The Great Truth of Big Little Lies

I think Ludacris said it best when he gave us the genius line of lyrics, “When I was thirteen, I had my first love”. For me at least, that first love was then ABC’s smash hit television series “Pretty Little Liars”. I think it’s a rite of passage in the upbringing of any queer boy to become engrossed in a poorly written drama in which you are definitely NOT the target demographic, and I definitely played this part well. Part of me was really infatuated by the mystery of the lives of Ally, Aria, Emily, Hannah, Mona, and Spencer, but I’m pretty sure I ultimately just wanted to be able to tell my mom that I too enjoyed soap operas and red wine past my bedtime. I was thirteen.

To my surprise this feeling became all too familiar again with the release of HBO’s “Big Little Lies”. Based on the novel of the same name, Big Little Lies follows the Monterey 5: a group of headstrong middle aged mothers from Monterey, CA whose drama filled lives are paralleled by a mysterious murder investigation. The characters, the infamous Monterey 5 are extremely charismatic as well and with a cast like Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shaliene Woodly, and Zoë Kravits it’s simple to see why. The women in Big Little Lies are perfect depictions of the various degrees of privelege that come with west coast wealth and the abuse that can come with that lifestyle. We do in part have the original novel written by Liane Moriarty and the screenplay by David Kelley to thank for this though. In stark contrast to the teen drama style plot of Pretty Little Liars (more reminiscent of any show on the CW and the Wattpad fanfictions I wrote when I was eleven) Big Little Lies paints a beautiful, twisted, dark narrative about our obsession with wealth and class, and the pain we will endure to sustain them.

An often overlooked part of any TV reccomendation I find is the *Soundtrack*. Sound is what guides the emotional voyage we are taken on as viewers. As somebody who is especially empathetic when it comes to TV characters I can appreciate that Big Little Lies delivers a both bright and melancholy variety of music. This duality establishes a relationship between the warm West Coast aesthetic you see on the screen with the cold reality of the darker themes that are presented through the story. From the shows opening song “Cold Little Heart” (Micheal Kiwanuka), to “River” (Leon Bridges) and even character performances of Elvis Presley’s biggest hits, the score of Big Little Lies sounds like the death of the Californian Dream.

In this way Big Little Lies is like a glass of expensive champagne. What we see visually is bright and sweet but the subtext of the show means to tell us that excessive wealth is poison. Also like a fresh glass of Prosecco you can only take that first sip once, and I’m making this claim that the show doesn’t provide an insane desire to rewatch it because I don’t know that it’s meant to be. Once you are exposed to the illusion that is the supposed beauty of their lifestyle you will always acknowledge it for what it is- farcical. The show wants you to see the superficial nature of the characters lives because without doing so you neglect to recognize why all of the characters are in the spesific positions they are in. In the very first episode the first character we are introduced to is Jane (Shaliene Woodly): a woman who moves to Monterey out of unknown circumstances and is forced to assimilate into the hierarchy of society there. It’s sort of the inverse of one of the central plot points of Pretty Little Liars which is that the girls are forced to become more like Allison in order to escape their own personal insecurities. In this way both of these stories are warning us about the dangers of placing your self worth in outside perception.

If you still aren’t sure if you’re on board with fourteen episodes of Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) trying to put on Avenue Q, I urge you to consider that Meryl Streep joins the cast as a principle character in the second season. Not that Meryl Streep is by any means void of critical acclaim but her portrayal of Mary Louise Wright stands out to me in particular. Mary Louise is one of those characters that can only exist in the second season of a show effectively, as her position in the narrative is only to sustain the conflict created by the first seasons antagonist (in this case her son Perry). She also gives us a very cumbersome and conservative perspective that foils the eccentric progressivism of Northern California in an engadging way. Without totally spoiling the details all I can emphasize is that given such an archetypal character, Streep humanizes perhaps the least likable character in this entire story leaving you with blood boiling frustration in the most satisfying way.

What did I personally take away from this show? Both extreme hatred for rich men and the overwhelming desire to move to Monterey, CA. I suppose this really does speak to how susceptible I am to a well crafted facade. Did I just see Celeste (Nicole Kidman) get physically abused by her husband? Sure. Do I secretly wish I lived in their spacious multi-million dollar house that overlooks the ocean? Abso-frickin-lutely. This fragile line is what the show best manipulates. As an audience you see the horror of this lifestyle, but it is SEDUCTIVE and there is some part of you that wants to believe you’d make different decisions, create a different outcome. It undoubtedly feels like something my mother would watch after I went to bed, only it’s not Nightline and I don’t hate it. My obsession with this show feels like such a natural progression from my roots with PLL, and BLL has become one of if not my favorite shows of all time. It’s like Pretty Little Liars, but for adults who drink red wine past their bedtime.