Big Little Lies finally gave in to satire

In the HBO drama's second season, the jokes are on the protagonists

Laura Dern.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Jennifer Clasen/HBO, dinkaspell/iStock)

The first season of Big Little Lies was a clever trap. The show took what would have otherwise been an easily satirized narrative about affluent women and complicated it with their trauma; The Week's Lili Loofbourow succinctly called it "a kind of double helix of satire and sincerity" in her review. The success of this structure hinged in part on the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards, the withholding of information, and the inclusion of misleading police interviews with gossipy neighbors. By shining a light on the audience's superficial presumptions about the "Monterey Five," Big Little Lies, in the end, proved its own point.

The second season, then, might seem superfluous. We already know the backstory to the murder of Celeste's husband, Perry, and it was long ago revealed that nothing in Monterey is as simple as it seems. No longer needing to twist the viewer's presumptions against them, Big Little Lies has lost the earnestness that helped balance season one. In doing so — and as was especially evident in Sunday's third episode — the series has caved into parodying itself.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.