But for my money, 2022’s greatest ode to infidelity could be found in season two of The White Lotus, where we all spent time getting to know the Polycule from Hell. Two married couples in Sicily are beset with fundamental relationship faultlines and deep-seated mutual resentment, what could go wrong? Ethan and Harper (Will Sharpe and Aubrey Plaza) are not in love anymore and possess necrotic, sub-zero chemistry. Cameron and Daphne (Theo James and Meghann Fahy) are in love, but only through a prism of cold-blooded deceit and sociopathic romantic hatred so incredibly toxic it makes Gone Girl look like The Brady Bunch. The only fragment of happiness any of them can find is when they all start sleeping with one another, which makes The White Lotus either the only overtly pro-cheating TV series ever laid to tape, or a deliciously opprobrious indictment of its central characters. I loved every second of it—the perfect show at the perfect time.
I do not mean to be too flippant here. Infidelity can destroy families and ruin lives. I have seen it with my own eyes, and there’s a good chance you have as well. The Good Morning America hosts, the fallen Try Guy, and Adam Levine are all navigating impossible breaches of trust, and I’m sure nobody involved in the scandals enjoys seeing all of the wreckage play out in headlines like these. However, I do think we’ve gotten a bit over our skis in the way we process a cheating scandal. The Try Guys edited Ned Fulmer out of their videos after he disgraced himself. You’d think that he was revealed to be the BTK Killer or something. Robach and Holmes have yet to be reinstated on ABC since the network suspended them pending an internal investigation—the two are still together, by the way—which is treatment usually reserved for creeps like Matt Lauer. The culture becomes so punchy and tender after years of ghastly indiscretions that we’re prepared to go nuclear on something that, whether we like it or not, happens all the time. Italian hotels, austere L.A. YouTube studios, the green room GMA3, it doesn’t matter. Love is sickeningly blind. How do you deal with a cheating scandal? I have no idea, but it’s probably best to start with an acknowledgement that it could be so much worse.
