'Big Little Lies' S02E06 Discussion Thread

Episode five thread.

You can catch up on the Arnold drama from this week if you missed it.

[quote]HBO and David E. Kelley took the show away from Arnold, as executive producer Jean-Marc Vallée tried to return it to his S1 style.

Celeste is Monterey’s worst lawyer.

r3 She really is. I wonder how unlawyerly she'll behave in tonight's court scene to end all court scenes.

JUst die, Meryl. W're all sick of your horse face and your overrated and OTT performances

Thanks Meryl for the homage!

Why does Renata pronounce Madeline's name with a long "i"; Madelyne?

I wish Nicole or Reese would talk about the post-shoot role of Andrea Arnold. Their silence is deafening and they are producers.

i hope this episode is a bit longer

Ugh, the aspie.

Madeline is being a bit too cunty.

Just fucking euthanize her already, Jesus.

Renata's first thought is to try and influence the judge, like a MOB BOSS.

Mary Mother of God! Ambien sex.

Physics!

Well, primetime ruined this episode.

I had no idea Celeste... got around so much during her Ambien episodes.

Bride of Frankenchin

That courtroom looks so pretty, I've never seen anything like it on TV before. Does anyone know where that is?

That judge is kinda amazing.

Why is there such a big audience for a custody hearing?

r20 Haha, so true!

Celeste’s Perry Mason moment!

Holy shit, Laura Dern ACTING!

Stress Management

So the final courtroom showdown - and Meryl's flashback scenes - will be next week? I bet it's going to be everything we ever wanted, and more.

“Special thanks to Jean-Marc Vallee”?

I hope stinky slag Celeste loses custody of her kids. She sucks and she’s no match for Mary Louise. I hope she has a Ring doorbell cam that recorded Jane screaming about shooting people, and banging on her front door like a maniac.

And stupid Gordon should have prioritized paying off the French nanny over letting Renata pay for that ridiculous party. She deserved that drubbing in bankruptcy court. Pay your fucking nanny, you utter cunt. I don’t understand why rich people always want to shaft the people who take care of their children for them.

When is Corey going to get naked? He seems like a sweet bottom to me.

I wish Robin Weigert had been called to the stand to discuss the current research on spousal abuse with the judge, and all the while both of them completely ignoring the attorneys. Wouldn't you watch an hour of just that?

^^ I hope Mary Louise caught Jane’s tantrum at her front door.

And Madeline has a bad habit of snapping at people and then making these abject apologies. How about not doing it in the first place? Half her dialogue is apologies.

[quote]Half her dialogue is apologies.

Yup, it must be exhausting to be around people like that. And if they've done it five times, you can bet they're going to do it five hundred times more. Show me you've changed, don't try and convince me you've changed with yet another apology, because you're making me do half the work for you.

Why is Bonnie so damn guilty about pushing Perry??? He was about to kill someone! I get being in shock at first but it’s been what, a year and a half now and she’s still moping around and wanting to confess? There was no reason to lie in the first place but there’s even less reason for her to still feel any type of way about it.

Mary Louise is trending on Twitter; Meryl's done it again. And she barely spoke in this episode!

I've never understood why they lied about what happened... if they had just told the truth, no one would have been in any trouble... does the book explain this better?

People are already complaining about Celeste getting slutshamed in court and I kinda agree. That didn't sit right with me at all. And it's California, ffs, so why is this even being brought up in the first place?

[quote]"When I was happy, I stayed because I was happy. When I was depressed, I stayed because I was depressed."

This line about abusive relationships was amazing.

[quote]The Devil Wears Cardigans (2019)

I'm going to miss Jon Lovett fangurling over this show on his podcast every week. And his comment about Mary Louise was spot on - she is the Angel of fucking Death, going around and confronting people with their deepest insecurities. Her character really stands out for me in this pretty bland season.

Celeste has the worst lawyer in history. Seems ridiculous that the opposing lawyer was allowed to accuse Celeste of murder- this isn't a criminal trial. And why on earth would Mary Louise not be expected to go on the stand if she is suing for custody???

Gordon fucking the nanny was in the book. I was wondering if they were gonna use that in this season.

In the book, Bonnie was abused by her father, not her mother. WTF? Why did/ would they have changed that? It just makes no sense this way.

[quote]Seems ridiculous that the opposing lawyer was allowed to accuse Celeste of murder- this isn't a criminal trial.

I know, and the judge didn't say a thing. The detective and Mary Louise looking at the TV earlier in the episode was high camp and I LOVED it! I'm willing to suspend even more of my disbelief next episode when Meryl testifies, if it means we get more explosive drama that way.

r39 Abusive mothers makes for a better parallel this season.

R41 Then shouldn't Bonnie have pushed Madeline?

I think Dern just won her Emmy for that scene in the car with Gordon tonight

Madeline is overbearing, not abusive.

[quote]I've never understood why they lied about what happened... if they had just told the truth, no one would have been in any trouble... does the book explain this better?

IIRC, in season 1 Bonnie, Renata, Celeste, and Jane wanted to tell the real story, but Madeline said that Perry fell.

