Valentina Was the Best Character in ‘The White Lotus’
The White Lotus threw everything imaginable at us in its sensational second season. There was suspense, class critique, sex, murder, sex, stunning locations, sex, humor, and did I mention sex? What’s helped enshrine the season as unforgettable peak TV is its incredible cast of characters. Understandably, icons like Harper (Aubrey Plaza), Cameron (Theo James), Portia (Hayley Lu Richardson), and the now-legendary Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) received a lot of attention from fans. But it’s another character that stole the show at every opportunity: the hotel manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), and she is the unsung hero of The White Lotus Season 2.
That may come as a surprise to those of us who have spent the season focused on the guests instead. But creator Mike White has prepared us for this. Some of the best characters in the first season of The White Lotus were the hotel staff, especially spa manager Belinda (Natasha Richardson) and Armond (Murray Bartlett), the hotel manager, who ended up dying by Season 1’s end. Thankfully, we’ve known all along that the same fate would not befall the wondrous Valentina; we saw her in Season 2’s first scene, a flash-forward, of her arriving at the hotel horrified to discover not just one death, but multiple.
Valentina proved right out of the gate that she’s a very different kind of manager than Armond. There’s no doubt she takes her job very seriously, but she lacks that Americanized version of hospitality, which involves bending to the will of any guest request. Valentina is far blunter and more resistant—though she will get the job done, to not risk her hotel’s sterling reputation. When she greets the new batch of guests, she tells Bert (F. Murray Abraham) that she’s surprised he’s made it, as “It’s a long trip from Los Angeles, and you’re quite old, no?” Bitchy, but with a warm, disarming smile. Perfection. Moments later, she pulls a similar thing with Cameron, whose bag didn’t arrive to the airport. She tells him that he should have flown via Munich instead, and her tone suggests that she thinks Cameron is a freaking moron who should have known better, which certainly takes him back a bit. It’s clear that Valentina is here to ensure the hotel’s guests have a life-changing experience, but she’s not going to bend over backward for them. She’s going to bend the appropriate amount, thank you very much!