Pleading guilty to pleasure

Darkly funny mysteries are having a moment

Itend not to binge through shows as often these days, especially ones with multiple seasons. I like to let things marinade a bit, usually doing one or two episodes a week. HBO’S massive hit White Lotus broke that entirely.

The series, with two seasons now available on Crave, is the perfect definition of a guilty pleasure. There is depth there, certainly, about the human condition and our capacity for cruelty and temptation. It also sheds light on issues of class, race and what happens to people when they are uprooted and go outside their comfort zones.

But it’s also just fun to watch terrible people become total hot messes thanks to their own hubris.

I’ve been hearing about White Lotus for a while now and for some reason, I kept putting it off. But, I saw just enough Instagram reels of the earworm of a theme song to finally say ‘fine.’ I’m glad I did.

Both seasons are set at a different glamorous five-star fictional resort called The White Lotus. The first season takes place in Hawaii, and the second in Sicily. We follow different groups of tourists on vacation and the staff who make the whole thing work.

Each season begins with a death at the resort — though the identity of the deceased is kept secret until the end, keeping the audience guessing for every episode. But by the end of the season, the death becomes one of the least important components, as you’ve just been through a roller coaster of soapy, sexy drama.

White Lotus is a tad hard to define. It’s a satirical, deeply horny dark comedy/mystery that kind of stands alone for being such a simple concept with so much depth.

There’s the cringey race and class politics at play as the rich, mostly white people complain about utterly unimportant things to torture the resort employees for sport. There’s also a pearl-clutching array of sexual power dynamics that get explored, upend relationships and barriers at every step.

One of the guests, Jennifer Coolidge, who appears in both seasons, is the absolute star of the show in her best role to date. She’s completely spaced in her iconic Coolidge way, looking like she could topple over at any second or have a full psychotic breakdown (both happen in glorious fashion, by the way).

But really the casts of both seasons of this anthology are magnificent, with some

tremendous performances from Aubrey Plaza, Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy and many more. The characters are both completely unbelievable and believable at the same time for the audacity of their behaviour. Are people really like this? Well, maybe.

Mike White, the writer and director, is utterly successful here, with a vision that comes through completely in every sense, pointing a finger at humanity, warts and all, with equally clever, funny and biting screenwriting.

Even getting a sense of satisfaction from watching the show, I couldn’t help but feel like I was also part of the thing, part of the circle of critique. The beautiful ocean waves crashing into my senses and I click next episode again and again — my dopamine-craving, lizard brain just wanting more and more.

When the second season ended, I felt like a spoiled kid, wanting more of the sweet treat, sad the ride was over.

Both seasons of White Lotus are available now on Crave.

KNIVES SHARPENED

The excellent Knives Out was a revelation when it was released in 2019. The slick genre film gave the Agatha Christie-style murder mystery the shot in the arm it desperately needed.

With an incredible ensemble and super sharp writing, Knives Out was possibly one of my favourites from that year.

This explains my excitement to check out the followup, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which features Daniel Craig returning as wonderfully droll detective Benoit Blanc, with his perfectly campy southern accent.

A new mystery with the same, brilliant detective, but a new cast of potential ne’er do wells? Sign me up.

Benoit Blanc (Craig) finds himself surrounded by rich, famous and insufferable ‘disruptors,’ who meet every year with their billionaire friend Miles Bron (Edward Norton) at his ostentatious mansion in Greece for a murder mystery game.

Things go awry when there’s an actual murder and it’s up to Blanc to put together the pieces and unravel the friendships of those stuck on the island before more people are hurt.

Janelle Monáe steals the show here as Cassandra Brand, who gives a dynamite, steely performance. I’d say more, but I don’t want to spoil anything, just trust me.

It doesn’t quite hit the same highs as the original, but Glass Onion is a slick, hilarious ride, with plenty of interesting and clever twists. It’s the first Netflix original movie in a while that felt like it was made for the big screen.

One thing that doesn’t make sense, though? The excellent original film in the series, Knives Out, is not available to stream on Netflix. Why? How does that come over in some kind of licensing package deal?

CREEPY AND COOKY

Rounding out the darkly funny mystery theme I have going, I also watched Netflix’s Wednesday, which focuses on the macabre, goth daughter of Addams Family fame.

I was never a huge Addams Family fan, but Netflix’s new spin on the series convinced me to give it a try, thanks largely to the social media gravity well surrounding its release and a particular memeified

dance routine.

It was a perfectly fine series debut, with Jenna Ortega’s amazing performance in the title role as a misunderstood and complex psychopathic teen girl with a penchant for pain being the absolute highlight.

The basic premise is Wednesday Addams is sent to the Nevermore Academy, something of a Hogwartz for weirdos, after an incident at her high school. Here she bumps elbows with werewolves, mermaids, gorgons and other creatures from horror lore. She’s standoffish at first, but slowly develops bonds with her fellow outcasts.

Things turn mysterious when one of her classmates is killed by a massive monster and Wednesday uses her investigative skills to figure out who’s behind the tragedy.

It’s a story that feels familiar with plot points that can be seen coming from a mile away, but I forgave it thanks to the charismatic Ortega, who just eats the screen every time she was on it.

The show has been a massive hit for Netflix and the streamer has already confirmed another season is on the way. Hopefully, we’ll see more of Wednesday’s creepy and cooky family, who are underutilized so far.