R39 How does it make no sense this way? Bonnie was having a primal response to the nature of abuse, not necessarily the gender inflicting it. And honestly, Zoe showed up for that moment. I thought she delivered that 10 Things I Hate About You speech surprisingly well.

Also, gotta admit, we've had a shaky season so far, but those courtroom scenes were fucking potent. It was really uncomfortable to sit though, so the drama was definitely landing for me. I like how Celeste suddenly remembered that she was a lawyer in the last bit of the episode when it's all we've been complaining about for a while.

I'm curious about the young Mary Louise actress being in the cast list for multiple episodes... I wonder if we were meant to see more flashbacks throughout the season but they ended up on the cutting room floor along with the ice cream toss. Sometimes IMDb gets credits wrong though, so it's possible she's only in the finale... which should hopefully dismantle Mary Louise. Who knows, perhaps we'll finally see the last dimension of Meryl's performance. I hope she knocks it out of the park.

Yes, they were all distraught in the moment and then Madeline overpowered them all and said they needed to go with the lie.

[quote]I like how Celeste suddenly remembered that she was a lawyer in the last bit of the episode when it's all we've been complaining about for a while.

I enjoyed that as well. I especially loved her addressing the judge directly. That's not something I've ever seen on The Good Wife. Granted, there weren't any custody hearings on that show...

[quote]And honestly, Zoe showed up for that moment. I thought she delivered that 10 Things I Hate About You speech surprisingly well.

I agree. That was probably her best moment of acting on this show. I really found the speech to be very sad because I know a few people who had abusive parents.

Interesting.

r45

I do remember that but they have never explained why though

R51 I can't completely recall, but in the book it had to do with Bonnie's history of abuse with her dad, (changed to her mom in tonight's episode). It might have involved a legal issue and previous charges. I don't think in the book it was Madeline's idea to lie. But I could be mistaken.

Anyone who read the book please pipe in.

Celeste knows much more about Mary Louise than she's willing to let on at this point, probably from Perry. There's something about the other dead son that's going to come out, my guess.

Yeah, that's the last thread to be unraveled.

Anyone else think the drama between Madeline and Ned has completely deflated? They've given Reese some pretty embarrassing material these past two episodes, but she's acting her way through it. With one episode left, everything involving the jilted wife just feels so ephemeral... they should have started weaving that thread much earlier if they wanted it to resonate.

Dennis O’Hare recap

Oops didn’t see someone else already posted that. Good read. Streep is the best. Her shutting the door on Jane - haven’t we all been there? And I look forward to to the finale, but not in a million years would a mom in a custody battle cross-examine her mother-in-law.

I always wondered if there was going to be racial factor in why they all lied about Perry's death. Maybe, the white women thought Bonnie wouldn't be treated fairly by the cops and prosecutors. I know that probably sounds dumb, but I recall some case where a black woman went to prison for firing warning shots in a self defense situation.

Agree the Madeleine story has run out of steam. It would have been better if her husband told her the wife of her lover came on to him.

And not to be mean, but agree Bonnie needs to kill her mother for our sake as viewers.

If their decision to lie was racial then that's up to the viewer's inference, since the only moment race has been mentioned in this entire show came from Bonnie's mother.

R34, because if she brings strange men home and she’s whacked out on Ambien, the men can take advantage of that and do god knows what. If she’s fucking them in a public bathroom, I don’t think it’s a problem. But Mary-Louise’s lawyer had a point about them being in her home with the boys around. That’s not safe behavior.

And how did that middle-aged ducklipped Frau pull such gorgeous trade? I was envious.

I don't see the issue, your honor. My client was just gettin' that Vitamin D, if you know what I'm saying.

Ugh... wet blanket... whatever, move on.

So, how was Nicole's accent this time?

R52 - In the book it's Renata who says that he slipped, which was off of a rainy balcony where the rail was too low vs. stairs. In the book Bonnie's dad was the abuser, she herself was not abused, but watched all the abuse of her mom. She turns herself in and gets community service. Gordon fucks the nanny and Harper from season 1's husband. Renata moves to London.

Laura Dern In the car was everything.

Nicole has mastered the art of acting with Botox. Her character got laid a lot for a 52 year old woman. Poor Renata. Always kicked in the kitty.

Damn, next week is the finale? This season flew by. I hope the finale is at least more than 45 minutes.

I don't know what a season 3 could possibly be, but I would watch it.

Any theories on who the star witness will be? I'm guessing it's someone we haven't met yet.

Joan Collins or Judith Light.

Soooo boring. There never should have been a Season 2.

I have no clue what's going on with Ed's arc or how/if they'll resolve that in the finale. One minute, he's thinking about possibly fucking the fake tits off that woman, the next he's in the living room and Madeline is apologizing again... for something. So bizarre.

I want to see him naked already. And why hasn't there been any nudity this season?!

