The White Lotus

The White Lotus (2021–2025) is an American television series produced by HBO about the exploits of various guests and employees of a luxury resort over the span of a week.

Armond: Here, self-disclosure is discouraged... You know, you don't wanna be too specific as a presence, as an identity. You wanna be more generic.

Lani: Generic?

Armond: Yes. You know, it's a Japanese ethos where we are asked to disappear behind our masks as pleasant interchangeable helpers. It's tropical kabuki. And the goal is to create for the guests an overall impression of vagueness that can be very satisfying, where they get everything they want but they don't even know what they want, or what day it is, or where they are, or who we are, or what the fuck is going on.

---

Armond: You have to treat these people like sensitive children. They always say it's about the money, but it's not. It's not even about the room. They just need to feel seen. Seen. They wanna be the only child. The special, chosen baby child of the hotel. And we are their mean mummies, denying them their Pineapple room.

---

Mark Mossbacher: You know, I think... it's like every kid... like, growing up, wants to be the hero of the story. And in the end... you know, you're just happy you're not the villain.

---

Olivia Mossbacher: Where'd you go to school?

Rachel Patton: SUNY Potsdam.

Paula: Hmm.

Rachel Patton: Uh, and then I... I moved to the city to change the world and make a name for myself and pay off my loans. All of which I have yet to do, so...

Olivia Mossbacher: Won't he pay off your loans?

Rachel Patton: [taken aback] Shane? I...

Paula: But he could?

Rachel Patton: Well, uh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, he could.

Paula: Yeah, of course, 'cause he's super rich.

Rachel Patton: Well, his family is wealthy compared to my family-I mean, compared to most families. Yeah.

---

Mark Mossbacher: Being a man, being a young man... in this time right now, can't be easy.

Quinn Mossbacher: Why? 'Cause we can't harass girls anymore?

Mark Mossbacher: No. Well, yeah.

Nicole Mossbacher: I just think it's funny that I'm a role model to strangers. But...

Olivia Mossbacher: But what?

Nicole Mossbacher: Most people admire people who achieve things, but you somehow look at it as if it's a personality disorder.

Olivia Mossbacher: Making shit happen all the time is a compulsion. It staves off feelings of emptiness. Or whatever. Ok, the real question is, what exactly are you getting done? Putin is an overachiever. He's impressive, also evil.

Mark Mossbacher: Liv, your mother is not Putin.

---

Rachel Patton: And I just sometimes feel like... I worry that his orbit is, is stronger than mine and that, like, I don't know, that like his gravitational pull is gonna like just suck me in and, um...

Nicole Mossbacher: Like you'll become a moon to his planet?

---

Belinda Lindsey: This is so nice. More than dinner, it's nice to get such positive feedback, you know? It's nice to know you're really making a difference 'cause sometimes, I question that.

Tanya McQuoid: Why would you ever question that?

Belinda Lindsey: Well, the clientele here is mostly rich white people, and to be honest, I struggle with that.

---

Belinda Lindsey: I do think that there's a purpose in helping even rich people, you know? Helping them to find healing, making them feel more present, more aware.

Tanya McQuoid: Yeah.

Belinda Lindsey: Because rich people, they're the ones that, you know... are fucking up the whole world.

Tanya McQuoid: Yeah. I mean, I know a lot of rich, white, fucked up people. They could really use you.

---

Mark Mossbacher: Never take anything for granted. It's also a reminder to look at things in a new way, and if you do, then, like, every day can be a new day, right? And if it is... it's like you're... you're always being born into life... like, all the time. You're not stuck... decaying or dying. Anyway, that's just what I was thinking about.

Olivia Mossbacher: Dad, what's wrong with you?

Nicole Mossbacher: Your father got some very upsetting news last night.

Olivia Mossbacher: He does have cancer?

Nicole Mossbacher: No. He doesn't have cancer. He found out something about his father that he never knew before.

Olivia Mossbacher: I'm listening.

Nicole Mossbacher: Your grandfather died of AIDS.

Paula: How did he get AIDS?

Nicole Mossbacher: Apparently, Paula, he was having sex with other men.

Quinn Mossbacher: Who was?

Nicole Mossbacher: Your dad's dad.

Quinn Mossbacher: Why?

Olivia Mossbacher: Because he liked it. Why else? He was probably closeted.

Paula: Or bisexual.

Olivia Mossbacher: Dad, why are you so upset, though? You're like catatonic.

Nicole Mossbacher: Well, it was a secret that was kept from him his entire life, Liv. So now, whatever image he had of his father, of his childhood, has been pulverized.

Olivia Mossbacher: You know, he was probably a bottom. That's how you mostly get it. Receiving. Dad, do you feel like your father was less of a man or something?

