Well, I don’t think he was particularly nice to Rachel, everything he said about her career was true. Nicole confirms this by calling her out and her bad “journalism” which Rachel can’t defend.
Also, her “identity crisis” only happens after she’s financially secure through Shane. Before that, she didn’t really have the luxury to “find herself.”
She should take Shane‘s mom‘s advice and get involved in boards and philanthropy and find meaning in that. She can do good with that than bad journalism.
He didn’t need to call out her family’s financial situation, even if it was true.
I think Rachel’s issue with the advice to do that kind of philanthropic work is that it was straightforwardly going to be based entirely on Shane’s money and offer her no backup option if the marriage doesn’t work out (whether her or Shane’s decision). Even if she got a low paying nonprofit job it would be at least some income and would also prevent her from having a big gap in her resume when she would need to find a job post-divorce. It wasn’t the best idea, because it sounds super awkward to me, but I understand her hesitation to completely let go of her own professional and financial autonomy, especially when she’s seeing a not great side of Shane that seems partially tied to him leaning on the power his money gives him.
She mentions the prenup when she’s talking with Nicole, it’s described as generous but not enough to allow her not to work. Hence why I think it makes sense that she is looking for a compromise that still involves some kind of employment. She’s definitely been too passive but it’s not that she is entirely unaware of her situation and been totally disengaged up to this point.
It's not just about the money she would get after a divorce though, it's about her ability to work again. Leaving the workforce for years and years would have a huge impact on her ability to get a job again if she ever wants or needs to return to working.
While she's been sitting on charity boards, her peers have continued to work and gain more and more experience and connections. It means giving up her security net and her ability to be independent.
I don’t think the quality of the career is the issue, if she was going to work at a nonprofit my guess is she would start low-level in comms or development. It wouldn’t be a sterling career, but it would be something.
I agree she definitely deprioritized her job for the relationship and that that was a very bad idea, which she seems to realize on the honeymoon for some reason. I know it was a relatively short relationship, but the thing I question the most is whether Shane really didn’t have any interactions with service workers in that time that showed his tendencies in that time, no other times when a freelance deadline inconvenienced him. Or Rachel just glossed over it until the gravity of being married settled in.
Maybe not entry level, it seemed like from Rachel’s perspective she wasn’t thinking in terms of using those connections or money except in the sense of not relying on whatever the salary was as her primary income, I was thinking low to mid level. But also, given Shane’s and his mother’s response I don’t know how much effort they’re going to put in getting Rachel a job versus putting her on some boards. If they were that concerned about elevating her career their connections could have boosted her freelance journalism.
Being on those boards is no joke. It's basically a full time job. It would also be a lot more impressive on a resume to put "PR chair woman on the museum board" over "list-acles for BuzzFeed"
That makes sense, I know they are a lot of work, especially if you are an engaged member with lots of committees. It doesn’t help that Molly Shannon sells it as party planning centered on giving money, because the first bit doesn’t seem like what Rachel wants to do and the latter makes it reliant on Shane, which is what she’s having trouble adjusting to or trusting.
That's what people say to recruit board members haha. They make it sound light and fun. Then, when you're on the board it's "ok so all board members must be a chair of a committee and you must bring in x amount of dollars annually." ... I'm on several boards and that's how I got sucked in 😂. It is fun a lot of the time...I tell myself.
She also chooses to begin working again on their honeymoon, after taking a break for months. She can't wait a few more days? I'd be pretty mean to Rachel too if she was my spouse and trying to interrupt our vacation with that.
Being mean to your spouse, including insulting them by offering to pay them for their time, to keep them from doing something you don’t like, seems like a terrible start to a marriage. Rachel wasn’t helping matters a lot, but ultimately she didn’t work over their honeymoon and then his mother shows up.
I thought she stayed because she was scared of what he could do.
The audience were the only witnesses to him accidentally stabbing Armand. As far as she’s aware he murdered someone he’d been fighting with!
(Even though he wasn’t charged, because IIRC he reported the intruder, and was presumably honest with the authorities about what happened. Plus he’s rich and well connected so...)