Upon reflection, this has all been pretty shite. Celeste's character doesn't make any sense - as evidenced by her own testimony on the stand. Kidman has been left with embarrassing scraps to play. They've all just been rehashing S1 over and over, it's so boring. Initially it was entertaining to see Dern, Witherspoon and, yes, Meryl, assert their characters but in service to what? This is some pretty thin gruel compared to S1 and it seems unlikely that the last 45 minutes is somehow going to wrap it all up in a satisfying way. It will be incredibly high camp but not credible drama.

But what do I know? I think Gordon is sexy.

The only good thing about this episode is James Tupper seeing Psycho Ed talking to Fake Tits.

[quote]Upon reflection, this has all been pretty shite

You don’t say...

I think Gordon is the sexiest husband. Ed is such a nerd. Bonnie was about to say she married a man she never loved. This season was just an excuse for Meryl to chew the scenery. That bewigged frau Celeste picked up some hot dick though!

Dern was amazing in that car scene

R75, that was the most utterly shocking part of the whole thing: the hot young male models who were banging nasty Celeste.

Almost as shocking as Nicole Kidman’s platypus lips. Holy shit.

Why would that be shocking?

Straight men will fuck anything. How many stories have we heard of a hot guy cheating on his hot wife with... anything w a vagina.

Also, Nicole is very pretty and seems defenseless but is a freak in bed. What straight men doesn’t love all those things?

Yeah, next episode we learn the truth about the dead younger brother and what Mary Louises role in that situation was....

R78, you make good points. BUT are there that many hot young studs in Monterey that didn’t have better options that night? Whatever. I’m envying a fictional character.

Laura Dern has a major emotional breakdown in every episode. She’s exhausting. No wonder her husband was banging the mellow nanny.

I can't believe Renata is still with her husband, after everything he's put her through. I know she has limited options at her age and in the current situation with the bankruptcy, but still... In a way, she's even more pathetic than Ed.

Does anyone know who was singing that "Running Up That Hill" cover in the bar when Ed was talking to Fake Tits?

Kravitz finally justified her casting with the hospital scene. That was heartbreaking.

Was it ever mentioned that Celeste is supposed to be American? I figured they don’t care about her accent since the book is set in Australia and maybe that’s where she’s originally from.

R81 Limited options? Not the way same age Celeste is getting it, it's Cougar town and all the boys are out making conquests.

This season they went for something new and it worked. Ratings are higher and it’s the hit of the summer.

r85 I meant limited options for getting someone of her own status for a stable relationship, and one who also could be a father figure to Amabella. Of course she could get random (young) dick if she wanted to.

I suspect that Kidman's accent in the previous episode is connected to all the stories about Andrea Arnold, the editing, etc. Too many cooks..... In any other production, that would never have gone by unnoticed. Kidman was probably directed to do the scene as best she could, and not worry about the accent because they would correct it with dubbing later. (standard post-production).

Perhaps Kidman got pissed and that had to do with the story getting out, (or those scenes were deliberately used as payback of some kind).

Zoe had mixed results with that monologue, but the line about how she married (I’m paraphrasing) someone she didn’t... got a gasp out of our household.

I’m a bit annoyed Kelley wasn’t steered away from turning this show into a courtroom drama. I mean, really? You have THESE actors and you’ve spent 50% of the characters’ time this season in courtrooms and with lawyers? Come on. Hopefully, there will be a real showdown with Kidman and Streep next week, otherwise...

Law & Order: Monterey

Monterrey Legal.

It would be difficult to do ADR on Kidman's emotional scene with the camera directly on her face. It could be done but a lot of the affect in her voice would be lost. And it would be degrading to call this great actress and tell her she needs to redub this big dramatic scene because her accent came out really strongly, despite having a vocal coach. You're basically implying she was unprofessional. I don't know, I wouldn't like to be the one making that call so I can see why they stuck with the original version.

Nicole would have been an Emmy contender again except for the Australian accent slipping out. Not sure why no one caught that since they did do reshoots.

I do expect Meryl to be nominated and win in supporting. She nailed it.

Nah, Dern has got supporting locked up.

Maybe in comedy but no.

[quote]Nicole would have been an Emmy contender again except for the Australian accent slipping out.

I think she justified a nomination for that courtroom scene. She navigated that difficult emotional terrain quite well.

[quote]Nah, Dern has got supporting locked up.

Possibly, but I don't know that they'll consider giving Dern another win when they have the option of Meryl on the ballot, and I say that as someone who's not in love with what she's doing... or rather I'm not in love with the conception of that character.

They all deserve a nom. Top four. Reese, Laura, Meryl, Nicole

Amazing job. I was disappointed in Nicole until the last 5 minutes last night. She found her spine, remembered she is intelligent - and it showed.

I'm Guessing this is what will be the message of the show. Women need to not give up their own personal power to loser men - in order to be married or in a relationship. They need to keep their own personal persona and find a strong man who actually likes that. If not, stay single.

I feel not a jot of empathy or sympathy or WTF ever for anyone in this damned story. None. it's ridiculous and IMo scary that there might actually be people like this out there. Ugh. Thank you, R72 for your excellent summation.

Post Script: Renata is ridiculous. Actually the most ridiculous.Is this what the writers think a high powered self made businesswoman acts like? Shit IFI were her husbandI'd have pushed her ass down those fucking stairs.

