Warning: This post contains spoilers for “The White Lotus.”
After seven weeks of intense speculation, close readings of all the art within the hotel and prying together references to Italian culture, "The White Lotus" has finally revealed which characters end up in body bags at the end of the week in Sicily.
Although many fans thought all the signs pointing to Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) were red herrings, the iconic character has stayed at her last White Lotus resort — but she didn't go down without a fight.
Episode Seven, the Season Two finale, begins the morning after a wild night for Tanya partying at a palazzo in Palermo. Quentin (Tom Hollander), the owner of the villa, informs Tanya they have to head back to Taormina aboard his yacht, so she can make her flight back to the U.S.
Before Tanya and the group of "gays" leave, she returns to a bedroom in the palazzo to take another look at a photograph she saw the night before, which appears to show Quentin and her husband, Greg (Jon Gries), together, many years ago.
Quentin denies the photo is of Greg, and they head out on the yacht. Meanwhile, Tanya's assistant, Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), cannot find her phone in her hotel room, despite plugging it in to charge the night before. She questions Jack (Leo Woodall), who was sleeping in bed with her the whole night, and he suggests she lost it.
She manages to take Jack's phone and calls her boss, and the two begin putting the pieces together: Jack and Quentin are not related (Tanya caught them hooking up in the middle of the night) and Quentin and Greg could be poised to reap millions from her fortune if she dies, due to their prenup agreement.
Tanya begins to fear for her life, and the anxiety increases as the vessel slowly makes its way back to Taormina. Niccolo, the Italian local who she had met at the palazzo party, shows up on the yacht to bring her back to the shore on a small boat, carrying the same black bag from the night before where he stored his drugs — and a gun.
As day turns to night, Tanya’s anxiety reaches an all-time high. She asks for more wine to delay the end of dinner, before she runs to the bathroom and grabs Niccolo’s bag. She locks herself inside of a bedroom on the yacht, and grabs the gun out of the bag in tears.
Quentin begins knocking on the door, and eventually breaks it down. Tanya shoots, and doesn't stop firing the trigger until Quentin and several of his associates are dead.
If the shootout wasn't shocking enough, Tanya then tries to jump overboard into a smaller dinghy to make it back to shore. She miscalculates the jump, and bangs her head against the side of the boat before falling into the Ionian Sea.
The show's creator, Mike White, said in an interview aired after the show he wanted to give Tanya's character an "operatic conclusion."
The next day, Daphne (Meghann Fahy) is the one to find her body in the water, just as depicted in the first episode. The foursome — Daphne, Cameron (Theo James), Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Ethan (Will Sharpe), leave the island with their marriages intact, but a lot of questions are swirling about what the couples got up to in their final days in Sicily.
Harper admits to Ethan that Cameron kissed her, but insisted it was "nothing." Ethan accepts the story (not without punching Cameron in the face), but notes there is a significant chunk of time missing between the pair returning to their room and Ethan attempting to knock down the door.
“The question of whether Harper and Cameron did more than the kiss, I think probably that’s just all that happened. At the same time, there’s some time that isn’t really accounted for and I think that’s why it’s eating at Ethan,” White said.
Daphne and Ethan also had a trek to Isola Bella, a nearby inlet, after Ethan suggested something had happened between Harper and Cameron, and Daphne says they shouldn't be victims.
“Some of the unspoken things between them, you wonder if that’s going to ultimately catch up with them," White said. “It is somewhat of a happy ending although there’s dark clouds on the horizon too.”
Dominic (Michael Imperioli) also appears to be poised to save his marriage. After giving his son, Albie (Adam DiMarco), 50,000 euros, Albie put in a good word for his father with his mother. Albie swiftly transferred the funds to Lucia (Simona Tabasco), a local sex worker he caught feelings for and was worried she was in danger from another local after he followed them on a trip to explore their family's heritage.
Lucia leaves Albie in the early morning without a word, and she walks away in a new dress with her best friend Mia (Beatrice Granno), who was recently promoted to the hotel's piano performer the day after she hooked up with the resort manager, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore).
Albie admits he was swindled when he runs into Portia at the airport, and shares with Portia a guest was found in the water and several others were found dead on a yacht.
The pair gets each other's numbers and heads off to their flights, leaving viewers to wonder: Will Albie and Portia be the new Tanya and Greg in Season Three?
White hinted the next season could be set in Asia.
“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White said. “I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.”
