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    TV Review: Big Little Lies

    In the middle of an argument with his wife, Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) aptly said, “In every marriage there is pretending.” In HBO’s Big Little Lies, we saw the many facets of this statement. Rarely is the persona that is presented to the public a representation of true life.

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    At first, none of the characters in the show seem likeable. All living charmed lives in Monterey, California, they fuss about their trivial issues over extravagant breakfasts by the sea. Everyone was taking things too seriously: a child’s birthday party, a kindergarten boy attempting to kiss a girl in his class, etc.

    In fact, the only real soul was found in the show’s soundtrack. But, as the plot unfolds and more of the characters’ facades are peeled away, you begin to understand their motives.

    In retrospect, my dislike of the characters was no different than the judgment of the other parents during their police interviews. They all judged each other every which way when they knew so little about what was really going on in their lives.

    Show creator David E. Kelley did a superb job of unraveling not only the lives of the main characters, but also the mystery surrounding the murder. The show toggles constantly between the present (after the death at the school fundraiser) and the past (events leading up to that night). We know that someone has died at the school event, but we don’t know who or how until the finale (unless you’ve read Liane Moriarty’s novel, of course). Kelley’s use of flashbacks is also a brilliant way to pull us into the most intimate parts of the characters’ psyches.

    Big Little Lies centers around a kindergarten class at Otter Bay Elementary, but more specifically, three mothers: Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), who has a major problem with authority; Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), who is the most beautiful and most admired; and Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley), who is younger and at least two tax brackets below the average parent at the school. The women are fast friends, and bond over the fact that they’re all jumpy and nervous and totally unhappy.

    On the first day of school, Jane’s son Ziggy (the impressive Iain Armitage) is accused of choking classmate Amabella (Ivy George). Even though the kids get over it, the parents continue to judge him, and even petition to get him expelled. But poor Ziggy maintains his innocence.

    The constant speculation about Ziggy gets to Jane, and she considers leaving Monterey. But, her new friends Madeline and Celeste support her and convince her to stick it out. Jane pretends to be handling everything well when in reality, she is constantly re-living the violence of her rape, which resulted in Ziggy. She often fantasizes about shooting her rapist, and keeps a gun close by.

    Renata Klein (Laura Dern) emerges as the ultimate nemesis. She campaigns heavily against little Ziggy, even though daughter Amabella won’t admit who is bullying her at school. She also tries to shut down Madeline’s pet project, the local production of Avenue Q. She seems relentless in her pursuit to piss everyone off. While she pretends to be the ruthlessly powerful CEO, she privately struggles with her inability to protect her daughter from a vicious bully.

    Madeline, the alpha of her little group, is seething with jealousy over her ex-husband’s new wife, Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz). She also has a very contentious relationship with her teenage daughter, Abigail (Kathryn Newton). She is extremely self-righteous and walks all over her current husband, Ed (Adam Scott). While she pretends to have a perfect home life, she is ashamed of her recent affair with the Avenue Q director (Santiago Cabrera).

    If all of these issues seem superficial, it’s because they are. Every conversation is overthought and drowning in tension. It’s not until the final episode that we realize that we were force-fed the superficiality in order to experience the revelation at the end.

    I can’t say enough about the caliber of acting in this series. You couldn’t ask for a more accomplished cast, especially Alexander Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman. Nicole is a dream, playing the most complicated character in the show: a woman who pretends to have a storybook life, but in reality has the most destructive home life.

    The violence between Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) and Celeste builds and becomes more complicated as the series goes on. It is only in her solo counseling sessions that Celeste finally admits that she is in an abusive relationship. The counselor (Robin Weigert) is able to give Celeste the tools she will need to leave the marriage.

    In the final episode, we witness an especially brutal beating of Celeste. We don’t know the cause of this altercation, but in reality, does it matter? It’s the last straw for Celeste, and she is in the final stages of readying her secret apartment for herself and the boys. When Celeste also discovers that it is her son Max (Nicholas Crovetti) who has been harming classmate Amabella, it’s the final nail on the coffin of her marriage.

    The night of the school fundraiser, Perry sees a text from Celeste’s new landlord. You fear for her life as Celeste, pretending that everything is fine, goes out into the night with Perry.

    Big Little Lies does a wonderful job of using music throughout the series, but it also knows how to use silence as a tool in storytelling. The actual attack between Perry, Celeste, and her friends, is shown without sound. Only soft classical music plays as the brutal scene is shown with quick cuts to a roaring surf.

    The police interviews of the main characters are also silent, as we watch through the station’s two-way mirror. What they are saying doesn’t matter. They have become a unified front, protecting the victims of Perry’s violence as well as the true murderer.

    In a surprising eruption of girl power, the women have shed their petulant differences and emerged a stronger unit.

    It was a beautifully told story, and were it not for the final episode, I’m not sure I would have liked it. The finale took us full circle: from the insignificant judgments to the true battles the women were facing, to the support the women now give each other.

    Grade: A

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    Martha Trydahl
    Martha Trydahlhttps://columbusunderground.com
    Martha is a freelance TV critic for Columbus Underground. You can find her on her couch, preferably drinking wine, watching TV with her husband and two children.
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