(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
The White Lotus finale was a bloodbath, but we can mark the rich lady friendship safe from literal and figurative peril. It turns out there is nothing stronger than bonds formed in the fires of youth (not to mention that Laurie wins a gold medal for running away from gunfire).
After weeks of taking great pleasure in the passive-aggressive (okay, sometimes aggressive-aggressive) comments from Carrie Coon’s miserable wealthy woman on the vacation of a lifetime, The White Lotus takes a surprising turn away from b---hy, angry missives. Instead of calling out her friends for papering over their insecurities and unhappiness with empty platitudes, Laurie’s lip-sync worthy epiphany is solely directed at how her overly high expectations are an obstacle to happiness and feeling content.
It is not the first time a monologue by Coon has hit me square in the chest (hello, The Leftovers)—and it certainly won’t be the last, because I am sure she will somehow shred my soul as the wonderfully acerbic Bertha Russell in The Gilded Age. (Season 3, coming this summer!) In another performer’s voice or delivery, observations about beautiful faces and lives would come across as petty barbs. However, at the last-night dinner, Coon ensures Laurie’s ode to her friends isn’t just a crass excuse to call her high school besties vain and trite.
Laurie is a better person than I, as I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) said she has been on Cloud 9 all week and that her real friends ground her. Remember how much s--- she gave Kate (Leslie Bibb) for gossiping about Jaclyn’s one-night-stand with Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius)? I mean, it was only a few weeks ago, but I certainly do.
Earlier in the finale, Jaclyn apologized to a sleeping and hungover Laurie for hooking up with Valentin, so at least she is no longer gaslighting her friend. The peace offering confession is accepted, and Laurie’s refusal to go to breakfast is more to do with her morning-after shame after sleeping with Valentin’s con-man friend Aleksei (Julian Kostov) and having to escape out the bathroom window. It might be a funny story, but after calling Jaclyn pathetic for acting like she was still in her twenties, I think Laurie’s reluctance to spend the final vacation day with her friends is over her embarrassment that she did the same.
Laurie does drag herself to dinner and admits she has “been so sad” for the entire trip—I’d add “angry” to that statement. To Jaclyn and Kate’s credit, neither interrupts Laurie to center themselves or give her fake compliments.
The group’s jokes about mid-life have likely contributed to Laurie’s mood. Whether feeling too old or wanting to embrace youth, age is a recurring theme in their conversations. As someone only a few years younger than these women, many of these moments hit closer to the bone than I would like to admit in such a public forum. But if Laurie is willing to do it, so am I. One of the most alarmingly relatable is this comment: “As you get older, you have to justify your life and your choices. When I’m with you guys, it’s so transparent what my choices were, and my mistakes.”
Oof, indeed, and I can’t help but think of The Other Two’s high school reunion episode that highlights how competitive these gatherings of people from our past.
But what makes this monologue hit differently is that, rather than people you haven’t seen for a decade or two, this trio are in each other’s lives (directly and indirectly), magnifying Laurie’s need to compare. God, work, love, and motherhood have not filled a hole for her. Growing up in the “you can have it all” era is a poisoned chalice when none of the milestones have managed to save Laurie.
While some of the victories and losses this season are a little muddled or unearned, the same cannot be said for Laurie—or at least the internal leap doesn’t come out of nowhere. How Laurie’s story culminates in this saying-it-with-her full-chest monologue underscores her growth, and it is some of Mike White’s best writing this season.
While Laurie has spoken honestly to her besties about their infractions, she has never stripped herself emotionally bare like this: “I don’t need religion or God to give my life meaning. Because time gives it meaning. We started this life together. We’re going through it apart, but we’re still together. I look at you guys, and it feels meaningful.”
Excuse me because Coon’s ability to punctuate dialogue with smiles and tears is my weakness, and I may need to take a minute to rewatch this devastating scene from The Leftovers finale.
Okay, I’m back, and the final part of Laurie’s realization is the one that could come across as woe-is-me or calling Jaclyn and Kate vapid. However, there is nothing but love and gratitude in Coon’s delivery: “I’m glad you have a beautiful face, and I’m glad you have a beautiful life, and I am just happy to be at the table.”
The “I love you” declarations don’t strip away all the bad things they have said to each other, but they ensure this friendship isn’t the fractured mess it first appeared to me. Back at the villa, their limbs are entangled, and it is hard to see where one person begins and another ends. The “I’ve been in the best mood all week” line was a lie, but on this final night, the claim is true—for the trio and us watching at home.
