The final episode of HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” gave viewers every answer to the list of questions that grew each episode.
STARS: 5/5
During the first few minutes of the first episode, a supposedly gruesome murder at a swanky trivia night fundraiser for Otter Bay Elementary, Monterey Bay, California’s premier public school, centers itself as the show’s main mystery.
A Greek chorus of fellow Otter Bay parents and Monterey citizens appear in flash cuts of police interviews about the night of and events leading up to the murder.
Yet, as we learned, the intricacies of the lives of five mothers, the story of who killed who became unimportant. It was abuse in all its forms that pulled these women together and, after all the quarrelling and rivalry in the past seven episodes, left them frolicking on a beach with their children.
The seventh and final episode, “You Get What You Need,” opened in Perry (Alexander Skarsgard) and Celeste’s (Nicole Kidman) home, with viewers straining to hear Perry abusing his wife over the noise of their twin boys’ video game.
With impeccable cuts to waves crashing on rocky shores around posh Monterey homes and gossipy detective interrogations, the episode is as beautiful as it is dark. Everything from the nuanced dialogue to a sophisticated score controlled by the characters themselves deserves appreciation.
The attention to detail, such as unexplained bruises on Celeste in every scene, despite not always being pointed out by the characters, created a realistic, intense drama series that will no doubt sweep next year’s Emmy Awards.
For the remainder of the episode, the suspense intensified as baggage and the secrets of various characters began to unspool. It is Celeste’s child and not Jane’s (Shailene Woodley) who was abusing Renata’s (Laura Dern) daughter at school, a reference to the influence Perry’s abuse has on not just Celeste, but his sons and the town as a whole.
In the most bone-chilling scene of the entire series, Perry reveals his knowledge of Celeste’s plan to leave him and flee to the apartment she recently bought, all while tenderly attending to their son’s sore tooth. One look by Celeste at the Jekyll-Hyde monster played brilliantly by Skarsgard says it all: she does not expect to survive the night.
The murder seems not to matter when juxtaposed against the true horrors underlying Monterey Bay, including the many other forms of violence in the series. Perry’s threatening presence follows Celeste anytime she is on screen, and the rage and confusion Jane feels as she mentally confronts her unidentified rapist marks every move she makes.
By the time it’s revealed that Perry was the victim discussed in the forward-jumping cuts to detective interviews, it doesn’t seem to matter as much as the fact that Celeste, Renata, Jane, Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz) and Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) all had a hand in his demise, trying to defend Celeste from his latest assault at the school fundraiser.
However, it is worth noting that director Jean-Marc Vallée set the scene perfectly with nearly every question and revelation being tied up amongst the leading women in these final moments.
All five women find themselves away from the crowds of trivia night, only for Perry to try to drag Celeste back home. The other four women fight to pull Perry off of Celeste as he beats her, and it is Bonnie who kills him by pushing him down the stairs.
The bonds forged by these women in a single night seemed reasonable given the circumstances. They were mature and empathetic enough to share and assuage each other’s pain — in part because of each character’s relationship with domestic abuse, a factor that helped Renata and Jane form a connection earlier in episode six despite their initial rivalry.
The finale ties up every loose end, satisfying viewers and creating a smashingly realistic depiction of abuse under the seemingly placid surface of Monterey Bay.