As per usual I had taken advantage of my long-haul flight catching up with my movie watching. However, this time I decided to do something else. Instead of going through the movie catalogue I was checking out the TV series. One of them particularly caught my eyes – “Big Little Lies”.
The hype around this series has been around for many moons, especially after its successes at the Globes and the Emmys. Also, the premise it visited was particularly relevant to the current social political climate. I checked the details of the series and noticed it has 7 episodes in total – which means a perfect fit for my 9 hours 30 minutes flight.
The premise was kind of similar to “The Desperate Housewives” but with a more serious tone. There were lots of dirty laundry but all of them people were trying to hide. In this glamourous suburb with enormous houses facing an endless stretch of beach and the roaring ocean, all dirty secrets were drowned out as much as possible. These women had made different decisions bringing them to this stage of the lives as the ultimate story unfolded and changed all of them in one go.
Nicole Kidman played Celeste Wright. A woman who gave up her high flying legal career to become a stay home mum for her twins. On the surface she got a pair of beautiful twins and a gorgeous husband, whom in everyone’s eyes couldn’t get enough of Celeste. But beneath this, this “couldn’t get enough of her” had led to serious consequences for the family. Celeste justified every action and decision until to a point that she needed to justify her justification. She did her best but is the best good enough for her? Nicole Kidman layered the character so well that it was haunting. Underneath Celeste there was a bit of Becca from “The Rabbit Hole”. Nicole Kidman had become so competent in playing seemingly strong but extremely vulnerable characters that it is scary. She handled each glance, each smile and each frowning of her forehead with such precisions that she was basically Celeste.
Reese Witherspoon was the outgoing, brave and opinionated Madeline who kept the audience wondering whether it was because of her ex-husband that she became who she was or whether it was the marriage to the current husband that morphed her into the current existence. It turned out there were more to the story and a story that was oblivious to everyone but a chosen observant few. She was always trying to recover as much as possible but it turned out recovery cannot be achieved through conscious efforts but via using the experience as the medicine for others. Reese Witherspoon had proved that she is not a one hit Oscar wonder but an actress with substantial substance. Similar to Celeste, Madeline put on a brave face, but the brave face was in a different context as she had more at stake than ever.
Shailene Woodley’s Jane Chapman could be regarded as the catalyst that triggered numerous chain reactions and slowly deconstructing the town. Being the non-glamour mum who tried to live out a horrid life experience while providing love and support to her son, she was constantly on the edge of the cliff. Madeline’s quick circumstantial friendship had helped accelerating the unravelling of the situation and it finally led to dire consequences for some. Jane’s treatment by the ganged-up mums had made her life even harder than it already was but she was a fighter, and that was the strong common factor between her and Madeline leading to the formation of an unlikely friendship that rocked the foundation of how female bonds should be established in this upper-class beach side community.
Laura Dern ‘s Renata Klein was in for a ride right from the start with the school incident. She represented the group of women who were successful in career but constantly trying to prove that they can be a successful mother too. Her reactions and actions to the circumstances as they unfolded were not unreasonable but at the same time not loveable. Her silent approval to the situation that her “allies” put Jane Chapman into made her the villain without the need to perform any villainous deeds. But was she the villain or she was just being made an accidental-villain that she had to unwilling participate?
“Big Little Lies” is a strong production with a cast of extremely strong actresses. Their chemistry was strong and there were sparks even in the seemingly most mundane scenes of having coffee or just kids pick up. It was the subtleness in everyone that generated tensions. These tensions were magnified by the exceptional “acting out” of the male cast such as Alexander Skarsgård and Adam Scott. The production was an art of contrast without announcing everything with a megaphone. And I think that was why I was so drawn into the story and the characters. The performance of the cast was so right on the money that there were occasions that I was glad that I was watching the whole thing in the darkness of the plane cabin.
For me without a doubt “Big Little Lies” is one of the most emotionally connected TV productions in the recent times. They dealt with real issues that our society is now dealing with but with grace. I just hope that HBO will not be just about milking the success in season 2 (as the book was completely finished with the miniseries) but making it relevant and maintaining the impact without making any of the characters’ storyline looking ridiculous. Personally, I am sceptical about having a season 2 but I will give it benefit of the doubt for the time being. In the meantime, I might revisit this master class again once I got a chance to do so.
