See, Jane doesn’t fit in because she’s not rich, petty or have husband issues, three things that Big Little Lies drowns in. Madeline gets in everybody’s business, particularly that of young single-mom Jane ( Woodley), whose kid is the one accused of the faux-strangling on Day 1 of first grade and it all goes sideways from there. She’s got a teenage daughter giving her endless grief and a precocious first-grader acting like she’s 35, as well as an ex-husband ( Tupper) now married to a younger, earthy-crunchy yogi (Kravitz) that relationship is constantly annoying Madeline, which in turn annoys her current husband Ed (Scott, in a bushy beard), who doesn’t want to be anyone’s consolation prize. Witherspoon is Madeline, the mostly stay-at-home mom whose in-your-business forthrightness and constant need to be in the middle of arguments makes her the center of every storm. stay-at-home moms, recalcitrant teens, bullying, suburban ennui, general unhappiness and a bevy of hurt feelings and curt social exchanges.

On top of the murder and the twists that will come from it, we are to fixate on bad marriages, abuse, working moms vs. It’s precisely that rigorous pursuit of gravitas that makes Big Little Lies so divisive.

That will probably be a huge endorsement for some, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting a sprawling, A-list heavy melodrama and murder mystery, but the endeavor seems to be constantly pushing its take-me-seriously tone and getting in the way of the fun. Unfortunately, Big Little Lies feels a lot like a soapy ABC drama, with nudity. It begins with a murder - the twist being that we don’t know who was murdered or who the potential killer is - but within a shockingly short time frame of getting to know these characters, it’s hard to actually care about who gets offed. By shifting the story out of Australia and to the swanky seaside town of Monterey, the production ratchets up the Rich White People Problems factor that dominates the story. If this is the kind of red flag that scares you off, congratulations, you just saved seven hours of your time.īig Little Lies revolves around a big hot mess of “issues” that adults face, painstakingly acted out in ways that don’t have much connection to reality, whether it’s how people talk to each other or act around each other. If you want to watch more of this calculated, phony kind of confrontation, which usually entails a detailed monologue of ridiculousness, then definitely keep watching because you’re going to get a lot of it. Never mind that this public allegation and finger pointing turns into predictable confrontation, or that after it turns into a garbage fire of elite nastiness the teacher says, “Maybe this is a bad idea.” No, what’s really important is that there has rarely been a more stark example of the opt-in/opt-out moment that’s in play for most series (though rarely this blatant). Never mind that this scenario would never happen.

Little town big lies