Paula: He might have not been gay. A lot of straight guys like ass-play.

Olivia Mossbacher: Yeah! Maybe he was just too embarrassed to ask Grandma to use a dildo on him.

Quinn Mossbacher: Oh, Jesus!

Mark Mossbacher: Can we not, please? Uh...

Olivia Mossbacher: Even if he wasn't a top, it doesn't mean he was femme. He could've still been butch, Dad.

Paula: Maybe he was a bossy bottom.

Olivia Mossbacher: Yeah, maybe Grandpa was a power bottom. [to her dad] Does that make you feel better?

Mark Mossbacher: No. That makes me wanna throw up.

---

Olivia Mossbacher: Dad, you don't wanna say that.

Nicole Mossbacher: Well, he can say whatever he wants. You know, if he's having a negative visceral reaction to his father having gay sex, it's valid. It's fine.

Olivia Mossbacher: Well, it comes off as homophobic.

Nicole Mossbacher: Well, it's not.

Olivia Mossbacher: Well, that's how it comes across.

Nicole Mossbacher: Well, luckily, he's in a safe space and he's here with our family so he can come off however he wants.

Olivia Mossbacher: Up to a point.

Nicole Mossbacher: Or what? You'll cancel him? Dox him? Sic the K-Pop fans on him?

---

Nicole Mossbacher: When you're young, sex is powerful and intoxicating. And as we mature, it gets demystified. You realize there are more important things to focus on.

Olivia Mossbacher: Like what? Zooming with China?

Nicole Mossbacher: Like holding onto whatever shreds of dignity you still have.

Olivia Mossbacher: That's so perverted.

---

Nicole Mossbacher: It's funny how you're able to have so much compassion for all these groups of oppressed peoples you don't even know, and yet not for your family.

Olivia Mossbacher: Yep, okay.

Nicole Mossbacher: Who actually know you and love you. Your generation's only sacred value. Biting the hand that feeds you.

Olivia Mossbacher: Whatever.

---

Mark Mossbacher: Are you gay?

Quinn Mossbacher: No.

Mark Mossbacher: Hey. 'Cause if you are, it's okay. Just, like, be real.

Quinn Mossbacher: I am being real.

Mark Mossbacher: What's real is... like, gay, straight, whatever, we're just monkeys, we're just fucking monkeys.

Quinn Mossbacher: Yeah?

Mark Mossbacher: Yeah. Yeah, we're just animals. I mean, you know, we wanna be, like... superheroes and respectable fathers and pillars in our communities, whatever, but, but in fact, we're just monkeys... living in our own little monkey pods, driven by base instincts to create these hierarchies and hump each other. I thought I knew my father, you know? I only knew the part that he wanted me to see. He hid the monkey, and that screwed me up, Quinn.

Quinn Mossbacher: You think that's what did it?

Mark Mossbacher: Yeah, definitely. Hey, I thought... My whole life, I thought I was the flawed child of an icon. Like, I put him on this, like, enormous pedestal. Meanwhile, like, he's off in some bathhouse on the DL, getting manhandled by some... like, random dudes. Wow. Oh, I wish I had known.

Quinn Mossbacher: I'm sorry.

Mark Mossbacher: Yeah. But I get it. I mean, you know, you don't want your kid thinking you're some sex-crazed lunatic.

Rachel Patton: But I, I really wanna get involved, and what I really... I wanna do something meaningful.

Kitty Patton: Oh, but those jobs are so awful, honey. They make no money.

Shane Patton: Yeah.

Rachel Patton: Yeah, but I don't need to make a lot of money.

Kitty Patton: But what's even the point? Those jobs are just asking wealthy people for their money. Your job would literally be to ask yourself for money. It's all about money. It's all about the money. The money, money, money.

Shane Patton: Money, money, money.

Kitty Patton: Money, money, money, money, money. And if you have money, then that's what you bring to the table. You don't need to work. You throw parties. And that's work. That's a lot of work. Trust me. Your wedding took years off my life. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. I loved every minute of it. And I cannot remember a thing. I don't remember anything. I'm not kidding. I don't remember anything. It's a blur.

---

Nicole Mossbacher: And what's your system of belief, Olivia? Not capitalism. Not socialism. So just cynicism?

Quinn Mossbacher: What does it matter what we think? If we think the right things or the wrong things? We all do the same shit. We're all still parasites on the Earth. There's no virtuous person when we're all eating the last fish and throwing all our plastic crap in the ocean.

---

Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, good news. I'm looking around the hotel, and it seems like all of the white, straight men are doing just fine. They're still thriving.

Nicole Mossbacher: Point taken. I just think it's funny that now it's okay to reduce everybody to their race and gender, but isn't that the kind of thinking that we've been fighting against all these years?

