After a heart-pounding season premiere, HBO’s Big Little Lies left fans with a riveting teaser of what’s to come in the weeks ahead for the Monterey Five.
The highly-anticipated season 2 premiere of HBO’s latest phenomenon, Big Little Lies, welcomed fans back into the world of the Monterey Five that we came to know and love last season while carefully laying the groundwork for new conflicts and tensions. At the end of the episode, a teaser trailer of what’s to come in the weeks ahead revealed a glimpse into the trials and tribulations that await our characters in the next six episodes.
Bonnie’s guilt
As we saw in the premiere, it’s clear that Bonnie is struggling with the aftermath of killing Perry and having to cling to the lie that the other women forged to protect her, going so far as to stand outside the police station and consider going in and revealing the truth. The preview reveals that her trauma isn’t going anywhere and is starting to tear her apart from the inside out. It doesn’t seem to be a question of whether Bonnie is going to break, but when.
"Bonnie: “I’m having a hard time with the whole thing. It’s gonna get us all.”Madeline: “Who are you talking about?”Bonnie: “The lie.”"
Tension with Madeline
The peace and serenity of that stunning final montage last season of the Monterey Five on the beach with their children may have been short-lived. Madeline is going to be ruffling more than a few feathers this season, as it appears she is the one in the group who told the police that Perry slipped and fell the night of his death, which became the basis of everyone else’s lie.
As Bonnie veers closer and closer toward the brink of spilling the truth, the preview shows Celeste pointing the finger at Madeline as the reason they all had to lie in the first place — and if there’s anything Madeline Martha Mackenzie can’t stand, it’s being gossiped about behind her back. Will her anger drive her to turn her back on the ladies and go to the police with the truth?
The truth about Ziggy’s father
In season 1, we learned that Jane has told Ziggy next to nothing about his father and immediately shuts him down whenever he asks her about him, she herself knowing nothing more than the fake name he gave her. But with the reveal that Perry was Jane’s rapist and Ziggy’s dad, she can only continue lying to Ziggy for so long. A conversation between her and Celeste in the preview shows that neither she nor Celeste has told their children the truth out of a need to protect them, but Jane is starting to think that Ziggy deserves to know who his father is and that two of his friends are actually his half-siblings.
Celeste working through her PTSD
As a survivor of an abusive marriage who also just lost her husband, Celeste’s arc this season is sure to be heavy and emotional as she works through her PTSD. Though obviously relieved to have Perry out of her life forever, she cannot help but reminisce on the good moments the two of them shared together.
"Celeste: “I still miss him. Life just feels colorless now.”"
She has two drastically different images of Perry clashing together in her head — the kind and tender father to their children versus the frightening abuser he was behind closed doors — and she is going to have to sort through the ugly and difficult emotions of having loved and lost someone who did unspeakable wrongs yet impacted her life so greatly.
Mary Louise’s search for the truth
The biggest shakeup for the Monterey Five this season is the introduction of Meryl Streep’s phenomenally chilling and unhinged character, Mary Louise Wright, a.k.a. Perry’s mother. Deeply engulfed in her grief over the loss of her son, it appears that Mary Louise isn’t just visiting Monterey to give Celeste a hand with the kids — she wants to know what really happened to Perry. The preview reveals that Mary Louise makes an important discovery and knows that Celeste was going to leave Perry, which Celeste conveniently neglected to tell her.
"Mary Louise: “You left some things out, didn’t you? You were planning to leave him, the very night he died.”"
Mary Louise’s presence in Monterey certainly doesn’t mean anything good for our characters. Will Celeste tell her the truth about Perry? Or will she find out for herself before the Five can stop her from going to the police?
Big Little Lies airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on HBO.