If you don’t like it, leave. No one will miss you. My thanks to Meryl for playing me so well.

Well, R100, it's kind of like watching a slow rolling train wreck. It's so bad it's fun.

I don't think Kidman is an Emmy contender for this season. She won for the first season because of her chemistry with Skaarsgard and the complications of their relationship. She hasn't had much to do in this season, at least consistently. She mostly seems lost, like she's annoyed the pages she was promised from Kelley never turned up and they have to film anyway.

All they have to do is submit the proper episode for a high profile actor and the Emmys will go for it. They're really not that picky.

There’s no way that Laura Dern would listen to Jimmy Ruffin. Type A geniuses like her often lack in personality and she when it comes to entertainment. She would listen to Taylor Swift, Pink and Michael Buble.

And Reese’s character would liken to Metallica and Pantera.

Reese isn't acting so no Emmy nom for her. Come on. We all know that Meryl is the Emmy contender for this season. Maybe they'll nominate one of the kids. Ziggy is cute.

Delusion, by Renata Klein.

[quote]Maybe they'll nominate one of the kids.

Fuck no.

The judge was played by Becky Ann Baker, who was Hannah's mother in "Girls". She was one of the few bright lights on that show, especially in the episodes about Hannah's dad, Peter Scolari, coming out of the closet (finally).

[quote]Maybe they'll nominate one of the kids. Ziggy is cute.

He's cute but his performance is way more studied than last season. One more season and his over-enunciation is going to start pissing me off. Adam Scott was talking about this on a podcast this week, saying how child actors are tricky because you don't want them to come across as too amateurish, but also not like they've studied those couple of lines in their hotel room all night. Ziggy is definitely starting to veer into the latter category, even while the actor is a theatre queen. Or maybe because of it.

r108 Yup, loved whenever she popped up in Girls, and I love her in this.

I don't know why Zoe Kravitz has been getting so much flak here. She was given the least showy role: someone damaged, who mostly keeps to herself, without big emotional outbursts or grandstanding monologues. I'm really liking her performance as we are finding out the backstory of her character. That scene in her mother's hospital room was particularly good.

Agreed about Zoe. She’s going to end up with a supporting nomination.

Zoe gets on my nerves only a little less than Reese and Laura Dern. She has three settings : she walks around moping; she glowers, she looks worried and preoccupied. Not a whole lot of range.

No one connected with this show should be nominated for awards. The writing, what little there is of it, is terrible. Typical David E. Kelley fare--starts off reasonably well and then goes steadily downhill.

HBO is amazing at adapting books but they are horrible when they don’t have any material to follow up on.

^^^ I agree, not much of an award worthy season, and makes you in fact question the abilities in the first.

Blame Meryl!

Um no, R95. She’ll win in the same category. Drama. Again.

Jeffrey Nordling doesn't have a huge amount of range as an actor. He seems to fit into roles where he's a cheating, about to be divorced dad with financial shenanigans. If anyone remembers "Once and Again", he was Sela Ward's ex-husband on that. I'd still do him though; he's hunky and has a great voice.

The Adam Scott character, meh. So wimpy and whiny. James Tupper is cute-ish but not too exciting. Jane newish beau is so dull. And Nicole's husband's dead to me.

This will get nominations just so stars show up. It’s show business and has always been that way.

Will we see Mary Louise burned at the stake?

R121, use my lighter!

Why on earth would Laura Dern win over Meryl or Shailene? She has had some comic moments but has been generally OTT.

And G wishes she was on this show. In her dreams.

Laura has got this in the bag.

Laura, Shailene and Zoe are co-leads even though they won’t be campaigned as such.

I don’t know why Celeste didn’t defend herself re: her sexploits. She has needs to be met and she is single.

It was Placebo, R82.

The sex is the least of her problems. She is a drug addict, crashed her car, and hits people. Is that a good mother? Even at the end she was hung over.

i think Nicole, Reese and Laura should be in the lead category - they have the bigger story arcs. Meryl should be winning the BSA.

Agree. And I’m pretty sure it’s a law in California that you have to vote for Meryl if her name is on the ballot. She is the only reason this season is getting so much attention.

[quote]Dern was amazing in that car scene

Yes, that old beater car they were in that the guy in the hearing said book value was $2,200 but he could probably get $3K. Great detail there.

Y'all realize you're arguing over potential 2020 Emmy nominations, right? The show premiered too late to qualify for the 2019 Emmys.

I don't think there'll be Emmy love for this season like the first. And we're just at the start of Emmy Season, (for 2020, when this is eligible). I suspect BLL will be forgotten by the time next year's ballots go out. Meryl will be nominated. Maybe one or two of the others. But this season won't have the lasting effect the first season had.

I predict even DL will forget about it.

This really is a B Movie level woman's picture of the late 50's early 60's. It's QUITE shitty but lots of fun little throwaways. Streep and Dern have the only interesting characters. Poor Renata, I didn't see the nanny fucking coming and its not so horrible except for the TIMING of the reveal is so miserably human and cruel. Couples really do destroy each other in terrible, tawdry ways. Mary Louise is a COOOOOLD BITCH, Grade A.