Mark Mossbacher: I agree. I mean, for years, I was the good guy, you know? I was the one in the room, saying, like, "Hey, that's not cool," to all the chauvinists and bigots. But now I'm the bad guy, or at least, I shouldn't say anything on account of my inherited traits. I mean, why do I need to prove my anti-racist bona fides? It seems wrong.

Paula: It's someone else's turn to eat.

Olivia Mossbacher: Yeah. It's not all about you, Dad. It's time to recenter the narrative.

Mark Mossbacher: That's fine by me. I don't wanna be the center of the narrative. Believe me. Let's center the narrative around, uh, Paula.

Olivia Mossbacher: Okay. Yeah. What do you know about her?

Mark Mossbacher: What do you mean?

Olivia Mossbacher: Do you know anything about Paula?

Mark Mossbacher: I know that she goes to college with you. And that she's a very intelligent and appealing young woman.

Olivia Mossbacher: But you've never really asked her one thing about herself.

Mark Mossbacher: Well, we're not on a job interview. We're on vacation. So... I mean, besides, what do- What does Paula know about me?

---

Nicole Mossbacher: Girls! All right, girls, let's get breakfast. The buffet is expensive, and we've already paid for it.

Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, Paula can't keep eating this much fruit.

Nicole Mossbacher: Why not?

Paula: I have fructose malabsorption.

Nicole Mossbacher: Oh, my God.

Olivia Mossbacher: She keeps getting diarrhea.

Paula: And cramps.

Nicole Mossbacher: Eat some meat, Paula. Eat a sausage. I don't know. Did Quinn sleep on the beach again last night? This is not okay. You've got to be more protective of your younger brother, Olivia. You can't just make him sleep on the beach where he can be washed away with the tides.

Paula: Yeah, Olivia, he could've been kidnapped by butt pirates.

Olivia Mossbacher: Or end up in a bukkake with a pod of dolphins.

---

Nicole Mossbacher: Hey, can I ask you girls a favor? Can you try to include Quinn a little bit more in your voodoo ceremonies and whatever else you do?

Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, he's scuba diving in the kiddie pool.

Nicole Mossbacher: No, I know, just in general. You know, I just... I don't think you appreciate how tough things are for kids like Quinn right now.

Olivia Mossbacher: Why? Because of the Asperger's?

Nicole Mossbacher: He doesn't have Asperger's, Olivia. But he is a straight, white, young man. And nobody has any sympathy for them right now. And I just feel like we should. Yeah, in a way, they're the underdogs now.

Paula: Go on.

Nicole Mossbacher: Well, for instance, young guys like Quinn, who are just getting out of college, I don't care how incredibly impressive they are, it is almost impossible for us to hire them.

Paula: Well, isn't that because up until now, they're the only people that you've ever hired?

Olivia Mossbacher: Yeah, don't you have enough of them on staff?

Nicole Mossbacher: Trust me, I get it. I'm just saying, I understand how guys like Quinn can feel a little alienated from the culture right now.

Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, cringe.

Nicole Mossbacher: And I don't think it's fair to him.

Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, cringe.

Nicole Mossbacher: Olivia, he's my son, okay?

Paula: I think he's gonna be okay, Nicole.

Nicole Mossbacher: Thank you, Paula.

Nicole Mossbacher: Paula, are you feeling better? Your migraine?

Paula: Yeah. Much better. Thanks.

Nicole Mossbacher: Is that why you couldn't stay for dinner last night?

Olivia Mossbacher: Paula was disturbed by the entertainment.

Nicole Mossbacher: The hula dancing?

Mark Mossbacher: Oh, you're, you're allergic to fire?

Olivia Mossbacher: It bothers her to watch Hawaiians have to dance for a bunch of white people.

Nicole Mossbacher: Oh. I think it's just a way for them to honor their culture. And they seemed to be having a really good time.

Mark Mossbacher: Look, obviously, imperialism was bad. Shouldn't kill people, steal their land, and then make them dance. Everybody knows that. But it's humanity. Welcome to history. Welcome to America. I mean, what are we gonna do, huh? Really. Nobody cedes their privilege. That's absurd. And it goes against human nature. We're all just trying to win the game of life. How are we, how are we gonna make it right? Hmm? Should we give away all our money? Would you like that, Liv? Hmm? Yeah, that's what I thought. Mm-hmm. Maybe we should just feel shitty about ourselves all the time for the crimes of the past? Wear a hair shirt and not go on vacation?

---

Nicole Mossbacher: Mark, your truth changes from minute to minute. You're up, you're down. One minute, you're dying. The next minute... it's a wonderful life.

