Big Little Lies review: Everything turns out fine, but the guilt still wins out
It doesn’t seem to matter what happens on Big Little Lies because the women will somehow work it all out. But sometimes, that isn’t what they need to do for themselves.
A common theme throughout Big Little Lies has been that no one can really figure out what is going on in their lives. Last week, the women were starting to feel the weight of what happened with Perry on them as they dealt with Celeste’s trial.
For a while, it seemed as if everyone knew what happened the night that Perry fell. There were looks from other townspeople, Mary Louise was watching their every move, and everyone was on edge — which meant that each of the Monterey Five were struggling, not just with what happened, but also with their own personal lives.
As the season finale came to a close, it became abundantly clear that everything else in their lives was starting to work out. Bonnie’s relationship with her mother ended on a better note than it had been, Madeline renewed her vows with Ed so they could move forward with their relationship, and Celeste beat Mary Louise in a custody battle for her kids. Renata took a bat to Gordon’s toy train set, so we can probably call that a win, right?
Throughout it all though, the idea that they got away with pushing Perry seemed to have an expiration date for them. Whether self-imposed or because they were almost caught, the guilt of what happened clearly wasn’t going away, even after they figured out their own lives. And so, in a surprising end to the season, all of the Monterey Five go to the police station with Bonnie. Working through their own issues made them think more clearly about what happened.
To be honest, it’s a move that should have happened long before Celeste’s trial and probably from the beginning of the season. There were plenty of lies to go around Monterey without them having lied about what happened with Perry. Still, they were afraid and hid the truth of his fall, and now they might not get off so easy.
The downfall of this finale is that everything worked out. Sure, it might not be perfect, but life isn’t perfect. So Renata taking a bat to her husband’s toy collection instead of their marriage working out is what happens. That being said, it’s still a finale where everything is somewhat normalized and then the women decide that, within that, they have to tell the truth about what happened that night. Now, more than ever, there are unanswered questions about the Monterey Five.
Are we going to get a season three? Or was this a perfect way to send off the Monterey Five? Will Bonnie get in the most trouble out of them all? We may never know. But at least in the midst of their happiness and success, they are, seemingly, telling the truth.
Next. Big Little Lies season 2 episode 6 review: Everyone is starting to break. dark