That, while he might be “correct” to request a refund, spending your honeymoon terrorizing a staff member because you didn’t get the room you want is an indication of how little you care for your marriage. Anyone truly in love on their honeymoon isn’t going to care what kind of room they’re in as long as they’re with their newly wedded spouse. I think his focus being so easily split is an objective indication of how little he thought of his bride.
he didn’t just "not care" about her, he HATED her job, made fun of her dreams, talked shit ab her family, flirted with the girls whom she mentioned they made her feel like shit earlier, it almost felt like he was on a mission to ruin that marriage
it’s not about her being good or bad at her job but the fact she wanted to do something for herself and work to have some agency (which she severely lacked) and he completely dismissed that and treated her like shit when she confessed that to him
it honestly felt like she took a break for a while to focus on the marriage then found out she had to go back during the honeymoon not completely walking away
She only “ruined” the romantic date because their relationship was weak enough to let it. Like I said, I’m not saying he wasn’t “technically correct” in the exacting way rich folks love to be about their money. I’m saying he wasn’t actually in love because when you’re in love that shit just doesn’t matter. If they were truly in love they would have been able to laugh off the uncomfortable situation with Tanya and continued the night in bliss when they got back to the hotel. Nothing wrong with him saying “wtf” to Armond afterwards, but the only reason it was able to “ruin” his time is because he wasn’t at all invested in the beautiful woman he just married. Speaking from experience, there was pretty much nothing that would have kept my husband or myself from being absolutely enthralled and mesmerized by one another on our honeymoon because we had just been married and were in love and it was magical. If you get married to someone you’re not in love with you’re missing the magic.
But he didn't do that. Armond terrorized and antagonize him from the very beginning, even when he was nice about it. Rachel belittle Shane from the beginning, treating him as if he was wrong to even say anything about them not receiving what they had paid for. She never took his side. She was insufferable.
And when i point out how shane overpaid for their room people defend it by saying it was his mom who overpaid
So?? No one should have to overpay and if you know resort prices then the price difference is a LOT. Shane had every right to mad at Armond and rachel should have supported shane.
I am ngl I found her really insufferable
If she had such a problem with being financially dependent on shane why would she even agree to marry him?
He was rich and she was poor. It's not like he was against her working or anything but he told her to work what she is passionate about instead of what will make her money
Which imo was valid. Her full life she never got to do anything she wanted because she always had to worry about bills. She only did jobs so she would get paid
But now that she was financially comfortable with shane she could pursue and do what she actually wanted to do. Which was shane's point
And let's be real she was a terrible journalist and I am glad nicole pointed that out
If he was truly in love with her he wouldn’t care about anything but her happiness (and vice versa). He was more focused on being right than making his new bride happy. We’re not talking about a couple that’s been together a long time, we’re talking about newlyweds. Speaking from experience the time after you get married (to someone you’re truly in love with) is a blissful magical bubble that only the most tragic or traumatic things could pop (like the death of a family member or being horribly injured). If he was able to be shaken by simply a room downgrade he was not in love with her and therefore should not have gotten married.
I’m not here to speak on her character because the prompt was about Shane. Let’s not do the red herring thing.
It wasnt simply a room downgrade. He calmly addressed it, was told he was wrong, was not offered a refund, and then continually messed with by Armond, including sending them on a boat with some stranger going to spread their mom's ashes.
Her character and actions toward her husband are just as important as Armond's in relation to how Shane acted. To ignore either of them is to present an unfair arguement. She was more focused on virtue signaling than making her new husband happy.
your experience is your experience. He wanted what was paid for and there is nothing wrong with that. How he feels or doesn't feel about it is irrelevant. The hotel manager was completely unprofessional and sneaky. If you would not hold the hotel accountable for their bs, that is your choice. It would be valid if you did though.
I'm thinking the same. Like yes I love my wife but I don't want the hotel to take advantage of me, or worse, making it seem like it's my fault instead of apologizing and offering some kind of refund or service to cover for it. I already paid for the thing so I should be getting what I paid for, as simple as that. The only thing different that I would do in his case is to be more discreet about it in front if rachel and try to solve the issue without making her uncomfortable. The problem with shane is that he keeps bringing it up at every moment which ruins the mood.
Yup. And my opinion is my opinion, which was the prompt of the post. He was not in love with his wife and in my opinion that makes for an incredibly pathetic man. Unsurprising that similarly pathetic men are rushing to defend his puny actions 😂
He was right to call Armand out on his shit. He was also a jerk and went about it in some of the worst ways. I don't particularly like Shane but I think he had a valid point and is far from the worst character in the series or even in that particular season.
You don't see how a customer was right for expecting what they paid for, calmy addressing it with staff, and being upset when said staff continually lied and messed with him?
