itt we talk about Enlightened on HBO, seasons 1-1000000

in addition to everything else that's great about the show, Cristobal Tapia de Veer is just doing exceptional work for the soundtrack

agreed. probably overdue for a devoted thread imo.

wait, for the show or for the composer?

bc neither would make much sense as its own thread tbh imo

The former

ehh I don't see any point in making a thread for a show that's done in three weeks but if you want to make one, knock yrself out

i am starting to think maybe i dont like this show as much as i thought i did but cant pinpoint why

it's a little mean and occasionally gross and it was a lot moreso this episode, though i am still trying to give it good faith interpretation until we get a bit further down the path. Coolidge is clearly a tragic character whose pain is being played for occasionally cheap laughs but her general presumption of power makes it unclear whether using her as an exemplar of rich white lady is punching up or not.

britton's character is pretty underwritten thus far and her daughter is a weird question mark. but i am compelled!

I experience the characters on this show as real people much much more than in most other shows I watch, not sure how much of this is down to good acting and how much to writing (and I except the characters played for laffs like coolidge's and to some extent the hotel manager)

Murray Bartlett is really fantastic, was not familiar with him

I feel like somebody told him "Basil Fawlty but sympathetic, go"

the dialogue is really bothering me sometimes, characters just churn out huge chunks of exposition for reason

the whole exchange with britton & the daughter about zahn’s dad while he’s sitting there was like weird cliffs notes or something, like “for the viewers at home who arent following along THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH STEVE ZAHN”

but i also love the hotel manager & the masseuse & literally every shot of the ocean so i am still going to keep watching

but also i think the Britton Zahn family isnt believable as a family because theyre so quippy & blank with each other

so maybe its just a me thing with them specifically

xpost to ums Murray was in Looking! he’s great, that was a v good show imo

the whole exchange with britton & the daughter about zahn’s dad while he’s sitting there was like weird cliffs notes or something, like “for the viewers at home who arent following along THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH STEVE ZAHN”

See I totally bought this, the mom disclosing that information clearly not having discussed with the dad whether he wanted it disclosed, the daughter experimenting with how it feels being pretty mean to her dad but in a "come on just having fun" kind of way, set up as a companion piece to her interaction with the hedge-fund husband splashing her at the pool, which interaction said husband later explains to peeved wife as "just giving them shit"

Looking is secretly one of the great tv shows

otm!

I wonder if one reason I experience the characters as real people is that (again excepting Coolidge) I don't think I've seen any of these actors in anything before

i've seen basically every actor in this show in a different hbo show lol

Looking was a great show, I forgot that he was in that. Great actor.

I love this show, partly because the last time we went to maui we stayed next door to this resort (this is the Four Seasons); we did eat over there a few times and walked through it enough for it all to be familiar.

I agree that Britton is underwritten so far but figure it might focus on her a bit more in the second half. It is hard too say what the overriding 'story' of the show is, but I kind of don't care because I enjoy the writing so much and Mike White really does write great characters.

it always takes me a moment to register when connie britton is meant to be playing an unsympathetic character because i know and love her from her role as saint on earth tami taylor in friday night lights

yeah I'm kind of willing to give her character all kinds of credit because I am in love with her

I wouldn't describe her character in this show as wholly unsympathetic

nb, i haven't seen episode 3 yet

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/mike-white-on-money-status-and-appearing-on-survivor

yet to arrive as a cast member: molly shannon

:D

Oh yeah, my wife clocked her voice on the phone, loving her late career Renaissance.

that nyer interview was great

ep3 was really good & hilarious imo

Agree the interview was really good. Fascinating that the college girls are in some ways the characters he identifies with (which makes sense, since he is, in some ways, the hardest on them.)

"we have a stylist pick them out" was a great line

The sound in this show is really intense

this made me lol

MELFI: and this tv program makes you anxious

TONY: jennifer cooler's crying, this one's fuckin mother in law showed up, and then you got the music

MELFI: what about the music

TONY: THEYRE JUST SITTING ON THE FUCKIN BEACH, WHY'S THE MUSIC SCARY?

— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) August 9, 2021

Really no more discussion? Loved this show

Yeah, it didn't hit the heights of Enlightened but I enjoyed it very much.

Has been renewed for a second season, btw. Apparently as a season-long anthology of sorts, as the second season will take place at another White Lotus property with an all-new cast. It's more Mike White so I'll take it.

Loved Uncle Rico as Tanya's terminally ill boyfriend.

still remember him best from Real Genius.

was great, but Rachel's change of heart seemed pretty out of the blue, I felt like it needed an additional scene in there. also a bit surprised they let Shane leave so quickly.

Good interview with Mike White:
https://www.vulture.com/article/the-white-lotus-finale-mike-white-interview-departures-ending.html

This was really good. Not as good as Enlightened but what is? I like the way no one in it was let off the hook.

was great, but Rachel's change of heart seemed pretty out of the blue,

From the White interview:

Some people read it as cynical; to me, the thing that I feel about Shane is that even though he is a privileged asshole, he does really love her. Even if it’s just an idea of her.

This is how I feel about it too -- remember, Rachel dated this guy for months and married him -- it's the "this guy's an asshole and I can't spend my life with him" that was an out-of-the-blue change of heart! I think the genius of Lacy's portrayal is that he makes Shane a huge asshole and SIMULTANEOUSLY a person you might actually fall in love with and want to make a life with.

That's kind of the strength of White's work all over. His characters are often deeeeeply flawed but drawn with enough nuance that they maintain their humanity/relatability. Shane is an enormous asshole but he's not just like a straight-up villain. Like no one is really blameless or wholly to blame for the circumstances they find themselves in.

I feel like somebody told him "Basil Fawlty but sympathetic, go"

ha ha vg

had never seen Bartlett in anything before, skimming his resume I guessed this might be the first time he's used his own accent in two decades?

Coolidge kinda took the Amy Jellicoe role this time around where she initially seemed like a comic relief caricature but got some more nuanced and sympathetic development. And then she got to end on a pretty assholish note of her own (which I called from the moment poor Belinda perked up at the idea of getting her own business).

Bartlett was great. I've never seen him in anything before, either. I hope his career gets a deserved boost from this.

Quick thoughts...

-I didn't read Rachel as having a change of heart, I thought it was her being too confused/unsure/scared to go through with it especially after Belinda walked out the door on her, where one might then think "wow I must have sounded totally insane?".
-I agree Shane wasn't a "straight-up villain" UNTIL they had his character start brazenly hitting on the girls that he hadn't previously talked to before, right in front of Rachel. That seemed like a cheap "let's make sure the audience knows this guy is a piece of shit" move. My wife brought up that it could potentially be him acting out due to their conversation that morning, but it still felt a bit out of nowhere vs. his other spoiled acting out up to that point and after.

yeah I think in if Rachel had been able to talk to someone sympathetic or someone close to her who knew her, she probably would have left

but with Belinda already (understandably) having had a gutfull of white ppl problems, her dismissal made Rachel question herself

also aside from Shane she’s alone in this place, isolated with no friends or anyone to talk to - that will for sure undermine your confidence when you are in need of valudation & in a fragile frame of mind. left to your own devices, one could very easily talk themselves into a change of heart.

and besides, in a very doomed way she’s the kind of character for whom both things can be true: she’s unhappy in her marriage & she loves him

yeah I think in if Rachel had been able to talk to someone sympathetic or someone close to her who knew her

I think there's a hint in that phone conversation with her mom that her mom is not actually as different from Shane's mom as she (and no doubt also Shane's mom) would like to think