The White Lotus: The Sweet Escape
The White Lotus (2021), image provided by Distractify
“I don’t want to be a plus one my whole life.”
- Rachel Patton, The White Lotus
The White Lotus is first-world problems at its best. Mike White takes us on a ride bumpier than a teenager’s face the day before their class photos. The HBO original series follows several guests and staff at a 5-star Hawaiian hotel. During their stay, each person realizes their role in society for better or for worse.
Among the guests is Rachel Patton, a newlywed who has mixed feelings about her marriage. She is a former journalist, from humble beginnings, who has yet to land her big break. She marries a rich mama’s boy who sicks his mother on anyone who dares to disagree with him. What he lacks in maturity, he makes up for in infidelity. Rachel finds him flirting with two college-aged girls on their honeymoon. The guy is as deep as a kid’s inflatable pool. The two couldn’t be any more different. If the photo above doesn’t explain it all, Rachel feels like a hostage in her marriage. She manages to escape by telling her husband that she made a “ terrible mistake” referring to their nuptials. She quickly returns to the relationship after laying eyes on him in the airport. After witnessing Rachel’s reluctant reunion with her husband, it reminded me of Elizabeth Smart.
In 2002, Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped, tortured, and raped when she was just 14 years old. During that time, she was brainwashed so much so that there was a time that a police officer stopped and questioned her because she fit the description of a tip he had received. She didn’t scream, ask for help, or attempt to escape; she had Stockholm Syndrome. Stockholm Syndrome is an emotional response that causes victims to have positive feelings towards their abusers. Although not as severe as Elizabeth’s situation, Rachel’s husband is her captor. He is overbearing, manipulative, condescending, and unsupportive; he does not want her to continue working. He is grooming her to be his perfect housewife. Similar to Elizabeth, Rachel has the opportunity to escape when she talks to her mom on the phone. Instead, she lies to her mom and claims that she is enjoying her honeymoon.
The series leaves us with some unanswered questions. Will Rachel stay with her husband? If so, why? Will she leave her husband? If so, when? Because Stockholm Syndrome is an emotional response, it’s subject to change. Well, I desperately hope that Rachel changes her mind about her marriage. Only time will tell, or season two, whichever one comes first.