Mark Mossbacher: Okay. Well, maybe I should be more like you then. But even if I could be some self-protective corporate robot out in the world, I still couldn't pull it off at home.

Nicole Mossbacher: Do you ever edit yourself at all? Even when you're apologizing, you're so insulting.

---

Tanya McQuoid: He seemed like a nice guy.

Belinda Lindsey: So what's the problem?

Tanya McQuoid: I just know I'm gonna get hurt.

Belinda Lindsey: I, I think you might be getting ahead of yourself a little, you know? Maybe he likes you.

Tanya McQuoid: Yeah. He likes the first layer. Maybe. I don't know. You know, he... But what about the second layer and the third layer? And then every step along the way, you know, I have to worry about, you know, is he gonna like the next layer, you know? And then I get all afraid, like, you know, how much do I wanna show him? You know, is he gonna be repulsed? Or is he gonna be alarmed? And at the core of the onion, Belinda... is just a straight-up alcoholic lunatic.

Belinda Lindsey: That, that's not true.

Tanya McQuoid: No, it is. It is. And I just wanna show my hand. I don't wanna play poker anymore. I just wanna skip all the layers, and just go straight to the crazy, and just like, you know, let the chips fall where they may. And, you know, just show him, just show him the core of the onion.

---

Kitty Patton: Shane's always been a catch. He's had so many girls just throw themselves at him over the years, but he chose you. And he seems happy. You make him very happy.

Rachel Patton: He makes me happy.

Kitty Patton: That's good.

Rachel Patton: It is.

Kitty Patton: He says, though, you haven't been very happy on the trip.

Rachel Patton: He said that?

Kitty Patton: He did. He just said you're having a little bit of an identity crisis. It's not a big deal. And of course, it makes sense. You know, when I married Don, I had my own money, my family money, and that gave me a, you know, a little more power in the relationship. No marriage is perfectly symmetrical, you know? One person might have more money, or is better looking, the other could have the bigger career, or maybe one has more friends or cachet. Do you know what I'm saying?

Rachel Patton: Not really.

Kitty Patton: I'm just saying you shouldn't feel insecure. A lot of great girls came and went, but you won. And there's a reason you're here and all those other girls are out of the picture, you know? So I just think you should feel great.

Rachel Patton: Yeah, but what is the reason? Like, why am I here? What do you mean?

Kitty Patton: Well, you're very magnetic, and you're so beautiful.

Rachel Patton: You're making me sound like a trophy wife.

Kitty Patton: Well, what's so wrong with that? A trophy shines. It's a source of pride. A trophy's made of gold. You know, it's not the worst.

Rachel Patton: Yeah, but that's not what I wanna be.

Kitty Patton: The most important thing is, Rachel, you make him happy. That's your secret power. So just keep making him happy. I know you will.

---

Tanya McQuoid: Both my parents mentally abused me and, and, and my mother still tortures me, and she's dead. And I still have her ashes. I carry them around. So now you see, that's the core of the onion. It's already... This is it. This is the core of the onion, and I don't want to... I want you to get out of here and save yourself because I'm just like a, I'm like a dead end, you know? This is a trap door. And I think you should get out. And I want you to take these things.

Greg Hunt: Whoa.

Tanya McQuoid: I want you to take 'em. I want you to get out of here now!

Greg Hunt: The f... I'm not gonna take your dead mother's ashes.

Tanya McQuoid: I want you to get them out of here.

Greg Hunt: What the fuck am I supposed to do with them?

Tanya McQuoid: I don't know. Put them in the trunk of your car. Just get them out of here. You can put them in a trashcan.

Greg Hunt: You're fucking crazy.

Tanya McQuoid: It's who I am. And I... There's nothing I can do about it. Please get out. Please. Get out. Greg, I told you to get the fuck out.

Greg Hunt: No. I still wanna fuck you.

Tanya McQuoid: Really?

Greg Hunt: Yeah. Come here, crazy. Come on.

Tanya McQuoid: Okay.

Greg Hunt: You're not really cuckoo.

[Rachel has just told Shane she made a mistake by marrying him]

Shane Patton: After I've wined you and dined you and asked you to marry me, and then made you the center of my life, it's just nice to know you're not pissed.

Rachel Patton: Shane, this is about me. I'm not okay with being a trophy wife, an appendage like all these other women in your world.

Shane Patton: Okay, so you're pretty and that's part of the appeal for me, and what, that bothers you?

Rachel Patton: I just need to respect myself.

Shane Patton: I gotta hand it to you. Ah- You-You hid yourself really well, Rachel. I mean, this whole time, I bought that you were this cool chick who was fun and confident and normal. And I had no idea that you were this insecure, naïve baby.

