A Round Of Applause For Mia & Lucia

Jennifer Cooldige’s Tanya McQuoid may forever be remembered as the main character of The White Lotus, but the ditzy socialite wasn’t exactly a hero. Mia and Lucia, however, totally were. The local sex workers started out in Season 2 as a pair of mischievous BFFs who went on to realize their dreams at the ritzy titular Sicilian resort, leaving a trail of A Midsummer Night’s Dream-meets-city-girls chaos in their wake.

Season 1 of The White Lotus focused on class; Season 2 was much more concerned with the balance of sex and power. But both seasons’ themes poignantly intersected in Mia (Beatrice Grannò) and Lucia’s (Simona Tabasco) storylines. While many of the season’s wealthy American tourists unraveled as their tropical fantasies turned nightmarish under the Italian sun, these two women were clear-eyed about their intentions and supported each other in getting what they wanted through transactional relationships with the resort’s staff and guests — and left some of those characters for the better while they were at it.

By the time the two swanned down the street in the season’s final shot, both had secured their respective bags. Aspiring singer Mia scored a cushy gig performing in the White Lotus’ lounge, while Lucia walked away with a cool €50,000 and all the luxe fits she got on someone else’s dime. The Suite Life of Mia and Lucia’s finale was a welcome contrast to the conclusion of The White Lotus Season 1, in which the privileged tourists left their Maui vacations fundamentally unchanged, while the working-class characters were treated as expendable — one ended up dead, another in jail, and the rest remained trapped in a grim cycle of class disparities. Given that Season 1’s commentary on Native Hawaiian tourist exploitation was written entirely by a white man (Mike White), some viewers understandably took issue with their uniformly bleak endings.

This time around, although White still wrote and directed every episode, things ended on a much sunnier note for all of The White Lotus’ working class. Thanks to Mia, buttoned-up hotel manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) grew more confident in her sexuality. It’s a transactional dynamic, sure, but Mia was genuinely empathetic about Valentina’s repressed feelings, and their time in the bedroom was the most tender sex scene of the whole season. (Side note: I would watch an entire White Lotus spinoff about Mia, Lucia, and Valentina hitting up Sicilian gay clubs, as Mia suggested in the Season 2 finale.) Mia’s helping Valentina also indirectly gave lobby lovebirds Isabella (Eleonora Romandini) and Rocco (Federico Ferrante) a happy ending as well.

Even many of the hotel’s guests were also impacted for the better thanks to these women, whether they intended to do so or not. Lucia may have scored money from the Di Grasso family by playing upon father-son duo Dominic (Michael Imperioli) and Albie’s (Adam DiMarco) insecurities, but hey! The whole situation forced them to speak more openly about their family issues, and encouraged Albie to aid in his parents’ possible reconciliation. Likewise, Mia and Lucia’s wild night with Ethan (Will Sharpe) and Cameron (Theo James) was messy, but when you think about it, it was the catalyst that eventually reignited the spark in Ethan and Harper’s relationship. It’s all about perspective, people.

The nuance and respect with which Mia and Lucia’s stories were treated was a refreshing change of pace in a landscape where fictional sex workers are still too often reduced to pitiable victims or scheming vixens. I mean, yes, the two resorted to ethically questionable means to get what they wanted. (Casually drugging a hotel piano player with MDMA instead of Viagra is definitely a no-no.) But after seven episodes full of back-stabbing and mind games among the hotel’s problematic clientele, Mia and Lucia’s friendship remained one of the healthiest, purest relationships of the entire show. There’s an uncomplicated warmth and camaraderie between them that’s hardly replicated among any of the more privileged characters, and despite their moral grayness, it’s easy to wind up rooting for them, evidenced by the overwhelming support for the characters online.

There’s no telling where an anthology series like The White Lotus will go next, or what sharp social satire will inspire White’s next tale of rich tourists behaving badly. But no matter what winds up happening, it’ll be hard to find an ending as satisfying as Mia and Lucia disappearing into a crowd together, arm in arm, with the entire audience in the palms of their hands.