Tamal Kundu
The second season of HBO’s ‘The White Lotus’ revolves around sexual politics. Set in Sicily, it follows tourists, locals, and the staff of the titular hotel over the course of a week. A flashforward scene at the start of the season implying multiple deaths sets the stage. Lucia (Simona Tabasco) and Mia (Beatrice Grannò) are two local sex workers who connect various stories together.
Following Lucia’s encounter with Albie (Adam DiMarco), the son of one of her former clients, the two grow close, even after Albie learns what Lucia does for a living. She claims she is afraid of her pimp, Alessio, and needs €50,000 to free herself from that life. Albie arranges the money by going to his father, only to discover that Lucia has scammed him. If that has made you wonder about who Alessio really is, here is what we know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
What Is Alessio’s Identity?
Many viewers might not have noticed this because Alessio only appears on the screen for a few seconds, but he is there in the first episode of the second season of ‘The White Lotus.’ The way he and Lucia interact with each other in that scene makes it seem that they are on friendly terms. But then, in episode 6, Lucia tells Albie that Alessio is her hostile pimp and that her life as a sex worker is miserable and tragic. She manages to be convincing enough to make Dominic and Bert, who are definitely not naive like Albie, feel sympathy for her.
The season finale reveals that Alessio and the man that accompanied him when he seemingly abducted Lucia are her friends. They are very much part of Lucia’s ploy to scam Albie. And it works out perfectly for them. Albie goes to his father and convinces him to give the €50,000, calling it a karmic payment for his indiscretions. Albie also promises that he will put in a good word to his mother about Dominic if he agrees to help, bartering access to his mother for a woman he barely knows.
In an interview with The Wrap, Grannò stated that Mia knew about the scam, adding, “she probably did that before. I think she uses Alessio for a lot of her games, because you see at the end, Alessio is our friend. I felt really sorry for Albie at the end. It’s just heartbreaking, Albie needed that.”
Asked if she thinks Mia will help in future schemes, Grannò responded, “They’re best friends, so they will always be there for each other no matter what. When you’re friends with someone you always say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ even if it’s wrong.”
Just like Mia dreams of becoming a singer, Lucia’s eyes are set on the fashion world. The €50,000 she gets from Albie will undoubtedly help her in this regard. The same thing is most likely true for Alessio and the other young as well. They can use their share of the money to pursue their dreams.
“I totally think that she’s playing a part — that she was not an escort before, that she is someone who has made a decision about what she wanted to do and found a way to make it happen,” Tabasco stated during her own interview with The Wrap. “So what she does is goes through life … and through the White Lotus, maybe in a sometimes clumsy, funny way of playing the part of Lucia, the sex worker, that’s just on a track to achieve her dream one way or another.”
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