As you might imagine, just like many other viewers, I absolutely loved the first season of "Big Little Lies". I read the novel, watched the show and honestly couldn't imagine how they were going to continue the story without a drop of quality to the writing. The source material was covered in its entirety with the first season, and the open ending worked so perfectly that it didn't quite seem necessary to introduce a second season. However, since its announcement and with the casting of Meryl Streep, my anticipation has only increased steadily, and this premiere episode certainly did not disappoint.
The acting is beyond wonderful. We have some of the best modern actresses assembled in this cast: Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, Laura Dern ... do I even need to continue? Everyone of them brings so much multi-faceted complexity to their respective characters. The interactions between Streep and Witherspoon were a delight to watch, and it's always great to see Kidman and Streep outacting each other. I'd assume that there were some hints at the fragility of Madeline and Ed's marriage in this episode, so it will be interesting to see their relationship unravel in future episodes.
The show has to balance several storylines in parallel, as each character has their own life to worry about as well as their shared problem(s), but it manages this complexity surprisingly well. Whereas the first season started with all the characters in completely different places and ended with them unified in their misery, it will be interesting to see where all these characters will end up at the end of season two. As of now, I have no idea how the season is going to continue, but that's a testament to its unpredictability, and it shows that "Big Little Lies" has not lost its bite yet. I'm very much looking forward to the other six episodes.