Celeste played this oddly. Mary Louise should have been coopted as cheap labour. Celeste should be going back to work - lob the kids onto grandma the bitch.

Kidman's accent was all over the place again in this episode. I just don't get it.

She must have been told to do it or else she's had a stroke and forgotten how to do an American accent. Her accent used to be flawless. Is it a very unhappy set perhaps and she just can't be bothered?

KATE BUSH R127

Mary Louise’s Power Point presentation seemed far-fetched. If I was the judge I’d be thinking it was a little odd...It seems entrapmenty or something I can’t put my finger on. Like what did they do, interview the men? What evidence did they really have, like sex tapes or something?! I would NOT have admitted to sex in a stall, let alone rough sex!!! They were bluffing, and she went along with it!!! What if she said she didn’t recognize them? What would they say? How could they prove anything? And what would they be proving? It had this Scooby-Doo contrived quality (that filmstrip of the men on the street!) that was laughably weak.

I think, ultimately, the trial wasn't for the judge, but for the audience.

I thought Kidman’s accent was fine in the latest episode.

Laura Dern was also OTT in Enlightened. Very entertaining.

hate that show, buncha bitches whining and gripin….specially that icky reese. ughhhhhhhhhhhhh

The only thing good about this boring mellow drama, or whatever you want to call it is Renata. I'm not getting all the hype about this show. It's not very good. How can nicole Kidman even act if her face won't move...

I think Reese is the weak link and her face is looking rough in the closeups

What is Renata’s line of business?

Nicole's face during the courtroom hearings looked weirdly stretched and static. Sad

Why would one even want those two little serial killer sociopaths in training? Just pawn them off on the equally sociopathic grandma.

r147

I thought the same thing. Why didn't the judge ask Celeste if the kids are in therapy?

Didn't the judge say something about talking to a child therapist? Could be misremembering...

The judge said:

[quote]As I said, I find the psychiatric reports and the custody evals a bit of a wash, but I think I have a pretty good grasp of what we're dealing with here.

I'm not quite sure what she meant by that.

The far-fetched courtroom antics were very Ally McBeal.

Interesting perspective on the episode

The show will get lots of nods for the Golden Globes in January 2020, and then the Emmys follow in September 2020. I doubt it will be forgotten.

Did Nicole get a boob job?

I noticed they were heaving in that sweater during the trial scene. I don't remember them being that big in Cold Mountain... just saying.

Kidman's upper lip and teeth have mobility problems.

Kidman’s face looks terrible. So what if she doesn’t have wrinkles? She can’t move her fucking face. She has the same expression in every frame. And it’s a boring one.

I’m Team Mary Louise. She’s an excellent villain.

Not a drinker, but do alcohol bottles come with frosted glass? The bottle Celeste took out of the higher up cupboard looked like it came out of a freezer and not out of a cupboard. But then it would make Celeste look pretty pathetic to drink alcohol that's room temperature.

I was surprised that the gals didn't freak out when it was revealed that Marie Louise had her former daughter-in-law followed by a detective what must have been for months. Surely he also took some pics of them and their clandestine meetings?

I guess Renata isn't going to re-hire the nanny as promised? LOL.

For next week I fully expect Marie Lousie to scream Jack Nicholson's famous line "The Truth? You can't handle the truth!"-

I was surprised Celeste didn't tell the judge that a big difference was that she wasn't keeping it all a secret anymore. When the judge (love that actress) asked what's different this time, I thought here we go, she's going to point to her friends who now know and keeping the abuse a secret was how the abuse could continue, but now it's all out in the open, and with the support of her friends--including Renata, who wasn't even liked--she's determined to heal and so on. I mean, it's true, and it doesn't tend to be a big part of the therapeutic process.

I meant it *does* tend to be a big part of the therapeutic process

[quote]Not a drinker, but do alcohol bottles come with frosted glass?

Yeah. Grey Goose does.

R159, the vodka bottle that lush Celeste was chugging was either Grey Goose or Chopin, their bottles come with frosted glass.

It was absolutely Chopin. And you all may glower at me if you feel the need.

Celeste might be a total drunk, but she's not a cheap one.

Where is Celeste getting her income from now that Perry, the working spouse, is dead? Did she file a big wrongful death lawsuit for the treacherous stairway against the city, or did she wisely conclude that it would shine to much light on their flimsy excuse? Shouldn't she be downsizing and moving to the Monterey ghetto along with Renata? Who is paying the high priced ineffectual lawyer?

r166 I think Perry had a life insurance. Celeste mentioned giving payments to Shailene or to her kid.

*Of course, that probably wouldn't be enough to cover all of the expense, so I see your point.

Unless Perry had a million dollar insurance policy, not sure how the mortgage payments are being covered. Most insurance policy’s are around $1ook?

Nicole does act now with a frozen face - this includes blinking, sighs, turning her head and other tricks.

