This post contains spoilers for the season 2 finale of The White Lotus.
As a beloved character learned on Sunday's White Lotus season 2 finale, a weeklong getaway to Sicily is truly a trip to die for.
Fans of the HBO series were devastated to learn the fate of Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya after two seasons. Despite a boatload of social media theories, the climactic yacht massacre and Tanya's easily avoidable, accidental death as laid out by creator Mike White still managed to surprise.
The finale rejoined Tanya after Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his "high-end gays" threw the shipping heiress — whom they'd now dubbed "the new diva of Palermo" — a party at his palazzo in Palermo and hooked her up with Italian stallion/mafia scion Niccolò (Stefano Gianino).
Elsewhere, her assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) woke up in a hotel with Quentin's supposed — but hopefully not! — nephew Jack (Leo Woodall). After his drunken hints at Quentin's financial issues, Portia was immediately suspicious of Jack when she couldn't fine her phone.
Before leaving the palazzo, Quentin caught Tanya looking at the photo she found the night before, seemingly featuring him and her shady husband Greg (Jon Gries) as young men. Although she swore it looked just like Greg, Quentin made up a story about some guy named Steve. Skeptical but unable to uncover the truth just yet, Tanya headed to Quentin's boat with his friends to head back to Taormina.
Later over lunch, Portia confronted Jack once again over her missing phone, but he continued to deny stealing it. He then immediately left his own phone at the table, and Portia took the opportunity to call her boss.
Tanya was surprisingly able to get a signal on the yacht, giving Portia the opportunity fill Tanya in on Jack's revelation Quentin was on the brink of losing his family villa but was expecting a hefty sum of money to come his way soon. At this, Tanya also broke the news to Portia that she'd seen Jack having sex with his "uncle" Quentin. They both agreed they had a bad feeling about everything.
Tanya then told Portia about the photo of Quentin and Greg, suddenly realizing that their prenuptial agreement prevents her husband from getting any money if they divorce. But if she died, he would get it all. Meanwhile, she recalled, it had been Greg's idea to visit Sicily in the first place. Tanya told Portia to get back to the White Lotus so they could "get the f--- out of here."
After the yacht dropped anchor back in Taormina, Tanya looked for a way off the boat and back to safety, but Quentin insisted she stay for dinner, telling her she could catch a boat ride back to land with Niccolò after their last supper together.
En route to the resort, Portia abruptly confronted Jack about having sex with Quentin. He finally caved, telling her to "just leave it alone" and saying he was just doing his job by driving her back to Taormina as his "uncle" had asked.
Hours later, Jack dropped off Portia in Catania, closer to the airport. He urged her to forget about Tanya and fly back home to the U.S. on her flight the next day. "These people are powerful," he told her. "You don't want to f--- with them." Before he sped off, he tossed Portia's phone on the roadside next to her.
Back on the yacht, Tanya saw Niccolò fishing around in a mysterious bag during dinner and was antsier than ever not to hop into the dinghy of death with him. After another drink, she grabbed the bag and locked herself in a bedroom, discovering that it contained a serial killer kit: rope, duct tape and the gun he'd shown her the night before at the coked-up party in Quentin's villa.
Once the banging on the door began from outside cabin, Tanya panicked. She grabbed the gun and, when the door burst open, shot the gun. After killing Niccolò, she continued firing wildly, fatally shooting everyone aboard except one partygoer and the captain.
As Quentin lay bleeding on the ground, she asked whether Greg was cheating on her, but he couldn't answer, only muster one final, bloody sputter.
After her rampage, Tanya tried to jump into the boat to head to land, but she slipped on her chunky platform heels and hit her head on the dinghy's railing on the way down. Knocked unconscious, she drowned.
Her body was then revealed as the one that Daphne (Meghann Fahy) discovered in the first episode. Just off shore, the coast guard discovered the other bodies on the yacht.
Things came to a head for Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Ethan (Will Sharpe) as he accused her of having sex with Cameron (Theo James). She ultimately admitted to kissing him, but Ethan was convinced she was lying.
After storming across the beach and punching Cameron in an oceanic bro fight, Ethan took solace in a few words of wisdom from Daphne. She gave him a knowing look, and they headed off to Isola Bella where they may or may not have complicated the love quadrangle even further.
Despite an awkward last dinner, all was right with the young couples, with Ethan and Harper even getting in some vacation sex during their final night.
After a blissful night with Mia (Beatrice Grannò), White Lotus manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) let the aspiring singer take over permanently for Giuseppe (Federico Scribiani).
Although she appeared heartbroken to learn that Mia didn't want to pursue a relationship, they agreed to keep things casual and convenient — and Mia even offered her and fellow sex worker Lucia's (Simona Tabasco) services as Valentina's wingwomen to meet local lesbians.
Albie (Adam DiMarco) proposed Lucia move with him to Los Angeles and even convinced his dad Dominic (Michael Imperioli) to give him €50,000 as "karmic payment" so he could help her be free of her supposed pimp. To no one's surprise, Lucia cut and ran with the money, taking one last glance at Albie before she left him sleeping alone on his final morning.
But all wasn't lost — Albie ran into Portia at the airport. When he told her about the unidentified drowning victim and the yacht full of corpses, Portia got the drift of what had happened with Tanya. She commiserated vaguely with Albie about both getting played, and they swapped numbers. Kids!
Seasons 1 and 2 of The White Lotus are streaming in full on HBO Max.
