Big Little Lies Season 2 Review

Big Little Lies (2017-2019)
Season 2 - 7 episodes (2019)

Buy Big Little Lies on Amazon
Created by: David E. Kelley
Directed by:  Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring:  Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgård, Adam Scott, Zoë Kravitz
Rated: TV-MA
Season 2 trailer

Plot
The second season reflects on the aftermath of the homicide investigation in season one while exploring the entanglements of the "Monterey Five's" personal lives.

Verdict
The fact this season isn't horrible is a victory. This season isn't as good as the first. It raises some interesting points that just don't travel far, but the driving force is a custody battle resulting from the aftermath from the first season's homicide. Meryl Streep joins the cast and does a great job, but I couldn't help but wonder what this season is really about. I didn't want all of the plot points wrapped up with a neat bow, but the comparisons or connections never quite materialize.
While I enjoyed the season, it's uneven.
Watch it.

Review
This wasn't originally intended to get a second season. The source material wrapped in season one. After the success of that season, HBO decided to push for a second season and it's an impressive and very different season. The fact this season isn't a huge drop off is a success by itself.

The driving force isn't a murder investigation and cross cutting police interviews. The driving force is Celeste's mother-in-law who threatens a custody hearing to determine what happened to her son. There's plenty of drama along the way with a bankruptcy, new relationships, and an affair intertwined.

The first season wrapped everything up while the second season leaves a season three wide open, though as it stands a third season may not even happen. It just feels a bit cheap. The big reveal I thought might happen in season 2, one teased numerous times, is left as a cliffhanger that may never be resolved.

I really liked Ed and Madelaine's arc. It was rather understated compared to the rest of the plot as their marriage becomes increasingly strained. This season compares marriages and relationships and all of them are different. Despite an affair Ed and Madelaine have the best relationship by the end of the season.

At the outset this season seemed to be about mothers while the "Five" were dealing with what happened. Meryl Streep plays a real piece of work, but her quirks/strategy didn't quite payoff.
I wondered if this season would be them skirting suspicion but that doesn't play a part. There are a few story lines hinted, but they don't progress. At times this season doesn't seem to know where to go. Bonnie is having a difficult time coping with the events of season one and her mother shows up for no good reason, but that arc felt forced.

After the first episode, I figured the kids and their teacher would play a role but that teacher just shows how entitled Renata is. Renata goes bankrupt and her character never quite belonged in the show. She's part of the group, but her struggles of being entitled and rich don't connect. When she ends up bankrupt I didn't really care. She's a terrible person and we're shown that time and again. The show could at least make her terrible as a means of coping or defense, but that's not it. It's all the more strange since Renata is a female CEO. Her entitled manner just doesn't fit.

Nathan and Ed have a contentious relationship and Ed, and Nathan's wife Bonnie, at one point seem to be quite close but that doesn't go anywhere. Nathan and Ed's disdain for each other at times is funny, but I don't think that's the intent. There's a comparison to be made between Ed and Nathan and how Madelaine views them, but I can't give the show credit for actually exploring that.

After the second episode I really liked the writing and characterization, an extension from season one, but too many arcs felt like padding. Too many plot points just didn't materialize.

Meryl Streep does a great job as the unlikable Mary-Louise. She wants to know the truth behind how her son died. She's quirky and that began to seem like an act. She doesn't want to believe her son was terrible.She's in turmoil, but the show doesn't quite make that engaging. She's a villain and she should have a bit of sympathy.

The last episode begins to question nature versus nurture in regards to Mary-Louise, Perry, and Celeste, but it just introduces the idea and leaves it.

This season hits a lot of the same points time and again. I never found the season less than enjoyable, but it also doesn't travel very far. This season could have been fewer episodes and still made the same points. It easily could have expanded one some of the plot arcs introduced, but doesn't. I wasn't disappointed, but this also slightly squanders the premise.

Big Little Lies HBO Mini-series Review

Big Little Lies (2017)
Mini-series - 7 episodes

Buy Big Little Lies on Amazon // Based on the book Big Little Lies
Created by: David E. Kelley
Directed by:  Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring:  Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Alexander Skarsgård, Adam Scott, Zoë Kravitz, Laura Dern
Rated: TV-MA

Plot
The apparently perfect lives of first grade mothers are anything but, culminating in them becoming suspects in a homicide investigation.
The homicide investigation is secondary to the entanglements of their personal lives as they unfold.

