Monday nights are now officially White Lotus night and last night’s episode did not disappoint. (Spoilers for this week's episode ahead, obviously!) Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya was swept away by her new, gay best friend Quentin (Tom Holland) to his grand villa, Cameron (Theo James) upped the arsehole ante brushing Harper’s (Aubrey Plaza) leg under the table after cheating on his wife the previous night. And Albie (Adam DiMarco) ditched his dad and grandad at dinner to hang out with sex worker Lucia, who his dad slept with just a few episodes ago. It’s all getting a bit incestuous – and that’s before we even mention our new bad boy crush Jack (Leo Woodall) having sex with his supposed uncle, Quentin.
The theme of masculinity runs through this series and the internet is obsessed with this TikToker’s video that addresses how the Italian family (Bert, Dominic, and Albie) exemplify how toxic masculinity has transformed throughout the generations. We know - sweet, shy, unassuming ‘nice guy’ Albie? How can it be??
First there’s Bert, the grandfather and oldest generation, who’s very in your face, says Ethan Judelson in his viral TikTok. ‘It’s mistreatment of women that’s obvious to everyone. It’s inappropriate, anyone can see that.’ Bert’s creepy comments to the female hotel staff and outrageous flirting with any passing woman reeked of untouchable, older, predator vibes from the moment we met him.
‘Then the next generation goes “that was too obvious, you’re a bad person”,’ says Ethan. In this case it’s dad Dominic, who tries to hide these transgressions but has numerous affairs, breaking up his family, and sleeps with sex workers on the holiday while he’s trying to reconnect with Albie’s mum. ‘We’re gonna pay the people we’re sleeping with a lot of money, we’re gonna hide it from our family, we’re gonna keep it close to the chest,’ Ethan says of this seedy father-of-young-adults cohort.
Lastly there’s Albie, part of the woke, Gen Z generation. ‘Next generation goes “no both of those things are evil. We’re going to learn third wave feminism and read everything and we’re going to understand women, that way they’ll HAVE to sleep with us because I get it. I totally understand.” It's almost like an incel-ey vibe. They’re all bad. They’re aaaaall bad,’ Ethan says.
So there you are. It’s gutting, especially when you’re rooting for a character like Albie, like so many of us have been. It was crushing watching Portia ditch him for Jack and heartwarming to see Lucia take such an interest in him. Part of us hoped he’s not been taken advantage of, when really we should question why our loyalties lie with him just because he’s meek.
He knows Lucia’s a sex worker who he can barely afford to pay, which means he could be putting her in danger of a pimp who’s demanding money, but he continues to sleep with her anyway. We also saw hints of red flag behaviour in his persistence that Portia joins his family outtings when she didn’t seem interested. Let the girl chill by the pool on her own if she wants to! In the past it was manhandling and overt, now it’s discreet, when an obsession with protecting women can become suffocating.
It's hard to disagree with Ethan’s theory. You see it everywhere: the nerdy, ‘feminist’, ‘nice guy’ still being dangerous. It’s something Emerald Fennell’s film Promising Young Woman showcased (spoilers to follow...), with the self-professing ‘nice guys’ who stick up for women ending up sexually assaulting – and in some cases murdering - them.
It also shines a light on a wider point that we all think we’re better than the previous generation, when in fact many are just different in how they go about their prejudices. This is White Lotus, so it’s not surprising every character is insufferable in one way or another. Another episode down and another lesson learnt– as ever, don’t always trust the nice guy. Moral of the story? We all need to be on White Lotus TikTok.