Rachel Patton: You're the baby, Shane. Coddled by your mommy, who showed up on your honeymoon. You don't get the room you want, so you throw a never-ending tantrum. I genuinely cannot believe what a baby-man you can be.

---

Paula: I just- You won't understand.

Olivia Mossbacher: Yes, I will. I'm not my parents, Paula.

Paula: But you are. Actually, you are. And you think you're like this rebel, but in the end... this is your tribe. Your family, the people here.

Olivia Mossbacher: That's really manipulative, Paula. You're the one who stole, yet I'm the bad guy?

Paula: Don't give me that. You've stolen, too.

Olivia Mossbacher: [exasperated] What did I steal?

Paula: Well, I guess it's not stealing when you think everything's already yours. Just stop pretending to be my friend. I'm just some prop you use for some weird cred.

Olivia Mossbacher: Whatever you did, Paula, it was really fucked up. My mom could've gotten really hurt. Something bad could've happened.

Paula: Something bad did happen.

---

[Shane is on the phone complaining to hotel staff about the feces found in his suitcase]

Shane Patton: Yeah, I'm in the Pineapple Suite, and there's a fucking turd in my room! [pause] Somebody got in here and took a shit. Not in the toilet. In my luggage. On my clothes! [pause] What the fuck? No, it isn't anyone in my party. It wasn't me, and my wife doesn't shit on the goddamn *floor*!

---

Tanya McQuoid: Anyway, we're gonna be leaving early, and I, I really just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss you. Belinda, you're an amazing person. You are. I mean, you've helped me so much. I was a mess. I showed up here, and, and somehow, you were able to just jumpstart my life again. And I don't think I'm ever gonna be functional. But I do think that now, I'll be able to break some old patterns.

Belinda Lindsey: Definitely.

Tanya McQuoid: Anyway, about the business... I really need to think about it. I mean, you're so talented and I so wanna do this for you, but I'm realizing I'm getting back into this pattern again where I latch on to somebody and then I use my money to control them and see, right now, the, the last thing I need in my life is another transactional relationship. You know, it's just, it's not healthy for me, you know? Anyway, I really, I want you to know how grateful I am and I want you to have this. Here. I'm gonna call you.

---

Greg Hunt: There's something you should know. I've had some health issues.

Tanya McQuoid: Like what?

Greg Hunt: It's no big deal. It's nothing. It's just... Don't be surprised if I suddenly just drop dead. Death doesn't have to spoil everything, right? Enjoy your life till they drop the curtain.

Tanya McQuoid: Well... I've had every kind of treatment over the years. Death... is the last immersive experience I haven't tried.

Albie Di Grasso: God. It just seems like the body would naturally stop getting horny once you're past the age of procreation, you know? Like at 50, you would just stop.

Dominic Di Grasso: Fifty? Fifty's not that old.

Albie Di Grasso: It just seems undignified.

Bert Di Grasso: I'm still virile, by the way. I could still impregnate a woman.

Dominic Di Grasso: Oh.

Albie Di Grasso: No girl should have to be exposed to an old guy's junk.

Bert Di Grasso: It's not like it was ever so beautiful to look at anyway. I mean, it's a penis. It's not a sunset.

---

Rocco: One of the guests has drowned.

Valentina: What? It's fine, the ocean is not hotel property. We can't be liable for what happens in the Ionian sea!

---

Ethan Spiller: Hey, what is with these head things? We keep seeing them everywhere.

Rocco: Testa di Moro.

Ethan Spiller: Testa di Moro?

Rocco: Yeah. Well, the story is a Moor came here a long time ago and seduced a local girl. But then she found out that he had a wife and children back home. So, because he lied to her, she cut his head off.

Ethan Spiller: Oh.

Cameron Sullivan: Jesus.

Ethan Spiller: So if you put one of those outside of your house, what are you saying?

Cameron Sullivan: If you come into my house, don't fuck my wife.

Daphne Sullivan: It's a warning to husbands, babe. Screw around and you'll end up buried in the garden.

---

Cameron Sullivan: Why? Why can't you sleep?

Daphne Sullivan: Just, like work stuff?

Harper Spiller: Yeah, but also just... I don't know, just everything that's going on... in the world.

Daphne Sullivan: What do you mean? What's going on?

Harper Spiller: Oh, I don't know. Just, like, the end of the world.

Daphne Sullivan: Oh. No, Harper!

Cameron Sullivan: Oh, come on!

Daphne Sullivan: The world's not ending, it's not that bad. Honestly, Cam and I don't even watch the news anymore.

Cameron Sullivan: Yeah.

Ethan Spiller: You don't follow the news?

Daphne Sullivan: No.

Ethan Spiller: What?

Cameron Sullivan: Like, I'm just so over the whole news cycle, you know? It's... it's like, gimme a break.

