Big Little Lies: The Devil Is in the Details

Like many Americans, I spent my Sunday counting down the minutes till the Big Little Lies series finale would air on HBO. And unlike most highly anticipated events, this one did not disappoint. Based on the best-selling novel by Liane Moriarty (which I am now waiting to get from the library), the show consists of seven perfectly executed episodes. Each is a work of cinematic genius in its own way, but taken together, the sum transcends the parts. And this is mostly due to three things: the acting, the writing, and the directing.

Let's begin with the writing. The series was created and written by David E. Kelley, and while I never watched his earlier television work (Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Legal, etc.) I now get the sense that I might have missed out. This show is essentially a murder mystery, with the first episode titled, "Somebody's Dead." But the magnificent conceit is that despite various scenes with the detective interrogating members of the community about the murder, you will not find out until the seventh episode who is dead and who killed them. Instead, the show introduces us to a rich cast of characters, and by picking apart their lives and their psyches, invites us to solve the mystery ourselves. In fact, by the time you get to the denouement, you will be shattered by how obvious and inevitable the conclusion seemed. And yet, that obviousness isn't disappointing - instead it is wonderfully satisfying, almost like Kelley has been putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle, and that last open spot has finally been filled in with the missing piece. I don't know how much of this is attributable to the original novel and how much is Kelley's own personal wizardry, but either way, it is a stunning adaptation.

The cast is an embarrassment of riches, boasting Oscar winners and nominees who are all at the top of their game. Leading the fray is Reese Witherspoon as Madeline McKenzie, an interfering but well-meaning stay-at-home mom who likes to fix everyone's problems while her own seemingly idyllic life, with husband Ed (Adam Scott) and daughters Abigail and Chloe (Kathryn Newton and Darby Camp), spirals out of control. Then there's Nicole Kidman as Celeste Wright, a woman living the dream with a devilishly handsome younger husband (Alexander Skaarsgard) and two cherubic twin boys. However, as the series progresses, her life crumbles in a way that is simply gutting. Shailene Woodley plays Jane Chapman, a single mother with a mysterious past, who has issues that need to be dealt with while she struggles to build a new life for herself and her son. Laura Dern plays the successful Silicon Valley CEO, Renata Klein, a working mother who is trying to Lean In and have it all, with spectacularly unsuccessful results. And finally there's Zoe Kravitz as Bonnie Carlson, the younger woman who married Madeleine's ex-husband, Nathan (James Tupper), and who embodies the chilled-out vibe of Monterey that none of these other mothers can emulate.

Last but certainly not least, we come to Jean-Marc Vallee, the sole director of all seven episodes. This show would be nothing without the script and the cast, but you need a visionary director to elevate those components to such a pinnacle of televisual delight, and Vallee has delivered in spades. His crew is stocked with the best of the best: stunning cinematography by Yves Belanger, a pitch-perfect soundtrack by music supervisor Susan Jacobs, and impeccable production design by John Paino, particularly in the final episode when things comes to a head at a school trivia night that has an Elvis and Audrey Hepburn theme (special shout out to costume designer Alix Friedberg for those Hepburn outfits: Reader, I swooned.)

Big Little Lies is a marvel, a reminder of how blessed we are to be in the golden age of television where we can get cinematic excellence on the small screen. I cannot imagine what a dismal failure it would have been to try and cram this story into a feature-length film. Instead, HBO allowed the producers to tell the story in a well-paced seven episodes that engendered nail-biting speculation, awe, and emotion. I have rarely seen a more symbiotic blend of plot and character: usually I find that a show relies more heavily on one or the other, but in this case, both elements were inextricably intertwined, with character development informing the plot and vice versa.

Two days after watching the finale, I am still trying to wrap my head around how exactly they pulled this off. The series dealt with difficult themes that are rarely portrayed effectively in popular culture, but handled them with grace and astute editing that ensured the audience never felt exploited. I'm deliberately being ambiguous because again, there are only seven episodes, so every detail is a spoiler. But take my word for it. You need to watch Big Little Lies, and once you do, let's discuss it at length, because I still have many thoughts I need to express.