'Big Little Lies' season 2 finale hints at Perry still being alive and that could spell danger for the Monterey Five
Sunday, July 14, saw the penultimate episode of 'Big Little Lies' season two, followed by the release of the teaser for the upcoming finale. But none of that could have prepared us for the absolute bomb that actor Shailene Woodley dropped about the finale. Woodley, who plays the role of Jane Chapman — the single mother raising a child from her deceased rapist — teased that the second season's finale will hint at the dead coming back to life.
For all those thinking about a zombie apocalypse arriving right in time for Celeste (Nicole Kidman) to run away with her kids from the custody battle with Mary Louise (Meryl Streep), hold your horses. Nothing of the dystopian world has been teased for our extremely dysfunctional Monterey Five. But Woodley did slip in the only spoiler HBO has allowed her to spill regarding the season finale, in a recent appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'.
"At the beginning of the [finale]… all the women go to visit Perry’s grave and his body’s missing. So there you go. That's the beginning of the next episode, so you still have an hour to figure out," Woodley told host Kimmel, and the studio audience, about the seventh and final episode of this season.
Perry (Alexander Skarsgard) was Celeste's husband, the father of her twins, and son of Mary Louise. He had raped Jane in the past and that's how she has a son called Ziggy. Season one ultimately culminated to the big reveal behind Perry's death, which was that during an altercation, Bonnie Carlson (Zoe Kravitz) — who is one of the Monterey Five — had pushed Perry down a flight of stairs in mid-construction, and the fall cost him his life.
Since then, the five ladies — Jane, Celeste, Bonnie, Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and Renata (Laura Dern) — who were all present at the scene, have lied about Perry's death, maintaining that it was an accidental fall. With his mother, Mary Louise stepping in this season, we knew there was going to be some major drama as the women would be persistent about getting to the bottom of things. And that's exactly what happened, resulting in the truth about Ziggy's father coming out, and Mary Louise also filing for the custody of Celeste and Perry's twin sons, citing that the new widow is too unfit to parent them.
Granted we don't know whether Woodley's extremely teasing spoiler is actually going to happen or not, but if Perry's body really isn't there in his grave, it could mean a lot of things and also give hope for a potential season three. Perry's body missing from his grave could mean either of two things: Perry is very much alive, or Mary Louise has something to do with the missing body.
Perry being alive this whole time also gives rise to speculations about him reaching out to Mary Louise after the "fall" and the two of them secretly planning the entire drama of season two to take down the Monterey Five. Or, if Mary Louise really has moved his body, it could mean that the older woman is far more sinister than her conservative snide remarks and constant victim shaming has painted her to be.
However, if Perry is still dead, this whole missing body situation could mean that his body was exhumed. That leaves scope for speculations that the police have been able to obtain far more incriminating evidence against the Monterey Five, and could reorder a way more detailed autopsy.
This means that Detective Quinlan's guesses about Perry's death not being an accident will turn into a legitimate murder investigation. That, in the middle of the intense, harrowing custody battle Celeste is fighting with Mary Louise could never be good for the Monterey Five.
'Big Little Lies' returns with its season two finale on Sunday, July 21, at 9 pm, only on HBO.