Daphne Sullivan: They're just trying to freak everybody out.

Cameron Sullivan: Yeah. They're just polarizing society by making us glued to their apocalyptic soap opera, you know? It's like...

Daphne Sullivan: Yeah. And even if it was as bad as they say it is, I mean what can you really do, you know?

Cameron Sullivan: Right.

Daphne Sullivan: We vote, we donate money. You can't obsess.

---

Ethan Spiller: So much content now. It's like there's billions of shows, everyone's trying to keep up. It's kinda suffocating, honestly. Yeah.

Harper Spiller: Too much. It's too much. It's like we're all entertaining each other while the world burns, right?

Ethan Spiller: We're all just zombies, you know, like...

Harper Spiller: Hmm.

Daphne Sullivan: I love a binge.

Harper Spiller: What's with the boner?

Ethan Spiller: Yeah, fair question. Uh, I was jerking off.

Harper Spiller: Why?

Ethan Spiller: Um, I don't know, endorphins? You know I sometimes get horny after I run.

Harper Spiller: Well, couldn't you have just waited till I got back to the room? I was only gone 15 minutes. All I had was a croissant.

Ethan Spiller: You don't like morning sex.

---

Portia: Like, I just wanna... [chuckles] I don't know, feel, like, fulfilled and have an adventure, and, like, I'm sick of fucking TikTok and... and Bumble, and just... screens and apps and sitting there binging Netflix. And I just... I just wanna, like, live. I just wanna live my life, so badly. [chuckles] I just feel like I just wanna meet someone who's like, you know, totally ignorant of... the discourse. You know?

Albie Di Grasso: Right. Right. Like... Like someone who lives in a cave. Like a caveman.

Portia: Yeah, uh, yeah, I would date a caveman at this point. Yeah.

Albie Di Grasso: I mean... I think you could aim higher. Honestly, I think you can do better than a caveman.

Portia: I think I just need to... I don't know, like, up my meds or something.

---

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Oh, God. This is such a beautiful view. I wonder if anyone's ever jumped from here.

---

Bert Di Grasso: Your mistake was being sloppy.

Dominic Di Grasso: What are we talking about?

Bert Di Grasso: That's what's unforgivable. A man does what he has to do. But you keep it tight. If you're sloppy, it's like you're rubbing her face in it. Bad form.

Dominic Di Grasso: Thanks for the tip. You know, I don't think you were as discreet as you think you were regarding your own affairs.

Bert Di Grasso: Affairs. They weren't affairs, they were nothing. They were peccadilloes.

---

Harper Spiller: Do you want to suck on my tits, jerk off on my face, or something? Fuck around?

Daphne Sullivan: I'd hate to be a man, honestly. It'd just be so lonely. I mean, they're so competitive. It's like, can they even be friends with each other? [inhales] Cameron and I went on a safari and, um, on safari, you see all these pods of elephants and they're all, like, bathing in the river and playing with each other and it's so sweet. But it's just the moms and the babies. Because when the boy elephants get too big, they kick them out of the pod. And then the bull elephant has to, like, wander through the jungle by himself for the rest of his life. I feel sorry for men, you know. It's like... they think they're out there doing something really important. but really they're just wandering alone.

---

Bert Di Grasso: They used to respect the old. Now we're just reminders of an offensive past everybody wants to forget.

---

Portia: I just feel like there must have been a time when the world had more. You know? Like... mystery or... or something, and now you come somewhere like this and it's beautiful and you take a picture, and then you realize that everybody's taken that exact same picture from that exact same spot. You just made some redundant content, for stupid Instagram.

Albie Di Grasso: Yeah.

Portia: And you can't even get lost anymore 'cause you can just find yourself on Google Maps.

---

Bert Di Grasso: They own a house where they shot the best American movie ever made.

Albie Di Grasso: No, it's not.

Bert Di Grasso: No? Why not? I think so.

Albie Di Grasso: Well, yeah, I mean, you would.

Bert Di Grasso: All right, what's that supposed to mean?

Albie Di Grasso: It's because you're nostalgic for the solid days of the patriarchy.

Dominic Di Grasso: They're undeniably great movies.

Albie Di Grasso: Men love The Godfather because they feel emasculated by modern society. It's a fantasy about a time when they could go out and solve all their problems with violence and sleep with every woman... And then come home to their wife who doesn't ask them any questions and makes them pasta.

Bert Di Grasso: Hey, hey, hey. It's a normal male fantasy.

Albie Di Grasso: No, movies like that socialize men into having that fantasy.

Dominic Di Grasso: Movies like that exist because men already do have that fantasy. We're hard-wired.

Bert Di Grasso: Mm. Comes with the testosterone.

