Graphic by Sarah Hoffer
“The White Lotus,” HBO’s hit series by creator Mike White, follows a new murder each season at one of the internationally luxurious White Lotus resorts. The show focuses on the dynamics between the wealthy guests, the staff and the locals, while showcasing class differences and creating tensions that strengthen the barriers between the three groups.
A popular theory by critics and fans alike is how the series follows the seven deadly sins, each season taking on a different sin as its main focus point — season one is greed, season two is lust. White has confirmed that one and two follow greed and lust; however, he has not elaborated on if it is the seven deadly sins or just simply coincidence.
It has left many to speculate what sin season three may revolve around. Psychoanalyzing each character’s behavior and the common tropes the show tends to follow, like the cause of death being accidental or giving us the answer early on only for it to click at the end of the season.
First, in season one — greed — the audience is introduced to Shane Patton, played by Jake Lacy. His greed centers around his desire to be given access to luxuries which are unavailable, like a master suite, leading him to even the point of blackmail to obtain it. Mark Mossbacher, played by Steve Zahn, begins questioning his masculinity with the fact that his wife is the breadwinner of their family, seeking more respect from his friends, family, society or even his subconscious.
Some of the few examples of greed in the first season give us a sense of what the wealthy guests struggle with internally. A common theme among them is self-destruction in order to deal with these issues. This comes at the expense of manager Armond’s sanity and Kai, a local played by Kekoa Kekumano, who is pushed to commit a crime by one of the guests and is jailed for it.
Season two is lust. Cameron Sullivan, played by Theo James, is a successful investments manager who has had many affairs off-screen. At least three affairs occur on-screen behind his wife’s back. One of them being with Harper Spiller, played by Aubrey Plaza, an affair that is left up in the air; the mystery of it leading Daphne Sullivan, played by Meghann Fahy and Ethan Spiller, played by Will Sharpe, to have one of their own.
There are many interesting factors that go into the affairs of season two. First, Cameron and Harper’s affair only, supposedly, happens because Harper believes Ethan cheated, which did not happen. Ethan and Daphne only sleep together under the assumption the previous affair did happen, which they are unsure of. Ultimately their fears consume them, leading lust to be all-consuming.
In the same season, Dominic Di Grasso, portrayed by Michael Imperioli, embarks on the trip to Italy with his son and father. We learn that he and his son’s mother do not communicate anymore due to Dominic’s own lustful endeavors.
The season showcases how lust, acting as a temporary desire, fractures dynamics when cravings overtake other raw and more permanent emotions. If the first season is the desire for a sense of respect and wealth and season two is the desire for sexual satisfaction that only leads to bad will, it begs these two questions: Which sin will deconstruct the guests of White Lotus season three? Does the show follow the sins of the human flaw as a whole?
Despite that, it doesn’t stop the seven deadly sins from being a part of the human experience, and therefore the show. We can expect the ongoing themes to continue like the wealth that one must have to be a guest at The White Lotus and the kind of person that makes them. The staff becomes cracked with time going through a constant cycle, and the locals are twisted in the stories of the wealthy guests, being tricked or being the trickster.
Spoiler alert for the first three episodes of season three.
I predict the sin will be pride for the third installment in the series. Each new group of guests has a prideful nature. In the Ratliff family from North Carolina, most of the family consider themselves better than others and have a classist view of the world.
Similarly, Jaclyn Lemon and her group of friends have fragile pride regarding their beauty and how their status is seen by their friends.
Rick Hatchett embarks on a journey to get vengeance for a father that he was robbed of, and believes his life of torment came as a direct result of his father’s murder. His pride is seen to be in what he believes he deserves for enduring great deals of tragedy, while his girlfriend Chelsea fights to be the driving force in healing Rick’s tragedy.
Then there is Gaitok, one of the security guards whose lack of pride is a driving factor to obtain a higher position to impress Mook and gain the respect of the staff. Belinda Lindsey seems to be the outlier in the characters, almost as a stand-in for the audience and their perception of what goes down at the White Lotus.
Whether it is a lack of or an overwhelming amount of pride, the prominent cast each struggles with this sin, each on their own journey regarding their individual pride. It begs the question: Whose prideful journey will get the better of them and lead to their demise?