‘The White Lotus: Sicily’ Season 2 Episode 1 Recap — Who Might Have Died?
Mike White does it again in episode 1 of The White Lotus: Sicily Season 2 on HBO. He immediately draws viewers in with a death and keeps everyone coming back for the dark comedy and social intricacies. The opening credits tease each character, like in season 1, and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer returns with a titillating soundtrack.
Who died in ‘The White Lotus: Sicily’ Season 2?
Like season 1, White opens The White Lotus: Sicily Season 2 with a shocking death. However, he takes it further — multiple hotel guests are dead. Meghann Fahy’s character Daphne Sullivan is the only guest we know who is not dead. She’s happy and bubbly as she tells the new resort guests what a great trip they are about to embark on. Then Daphne takes one last dip into the Ionian Sea off the coast of Taormina, Sicily, before her flight home. However, as the stay-at-home mom swims, something brushes against her. Daphne sees a dead body floating next to her.
After Daphne runs out of the water, the resort manager, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), finds out that a guest drowned in the sea. But it’s not only one person this time.
“Salvatore says other bodies have been found,” Rocco tells Valentina.
He doesn’t know how many guests died but at least “a few.” Daphne wasn’t with her husband, Cameron (Theo James), so if he is one of the dead guests, she doesn’t know yet.
‘The White Lotus: Sicily’ Season 2 Episode 1: Valentina fills Armond’s shoes
The new resort manager, Valentina, can’t take the place of Armond (Murray Bartlett) from season 1, but she tries. Her backhanded comments confuse the guests, but they garnish laughs from viewers.
“You should have flown through Munich,” she tells Cameron, who lost his luggage. “If your bag will ever arrive, we’ll let you know right away — if you believe in miracles.”
Two Sicilian locals, Mia (Beatrice Grannò) and Lucia (Simona Tabasco), scope out the new arrivals and judge all of them. We find that Mia is a singer looking for her big break, while Lucia looks for work and opportunity among the wealthy resort guests.
The two married couples feel each other out — Is cheating on the horizon?
Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Ethan Spiller (Will Sharpe) might be the opposite of Cameron and Daphne in The White Lotus: Sicily Season 2. But, the combination of alcohol and the open sexual culture of Sicily might bring the couples together in ways they never imagined. Harper predicts that Cameron will propose a money-making scheme to Ethan since her husband is newly wealthy. But Ethan asks his wife to try to get along with the Sullivans. By the end of the episode, she agrees that they are nothing like them but will try to have fun. The passageway connecting the two rooms will come into play later in the season for these two married couples. Cameron already feels comfortable changing his shorts in front of Harper.
“Husbands murdering their wives happens on vacation,” Daphne comments about the type of shows she likes to watch.
Did she foreshadow who dies in The White Lotus: Sicily Season 2? Or maybe it’s the opposite? Do the women murder their husbands? Does Daphne catch Cameron cheating and pull a knife on him? Or maybe Daphne killed all three of her co-travelers and played the innocent bystander.
Tanya and Greg have an awkward marriage in ‘The White Lotus: Sicily’ Season 2 Episode 1
Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries reprise their roles from The White Lotus Season 1 as Tanya and Greg. However, the honeymoon period is over. Greg insists that Tanya send her assistant, Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), home. Instead, Tanya tells her to lay low and never leave her room.
Later, Tanya tries to act sexy and heads over to Greg, but she awkwardly puts his foot on her boob. Then she looks like she’s in pain while having sex and pushes him off because she’s disassociating. He doesn’t get to finish and then criticizes her for eating all the macarons. Greg’s busy with a work call when Tanya finds the two lost macarons.
Greg’s controlling and demeaning comments are enough already, and it’s only episode 1. Does Tanya snap and kill him? We’re not ruling it out.
Dominic, Elbie, and Bert are all looking for women
It’s no surprise that the three men traveling together all look for women in The White Lotus: Sicily episode 1. The show tackles stereotypes and the dark complexities within each traveler in each new installment. Dominic (Michael Imperioli) is a Hollywood producer visiting Sicily with his father, Bert (F. Murray Abraham), and son, Albie (Adam DiMarco). They’re planning to find the city where their ancestors are from.
However, it’s not as sweet as it looks. In a conversation with Dominic’s wife, viewers discover Dom is heading for a divorce if the papers aren’t filed already. Meanwhile, Bert insists on flirting with every woman he meets while farting. Like in The White Lotus Season 1, Elbie seems like the only rational one. His character resembles Quinn Mossbacher (Fred Hechinger) on the surface.
However, Elbie and his father and grandfather each have their own room, unlike the Mossbachers, who all stayed in one room.
By the pool, Elbie meets Tanya’s assistant, Portia, who complains that she can’t stand Tanya, who has half a million dollars and is still miserable. Elbie asks if she’s OK, and they get to know each other a little. It’s evident that these two end up finding solace in each other.
Later, the three men talk about erections and masturbation at dinner.
Then, Dom has Luci over while Mia chats with the piano player. But when the musician asks how much Mia costs, she throws a drink in his face. Meanwhile, things begin awkwardly for Dom and Luci. He has too much going on in his life to make conversation, so they get right to things.
Nearly everyone is a suspect in The White Lotus: Sicily Season 2 Episode 1 — we’ll have to keep watching to find out more about who died.
The White Lotus: Sicily Season 2 Episode 2 drops on HBO on Nov. 6, 2022.
