Just binged my way through the first season of a deliciously entertaining limited series on HBO from executive producer David E. Kelley, the creator of
The Practice,
Ally McBeal,
Chcago Hope, and
Boston Legal.
Big Little Lies is a stylish and provocative look inside the scenic seaside community of Monterrey and all of the secrets that wash up onshore. The ladies are the primary focus here and the actresses hired to helm this show are definitely up to the task. Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) is the mother of two daughters and a second marriage to Ed (Adam Scott) who still has major unresolved issues with ex, Nathan (James Tupper) who has remarried the much younger health nut and yoga instructor Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz); Jane (Shailene Woodley) is a single mom who is trying to shield her son from the fact that he is a product of rape; Celeste (Nicole Kidman) is a former lawyer who is now a stay at home mom to adorable twin boys but is married to a slime (Aleksander Sarsgaard) who physically abuses her. Renata (Laura Dern) is a powerful married businesswoman who wages a war on a first grader who she thinks choked her daughter. Oh, and by the end of the final episode of the season, one of the above mentioned characters is dead. For those who were fans of the long running ABC drama
Desperate Housewives, you will be in heaven here...just picture that show without all of the restraints that come with network television. Kelly's writing is smart and edgy and director Jean Marc Vallee (
Dallas Buyers Club) directs with imagination and polish. The acting is top-notch with clearly stand out work from Witherspoon, who has just amazed me with her powerhouse work here. She received one of the 10 Emmy nominations that the series received, as did Kidman, Woodley, Dern, Skarsgaard, Kelley, and Vallee. If pretty people wearing expensive clothes, driving expensive cars and dealing with their so-called troubles is your cup of tea, bellyup.