Fair point. I took her title and willingness to order around her coworkers as her having some sort of reputation that would have earned her the spot. She's also the one that spots the escorts first, when the other staff don't notice and the one of the first hotel responders to the original pianist's heart attack, and the one to be filled in about the dead bodies floating in the water. Clearly chain of command is very strong despite the fact she treats them like trash.

What I saw was a lonely woman who only had her work going for her, who gets progressively more creepy as her crush develops. I understand how others could see her as a more malicious character than that. I do appreciate that both managers from season 1 and 2 offered what they did with consenting parties though. Even though they both leveraged their position and the benefits they could give through work, it wasn't a situation of heinousness, more like transactional opportunity.

Also, everyone was obnoxious about Tanya lol. It's her whole character arc that she just doesn't understand how her sensitivities and personal asks imposes on literally everyone around her. Even the spa lady got tired of her.

I agree Armond was a much better hotel manager from the optics of the clientele, but that's why the robbery plot in season 1 was relevant. To a degree, the people working at the hotel (the native people) were oppressed and forced to serve the rich white clients that gave them their livelihood. While in Italy, none of that culture was present. The clientele and the staff weren't on such widely different planes of social class. The staff in Italy were allowed to flirt on the clock, whisper about clients, openly give disapproving looks to the clientele (when Albies dad signed the escorts in), and so forth. I think the show was very conscientious about the respective backgrounds of the resort locations and the people who naturally live and work there.

In my interpretation, she was clearly the hardworking manager with a stick up her ass always scrambling to have things perfect. She barked orders and didn't particularly care for anyone except the receptionist she had a crush on. She didn't openly identify herself as a lesbian because social stigma/cultural stigma especially with the higher place of authority she held in the hotel in a country with a terrible employment rate. The singer gave her an "out" from that feeling through offering to be her "girlfriend". She's repulsed by the fact these women chose to be escorts but she's not repulsed by the women themselves.

The receptionist was already taken and actively flirting with her fiance everyday at work so it's not surprising she didn't really notice her boss giving her gifts was pursuing her romantically. And after having sex with the singer, the manager quite happily lets the couple be. In my opinion, the manager never really made it obvious that she was pursuing her - women at work give eachother gifts all the time where I'm from.

Albie was a willing victim. He even said he had a thing for pretty, broken birds and wasn't even mad when he admitted he was played. He wanted the attention of a pretty woman but more than that he had a savior complex that showed up with both Lucia and the blonde. He pushed his father to get Lucia the money just as much to spite the father as to potentially "help" Lucia. He clearly states the money is nothing to his father. And they come from generational wealth which only compounds the idea.

With the hotel manager, it's not that no one could tell she was a lesbian, but that no one cared for her. No one looked her way. No one hits on her other than the singer, even though other women are continuously complimented. Her male coworkers thought she was a bitch. She is shown feeding cats during her spare time. Once again, it shows how people (especially socially anxious/reclusive people) easily fold and fawn when under the attention of someone beautiful.

I think another way to look at them is that they both had very clear and consistent motivations. 1) The singer just wanted to sing. Didn't matter what the consequences were, she just wanted to follow her dream. 2) Lucia clearly just wanted money. Ideally with kindness and fun times thrown in.

And White Lotus as a whole consistently tells a story about easy attractive people have it and of course, how money insulates you from consequence (until youre targeted because of that wealth). The main characters wife in season 1, the CEOs daughter in season 1, the escorts in this season - their youth and beauty are all mentioned time and time again, and the glimpse we have of their summer is spent at a top tier resort. No one was looking to nip their plots or even worry about their ulterior motives. They were given everything freely simply because they were beautiful.