The White Lotus wrapped up its second race with a thrilling finale – and as we know, not everyone survived.
Sunday’s finale opens with Ethan still haunted by visions of Harper getting into it with Cameron. An enamored Albie offers to take Lucia back to Los Angeles with him (!) as Dom wistfully scrolls through photos of him and his now fractured family. Tanya wakes up in Quentin’s palace and overhears him whispering suspiciously with his friends as she goes downstairs for breakfast. One of Quentin’s friends also praises her for making a new friend “so late in life”… so is her life about to end? She complains about Portia’s disappearance on her, but the girl is still locked in a hotel room with Jack and panics when she can’t find her phone, despite Jack’s assurances. She also couldn’t find it on Instagram. How can you trust a person like that?
Valentina wakes up next to Mia, who congratulates her on her performance the night before: “You’re fine.” A fed up Harper ends up telling Cameron over breakfast, “You’re an idiot.” (I’m guessing they don’t have a secret romance.) Albie, meanwhile, tells his dad he needs fifty grand – to buy Lucia’s freedom, we suppose? Dom refuses at first, but then Albie offers that in exchange, “I’ll help you with mom.” Now we negotiate! Valentina – sporting serious sex hair – agrees to take Rocco back to the reception, much to Isabella’s delight. Tanya goes back to that room and looks at the picture of Quentin and young Greg again… and Quentin catches up to her! He says the cowboy’s name is Steve, even though Tanya insists he looks like Greg, and he kicks her out the door before she can inquire further.
Ethan confronts Harper, insisting that she slept with Cameron to get back at him. She reminds him that she found a condom in the couch and he asked her to trust him, so why can’t he trust her? He keeps pushing, so she admits she made out with Cameron at the bar and went back to their room and he kissed her, but that’s all that happened. She calls him “something drunk and stupid”, but Ethan still thinks she’s lying. He angrily leaves, rushing to the beach to find Cameron swimming in the water. He charges up to him accusing him of trying to sleep with Harper, and they engage in a fierce wrestling match, taking turns holding them underwater until a guy breaks it, but Ethan gets a good punch before walking away. .
Portia still can’t find her phone and is confused when Jack tells her that Tanya is already on a boat back to the hotel, but Jack just tells her to have a drink and relax. On the boat back, Quentin and his friends tell Tanya how hard they have to work to maintain their old palaces, but they are interrupted when Portia calls him on Jack’s phone. Tanya tells Portia what she saw Jack do (“He was kinda f-king his uncle”), and Portia tells what Jack said about Quentin needing the money. Suddenly, Tanya associates her with Greg’s photo – and according to their prenup, if she dies, Greg gets it all. “We need to get the fk out of here,” Tanya decides, just as Jack pulls his phone out of Portia’s hands. She wants to go back to the hotel, but Jack assures her there’s no rush, and Quentin tells Tanya they’ll still be at sea for a few more hours. Why does this feel like a horror movie all of a sudden?
Daphne invites a frazzled Ethan to sit down and talk, and he tells her he thinks something happened between Cameron and Harper, but she’s not too worried about it: “You don’t you don’t need to know everything to love someone… A little mystery? It’s pretty sexy. She invites him to join her on that remote island off the beach, and the music becomes seductive as he follows her into the darkness. Tanya’s boat arrives, but Quentin tells her that they will spend the day on the boat, and then Niccolo will escort her ashore that night in a dinghy. While Mia offers to install Valentina with “a real lesbian” as a girlfriend, Giuseppe returns, and he does not appreciate that Mia took her place at the piano. Valentina informs him that Mia is taking over full time and he is fired. And he is not happy!
Portia confronts Jack with the truth – including what Tanya saw him do with Quentin. He sulks and offers to drive her straight out (“Just let me do my job”), then slams her when she keeps pushing. To make matters worse, Tanya drops her phone in the water! (Oh, Tanya.) She tries to confide in the captain of the boat (“These gays! They’re trying to murder me!”), but he doesn’t speak a word of English. Oh, and he’s gay too! Niccolo arrives in the dinghy, and back at the bar, Cameron subtly slips Lucia an envelope full of cash. He and Daphne sit next to Ethan and Harper as if nothing happened, and it’s very awkward, as Dom tells Albie he paid for Lucia. Albie has already vouched for him to his mother, but Bert brings the mood down when he says he got a little excited when Mia hugged him earlier. (Gross.) Cameron gives a “friendship” toast to Ethan and Harper, and they all reluctantly toast.
Albie tells Lucia that her father sent the money and she hugs him warmly – but she looks a bit conflicted. During dinner on the boat, Tanya keeps a close eye on Niccolo and the mysterious black bag he is carrying, and she stalls when it is time to join him on the canoe, asking for more wine. Back in their bedroom, Harper asks Ethan where they go from here, and he begins to kiss her passionately, accidentally breaking that creepy head sculpt as they head to bed for a steamy date. . Dom’s wife answers when he calls, so that’s progress. But on the way home, Jack stops and lights a cigarette, telling Portia that he took her to the airport instead. He warns her not to return to the hotel: “These people are powerful. You don’t want to f–k with them. He walks away, throwing his phone out the window as he drives off. And is that a volcano erupting in the distance?
Tanya grabs Niccolo’s bag and locks herself in a bedroom, finding a rope, duct tape and a gun (!) inside. As Niccolo bursts in, she kills him and comes out sobbing, firing wildly and leaving a trail of bodies in her wake. When a mortally wounded Quentin turns around, she can only ask him, “Is Greg having an affair?” One of Quentin’s friends escapes when Tanya finds she’s out of balls, and Tanya prepares to shimmy all the way to the canoe…only she slips and slams against the canoe before falling into the water. We see his lifeless body floating in the water to the sound of great opera music. That’s a lot of bodies to find for Daphne.
Lucia wakes up in the morning and leaves Albie’s room without a word. (Did she give him up for good?) Daphne bumps into Tanya’s corpse, and we’re all caught up in the flash-forward. At the airport, Di Grasso’s three men watch a beautiful young Italian woman as Cameron comforts a trembling Daphne with a kiss and Harper and Ethan bask in their newly rekindled passion. Portia meets Albie, who tells her that they found a bunch of dead bodies in the water and on a yacht. What happened with Jack, he asks? “He’s disturbed.” What happened with Lucia, she asks? “Oh, she played me.” They exchange numbers as, back in Sicily, sunny (and newly wealthy) Lucia and Mia walk arm in arm – and say hello to Alessio, who’s been employed at the hotel the entire time! Arrivederci!
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