Series: Big Little Lies
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard, Laura Dern
Genre: Drama-Comedy
Director: Jean- Marc Valle
Episode 2: 'Serious Mothering'
As we peak into the lives of Monterey folks for the second week nothing has changed except for the fact that emotions are running higher than ever, terrains are marked more viciously and kids…are busy being kids.
The first episode ended with people questioning ‘So are we like seriously considering it murder’ and the second episode begins with Madeline staring out of her terrace into the beautiful coast-side view.
The second episode is named ‘Serious Mothering’ and delves into the hardcore ‘helicopter parents’ and their politics. As the episode develops the mean moms are brought onto the surface and propaganda wars are fought between exes and spouses. Childhood traumas are brought into the light. Bullies exist not just in school but in adult life too.
Amabella doesn’t invite Jane’s son Ziggy for her birthday party. Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) confronts Renata (Laura Dern ) about leaving out the child that could stigmatise him further and make the situation worse.
Renata stands firm on her decision and an inevitable showdown follows exasperating Madeline’s husband- Ed who finds his wife’s constant meddling into other people’s business.
While Madeline is busy fighting best PTA mom battle, Celeste’s (Nicole Kidman) violent and disturbing relationship with Perry (Alexander Skarsgard) is revealed.
Abigail- Madeline’s older daughter obtains birth control pill with Bonnie’s help and there follows another of those Madeline’s showdowns.
Life gets even harder for young Ziggy after he is accused of hurting Amabella once again. It still isn’t clear whether the kids are hurting one another due to their kiddish actions or are they replicating what their parents are doing in their adult lives.
The power-packed star cast doesn’t disappoint but the young actors in their brief yet deciding scenes leave an impact. Amabella’s accusation though not proven as false yet, seems out of place, especially when Ziggy is accepted easily by each of his classmates.
Running on a much faster space as a mini-series, Big Little Lies’ second episode saw a deeper character development rather than the story itself.
The underlying persona of Madeline’s quiet husband saw the shades of someone with a difficult childhood. Perry’s character sees a more aggressive turn shows the traces of strained relationship with Celeste.
The unexplained sadness of Celeste comes to light in this episode. Madeline’s good person character is definitely underlined with the fact that she wants to be credited with all the goodness she does.
She likes to win, and when push comes to shove, she might go with winning rather than backing off for general peace.
It is only when Ed confronts her with the fact that she has made him a consolation prize rather than being with him because she truly believes that he is ‘the one’ for her.
Nothing major has happened for us to point out to the killer or the victim yet, but the intrigue and drama still continues for us to await the next episode.