We Love to Hate the Characters on ‘The White Lotus,’ but With Their Money, We’d Probably Be More Like Them Than We Care to Admit

Spoilers ahead for The White Lotus season finale.

And the victim in the finale of The White Lotus turned out to be…Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge). Cause of death: helplessness. Accomplice: unearned wealth, the kind that never forces you to actually grow up and become self-sufficient. 

In the moments leading up to the series’ final turns, Twitter was rife with “dear Lord, don’t let it be Tanya” pleas, proof that in spite of her spoiled-child-heiress vibes, she was still the most beloved character on the show. Making matters worse, the woman we’ve seen barely take care of herself for two seasons was able to somehow unload a round of shots into the gay cabal plotting her murder on a yacht, only to be unable to successfully get herself into an escape boat, thereby falling to her death. That tracks. We may have sort of hated Tanya, but we also didn’t want her to be murdered for her money by a fraudulent husband. That must mean we feel something like sympathy for her and the others on this fantasy island. Or at least pity.

For the entirety of The White Lotus’s wealthy fever dream, I’ve marveled at creator Mike White’s ability to both satirize and humanize his subjects. You’re supposed to hate these odious, frivolous people—and we do. Their money makes them insensitive jerks, oblivious to others’ feelings or pain, and martyrs about their own suffering. We’re better than them! We’d be nicer and appreciate our wealth more! They can barely survive without a bevy of assistants and staff at all times! We could get ourselves into a getaway dinghy without a critical head injury if we had to! And yet, because we’ve seen their misery, pain, and inability to experience deep connection, we have to ask the question: Does money do that to everyone? Would it do that to us?

Hate-watching is nothing new, but there’s evidence in the show’s rabid fandom to suggest there’s more loving than hating going on. Cameron (Theo James) is a grade-A douche who wears his sleazy lust on his $200 Paul Smith bird-print short-sleeve, yet he’s been stanned since his first cocky trou-drop early in the series. Wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy) is the living embodiment of the insular oblivion money affords. By simply tuning out whatever is unpleasant in the world, fans have fallen in love with her smooth-brain-level achievement, for “finding her bliss,” and being among the few characters who “know what this world is and make the most of it.” Dominic (Michael Imperioli) may be a hopeless poon-hound in spite of his desire to change, but his pleading performance here has earned him pitied Daddy status. 

In the finale, Dominic may have made inroads with his angry wife, but the airport scene shows he—and his familial trio—will always have a wandering eye. Normcore nice guy Albie (Adam DiMarco) gets played when he pays Lucia (Simona Tabasco) a large sum courtesy of his father (who does so as “karmic payment” for how he’s treated women), only to have her ditch him the next day. Yet he has been defended as far too hot for anyone to not want to fuck. His reconnection with Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) at the airport suggests they’ll both know better next time. After all, Portia’s only value was her connection to Tanya’s wealth, and now that Tanya is dead and Jack (Leo Woodall) revealed himself as deranged, she can finally go for the safer bet. Poor people don’t get to make such adventurous mistakes twice.