50/35
The exploits of several guests and staff at a luxury resort over the course of a week. HBO renewed the series for a second season, despite the show being intended as a one-season limited miniseries. The show is said to be an anthology-style series with new characters for each season. HBO has done this before (to great acclaim) with True Detective (2014). Featuring Jeremy Vine: Episode 4,175 (2021). While parts of the first season were cringe-worthy, this second season is as masterful as anyone could hope for. It starts off a little slow, the first episode, but it soon finds its feet and surprises me again and again, captivating me like I wasn’t particularly experienced. It feels like a review of every thought I’ve ever had about resort vacations, many of which I’d long since forgotten. For that alone it’s a joy, but don’t worry, the flirtation with operatic heights of drama and beauty is something very fitting given its Sicilian setting. Given the excellence of the acting and the seeming naturalness of the story, I’d say Mike White, the creator of this series, is something of an unsung genius. The guy seems to know no bounds, and also has some of the sharpest detail I’ve ever seen.
