10 Best TV Episodes Of 2021
3. The White Lotus - "Mysterious Monkeys"
Perhaps the best new show of 2021, Mike White’s White Lotus is a programme for our times, depicting with acidic glee the haves and have nots who luxuriate and work, respectively, at a Hawaiian resort.
The series is of a piece and to that end arguably the most satisfying instalment is the final one, but for bravura and spectacle, episode three, "Mysterious Monkeys", takes some beating Shane and Rachel’s romantic getaway, ruined by Tanya’s hysteria over spreading her mother’s ashes at sea, is cringe comedy at its best. Jennifer Coolidge delivers an incredibly funny monologue that could so easily have been overwritten, but instead sits just right.
We also see the continued downfall of manager Armond, who hits the bottle after years of sobriety, instantly switching from obsequious uber-server to lounge lizard and moustachioed creep. The scene shared by Murray Bartlett and Steve Zahn is comedy gold, with Armond a glorious comic creation.
This really is a series that requires relishing in full, but it never feels quite as tight and well put together, not to mention funny and weird, as it does here.