Karmic Payment: Marriage, Sex, and Transactional Ethics in The White Lotus Season Two

While season one of HBO’s The White Lotus focused on the impact of wealthy exuberance and financial inequality, Mike White’s second season concentrates on representation of the human experience through transactional interactions, the entanglement of lives, and the individualistic pursuit of advantage exemplified by neoliberal ideology. Historically, scholarship has focused on reality television’s negative connection with neoliberal ideology. Recently, however, television more broadly has begun to critique the contemporary neoliberal political economy and offer alternative representations of the rising inequality around the globe. These representations now span all facets of humanity and cut across all demographics. Applying a neoliberal lens, this article examines season two of The White Lotus’ critique of the transactional nature of the modern world. Rather than a rebuke, however, the season presents a largely positive display of neoliberal ideology that places the emphasis on individuals for expanding their economic and social opportunities through transactional relationships.