LMGI COMPASS
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Summer 2023
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33
White House
Plumbers
The White Lotus
THE WHITE LOTUS
Season 2 HBO I Max
The guests and the employees of the fictional Sicilian
White Lotus resort deal with personal drama during what
is supposed to be a luxurious and relaxing island getaway.
The magnificent San Domenico Hotel in Taormina, situated
high on the rocks, is the story's center. With a stunningly
appointed interior, it offers resplendent views of the Ionian
Sea and Mount Etna that can be enjoyed from its veranda. A
one-day girls' trip takes the characters through the Baroque
architecture of Noto followed by a stay at the neoclassical
Villa Tasca in Palermo. All these fantastic places steeped in
the ambience of the Mediterranean lend themselves to the air
of high theater that pervades this contemporary comedy of
manners.
WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS
HBO I Max
Based on true events, the bungled Watergate burglary at the
offices of the Democratic National Committee in 1972 and
the subsequent cover-up that brought down President Nixon,
is depicted in broad satirical strokes using locations found
in NYC, Upstate NY, Washington, DC, and California. Period-
perfect ornate offices, lavish country clubs, and formidable
corridors that match the governmental power aesthetic mix
with the newer mid-century aesthetic of the era. A museum
in Newburgh, NY, is a dead ringer for the historic US Senate
Hearings that were famously broadcast following the break-
in, and the familiar Watergate building could only be played
in part by itself, inside and out, with an iconic wide shot
captured from the JFK Center for the Performing Arts.
