Big Little Lies (S2) - My Thoughts

“Big Little Lies” - Season 2 (only a review of episodes 1-3)

“Big Little Lies” - episodes 1-3 surpass expectations with a focus on characters and themes over story, which is involving for viewers as it’s much more true to the rhythms of life. Season 2 outlines the repercussions and fallout from the events at the end of Season 1. (If you haven’t yet seen it then go watch it now). Approximately a year later the effects are still deeply felt, and Celeste’s mother-in-law Mary-Louise (Meryl Streep providing a positively barmy performance) assists Celeste (Nicole Kidman) with her growing boys, whilst endeavouring to put her own niggling mind at ease over her son Perry’s inadequacies as a man.

The satire is on point - there’s some real comical ‘zingers’ between Renata (Laura Dern) and the school principal (P.J Byrne) in episode 3. The characters of Jane (Shailene Woodley) and Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz) are provided more screen time than the first incarnation which is welcome - whose stories I predict are going to surprise. It feels, at times, that Kidman takes a backseat this season (perhaps amidst producing duties) even though the central story still revolves around Celeste. This is not problematic as it gives other characters and actors’ performances their moment to shine. Reece Witherspoon as Madeline lifts her game here - she is an absolute standout for me this season! Her character is more deeply drawn: less funny, yet more humane. She has some great dramatic scenes - I.e. when demonstrating her desire for her teenage daughter to go to college (ep 1) and in the couple’s therapy scene (ep 3) with Dr Reisman played by the always amazing Robin Weigert and Madeline’s husband Ed (a brooding Adam Scott).

I (originally) didn’t have particularly high hopes for this season, but after quickly becoming a huge fan of novelist Liane Moriarty last year (2018) and reading five of her incredibly entertaining eight novels, I was pleased to note she also wrote the story for Season 2 (a novella of sorts) especially for David E. Kelley to adapt for the show.

The direction and editing is in tune with Season 1 - even though Jean Marc Vallee has stepped down whilst Andrea Arnold is at the helm. The pace is set at slow-burn (much like the first) but it’s never boring. It really just depends what you want and expect from your TV. Episodes 1-3 are gradually resolving scenarios and if the name Moriarty is anything to go by there will be some subversive ‘thrills’ and surprises thrown into this already simmering concoction.

To date, these episodes are less intense and disturbing than the first time around; we’re not privy to countless sequences of domestic abuse and rape, which frankly, thank god. This is fun, satirical melodrama that is consistently building its host of characters and their compulsive interactions with each other. David E. Kelley provides perfect writing for the world of Monterey and its inhabitants. Both Kelley and Moriarty have a knack for writing strong character interactions and holding a similarly eccentric sense of humour. The school assembly sequence (ep 3) had me laughing aloud for multiple reasons especially with Dern’s perfectly timed expressions when Madeline enters meltdown mode on the school stage! This series is a godsend amongst an onslaught of trite, poorly performed and formulaic TV. Mondays at Monterey can’t come soon enough.

On the whole, I am giving the first 3 episodes 4 ⭐️ out of five.

Note: I never reviewed the final four episodes, mostly as I was disappointed with the direction they took, they were not terrible, but they didn’t build sufficiently upon the earlier episodes to maintain a high score, and the final episode ended in a whimper, with little thrills or mystery. There’s obvious talent involved, yet I feel it was rushed into production without a crucial second novel to work from (aside from Moriarty’s novella on the direction for the characters provided to the screenwriter). In saying all that, it is superior than virtually everything else on TV. What did you think?

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