Unless Perry had a million dollar insurance policy, not sure how the mortgage payments are being covered. Most insurance policy’s are around $1ook?

Nicole does act now with a frozen face - this includes blinking, sighs, turning her head and other tricks.

Emmy!

The finale starts with the discovery that Perry's body is missing.

They are already packaging Season 3. It will focus on healing and growth, including Mary Louise who will undergo a complete transformation.

[quote]The finale starts with the discovery that Perry's body is missing.

Hahahah, from the grave? Did Mary Louise dig him up?

I seem to remember Nicole's boobs suddenly seeming ginormous in the first Paddington movie, of all places.

[quote] Unless Perry had a million dollar insurance policy, not sure how the mortgage payments are being covered. Most insurance policy’s are around $1ook?

Lol, most life insurance policies are most certainly NOT 100k, and certainly not for rich people with a husband and wife pulling in millions a year. He had a multi million dollar policy. Middle class people wouldn’t make it on a million dollar policy. 100k is literally nothing. That will barely cover funeral and final expenses.

Celeste and Perry might have also have had a policy that paid off their mortgage in the event of one or both of their deaths. Celeste is doing fine financially.

Celeste spends her money on male escorts.

^^^ In her Ambien haze.

Nicole's frozen face makes her come off as uncaring and aloof and therefore she doesn't evoke much sympathy. She comes across a little "not right in the head." I think with a little more emotion and hurt coming through, her character would have been more interesting.

She does most of her acting work with her eyes and moving her head, which is more than enough to convey emotion. Most actors never manage to engage their eyes, which bothers me more than a frozen forehead that's hidden behind massive bangs.

BAM!

Have any of these ladies done press for the show? Laura's the only one I've seen....

Has it been brought up in this thread that Nicole Kidman was with Zoe Kravitz’s father?

There was speculation that she wouldn't attend to Zoe's wedding but Nicole was there. I guess the break-up with Lenny wasn't awful?

r184 Someone mentioned It a couple of threads ago. They don't really share that many scenes anyway.

Hahah... I didn't know that! That's hilarious.

Speaking of Zoe's wedding, do you think she slid into her husband's DMs after watching his big old dick in Gaspar Noe's Love?

Zoe discussed it last season on one of her talk show appearances. Basically she said Nicole was like a mother figure, they got to know each other well, and the breakup was not contentious.

All of the cast have done individual promotion except Streep or Kravitz (and if they did individual promotion I missed it). With Streep, they wanted to keep Mary Louise a mystery for audiences.

This season has been uneven at times and the show definitely become more of a soap opera, but at this point I am fully invested in these women, and whereas last season I did not want a season two, now I will be devastated if there is not a season three.

Agree. They should do a third where there is no murder investigation but all the women have to face the music about their relationships and/or what they actually want to do with their lives. I also think it would be fascinating for Mary Louise to stick around and learn to adapt.

You really want a full season of Mary Louise discovering her authentic self (and a better haircut) for the first time in her life? That sounds... well actually, that does sound kinda amazing. Sign me up!

There could be a series about the past, ML's fucked up family life raising future psycho Perry and whatever happened to that brother.

Nothing better than running shows into the ground, eh? It's the American way.

R194, that’s right.

I hope that detective busts all of their asses when Bonnie goes in to confess.

Sorry but as a gay man I require frau series with shiny fabrics, bitchy rivalries, cat fights and stunt women.

No depth, just endless catfights...

There's no depth on Big Little Lies. So they might as well throw in some cat fights. Renata is the only one who brings fashion.

There is some black comedy. Madeline has a fair amount of low key comedy and I think that's why sardonic Adam Scott was cast opposite her.

Oooh, bitch, just you wait for the finale. Meryl is going to redefine what DEPTH means to your brain!

Meryl's character hasn't shown any depth so far, just delicious, clever bitchery and cuntitude.

Mary Louise is a plot device manifest. She's a personified, collective conscience. Not a character.

There was depth in the first season. This season? Ehh....

r200 That's why the finale is going to be such a religious experience when that dam finally breaks...

That's what they said about Game Of Thrones, r202.

Was Meryl in Game of Thrones, though?

Meryl was that last dragon who had a brief snit fit when the Dragon Queen died then shrugged it's shoulders and flew away.

I wouldn't be surprised because that - along with the burning of the throne - was the best part of the finale. Meryl brings it to us every time.

What about a spin-off where Mary Louise raises the violent twins and discovers they have mutant powers? Sarah Paulson joins her as her neurotic younger lover Pam from San Francisco, and Ezra Miller joins the cast as her third undisclosed son who also has mutant powers.

The only satisfying end of the season would be if the gals kidnap Marie Lousie and take turns slapping her. Of course Meryl would get her gazillionst Emmy for being slapped so viciously for what feels like an eternity.

Sorry, gazillionth Emmy

Hahah, like that scene in Death Proof.

