25 of TV’s messiest meltdowns

Renata Won’t be Bullied — Big Little Lies

2017 has been the year of Laura Dern. She’s everywhere we turn, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Her run in the HBO series Big Little Lies earned her an Emmy and a place in our admiration. Her character, Renata, routinely has meltdowns, and it’s wonderful.

She’s a fierce advocate for her daughter, and most of her screaming tantrums revolve around some kind of injustice that’s been perpetrated on her kid. This is only one of many, but here Renata seems to be losing it on her daughter, Amabella, but she’s really just reacting to a bullying situation at school.

Amabella won’t tell her mom the whole story about what’s happening at school, and Renata loses it in frustration. She shouts at her, stomps her feet, paces, and flails her arms. Meanwhile Amabella and her husband just sit there, flinching, waiting for her to calm down. Renata even calls herself a “bulldog,” claiming she had to become one to protect herself from bullies in her own life.

It’s an obviously histrionic reaction, but any mother can understand how upset Renata becomes. A parent feels a special kind of rage and anger when they believe their child is being harmed, and if you really want to be fair, Renata’s tantrum might be mild, albeit aimed at the wrong folks.