The world continues to fall apart around the women of Monterey on Big Little Lies, but this week, no one had more to deal with than Madeline Mackenzie.
Big Little Lies continued to show everyone grappling with the fallout from last week’s episode this week, but Madeline Mackenzie was the star this week. What’s extremely interesting about this season of Big Little Lies is that, no matter what, everyone has their time to come to terms with their actions.
While yes, the episode gave quite the moment to Renata, there was something more interesting about Madeline’s character arc, mainly because she finally didn’t hide behind some remark or get overly enthusiastic about something. She was honest and spoke from the heart. It happened to be at a school assembly in front of all the parents of the school, but still, Madeline reacted like a human.
In the episode, Madeline opens up to Celeste about something her father taught her at a very young age, stating that he told her that there were some things that her mother never needed to know when Madeline caught him cheating on her mom. Sure, as an adult, she can recognize that she shouldn’t have that same mentality in her own marriages. It does explain a little bit more about how Madeline thinks, though.
The episode continued to follow both Renata’s struggle with her daughter’s anxiety over the world ending and Madeline trying to get Ed to talk to her again but, in the end, came to a beautiful conclusion through a moment at a school conference. Renata complained to the principal about teaching the kids about climate change, so he called for a late night talk back. He wanted to hear from the parents, and they all kept yelling over him.
In true Madeline fashion, she yells out the loudest when the principal tells everyone to “shut up,” and so he asks her to come on stage and share her thoughts and feelings. He very clearly meant about the school’s curriculum, but Madeline took that time to start to share her feelings for her husband, talk about the danger of what we teach our children and how we continue to teach those same ideals to ourselves, and then she quoted Kermit the Frog before running out of the auditorium in tears.
It’s beyond clear that Madeline is suffering but, then again, all these women are. And, as women, we often have to suffer in silence in order to try and keep our families together, and that is maybe the best thing about Big Little Lies. It is showing the real-life struggle many all go through daily.
From the first episode to this week’s continuation of their mental struggle, this season of Big Little Lies seems to be taking on a lot of their mental health and how they’re coping with everything that has happened to them. We’re going to have to wait and see what the rest of season 2 holds for us all, but, if it has been anything like these last few episodes, we’re in for quite a treat!