The courtroom scenes were not that far-fetched (other than the audience). Child custody cases are more freewheeling than other cases because the standard is flexible (in most states, the judge decides what’s in the “best interest of the child” so they want to see absolutely all possible evidence). There’s no jury to worry about prejudicing, and judges usually think “I’m too smart/sophisticated to be biased” by evidence like the slut-shaming, so they figure why not let it on. When she said the reports were a wash, she meant they don’t weigh strongly for either side.

Love Becky Ann Baker.

r211 Thanks, that was very informative.

R212 and to clarify - some judges would absolutely have sustained more of the objections than Becky Ann Baker did. Some judges would have yelled at Meryl’s lawyer for slinging shit. Some judges would have slut-shamed Nicole even more. Etc. I got the sense from Becky Ann Baker that inside her head she was rolling her eyes at Meryl’s counsel and would have given Nicole custody (usually if the hearing ends in a draw, custody goes to the parent, because most states presume that being with a parent is what’s typically in the best interest of the child). What I find unrealistic about the child custody case here is how Meryl is portrayed as having an even chance of winning. In real life there has to be an extreme reason why a judge would take kids away from their mother to give to a grandparent, much more than “she sleeps around with harmless guys” or “she got in one fender bender on Ambien without the kids in the car.” Even less chance when the mother is a rich white woman.

As a TV exect I would never, ever greenlight a second season of a show that's based on a book and all the source material was used up for the first season. The author of the original source is not used to churn out some bestselling novel within a few weeks for it to be ready to be used as the source for the next season. Just look at Game of Thrones and they had several books already released but the author wasn't able to catch up with the TV show's schedule and write an ending for his novel series for it to be ready to be used for the show.

With HBO it happened with True Detectives and now Big Little Lies.

The other problem is that showrunners usually have their own ideas of which direction they want to go with the source material and the original author doesn't agree, but without proper source material and time pressure the showrunner usually wins and the author is overwhelmed by it all. And the fans of the original source material know when the direction of a show changes and it doesn't feel organic and it comes off like a bad fan fiction (of the source material).

Is the author going to pen a novelization of Season 2? That would (have) be(en) smart.

Will there be a season 3? That means some thing are going to be dragged out or left as cliffhangers.

Also, if Celeste were not a rich white lady, she'd already be in jail and her kids would be already abused in foster care.

It only makes sense here because the Monterey Five have notoriety in the press. You have a tragic death followed by claims that one of the mothers is unfit. Plus Mary Louse has deep pockets to go after her daughter in law. Family court in wealthy communities is unusual.

Plus Celeste hits people including her children, plus her children themselves are violent. That’s enough grounds.

Wasn't the original writer involved in writing the plot for S2, along with David E. Kelley?

Yep.

I wonder if they could legal record Bonnie’s bedside confession to her dying mother, or collect that journal as evidence?

She could say it was lyrics for a song.

The pitch with Mary Louise, the twins, Sarah Paulson and Ezra Miller was well received today except they are not sure about the magic. It’s tentatively called The Merlin’s.

[quote]You really want a full season of Mary Louise discovering her authentic self (and a better haircut) for the first time in her life? That sounds... well actually, that does sound kinda amazing. Sign me up!

r192 has very low self-esteem.

Narc specialist covers Mary Louise

r223 Why would you say such a rude thing to a complete stranger? I'd watch that version because of all the acting possibilities and challenges it would open up.

[quote]Why would you say such a rude thing to a complete stranger?

First day on DL?

I voted for contagion empath.

The Guardian has something to say

It's hard to believe Lisa Bonet's daughter would give such a mopey, low-key performance!

[quote] And why on earth would Mary Louise not be expected to go on the stand if she is suing for custody???

Yeah, having established that Perry was a wife beater, why would the judge consider handing the kids over to the woman who raised him, without even questioning her fitness?

Because the judge, in her one on one with Mary Louise, was beaten down by the briutal questioning that ML gave her, even though the judge was supposed to be questioning ML, not the other way around. The judge is scared of her, as well she should be!

One of my favorite things last episode was how Mary Louise calculatedly and passive-aggressively apologized to Celeste profusely for putting her through the trial, rattling her before it even began.

Although the writing has understandably not been good this second season due to the source material running out and Kelley turning it into a courtroom drama, I’m still enjoying it for what it is, most notably, powerhouse performers turning in awesome performances on soapy material.

[quote]One of my favorite things last episode was how Mary Louise calculatedly and passive-aggressively apologized to Celeste profusely for putting her through the trial, rattling her before it even began.

You are easily pleased.

I very much enjoy season two. Or maybe I just drink the Kool-Aid served by Meryl Streep with her fake teeth smile.

Nobody told me there was going to be Kool-Aid!

Mary Louise versus Miranda

Let me try that again...

Mary Louise is perfect for a spin-off with the kids. Maybe all five women are behind bars and we don’t need to know.

What are you trying to share, R237 R238? The "stuff" monologue in Spanish?

R240, it’s a dialogue between Mary Louise and Miranda Priestly. It can be viewed on this page.

I spent way too much time scrolling through that IG. Fuck me.

I read a spoiler. Uh huh.

Thank you for not sharing the spoiler.

But isn’t it certain that Mary Louise will get her comeuppance? And that the Monterey five (?) will live unhappily ever after.