Verdict
From the first episode this is a riveting drama. While I thought solving the homicide would be the driving force, it's a minor plot point. The question becomes who did it and who is the victim. Those answers aren't revealed until the final episode, but by the second episode, I didn't care about the murder. I just wanted to see more of these characters. They are well-written and the acting is solid. Reese Witherspoon will get some nominations.
The drama is the facade that is their lives, tension building in each situation. With each passing episode, the number of suspects that could be either the killer or victim increases.
This is an excellent series with deftly developed characters, slick editing, and a finale that reveals all.
Watch it.

Review
Based on the novel of the same name by  Liane Moriarty, this takes a True Detective approach with creator David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal and Boston Legal) writing the entire series for HBO, with all episode directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club and Demolition). Most of the actresses and actors are traditionally film.

That approach works. The first episode cuts back and forth between a police press conference & various witness statements to the story of first grade mothers that become friends. Madelaine (Reese Witherspoon) and Celeste (Nicole Kidman) live posh lives in California. Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) is trying to escape the demons of her past. All three are hiding something.

The politics of middle school are amped up to an insane degree, and it completely works. These mothers belittle and back stab, and it's a lot of fun. The splicing of witness interviews often serves to undercut or heighten what's happening. Celeste and Perry's lovey dovey relationship seemed like a facade and it turns out it is. The public persona and private reality are a stark contrast for nearly everyone. This show builds well rounded, complex characters and that is the draw to this. After two episodes, I was content to just watch their lives unfold. This doesn't rely on the mystery to hook you. The characters are compelling, and the music is excellent.

The show jumps back and forth to the school year and witnesses providing testimony after the murder. Of course the witnesses are minor characters. You won't get any spoilers through that.  We're told in the first episode everything links back to Madelaine, and while it does, it's more all of the characters are linked through her. We don't know whether we can trust the eye witnesses because they've only seen parts of the whole and are quick to provide rumors and stories.

I wondered how long the murder would be drawn out, but that isn't the focus of the show. It's just a backdrop, though battle lines are drawn on the first day when Renata publicly accuses Jane's son of bullying her daughter. Though it isn't proven, that allegation follows Jane like a weight, with one parent starting a petition to expel her son. Renata is painted as a bit of a bully and villain. Many of these parents are extreme helicopter parents. Since this is a rich neighborhood, there is a fair amount of eye roll inducing over indulging of children.

This is life amplified, cranking the volume up to eleven on the little grudges and spats between people.

 

Episode two reveals more about the characters. We knew Jane moved for a new start, but she may be running from something. We learn her unpleasant history in the third episode, and it's much like anticipated unfortunately.
Madelaine is upset that her ex-husband is around for the children and actually trying to parent, things he never did when they were together. It doesn't help that her ex married a much younger woman, Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz). Madelaine constant focus on her ex, makes her current husband Ed (Adam Scott) feel like a consolation prize. As passionate as she is about a variety of causes, how does that passion not translate to Ed?
Celeste's husband Perry is manipulative and abusive. Their scene when they go to therapy is something else. You have to imagine the therapist can tell something is going on.

Madelaine is the try-hard parent that jumps into a situation that isn't hers, attempting to ruin Renata's daughters birthday party when Jane's son is slighted. Madelaine is ice cold, but it's because she feels strongly she's meting out justice. Renata tries to un-ring that bell to no avail, telling Madelaine she's "dead in this town." There's lot of foreshadowing, but it's mostly red herrings.
Witherspoon does a great job, though everyone does.
By episode four Perry is a front runner for getting murdered or being the murderer. Who knows?

The question of who is bullying Renata's kid persists. I wondered if the bullies could be Celeste's kids. Have they seen or picked up on the general mood in the house? The show builds a lot of suspense and intrigue as it edges even farther away from the investigation. Madelaine has to confront a situation that could be detrimental to her marriage. Jane considers whether to confront her past, and Celeste is urged by her therapist to leave her husband.
Everything comes to a head at the school fund raiser. It's a party for rich people. The theme is Elvis and Hepburn, with parents dressed as one of the two. With rich parents, there are a lot of over the top costumes.

The final episode teases you, making us think we won't find out exactly what happened, but don't worry. All secrets are revealed by the time the credits roll.