The final of “The White Lotus” Season two has a lot to do in just one episode. It must tie together the dramatic storylines of the two central couples (Aubrey Plaza, Theo James, Will Sharpe and Meghann Fahy); find out what’s going on with Lucia (Simona Tabasco), Albie (Adam DiMarco) and their alleged pimp; and reveal who dies – and it needs to confirm what’s really going on with Quentin.
Viewers were introduced to the scruffy Quentin (Tom Hollander) midway through the season when he was seen spying on Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya the white lotus Dining room. He quickly knocks Tanya off her feet by comparing her to the tragic heroine of an Italian opera and effortlessly persuades her to come with him to his lavish mansion in Palermo, with her assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) at the helm tow.
From Quentin’s first moments on screen, viewers were suspicious of his subjects. But over the course of the past three episodes, fans have steadily increased honed a theory about what Quentin is really up to.
Is Quentin Cheating on Tanya on The White Lotus?
From the start, Quentin is clearly not telling the truth about everything. First, there’s the fact that his supposed “nephew” Jack is definitely not his nephew – as Tanya finds out at the end of episode five when she catches her having sex in Quentin’s bedroom. Instead, Jack is most likely a sex worker, making it seem like his budding relationship with Portia is actually an attempt to distract Tanya’s assistant from paying attention to her boss. Tanya indirectly warns Portia about Jack, telling her “when you’re empty inside and you have no direction, you’re going to end up in some crazy places, but you’re still going to be lost” — though she doesn’t. I don’t seem to realize that she too could be in danger.
At the end of the sixth episode, Jack drinks one too many beers and ends up saying a few things that make it clear that Quentin is cheating on Tanya. He tells Portia that his uncle nearly went broke after spending all his money renovating the mansion and throwing lavish parties, but says he’ll be making money soon. The question is, are more people involved in the scam than just Quentin and Jack?
Is Greg involved in Quentin’s scam at The White Lotus?
Quentin gives the clearest clue as to his possible true motivations in episode five when he asks Tanya if she’s willing to “die for beauty,” telling her he’s only been in love once before—with a straight Wyoming cowboy . fans immediately began to speculate that the cowboy could be Tanya’s husband Greg, who we know works for the Bureau of Land Management in the western United States. In episode six, Tanya discovers a photo that appears to show a young Quentin next to a man in a cowboy hat who looks suspiciously like a younger Greg, suggesting that her husband may actually be the cowboy Quentin turned into all those years ago fell in love.
Greg is of course leaving his vacation with Tanya early after claiming he has urgent business matters in the United States. He promises to be back in two days – which is a very unrealistic schedule, although Tanya doesn’t seem to realize it. Even before that, the show fueled suspicions about Greg, beginning when Tanya overheard him describe her as clueless in a secret phone call (although the fact that he has the nerve to criticize Tanya for eating too many macarons early in the show had eaten was also a big red flag for many). Some fans even believe so Greg has been plotting against Tanya from the moment he met her in season one, when he told her he was on vacation with a group of friends who go deep sea fishing every year. However, we never actually see the friends and he seems immediately taken with Tanya, whose room just happens to be next door to his.
Right after Greg’s sudden departure from Sicily, Quentin conveniently shows up and makes his way to the lonely, gullible Tanya. Because of all of this, fans believe that Greg may have hired Quentin to cheat Tanya out of her vast fortune, either by convincing her to cheat so her marriage contract could be voided by a potential infidelity clause — or by killing her. At the end of the sixth episode, Quentin successfully tricks Tanya into cheating by setting her up with an Italian (who may or may not be in the mafia) and a whole lot of white powder, making it seem like the earlier scenario is the case Case.
Combined with his longtime love for Greg, Quentin’s lack of money and love for his beautiful mansion and opulent lifestyle give him a pretty solid motive to pursue Tanya’s fortune. This also explains why Greg was so angry that Tanya brought Portia in the first episode. Jack successfully manages to get Portia far from the villa on the night of the party where Quentin introduces Tanya to her new Italian lover, so the possible plan seems to go smoothly. Given Tanya’s ominous dream and an even more ominous tarot reading from earlier in the season, things seem to be heading in a dark direction for her.
However, both Tanya and Portia seem to be growing increasingly suspicious in the final scenes of the sixth episode, and while we don’t know exactly what bodies will be washed up on shore in the finale, it seems an explosive ending is inevitable. Ultimately, like so many other White Lotus guests, Tanya, Portia, Quentin and Greg’s thirst for beauty — and the distraction it offers from their own inner emptiness — could be any or all of their downfalls.
The Season 2 finale of The White Lotus airs December 11 on HBO.