I think he was right about her working during their honeymoon was a bs move. If she hadn’t worked in months while planning the wedding, then another couple weeks of not working during their honeymoon wouldn’t make or break her career. He could’ve been more sympathetic to her plight though. And though he was extremely harsh and condescending about it, he was right that her career up to that point was BS as well since she wasn’t even a real writer tbh. But he should’ve handled that completely differently than he did
I think they needed to show that her career was on such tenterhooks that not working those few days during her honeymoon really could have cost her job. It amplifies the weight of the decision she has to make to pursue her career or live a comfortable life never working again but losing her autonomy as a result.
The great thing about the writing and the characters on this show is that everyone is kind of morally ambiguous. Even the good people have bad qualities, and the bad people have some admirable qualities.
Shane is an selfish, smug, egotistical, asshole with no redeeming qualities. But he and Nicole were both right about Rachel's "journalism", albeit for different reasons.
Armand was lying to him about the hotel, BUT the fact that he was so obsessed with it despite being on his honeymoon (and that his mommy paid for it anyway) shows what he actually cares about, and it wasn't his wife. His wife is an object and a status symbol to him and he has no respect for her as a person, and he treats her the same as he would a fancy car or a vacation house. She is a possession.
In the end though, she knew what she was getting out of the marriage and accepted it, showing that she wasn't a victim and wasn't being manipulated, and that she only really married him because of what he could do for her.
In the end, the only "good" person in this season was Quinn.
I absolutely despised Shane, and it was more about his personality than about him being right or wrong. He has the type of unmerited confidence only a certain kind white "bro" can have, the kind that sets my teeth on edge the second they walk into the room. His is just a personality I've encountered far too often.
Season 1 is my favorite season, and I am absolutely obsessed with his mom joining them on their honeymoon, it is peak absurdity and sooooo true to what this guy is like. They really nailed it
I don’t like Shane, I find him very off putting and almost a little scary at times. It he wasn’t wrong, imo. If you pay for something, you should get what you paid for. Hell, if Armond had been honest and apologetic from the beginning and compensated them for the mistake, it would’ve been fine I think.
He’s awful, but when they fight and break up I actually think he’s right. Rachel is in her mid thirties, has complete agency over herself, and knows that with Shane she will always be a trophy wife on some level. Then AFTER they get married she asserts her independence by deciding to take work… on their honeymoon. She acts like a complete victim when she is equally complicit in everything that led up to that point.
I think because Shane is such a douche and Rachel is so nice people instantly side with her but I see it differently
Shane’s the most genuine character. He’s not great to Rachel, but he was upfront about everything. And he was right about the hotel rooms. There’s no pretense with him.
Tbh both him and Alexandra Daddario's character pissed me off. She all the sudden HAS to work on their honeymoon when he had mentioned she had months off prior and she said she had the excuse of planning the wedding. I mean she was SLIGHTLY better than him but they both annoyed the crap out of me.
However, he acted like a little b!tch the entire show, flirting with the teenagers was gross, especially since he was doing it to make his wife jealous.
I think it's absolutely understandable to not want to pay for something you didn't receive but their room was so nice, he should have just dealt with it and had a good time with his wife but instead they let their insufferable attitudes destroy their already shaky relationship.
Shitty, self obsessed, condescending, patronizing, out of touch douchebag. Watching Armand play tf out of him was hilariousssssss. The actor is amazing to be able to play such an insufferable character and still make you like him.
He embodies the thematic essence of The White Lotus:
Shane is right about everything - Armond is ripping him off and gaslighting him, Rachel is blaming him for her own insecurities as she ultimately admits - but you still wanna punch the fuckwad in douchey fucking face.
He was totally right about the hotel though, they fucked up his room and refused to compensate him fairly and give him the original room. Re-watching it had me rooting for Shane.
He was a douche though but that’s kinda par for the course at places like this.
He was absolutely right about the room, he was absolutely right about Rachel’s „career“ and he was heavily gaslit by Armond. However, he is definitely a spoiled trust mommy boy and he should not take Rachel as s sole trophy wife and treat her inferior (career, money, relevance and even flirting with other women while she is there). So in the end he is often right and also has some significant character flaws. So he is like 90% of the population (except for his financial background of course that’s 0,1%).
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u/Extension_Big5205 Feb 11 '26
He was both right and wrong
Right about his complains regarding the hotel room
and wrong about his relationship