Season one of Big Little Lies was a perfect must-see ‘limited series’. Marquee names like Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern teaming up for a TV project joined by newer talents - Zoe Kravitz and Shailene Woodley -it boasted serious star power. The first season was a slow burn that went from a seemingly simple soap-y premise into a thoughtful and moving meditation on difficult topics.
Although season one was billed as a complete story, the acclaim for the show prompted a second season. A chance to see these characters back together was too good for many of us to resist and the addition of Meryl Streep to the cast only heightened expectations.
It’s frustrating then that season two was so desperately uneven. While the cast were uniformly excellent it was hard to shake the sense that the plotting and through-line of this follow up season wasn’t as well conceived as the first. Laura Dern’s performance as Renata had always been darkly funny and meme-worthy but with depth. Season two’s writing turned her into a character always seconds away from a GIF ready meltdown.
Season two would feature a harrowing scene that understood the nuances of sexual violence and how it impacts victims then, in another scene, careen into some barely thought out plot line. Halfway through the run, a report emerged that director Andrea Arnold had her work significantly re-edited in post-production as producer David E Kelley and series one director Jean-Marc Vallée wanted it to reflect the feel of the first season more. The cast and creative team denied the reports but it seemed to confirm for some fans why this season felt so disjointed.