Big Little Lies- Season 2, A Review

Secrets always surface.

Big Little Lies is back! Back in 2017 the award winning Big Little Lies first premiered and completely shocked and amazed a whole nation. Everyone was talking about the show and it ended up doing brilliantly during the awards season. Even after the series had ended I was still obsessed with it and then went on to read the book and even more of author Liane Moriarty’s work which I have come to love. Originally billed as a miniseries, fans were ecstatic when the series was renewed and then news broke out that Meryl Streep would be joining the cast and it was like a dream come true.

The second season of Big Little Lies revolves around the “Monterey Five” as they are now dubbed and the aftermath of Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgård) death and their attempt to cover it up. Starting up again with a new school year the women each try to move past the accident but new faces and ongoing problem prove difficult and one way or another the lie will come out- but who will be the first to crack?

Season 2 deals with Celeste (Nicole Kidman) struggling with how to feel about Perry’s death- on one hand she did love her husband but she is glad to be free of his abusive ways. Celeste continues to work through her problems with therapist Dr. Reisman (Robin Weigert) but finds the arrival of her mother-in-law troubling.

Perry’s mother Mary Louise (Streep) arrives to help Celeste look after her two boys and recover after Perry’s death however her constant questioning and idolisation of her son puts Celeste in a very tricky situation. It is soon revealed that Mary Louise plans to sue for custody of Josh and Max, seeing Celeste as an unfit mother. The legal battle turns into a full on court case with Mary Louise and Celeste at each other’s throats and some of the show best scenes to date. The court case threathens to bring up not only the lie but Mary Louise’s own mysterious past and the death of her other son many years ago. Tensions are high are secrets run deep but only one can win in the end.

Kidman and Streep really blew it out of the water this season, all of the women on this show are amazing but Celeste and Mary Louise were just something else. As Mary Louise, Streep played such a hateful character, her constant defending of Perry just made me want to punch her- Streep really brought it this season. Celeste also continues to reign as the absolute Queen of Big Little Lies, her struggling with Perry’s death and fight for her children were amazing and her scenes both in therapy and in court were award winning- really any scene were it was just Kidman monoluging was stellar.

Madeine (Reese Witherspoon) also faces her own problems, this time within her own household. Initially arguing with her eldest daughter Abigail (Kathryn Newton) about why she needs to go to college, Madeline accidentally lets slip to husband Ed (Adam Scott) that she had cheated on him the year before. This fractures the couple’s marriage massively and Madeline must first prove that she still loves him and then fight to win him back. Madeline also struggles with the fact that the lie was her idea and must therefore live with both the consequences and the occasional anger from the other women.

This season I feel like Madeline has very much took a step back in storylines compared to the other women- but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think compared to the other four women’s storylines this season, and even a little bit in season 1, Madeline’s issues are a lot more small scale. Having her character step back a little bit means there’s a lot more drama with the other storylines which is always fun to watch. Madeline is a great character and often the most comical out of the five but having her storyline compressed a little means the audience get to spend a lot more time with the more interesting storylines.

Jane’s (Shailene Woodley) season 2 storyline also looked at her recovering from Perry’s death- in Jane’s case however with her attempting to date again after she meets coworker Corey (Douglas Smith) and struggles with getting physical again due to her history with Perry. I feel like out of the five women, Jane is often given the short end of the stick. Even when writing this review there’s really not a lot I can say about her storyline because she really doesn’t have as big a one as the likes of Celeste or Renata. In season 1 a lot of the mystery surrounded who her rapist was but once that was found out Jane didn’t have a lot to contribute to the story.

A lot of Season 2 also looks at how the grown-up’s drama has effected the kid’s lives. Through school yard gossip Ziggy (Iain Armitage) eventually finds out that Perry is in fact his father and Josh and Max are his brothers. Jane struggles with explaining the concept of rape to Ziggy and her and Celeste eventually have to come together and introduce the boys as brothers. I liked how season 2 looked at how the kids were effected by all the drama in their parents lives because it was this that had caused the bullying incedent in season 1, and children are naturally inquisitive so this was an interesting storyline to run with.

One of my favourite parts of season 2 was Renata (Laura Dern) and Bonnie’s (Zoë Kravitz) increased roles, both played vital roles in the first season but were never really part of the group. However the lies ends up bonding the five closer together, meaning both get bigger and better storylines– which ended up being two of the best in the series.

In season 2 Renata must deal with the fact that her husband Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling) has bankrupted them and that she is now poor- much to her horror. Now on top of the lie, Renata must deal with her life completely falling apart around her- and rest assured she does this in the most hilarious way possible. Dern’s character has such an anger about her and watching her go completely ballistic on her husband, weilding baseball bats and tasteful languge was a fun change to a lot of the show’s more serious themes. Renata may be my favourite of the five (I think a toss up between her and Celeste) because I like how she is able to add the humour to such an otherwise dramatic show. Renata may have been an outsider initially but now she is well and trully part of the group and I love that.

Bonnie also had a great storyline this season in the form of her parent’s arrival. Out of the five the lie definately had the most effect on Bonnie, leaving her in a depressive state, leading to husband Nathan (James Tupper) calling in her parents for help. Right from the start its obvious that Bonnie has a rocky relationship with her mother Elizabeth (Crystal R. Fox) and a series of flashbacks show that Bonnie had a very difficult childhood. Bonnie’s relationship with her parents and the abusive nature of it was a small part of the original book that didn’t make it into the first series and I remember wishing it had after I first read the book. The abusive nature of her parents is revealed to be the main reason she pushed Perry in the first place, having grown up in an abusive household she wanted to protect Celeste- Bonnie herself said that she imagined she was pushing her mother. This added depth to Bonnie’s character was so heartbreaking to watch but I’m glad that we got to learn more about her as a person and glad that the writers were able to incorporate a part of the book into the second series. Bonnie’s speech to her mother in episode 6 was one of season two’s best moments and I now like Bonnie a lot more as a character because of her added storylines and depth.

Season 2 of Big Little Lies really was outstanding and an amazing follow up to an amazing first season. This show manages to have outstanding characters, cast, storylines, music, editing, everything really. Big Little truly is one of the TV greats and I predict great things for the 2020 award season- the only question is, with limited awards handed out- who’s going to win?