Recentering

The White Lotus 1×4

Paula: And now you work for the same assholes that stole from you?
Kai: When my brothers found out that I took this job... they were so pissed. But I gotta make a living, you know?

Paula: She's tricky.
Kai: Isn't she your friend?
Paula: Yeah, she's my friend. As long as she has more of everything than I do. But if I have something of my own, she wants it.

Tanya MacQuoid: When I saw my mother's ashes hit the water, you know, I just, uh... It just reminded me of... of, you know, sprinkling fish food in an aquarium. And I was just like, "Oh, my God," you know? Am I feeding my mother to the fishes? You know? And is that what she would've wanted?...

Nicole Mossbacher: I don't think you appreciate how tough things are for kids like Quinn right now.
Olivia Mossbacher: Why? Because of the Asperger's?
Nicole Mossbacher: He doesn't have Asperger's, Olivia. But he is a straight, white, young man. And nobody has any sympathy for them right now. And I just feel like we should. Yeah, in a way, they're the underdogs now.
Paula: Go on.
Nicole Mossbacher: Well, for instance, young guys like Quinn, who are just getting out of college, I don't care how incredibly impressive they are, it is almost impossible for us to hire them.
Paula: Well, isn't that because up until now, they're the only people that you've ever hired?
Olivia Mossbacher: Yeah, don't you have enough of them on staff?
Nicole Mossbacher: Trust me, I get it. I'm just saying, I understand how guys like Quinn can feel a little alienated from the culture right now.
Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, cringe.
Nicole Mossbacher: And I don't think it's fair to him.
Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, cringe.
Nicole Mossbacher: Olivia, he's my son, okay?
Paula: I think he's gonna be okay, Nicole.
Nicole Mossbacher: Thank you, Paula.
Paula: .....
Olivia Mossbacher: Okay. Paula's meds are missing. And so we need to go find them. It's urgent.
Nicole Mossbacher: She's not gonna have like a seizure or something?
Paula: If I keep sitting here.

Mark Mossbacher: Buddy, Quinn, yesterday... I think I said some things that I probably shouldn't have.
Quinn Mossbacher: Like what?
Mark Mossbacher: Well... I don't really remember exactly what I said, so...
Quinn Mossbacher: You said having sex with mom was like eating a plate of live worms.

Mark Mossbacher: Quinn, look, okay, that's not because of your mother. Your mother is beautiful. Like, I'm lucky. I mean, the truth is... Do you wanna know the truth?

Mark Mossbacher: Man... in the moment... you're like this... You're a monkey. Like possessed. You'd do anything to get your rocks off. And then, later, you regret it. And you do regret it.

Mark Mossbacher: There's the man, and there's the monkey. And somehow, you gotta be man enough to face down the monkey.

Olivia Mossbacher: Mom, good news. I'm looking around the hotel, and it seems like all of the white, straight men are doing just fine. They're still thriving.
Nicole Mossbacher: Point taken. I just think it's funny that now it's okay to reduce everybody to their race and gender, but isn't that the kind of thinking that we've been fighting against all these years?...
Mark Mossbacher: I agree. I mean, for years, I was the good guy, you know? I was the one in the room, saying, like, "Hey, that's not cool," to all the chauvinists and bigots. But now I'm the bad guy, or at least, I shouldn't say anything on account of my inherited traits. I mean, why do I need to prove my anti-racist bona fides? It seems wrong.
Paula: It's someone else's turn to eat.
Olivia Mossbacher: Yeah. It's not all about you, Dad. It's time to recenter the narrative.
Mark Mossbacher: That's fine by me. I don't wanna be the center of the narrative. Believe me. Let's center the narrative around, uh, Paula.

Olivia Mossbacher: Okay. What do you know about her?
Mark Mossbacher: What do you mean?
Olivia Mossbacher: Do you know anything about Paula?
Mark Mossbacher: I know that she goes to college with you. And that she's a very intelligent and appealing young woman.
Olivia Mossbacher: But you've never really asked her one thing about herself.
Mark Mossbacher: Well, we're not on a job interview. We're on vacation. So... I mean, besides, what do-- What does Paula know about me?
Paula: Your balls are swollen.

Mark Mossbacher: It goes both ways. I mean, when has Paula ever asked me a question?
Paula: I could ask you a question.
Mark Mossbacher: Okay. Cool. Shoot.
Paula: What do I stand for?
Mark Mossbacher: What do you stand for?

Rachel Patton: I really wanna get a job.
Kitty Patton: No. Why would you do that? Honey, no. Why would you wanna do that? That doesn't make any sense.
Shane Patton: Uh-uh.
Kitty Patton: You don't need to do that. Why--
Rachel Patton: What do you mean? Why not?
Kitty Patton: Well, it's just limiting. You can do so much more by being on boards and hosting events... things like that. And the good part is, you don't have to answer to anybody.

Tanya MacQuoid: What was the thing that made you wanna dedicate your whole life to activism? Was it one incident that was especially brutal?
Greg Hunt: I-- I don't understand. What do you mean, "activism"?
Tanya MacQuoid: Yeah. Black Lives Matter.
Greg Hunt: Black Lives Matter? I'm not... I'm not involved in that.
Tanya MacQuoid: You're not?
Greg Hunt: No.
Tanya MacQuoid: Because you-- Yeah, you said BLM.
Greg Hunt: Yeah. That's the Bureau of Land Management. I have like 300 rangers across ten states that report to me.

Mark Mossbacher: See, this is the same old tribal thinking, replacing the old hierarchy with a new one. It's like...
Nicole Mossbacher: My feeling is most of these activists, they don't really wanna dismantle the systems of economic exploitation, not the ones that benefit them, which are all global, by the way. They just want a better seat at the table of tyranny.
Olivia Mossbacher: Hmm, no, that's just you, Mom.
Nicole Mossbacher: And what's your system of belief, Olivia? Not capitalism. Not socialism. So just cynicism?

Quinn Mossbacher: What does it matter what we think? If we think the right things or the wrong things? We all do the same shit. We're all still parasites on the Earth. There's no virtuous person when we're all eating the last fish and throwing all our plastic crap in the ocean. Like a billion animals died in Australia during the fires. A billion. Where does all the pain go?

Armond: Listen. I'm obsessed with you. I wanna get you naked.

Rachel Patton: Shane, wait-- what-- we're in the middle of a fight!
Shane Patton: We have the rest of our lives to fight.

Olivia Mossbacher: Why'd you leave?
Paula: Watching all the Hawaiians have to dance for all these white people that stole their islands... it's depressing.
Olivia Mossbacher: I'm sorry my family's so defective. I'm not like them. I'm your friend.

Shane Patton: Dude's going down. You are fucked now, bro.

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