The White Lotus Season 2 First Reviews: Mike White's Second Installment Is 'Brilliantly Bawdy Fun,' Critics Say

The White Lotus is back for another vacation to remember. First premiering in 2021, the series explored the mishaps of various guests at a lush Hawaii resort. Season 2 of the Mike White–created anthology series, which premieres on Sunday, October 30 on HBO, packs up and heads for Italy.

The first installment of the series got Emmy recognition for Outstanding Limited Series, and season 1 stars Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett both took home awards for their standout performances.

Coolidge returns in season 2, along with Jon Gries, both reprising their roles as Tanya and Greg. A new White Lotus resort means new guests, and this Italy-bound story stars Michael Imperioli, Aubrey Plaza, Meghann Fahey, F. Murray Abraham, Adam DiMarco, Haley Lu Richardson, Theo James, Will Sharpe, Sabrina Impacciatore, Simona Tabasco, Beatrice Grannò, and Tom Hollander.

Anticipation is high for the show’s return but can lightning strike twice for the series? Here’s what critics are saying about season 2 of HBO’s The White Lotus:

How does it compare to the first season?

(Photo by HBO)

Where Mike White’s initial introduction of his fictionalized luxury hotel chain sneaks up on viewers like a biting sea breeze on a sunny day, the writer-director’s sequel wears its pitch-black satire like a slowly shrinking sweater. Each tugged thread connects to the white privilege so shrewdly taken to task back in Hawaii, yet it wisely unravels in new directions — sometimes a bit slowly, leaving baggy parts here and there, but still tying together sly critiques of sex and power, as they relate to men and women of means.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire

While the new installment doesn’t cut quite as close to the bone as the first did, it alights upon more than a few observations sharp enough to draw blood.
—Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

The second season continues to challenge the boundaries of human virtues with sharp wit and palpable angst. White goes straight for the jugular in crafting these authentic characters in distressing scenarios that feed off of the viewer’s insecurities and are never what they seem. The focus shifts more to the guest’s interpersonal relationships yet still examines the power structures embedded into a capitalistic society.
—Nick Ruhrkraut, AwardsWatch

How is Jennifer Coolidge this time around?

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Coolidge continues to be at the top of her game, still being able to bring the humor and looking like she didn’t mean to.
—Emma Kiely, Collider

Then there’s Jennifer Coolidge, whose Tanya is back and somehow even better this season. She was largely loveable, if aloof, in Hawaii, but this season goes deeper into her character, reveling in the seemingly endless depths of her narcissism. Her relationship with her assistant Portia is as amusing as it is depressing — there’s a lot of humor to be mined from it, but it speaks great volumes about the way the working class is treated by the upper class. Tanya is definitely seen in a less unpleasant light this time around, but Coolidge’s performance is so wonderful that you can’t help but be absolutely obsessed with her.
—Barry Levitt, Slashfilm

Coolidge’s Tanya, meanwhile, seems to have been brought back simply as a gesture to fans who adored her in series one.
—Ed Power, Daily Telegraph (UK)

What about the rest of the cast?

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this year Fahy (“The Bold Type”) is the breakout star. Her Daphne is a hapless but happy housewife on the outside, but riddled with sadness and anger beneath. Fahy is effervescent, balancing Daphne’s performative façade with her darker side easily and lighting up every scene she’s in. Similarly, Italian actresses Tabasco and Grannò are magnetic, as they work (and con) their way through the luxury hotel.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today

Other standouts among a very solid cast include Plaza, who deploys her signature deadpan delivery to hilariously uncomfortable effect as a woman whose harsh judgments barely conceal her own insecurities. She is especially well matched by Fahy, who renders Daphne one of the season’s most fascinating characters by tapping into the vast reserves of steel and sorrow underlying her usual effervescent persona.
—Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

If I were to choose just a couple of actors to get more notice for their work, though, it would be Tabasco and Granno, who so easily capture the naughty joy of two best friends jumping into the mouth of a hungry beast, because even being swallowed whole would be an adventure worth the while.
—Caroline Framke, Variety

Abraham’s Oscar-winning Italian roots as the Machiavellian Salieri in Amadeus lurk behind his seemingly innocent charisma while you can’t help but imagine Imperioli’s guido past as Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos having a field day back in the motherland.
—Nick Ruhrkraut, AwardsWatch

How is the writing?

