The White Lotus Season 2 Finally Tells The Truth About Cameron

"The White Lotus" has been dropping hints about Cameron's dark side since the beginning of the season, but it's not until episode 5 that he finally makes his true intentions known. Theo James' character is on vacation with his wife Daphne, played by Meghann Fahy, his college roommate Ethan (Will Sharpe) and Ethan's wife Harper (Aubrey Plaza). Cameron is a successful finance bro that doesn't vote or follow news. He and his wife are extremely affectionate, but the flaws in their relationship start to show early on.

In the very first episode, Cameron stands where Harper can see him and changes his bathing suit. Cameron sews doubt in the audience's mind right off the bat, but it isn't clear if he is being creepy or careless. "If it feels predatory, then you know who this guy is, from day one," James explained to Collider. "But if it is on the boundaries of appropriate and accidental, then it becomes a gray area which is dangerous, interesting, and discombobulating."

Harper is distrustful of Cameron from the get-go and sees the competitive nature of his friendship with Ethan. She tells her husband what happened, but he brushes it off. "It's the beginning of a series of events that start to expose the cracks in their relationship and it forces them to confront their underlying issues in their marriage," Sharpe explained to EW. Harper and Ethan are very honest with one another, but this has ultimately dulled their passion. "[T]hey've very much found their comfort zone, but that comfort zone is starting to feel uncomfortable and they're in a bit of a rut," the actor told Collider.

Cameron gradually reveals his duplicitous nature as the series unfolds, but it isn't until episode 5 that he makes a direct move on Harper.

Daphne reveals to Harper that she is aware of Cameron's infidelity in episode 3 of "The White Lotus" season 2. Meanwhile, Cameron convinces Ethan that cheating is normal, especially among the rich and powerful. "The most ambitious guys, they were always the horniest. Like you and me, baby," he tells Ethan.

"His sense of entitlement is so rich that he thinks he should be able to do whatever he wants," James explained to HBO. "That's kind of the message, isn't it? It's a problem with hyper-wealth and class. He thinks he's entitled to everything he can take." His wife Daphne may seem like a victim, but she and Cameron are actually similar in this way. "They're sort of a perfect match in that sense," Fahy admitted.

When Harper finds a condom in their hotel room and Ethan refuses to admit the whole truth of his night alone with Cameron, she starts to doubt him. He does tell the truth eventually, when confronted — he didn't sleep with the sex workers, only Cameron had — but how can she know that he isn't still lying?

So when Cameron puts his hand on Harper's thigh at dinner, she doesn't make a scene — she doesn't even immediately brush him off. "The dinner was tricky," James recalled. "Aubrey [Plaza] and I had struggled because we didn't know how big to make it." The result ended up being a blatant and mounting exchange of poignant glances that felt very obvious to Fahy. "It's so impossible not to see this happening," the actress added. "Will [Sharpe] and I are looking at each other, like 'Are we seeing this?'"

Ethan and Daphne both seem totally aware that Cameron is pursuing Harper — and that she is slowly giving in. Ethan accuses Cameron of having "a bad case of something called mimetic desire" in episode 5, claiming that his former roommate used to go after girls that he liked in college because "if someone with a higher status than you wants something, you want it too." Cameron then protests that Ethan didn't have a higher status than him in college. "Not then, maybe," Ethan concedes, suggesting that he has truly been talking about Harper all along.

Meanwhile, Daphne seems to almost encourage Harper to sleep with Cameron. After Cameron's advance at dinner, Harper expresses her concern that Ethan or Cameron may have cheated on them to Daphne. To Harper's surprise, Daphne encourages her to "do what you have to do to get even" and strongly suggests she's been sleeping with her personal trainer. This presents a more balanced picture of her marriage.

"I think they've got an agreement," Fahy revealed to Collider. "They have terms of their relationship that I think, for the most part, genuinely work for both of them." James agrees that Daphne and Cameron are on more level playing field than it seems at first glance. "[T]his couple, as messed up as they are and as toxic as they are, get off on these games," the actor explained.

Cameron and Harper share prolonged looks while their spouses nervously observe them. "The tension of the show, I think, is one of the really special parts of it," Fahy told The A.V. Club. "A simple shot of somebody glancing at someone — like, it's very subtle, but it's sort of the undercurrent of the whole thing, no matter what's happening."

It's clear that Daphne doesn't mind Cameron's infidelity, but would she really be okay with him sleeping with Harper? Could this have been the real point of the trip to Sicily all along?

And as for which couple is more toxic, the jury is still out. Mistrust and a bleak sex life have put a huge distance between Harper and Ethan. They communicate more honestly than Cameron and Daphne, but also run into much more conflict. They are also closed off about their sex lives, even to one another, which makes them rigid. Cameron and Daphne, on the other hand, constantly play games with one another, but are highly passionate and affectionate.

"[T]he characters are so polar opposite, not only Daphne and Harper, but also as couples," James explained to Collider. "They're supposed to be. They're designed to be the antithesis of one another."

Even though the two couples in season 2 of "The White Lotus" operate very differently, it's possible that they will still be led down the very same path of extramarital affairs. At first it seemed like Harper was too steadfast and moral to ever stray from her marriage, but as the season progresses, it's starting to make more and more sense. Her husband neglects to show desire for her, and Cameron is actively pursuing her. If she thinks Ethan has already blurred the lines of morality by cheating, what's stopping her from doing the same?