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Secrets and lies
The powerhouse cast of ‘Big Little Lies’ welcomes a familiar face for Season 2
By Kenneth Andeel
TV Media
W
hen the Season 1 finale
of “Big Little Lies” aired
last year on HBO, few were
expecting it to return for a
second season. Not because it
wasn’t worthy — the show did
exceptionally well, and raked
in the accolades during awards
season — but because the story
on which it is based ends where
Season 1 left off. On Sunday,
June 9, the critically acclaimed
series returns for an unexpected
second season, and we are
treated to further exploration
of the intrigue-filled lives of a
group of Californian women.
“Big Little Lies” premiered
in 2017 as a seven-part limited
series on HBO. The project was
spearheaded by movie stars
Nicole Kidman (“The Hours,”
2002) and Reese Witherspoon
(“A Wrinkle in Time,” 2018),
who, several years earlier, had
optioned the rights to produce a
film or television series based on
author Liane Moriarty’s novel of
the same name.
Moriarty’s novel depicted
a complicated web of secrets,
abuse and revenge that brings a
group of very different women
together and results in an ulti-
mate act of desperate violence.
After Witherspoon and Kidman
opted to produce the project as
a series rather than as a film, as
initially expected, the already
noteworthy cast began to grow.
A additional stars signed on,
including Shailene Woodley
(“Divergent,” 2014), Zoë Kravitz
(“Mad Max: Fury Road,” 2015)
and Laura Dern (“Jurassic Park,”
1993), who filled out the group
of women central to the story’s
plot.
Supporting cast members
included Alexander Skarsgård
(“True Blood”), Adam Scott
(“Parks and Recreation”),
Kathryn Newton (“Halt and
Catch Fire”) and Iain Armitage
(“Young Sheldon”), most of
whom are returning in Season
2 | Screentime
2. I say “most” in an effort to
spare you from spoilers — if you
haven’t watched the first sea-
son, telling you who isn’t return-
ing for Season 2 would give too
much away.
So far, “Big Little Lies” has fol-
lowed the three lead characters
Celeste (Kidman), Madeline
(Witherspoon) and Jane (Wood-
ley). Jane is a newcomer to
Monterey, and is there to raise
her son as a single mother and
hide a troubled past. The women
meet because of their children,
who all attend the same school,
and Madeline takes Jane under
her wing.
Season 1 was a roller-coaster
of drama and secrets. Celeste’s
marriage was not what it
seemed. Madeline’s controlling
nature threatened to ruin her
relationships with family mem-
bers. Jane’s past seemed to liter-
ally chase her as she did her best
to outrun it and care for her son.
Ultimately, these women, along
with others who seem at first to
be antagonists, come together
in a moment of great need to
resolve a serious case of abuse.
They kill a man.
It’s here that the story diverg-
es from the source material. In
the novel, the woman who does
the actual killing admits to her
actions immediately and turns
herself in, despite her friends
agreeing to lie on her behalf.
In the television version, the
women come up with a story in
which the man died accidentally
after instigating a struggle, and
present a united front to police.
The investigation into the death
and the repercussions of that
night are the source of much of
the tension and drama Season 2
has to offer.
Meryl Streep (“Doubt,” 2008)
joins the already ridiculously tal-
ented cast this season. She plays
the mother of the man who died,
and she comes to town looking
for answers about his death.
When Moriarty’s novel left
the series with no further source
material to draw upon, the cast
June 5, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
Shailene Woodley in a scene from “Big Little Lies”
and creators seemed reticent
announced that a second season
to endorse the idea of a second
was being explored, and that
season; they all claimed to be
Moriarty had been contacted to
supremely happy with the way
write new material for it.
the first season turned out and
Later that year, the second
defended its existence as a
season was confirmed, and
standalone piece of work.
while fans were overjoyed, the
The demand for more must
announcement didn’t thrill other
have simply been too great,
awards-season contenders. HBO
because in 2017, shortly after
had waited until after voting had
“Big Little Lies” had received
concluded so the show would
an Emmy nomination for Out-
not be pulled from the “Limited
standing Limited Series, HBO
Series” category for awards sea-
son. “Big Little Lies” ultimately
nabbed several awards, includ-
ing the Emmy and the Golden
Globe for Best Miniseries.
Awards-season controversy
aside, the return of the series has
plenty of people excited. Like
Moriarty’s novel, the television
version of “Big Little Lies” man-
ages to balance a dark sense
of humor with a conscientious
and sensitive exploration of
domestic abuse and the effects
of trauma. The show’s elite cast,
which now includes three Oscar
winners (Kidman, Witherspoon,
Streep) and a two-time Oscar
nominee (Dern), lovingly brings
each character to life, and it’s a
real joy to watch these women,
both fictional and real, work
together on screen.
Season 2 of “Big Little Lies”
continues to explore the dark
secrets of Monterey when it pre-
mieres Sunday, June 9, on HBO.