Albie Di Grasso: No. Gender is a construct. It's created.

Bert Di Grasso: You spent all that money on Stanford, he comes back brainwashed.

---

Cameron Sullivan: But you've been brainwashed into thinking that, man. It's very bourgeois. Dude, monogamy was an idea... created by the elite to control the middle class. Meanwhile, all the priests were fucking the altar boys and the aristocrats were fucking everything that moves. Same now as it ever was. And the most ambitious guys? They're always the horniest. Like you and me, baby. And of course, women are attracted to that. But then, if you don't make their dreams come true, they make you suffer. That's why it's safer to stick with whores.

Quentin: You're just here with your assistant, right?

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: No, I actually came here with my husband, but he left.

Quentin: He left you alone in Sicily?

[Tanya nods]

Quentin: Why would he leave you?

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: It's a long story.

Quentin: No, we have all day. Tell me everything, from the beginning.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Well, I was born in San Francisco...

Quentin: Oh, the very beginning, alright.

---

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: So you see, it's just been a series of .. very bad decisions.

Quentin: No. you've had very bad luck.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: I know, I know.

Quentin: You're like the.. heroine of your own Italian opera.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Does that mean I'm doomed?

Quentin: No. Of course it doesn't. You're too fabulous to be sad. Look where you are. Drink your rose. Best thing about luck is it can always change.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Do you really believe that?

Quentin: No.

---

Jack: I put on fresh underwear for ya.

Portia: Why? Did you shit your pants?

---

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: If you're looking for a friend, gay guys are really the best. Because, let's face it, women are kinda... depressing.

Portia: Oh. You think?

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Yeah. I think most women are drips. But it's not their fault. Yeah. They have a lot to be depressed about. But you know, they are not fun. These gay guys are fun.

---

Mia: Why is it always men who have the power?

Giuseppe: If we didn't, pretty girls like you wouldn't get to skip to the front of the line.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: These are some high-end gays.

---

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Oh, it's a good feeling when you realize that someone has money. 'Cause then you don't have to worry about them wanting yours.

---

Ethan Spiller: Cameron would always sleep with the girls that I liked, but before I could get to them. If I ever told him that I liked a girl, he would swoop in and have sex with them within a week.

Daphne Sullivan: Cameron. Rude.

Ethan Spiller: You have a bad case of something called mimetic desire.

Daphne Sullivan: What's that?

Ethan Spiller: If someone with higher status than you wants something, it means it's more likely that you'll want it, too.

Cameron Sullivan: You did not have higher status than me.

Ethan Spiller: Not then, maybe. I mean, I was smarter than you. Maybe you thought that fucking women I had a connection with would make you smarter.

---

Bert Di Grasso: You can't really be surprised, can you?

Dominic Di Grasso: By what?

Bert Di Grasso: Well, that he's running around with an escort.

Dominic Di Grasso: What do you mean?

Bert Di Grasso: You've normalized it for him.

Dominic Di Grasso: Right, like you normalized it for me.

Bert Di Grasso: Oh, I never ran around with hookers.

Dominic Di Grasso: I don't run around with hookers either.

Bert Di Grasso: Dom. Didn't you run around with that exact hooker? You gave her the key to my room.

Dominic Di Grasso: You know the reason I am the way I am is because of you.

Bert Di Grasso: You're blaming me for your situation? That's rich.

Dominic Di Grasso: Do you think you were so discrete? Do you? I mean, how many nights did I hear Mom cry herself to sleep? Get real. Everybody knew, Dad. Everybody knew. Everybody knew.

Bert Di Grasso: We had a great marriage.

Dominic Di Grasso: Oh, my God. You are deluded. You made her life hell my entire childhood. Do you have amnesia?

Bert Di Grasso: If I made her life hell, why'd she stay with me?

Dominic Di Grasso: I have no idea. She didn't know any better. She was a martyr. I don't know.

Bert Di Grasso: She loved me.

Dominic Di Grasso: She was a bitter woman. And she died a bitter woman, and she knew about everything you did. Believe me. You were just too self-involved to even notice that. Yeah, and you know what, I... I don't blame you for my situation, but I sure fucking could. Because you never... showed me how to love a woman. You never... showed me how to be intimate. You never showed me how to put others first. You always put yourself first. Always. So I did the same thing.

Bert Di Grasso: I loved your mother. And she loved me.

Dominic Di Grasso: It's not that simple.

Bert Di Grasso: Yes, it is.

---

Quentin: Other than the cowboy, love's never been my Achilles heel. It was always beauty.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Hm. I live for beauty.

Quentin: I know you do.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: I do.

Quentin: I'd also die for beauty. Wouldn't you? A world without beauty... is not a world I want to live in.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Well... you couldn't ask for a more beautiful world... than this.