I have no idea how they'll end it because I can't tell who we're supposed to be rooting for. Doesn't Zoe seem to want to confess? Can you imagine her character keeping the secret beyond tonight's episode? She's fantasizing about confessing in every episode already. Laura Dern's husband should confess just to take one for the team.

Next season, I want a backdoor pilot episode for the In Treatment reboot with Robin Weigert. Can you imagine just her and Meryl, excavating deep-rooted emotional crap for half an hour?

I want a Renata Klein spin-off. Have her move into a shitty 1 bedroom apartment with the kid but without Gordon.

r248 Throw in Marianne Williamson (as Marianne WIlliamson) as her friend and former roommate who's running for president!

I want Mary Louise to end up frustrated and totally incapable of proving anything, so she packs up and moves back to where ever the fuck she came from. As she's leaving, she runs across one or more of the M-5 who basically let her know they did it or were in on it and there's not a damn thing she can do about it. Buh byeeeeeee!

People Magazine: Speaking to News Corp Australia in a recent interview, Nicole Kidman said that she would “love” to continue working on the hit HBO show.

“I think we would love to do a season three because there is certainly ideas,” Kidman said, adding, “But we would not do it without all of the same people involved … even the kids.”

Season 3 - the men of Monterey

"we would not do it without all of the same people involved"

Shades of SATC3...

Who's going to be the hold out?

Nicole, you were never my friend!

Final episode!

nicole's earlobes ar ehuge...that's what I was thinking throughout this episode.

I just cannot watch Nicole Kidman’s deformed face any longer.

She is someone who should never have fucked with her face. I wonder why the hell she started?

But she left her earlobes as is.

Nicole Kidman claimed, in a recent interview, that she's never had facial work done. "Needles scare me!"

So pathetic

[quote] “I think we would love to do a season three because there is certainly ideas,”

Actually, they're now out of ideas

[R259] She just ate right and stayed out of the sun to look perpetually 23!

This might seem odd to say, but Nicole Kidman became more likable to me as a result of this series. Reese I never could stand her and IMO she just played herself. Zooey Kravitz was just awful. I wanted to slap her or shake her and scream, "Wake the fuck up!" you can tell Laura Dern had fun with Renata.

Laura Dern is the GOAT of Big Little Lies.

I didn't find Dern's acting particularly nuanced. Just lots of anger with no depth

Watch Enlightened then.

Nicole looks like one of those "advanced" sex doll robots. Her mouth barely moves when she talks and it's more of a chewing motion.

^^ You bitches kill me sometimes. 🤣

R266 she does look like some Uncanny Valley creature.

I suppose it’s okay that they gave her that preposterous wig and anachronistic clothing. She really looks like she fell out of some surreal indie movie from the 70s.

The bangs are puzzling. Perhaps it’s a West Coast thing, but the East Coast counterparts of these characters just don’t have bangs with long hair. I did an informal spell of people-watching on the UES yesterday, for about 45 minutes. I did not see one single woman with the Celeste or Jane hairdo. Women who had long hair didn’t have bangs. Women who had bangs wore their hair short.

Long haired women with bangs are very common in LA, R268.

Tension on the set of BLL-

(Poorna Jagannathan played Celeste's defense attorney)

[quote] The only whiff of tension Jagannathan reported from the set came from season two star Meryl Streep, who would push back on notes from her director. “Meryl wouldn’t entertain any comments that insinuated she was the villain,” Jagannathan explained. Streep wasn’t rude, but would protectively respond “that’s not of your business” when she got a note she disagreed with. That’s fine for a multiple Oscar winner—but Jagannathan jokes that she would be fired very quickly if she tried something similar.

If I would have said, "It's none of your business," to a director's note from Howard Hawks, he would have punched me in the face.

Clicking must have its advantages.

[quote]The bangs are puzzling. Perhaps it’s a West Coast thing, but the East Coast counterparts of these characters just don’t have bangs with long hair.

Who give a shit about the East Coast counterparts when the show is set in Monterey, California? And like r269 said, that's a very common hairstyle in L.A. Jenny Yang is someone I remember seeing with bangs and long hair just last week. And she looks fucking amazing. Most bangs - when done well - look great, long hair or not.

R272, did I insult you in some way? I made an observation: I don’t ever ever see wealthy white mommies in NYC wearing the Jane/Celeste hair style. And I allowed that it probably is a regional style difference.

Are you upset that I asked the question? Or upset that I shared my observation?

Namaste, you crabby fuck...

So M really is a cunt! That’s so satisfying to hear.

Kidman's hairstyle seemed to be that of an older woman trying to look like a teen. Only really freaky types do bangs after age 35. At least in NYC.

It's over. So, what are we all doing this Sunday?

Watching Euphoria, lol.

just cant watch it.

reese and Nicole and lara make me ill with fake vibes.

why they kill the one hot man???? he could have been redeemed dammit

R275, lots of post-35 women get bangs in California. They cover forehead wrinkles and soften the look of any overly aggressive Botox treatments.

R276 Watching Euphoria.