Tonight’s the night: HBO’s gripping and evasive miniseries Big Little Lies delivers its grand finale. We’ll learn—presumably—the identity of the person whose death propels the retrospective murder mystery. Hopefully we’ll see justice for Celeste, Jane, and Ziggy. And Madeline—will she commit to her marriage or seek happiness elsewhere?
A confession: I know the answers to these questions because a writing assignment afforded me the opportunity to watch the finale in advance. But I am nonetheless excited to witness everyone else’s reactions!
As usual, the comments section is your safe space to discuss the finale, as well as the preceding episodes. And because there’s still roughly an hour to kill, I thought I would provide a little preparatory reading material. Check out this roundup of essays and articles recently written about our new favorite show:
- First, here is Jezebel’s own Bobby Finger: he argues that the way people have written about the show reveals how we struggle to talk productively about abuse.
- Over at ELLE, I wrote about how Monterey’s culture of surveillance has devastating impacts on female intimacy, particularly as evidenced in the friendship shared by Jane, Madeline, and Celeste.
- Lara Zarum at Flavorwire explores how Big Little Lies’ “schoolyard drama” runs parallel to the adults’ conflicts, demonstrating the complex entanglement of violence and desire.
- Emily Nussbaum, television critic for the New Yorker, composed a lovely, perceptive review of the show.
- Vulture ranked its favorite murder theories according to plausibility.
- Alexander Skarsgård spoke to Vanity Fair about his role as the villainous Perry Wright.
While you’re watching tonight, I endorse following the razor-sharp live-tweets of Tom + Lorenzo. They are brilliant and hilarious, and their observations will enhance your viewing pleasure, I assure you.
In the meantime, let’s sign off with “Cold Little Heart,” by Michael Kiwanuka. As you likely know, it’s the song from the show’s opening credits. It has also become the default soundtrack to my life because, after listening to the song ad infinitum, it shows no sign of vacating my brain anytime soon. Perhaps some of you can understand.
Have fun tonight, darlings, and take it away in the comments!