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The brilliance of “Lotus” lies in the delicate dance of White’s scripts in taking ordinary conversations to the edges of incivility.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today

As a creator, White has a special talent for mining the gap between the people his characters want to see themselves as and the people they can’t help being. Here, he uses it to tap into a nebulous anxiety over whether it’s even possible to know what we truly want when we’ve spent our whole lives being told what to want.
—Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

With White at the helm, it all feels miraculously well-balanced. There’s something to be said about a single writer taking the helm for an entire series, and the second season of “The White Lotus” is paced brilliantly. Every character is interesting, and while everyone is bound to have their own personal favorites — and on a show like this, you’ll also have least-favorites — but scenes move along so smoothly that you’re never left wanting for any particular character.
—Barry Levitt, Slashfilm

That’s White’s magic. While he seems to be constantly making fun of his characters – who are most often sickeningly vacuous and vain – they are also often likeable, and every now and then thought-provoking. Each storyline seamlessly intertwines with the others as the plot thickens, never seeming forced.
—Elizabeth Gregory, London Evening Standard

How is the production value?

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Sicily makes for a breathtaking setting, full of gorgeous ocean vistas, rocky crags, and volcanoes looming in the distance. Unlike the Hawaii resort, this White Lotus comes complete with a sense of history, with classic frescoes and sculptures around every corner, many of which are likely hundreds of years old.
—Lacy Baugher, Paste Magazine

As before, the satire is amplified by the stunning scenery and achingly gorgeous weather.
—Ed Power, Daily Telegraph (UK)

The White Lotus goes out of its way to highlight the island’s breathtaking beauty — detouring off-property to visit majestic palazzos, charming vineyards and that one town where some of The Godfather was shot, like the world’s longest tourism ad
—Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

Season 2 makes fantastic use of its breathtaking Sicilian location. The hotel itself is of course, immaculate, and filled with gorgeous art that’s on the walls of a building that feels timeless, with plenty of modern amenities making a compelling contrast with the classic murals. It’s great to see a show look every bit as expensive as the White Lotus claims to be — imagine how unbelievable a show like this would feel with lackluster production values. The natural beauty is astonishing, and every scene looks like the kind of holiday you can only dream of because you sure as hell can’t afford to actually go.
—Barry Levitt, Slashfilm

What are the overarching themes this season?

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If the first season emphasized the luridness of the white, wealthy elite, the second is a master class in the dangers and prevalence of toxic (also usually white and wealthy) men.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today

This time, after quickly setting up a new mystery involving bodies on a beach, White delves into sexuality and repression. And into the gulf between American puritanism and (as he sees it) European permissiveness.
—Ed Power, Daily Telegraph (UK)

It probably should not surprise anyone that The White Lotus is not at all the sort of series that is in any way equipped to really tackle the complex issues surrounding sex work, and at least the show is self-aware enough not to really try. Instead, the girls’ business is used to shine an uncomfortable light on the way that money turns the entire idea of sex and love into a status symbol or just another commodity that can be bought, sold, or bartered away.
—Lacy Baugher, Paste Magazine

Season 2 tightens its thematic focus on all things sex — the kind you yearn for, the kind you tolerate, the kind you pay for, the kind you use to get what you want.
—Caroline Framke, Variety

Any final thoughts?

(Photo by HBO)

The White Lotus Season 2 comes across as a darker, more personal story, one that’s sure to elicit uncomfortable conversations at home, so long as couples aren’t scared off by colder weather.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire

Like Succession in the sunshine, The White Lotus Season 2 knows that it has already established its absurdity, so it takes the time to build out its world and characters, raising the stakes of their secrets and lies.
—Emma Kiely, Collider

At its best, it is brilliantly bawdy fun – brimming with zinging dialogue, physical humour and sharply drawn critiques of the super-wealthy.
—Ed Power, Daily Telegraph (UK)

“The White Lotus” remains one of TV’s most purely visceral, evocative shows as it digs each of its guests up by their roots, and leave it to the rest of the season to reveal what lies beneath.
—Caroline Framke, Variety

94% The White Lotus: Season 2 (2022) premieres on Sunday, October 30 on HBO.