be a great storyline to watch!

So, the characters are as follows, and I’m going to line them up with two of the girls from my group because the similarities are uncanny. Just note that there are a few additional players in my cast that round out my group and add to the complexity, but lets just start here:

Jaclyn: a beautiful and famous TV star from Los Angeles who is recently married and describes her marriage as “we are alllll over each other” yet cockblocks Laurie (see below) after egging her on to get with the hot guy on the hotel’s staff because Laurie is the only single woman on the trip. She is the instigator of some naughty behavior and is always looking for a way to cut loose and get totally and irresponsibly wild. SHE ends up sleeping with the same hot guy on the hotel’s staff that she was pushing onto Laurie! Can you guess who this character is in my group of girlfriends? If you guessed Anni, you would be 100% correct! In real life, Anni has a job that puts her into hobnobbing situations with celebrities in the entertainment industry. She is in a marriage that sounds perfect, yet we all know is not (nobody’s is…), AND she always wants to get fall-down drunk, push me onto guys and then cockblock me by crawling onto and slobbering all over the very same dudes she’s trying to set me up with!

Kate: lives in Austin, Texas, which has grown to be a giant tech hub as well as the home of many entrepreneurial giants and corporate bigwigs (Elon Musk, Michael Dell, et al). She is likely married to a successful tech company founder, is involved in many charitable organizations, and her megachurch. She is a fashionable dresser and always looks perfectly coiffed. She loooovvves gossip and being involved in her friend’s businesses, but is more about wanting to be around her friends rather than raging together in a bar situation - though she will participate to an extent just to be a part of it all. My friend Mart is this character in my friend group, though she is also part Victoria or even Piper to a small extent (grew up in a very wealthy business family and would not do well if the family suddenly lost everything). Mart is part of the higher society groups in the city where she lives, looks PERFECT at all times without even trying, and will go along with pretty much anything we want to do.

Laurie: is the one who’s had the “hard luck” in life. She devoted herself to her career for most of her adult life but stalled out when she hit the glass ceiling. She’s been unlucky in love and her daughter is struggling with some things. She’s made somewhat not-great choices in her life and seems to struggle more than the other women. She feels a little like the ugly duckling of the group in more ways than just looks. And the other two seem to feel a little sorry for her. She goes out by herself one night and meets up with the guys and “revenge fucks” the hot guy’s friend only to have that situation go south and she ends up having to run for her life in the dark in the streets of a foreign country! I felt like Laurie from the get-go. In comparison with my other girlfriends, I’ve probably had the hardest luck (at least on paper) with my career kinda stalling out and the bad, bad relationship luck (two broken engagements, and no marriage/kids) and then the health shit of recent years. And I have been the one that the other women push to get with the hot dudes on our girls trips, and yet end up getting cockblocked! And once I stand up to Anni in those situations, she goes all fucking MEAN GIRL on me!

Do you see what I’m saying?

So, by the time episode 5 rolls around, our friend group chat goes CRAZY with innuendos and GIFs and laughter and crying emojis from this season of White Lotus. Everyone wondering if we’re all watching the show, but nobody saying what we really want to say - except for…

WE ARE THOSE WOMEN!

And there’s so much more to say. I am holding my breath until Anni comes to town at the end of April. I’m working on what I’m going to say to her. I feel like the good news is that I can now reference White Lotus as an example of what’s going on within our group and between her and me.

And by the time we get to our own girls trip in June, I hope that we are able to have our Emmy Award-worthy scene.

I loved this show. Mike White is brilliant - even with some holes in the storylines and the questions left behind, I think that’s part of the excellence of the series. Because we can ALL relate to a lot of this show to an extent and there is so much to analyze, question, laugh about and cry about. I could watch it over and over.

Better go for now.

xox,
GS