A key The White Lotus sequence about politics and religion written in 2022 feels incredibly of the moment. It will probably win Mike White another writing Emmy.
For my money, Mike White’s The White Lotus is hands-down the best written television series airing right now. Actually, I don’t think it’s all that close. I come to The White Lotus for its devastatingly human characters and for their emotional pyrotechnics. White understands people. He understands their failures and longings. He celebrates both the beauty and the horror of their very humanity. Most importantly, he does so with an intense love. Like the great Robert Altman before him, White doesn’t cast judgment on his characters. He loves their flaws. It’s where he finds his flower of inspiration.
With that, last Sunday’s episode, “The Meaning of Dreams,” immediately ascended to white hot status on X thanks to White’s bravery in exploring the intersection of friendship, religion, and politics. By doing so, I believe he’s created such a brilliant water cooler moment that the Television Academy couldn’t possibly ignore it. It’s early goings, but The White Lotus may just win Drama Series thanks to a single scene. Certainly, White feels primed to win another writing Emmy thanks to the power of this brief sequence.
At the end of the episode, the three long-time, estranged friends (Kate, Leslie Bibb; Laurie, Carrie Coon; Jaclyn, Michelle Monaghan) jeopardize their tenuous vacation by broaching two verboten topics: religion and politics. The religion component goes by fairly innocuously. Kate expresses discomfort with Eastern spirituality. She reveals a preference for her traditional Christian church back home in Austin, Texas. Laurie and Jaclyn, two coastal elites, find it amusing that Kate attends such a church, one they assume is staunchly conservative. The evening appears on the verge of a breakdown when Laurie asks, “You didn’t vote for Trump though, did you?” Kate doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t need to. The look on her face says it all, and in true WASP fashion, she quickly changes the conversation. Later in the evening, though, she overhears Laurie and Jaclyn judging her life choices and appears near-tears.
It’s a brief sequence, one that could have spawned an entire episode, but White keeps it true to form. He avoids lengthy debates or political arguments or casting judgment on any of the three. Instead, he steers the scene toward an incredibly realistic end. Of course Kate wouldn’t want to debate this. She’s outnumbered, and she knows it — the Independent matched against two presumed Democrats. Shockingly, White wrote the scene in 2022. It could have happened last week.
The Danger In Threesomes
To me, the beauty of this sequence — aside from the reality of the inherent danger of making huge assumptions about your friends’ political leanings — lives in its status as a trilogy of sorts that highlights the intense hypocrisy of these three women. In the first episode, Kate and Jaclyn praise each other’s middle-aged beauty (ie “maintenance”) while leaving Laurie out in the cold, eventually criticizing her drinking. In the second episode, Laurie and Kate gossip about Jaclyn’s plastic looks, also criticizing her marriage to a much younger actor. Now, it’s Kate’s turn out in the cold. They’re all judgmental, they’re all flawed, and they’re all resentful of each other.
These scenes read so honestly and accurately. I’m not a woman, but I have a daughter. I have years of experiences dealing with the fallout of scenarios just like this. It is my experience that only problems stem from a female threesome — someone is always on the outs.
And Mike White brilliantly captures this with this season’s very best characters.
He started an online conversation that rivals Game of Thrones moments for sheer buzz appeal. The Trump scene appeals to everyone because it offers all perspectives. Imagine that. A quick search on X proves that out.
This scene last night in the White Lotus was so spot on! As a Trump supporter in California, I feel so seen! https://t.co/vOVvjeIqVH
— Fighting not Fleeing (@SkyM_777) March 4, 2025
White lotus really just captured the most common white millennial experience lmaoooo like oh you voted for Trump? Independent? Didn’t vote????
— KD #bbtg (@BbgameKd) March 4, 2025
In this scene from show White Lotus, things get uncomfortable when a woman comes out as a Christian and a Trump voter to her friends from from LA and NYC. What’s interesting is that they make the lefty friends look like the jerks here.https://t.co/KkWDGguE4h
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) March 4, 2025
This scene from The White Lotus is so relevant. It’s a very subtle dig at coastal elites who assume they don’t know anyone who goes to church and voted for Trump. Massive vibe shift. https://t.co/YQ0Yn4zQBQ
— P👁🗨NY (@PONY_Official) March 4, 2025
One thing The White Lotus nailed is that alot people that support/voted for Trump seemingly dont wanna talk about him around normal folks.
— Albert (@itsdana_dane) March 5, 2025
Love the way season 3 of #WhiteLotus shames smart, successful women, who always fancied themselves as “progressives” their entire life; but ended up voting for Trump because of their husband😅 pic.twitter.com/Vda11tyO5X
— ÄlêxåñÐêr †hê Grêå† (@xandergomez) March 4, 2025
There is a scene in the white lotus , that’s making fun of both trumpies and liberals. The catch is that now online the libs think the show is making fan of the trumpies , and vice versa , meanwhile it’s making of both … the writing on that show is top notch
— Medito (@Mediittoo) March 5, 2025
By embracing all perspectives, by avoiding the oversimplification of “this person is good and this person is bad,” Mike White has crafted a thing of true beauty. He leaves judgment to the audience to react and discuss. Your reaction to the scene says more about you than about White’s intent on realizing it. It’s what makes him such a brilliant observer of human behavior. It’s what, I suspect, will land him another Emmy for writing. Yes, I understand that everyone online loves Severance, and I do find it a very entertaining show. But there’s a stark difference between The White Lotus and Severance. Severance offers outlandish scenarios and puzzle box mysteries to engage the audience. You watch because you want to know where the story will go. Will it stick the landing? I dunno. You have to watch another season to figure it out. But what does it mean? What does it say? What’s the there there?
The White Lotus gives you that character-driven payoff. Yes, there’s a central mystery, but that’s a red herring. The beauty of the show isn’t the mystery. No idea who dies this season, nor do I really care. I come to The White Lotus for its devastatingly human characters and for their emotional pyrotechnics. I thrive on conversations like this religion / Trump sequence, and I don’t need complex mysteries wrapped in an enigma. I need moments of humanity. As terrible as many of the characters are, they’re all so breathtakingly real. Mike White knows how to write them, and he knows how to cast actors that bring them to life.
He will win a writing Emmy for this season. I just don’t know how you can possibly choose an actress in this Supporting Actress race. That’s the real mystery, if you ask me.
Check out this YouTuber’s analysis of the scene. I love what she has to say about body chemistry.
