Mike White Accepts the Criticism

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( a long talk [Mike White Accepts the Criticism]( The White Lotus creator understands if you feel conflicted about that ending. So does he. Photo: TODD MIDLER/The New York Times/Redux The White Lotus is a show born out of necessity, an HBO series that creator Mike White could produce quickly and then shoot almost entirely at one location — the Maui Four Seasons — in the fall and winter of 2020. Despite its expediency, though, The White Lotus is also an extension of White’s personal and professional preoccupations going back years. White is best known as the creator of the HBO series Enlightened (2011–2013), about an ambitious woman climbing the corporate ladder who experiences a breakdown, has a spiritual and existential reawakening on a trip to Hawaii, and then struggles to reintegrate her new self with the very messy remnants of her previous life. The White Lotus also concerns a Hawaiian reawakening of sorts, as a series about the people who can afford to stay at an expensive, cloistered resort paradise in hopes of rejuvenation, bonding with their families, and finding themselves. It’s an experience White is familiar with, something he has chased in various ways during his life, through travel but also by participating in reality shows (both The Amazing Race and Survivor) that send participants to distant, often unfamiliar places. Unlike Enlightened, however, The White Lotus includes the people who work at the resort and whose labor maintains the setting for the privileged guests’ relaxation. Into that premise, The White Lotus adds an awareness of Hawaii’s lasting colonial damage, the complicated dynamics of a place that relies on tourism but where the economic gains from that tourism don’t proportionally benefit the native Hawaiians. [Read The Story »]( The Latest TV Recaps • [The White Lotus Season Finale:]( Mess With a Guest, Die Like the Rest • [Heels Series Premiere:]( I Am My Brother’s Keeper • [Power Book III: Raising Kanan:]( The Choice Is Yours • [The Real Housewives of Potomac:]( Style Over Substance [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [The Story Behind Original Cast Album: Company Stephen Sondheim and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick revisit the making of the album — and Elaine Stritch’s beautiful meltdown.]( [Everything You Didn’t Notice About the World of Free Guy To build Free City, production designer Ethan Tobman contemplated simulation theory, looked at Nan Goldin photos, and played video games for days.]( [Help! I Ate Like Saweetie for a Week to Prep for Her McDonald’s Meal Gird thy tum.]( [The BravoCon That Could Have Been All the (extremely fake) plans for the canceled fan convention, in this edition of the Housewives Institute Bulletin.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Devour pop culture with us: [Subscribe to Vulture now for unlimited access.]( Vulture Recommends We consume it all so you don’t have to. Photo: Netflix (The Chair);Danielle Levitt / Comedy Central (Awkwafina is Nora From Queens) HBO Max (The Other Two); Hulu (The Only Murders in The Building); Searchlight Pictures (The Nighthouse) • The editors picked out [the 25 most notable releases over the next two weeks](, including Sandra Oh in The Chair, Lorde’s new album, and a Val Kilmer doc. [Read more from Vulture]( If you enjoyed reading Vulture’s daily newsletter, forward it to a friend. Or dive deeper into the Vulture universe with our other newsletters: • [1.5x Speed](: Podcast recommendations and listening notes from Nick Quah, sent every Wednesday. • [Buffering](: Joe Adalian reports on the streaming industry, sent every Thursday. • [Read Like the Wind](: Book recommendations and literary mischief by Molly Young, sent the first Tuesday of every month. • [The Housewives Institute Bulletin](: For dedicated students of the Reality TV Arts and Sciences, sent every other Friday. [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on e-mail newsletters please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2021, All rights reserved