Quentin: Here's to beauty.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: To beauty.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Portia. When I see you, I... I see a younger version of me. You know, when I was a little girl, my mother used to dress me up like a little doll. And I was always a little doll, waiting for someone to play with me. You know, when you're empty inside and you have no direction, you'll end up in some crazy places, right? But you'll still be lost.

Portia: What are you trying to say? Like...

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Get your shit together, Portia.

---

Bert Di Grasso: You always think there's gonna be a homecoming. The embrace of a woman... who tells you you've done all right. Well, there is no homecoming. Not for me, not anymore.

---

Jack: What are some of your goals?

Portia: I don't know. Be satisfied? Yeah, that'd be nice.

Jack: I think you just gotta live every day as it comes, do you know what I mean? Like, that's what I'd do anyway. Who knows if we're even gonna be here tomorrow?

Portia: Yeah. That's very true. The world's a fucked-up place. So...

Jack: What's wrong with it?

Portia: Are you joking?

Jack: Pretty fucking good world, I'd say.

Portia: Literally everything's falling apart.

Jack: You'd rather live in the Middle Ages then, would ya? When they were ripping each other to shreds, yeah? They were way worse than ISIS or any of them lot. Like, it's a fucking miracle anyone's even left in Europe. All we've been doing is just fuckin' hacking each other to bits and burning each other at the stake. I'm ready for another beer. All I'm saying is, right, we're fucking lucky, do you know what I mean? Like, we're living in the... best time in the history of the world, on the best fucking planet. If you can't be satisfied living now, here... you're never gonna be satisfied. So, let's get pissed, eh?

---

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Well, what does he do for a living?

Quentin: Oh, this and that. Niccolò may or may not have ties to a very influential local family.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Oh, he joined the mafia?

Quentin: Did I say that? I didn't say that. We don't use that word in Palermo.

---

Dominic Di Grasso: No wonder they all left. Who would I have been if I lived here?

Bert Di Grasso: You wouldn't have lived here, you would've left. There are people who stay and there are people who leave.

Dominic Di Grasso: And I'm someone who leaves?

Bert Di Grasso: Hmm, 'cause you got wanderlust. You get that from me.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: [speaking frantically to the boat skipper] I know it sounds crazy, but my husband, he knows Quentin. See, he brought me to Sicily and then he left, so he could have an alibi. And then these gays, they take me off to Palermo and then they set me up with this guy who's in the mafia and he's coming here I... I think to try to throw me off the boat. They're going to do Greg's dirty work for him because he's gonna pay them with my money so they can decorate their houses or some shit. I may... may be paranoid, but I need you to drive me in the boat, drive the boat to the shore. Please? These gays, they're trying to murder me!

---

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Listen, Portia, I know you really like him, but... the other night I was walking around the villa and... well, I saw Jack and his uncle and, you know, they were like -- they were, like, naked and stuff like that.

Portia: They were naked? Doing what?

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt: Well... he was kinda fucking his uncle.

---

Daphne Sullivan: [to Ethan, after he told her about Cameron and Harper] I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[Ethan gives a confused look]

Daphne Sullivan: I mean, we never really know what goes on in people's minds or what they do, right? You spend every second with somebody and there's still this part that's a mystery. You know? You don't have to know everything to love someone. A little mystery? It's kinda sexy.

[Ethan cracks a smile]

Daphne Sullivan: I'm a mystery to myself. Honestly, I surprise myself all the time. I think you just... you just... do whatever you have to do not to feel like a victim of life. You know? Just use your imagination.

---

Cameron Sullivan: When did the world become run by nuns? I mean, you're not even supposed to succeed anymore, right? 'Cause if you succeed, oh shit, you might make someone else feel bad. You might cause harm to all the sad losers in the world.

Harper Spiller: You're an idiot.

---

Dominic Di Grasso: You're just gonna go through life trying to rescue every desperate girl you come across?

Albie Di Grasso: Maybe. Yeah.

Dominic Di Grasso: Well, good luck with that. Don't expect me to subsidize.

Albie Di Grasso: Think of it as a karmic payment.

Dominic Di Grasso: A karmic payment?

Albie Di Grasso: Yeah.

Dominic Di Grasso: For what?

Albie Di Grasso: For all the shit you've done.

Victoria: I don't even have my lorazepam, I'm going to have to drink myself to sleep!

Victoria: I'm praying, for Piper to be miserable in that temple tonight. Maybe Jesus will save her from those Buddhists.

Victoria: We're lucky. It's true. No one in the history of the world has lived better than we have. Even the old kings and queens. The least we can do, is enjoy it. If we don't, it's offensive. It's an offense to all the billions of people who can only dream that one day they could live like we do.