Few actresses working today have perfected the deadpan, sarcastic, and ultimately judgmental line delivery in the way that Aubrey Plaza has. Plaza is doing some of her career-best work on The White Lotus as the often condescending and stuck-up lawyer Harper Spiller, who finds herself on the vacation from hell with people she can't stand and a husband she is quickly growing disinterested with.
Try as she might play nice with her fellow travelers, Harper cannot help but give in to her impulses to be patronizing and trash-talk them at every turn. And every time, Plaza delivers sarcastic, biting remarks with her signature flair.
"I'm A Snob? They're Snobs!"
Season 2, Episode 2
Through its deconstruction of class stereotypes, The White Lotus offers a biting commentary not just of the wealthy and clueless elites, but also of the more politically correct and socially conscious adults who look down their noses at them.
Harper spends almost her entire vacation judging her travel companions and how they live, looking down on them for not watching the news or caring about social causes. When her husband Ethan tells her she's a snob, she childishly and snarkily retorts, "I'm a snob? They're snobs!" Her lack of self-awareness in criticizing Daphne and Cameron's perceived lack of self-awareness makes the moment wonderfully meta and hilarious.
"I Was Just Trying To Say We Have A Good Relationship."
Season 2, Episode 2
Relationships are falling apart at an alarming pace throughout season two so far, but Harper and Ethan's previously strong marriage might be the one that really can't survive the current stress it is being put under. Even though Ethan is happy to just be on vacation and enjoy a nice trip in Sicily, Harper seems determined to spend the entire vacation competing with the Sullivans, even if it means harming her marriage in the process.
She constantly tries to prove that her and Ethan's bond is more real than Daphne and Cameron's, to Ethan's increasing frustration. As she passively-aggressively tells him, "I was just trying to say we have a good relationship, but I won't do that again." If she keeps it up, that good relationship won't exist anymore.
"We're All Entertaining Each Other While The World Burns."
Season 2, Episode 1
Other than the wealth their lines of work have brought them, the Spillers and Sullivans couldn't have less in common. They don't even agree on what they watch on television, with Harper passionately disavowing the Sullivans' love of wholesome but (in her eyes) inconsequential fare like the acclaimed comedy Ted Lasso.
"It's like we're all entertaining each other while the world burns," she darkly observes over breakfast in the first episode. Given her line of work and her passionate investment in political causes, it's perhaps natural that Harper would have a hard time turning off her brain long enough to enjoy the binge watches that someone like Daphne professes to love. But how she summarizes that behavior is just so bitingly sharp.
"I Was Just Tripping Out On Being A Woman."
Season 2, Episode 3
Gender dynamics are some of the most fascinating topics being analyzed and deconstructed in The White Lotus's second season, and naturally, Harper doesn't shy away from offering her own uniquely sarcastic and weird take on the matter.
While in Noto with Daphne, Harper describes what it felt like the last time she took an edible: "I think I was just tripping out on being a woman." Harper is constantly aware of the risk, largely due to her work in the legal field, and she thus likewise sees being a woman as a state of constant threat and stress, something she summarizes in a unique, trippy way.
"I Think We're Their Diverse Friends."
Season 2, Episode 1
While The White Lotus enjoys dissecting gender, sexuality, and class, the anthology series has never excelled in exploring issues of race. Season two pits the Spillers against the Sullivans, but of course, it's only Harper who comments on the matter of their differences in race.
While Daphne and Cameron are both white, Harper is Puerto Rican and Ethan is Japanese. When Ethan tries to assure Harper it's good to have "diverse" friends, speaking regarding Cameron and Daphne's interests, Harper snarkily points out, "I think we're their diverse friends. Their white-passing, diverse friends."
"I'm Like Basically Her Best Friend Now And I Barely Know Her."
Season 2, Episode 4
The relationship between Harper and Daphne is easily one of the season's most fascinating dynamics, offering an intriguing deconstruction of female friendship. These two women couldn't have less in common, but they are forced into an unwitting sisterhood of sorts due to their husbands' history and shared economic success. But even as they become quasi-friendly with one another, Harper cannot help herself as she tries to sabotage every point of potential connection.
"I'm like basically her best friend now, and I barely know her," she condescendingly tells Ethan when she returns from Noto. Even after only knowing Daphne for a few days and just beginning to get to know her, Harper has already deemed herself above her, breaking the trust Daphne had hoped they were developing.
"They Have A Twisted Relationship, And We Are Fine."
Season 2, Episode 4
Harper is so focused on her competitive nature that she truly cannot often see what is right in front of her. After she learns that she was (in her mind) vindicated in her belief that Daphne and Cameron's marriage is a sham, she gleefully gloats about her confirmed suspicions to Ethan, all while ignoring Ethan's downward spiral.
"They have a twisted relationship, and we are fine," she informs him with a judgmental laugh. "Compared to them? We are fine." She is so concerned with being superior and sarcastic in every conversation that, at least at first, she can't even see her marriage falling apart.
"I'm Gonna Be The Life Of The Party... From Now On."
Season 2, Episode 3
After spending the first two episodes butting heads with the Sullivans or judging them, and sometimes both at the same time, Harper begins the third episode of season two with a new resolve to try and play nice - even if she is faking it. The irony here, of course, is that she believes the Sullivans to be completely fake, so she is now stooping to their level without even acknowledging it.
"I'm gonna be the life of the party," she excitedly informs a disbelieving Ethan, before dryly adding, "From now on." Even in her attempts to seem friendly behind closed doors, Harper can't help but be less than genuine and less than convincingly excited.
"I Love Them! What? They're Our Good Friends!"
Season 2, Episode 3
As part of her charade to convince Daphne, Cameron, and Ethan alike that she can "play nice," Harper delivers one incredibly sarcastic line after another, featuring some of Aubrey Plaza's most deadpan acting in the entire series.
Even though Harper thinks she is a good judge of character, it's Ethan who understands the Sullivans the best, pointing out to her that "they'll know it's fake" if she overdoes it. Not backing down, however, Harper immediately launches into a sickeningly saccharine voice as she jokes, "I love them! What? They're our good friends!" Not even the wallpaper in the hotel room believed that one.
"I Feel Like We're LARPing As Rich People."
Season 2, Episode 2
At the heart of Harper and Ethan's storyline seems to be this profound truth: even though she now enjoys the trappings of wealth, Harper cannot make herself comfortable with it, while Ethan is all too happy to reap his newfound rewards.
There are many disconnects in their marriage, ranging from a lack of sexual compatibility to differing daily schedules, but this issue of worldview might be one of the breaking points in their marriage. "I feel like we're LARPing as rich people," Harper snidely observes in the second episode, something that Ethan does not agree with at all.