As Meryl Streep's Mary Louise prods for the truth in 'Big Little Lies' season 2, untold truths of the Monterey Five will surface
'Big Little Lies' season 2 began with a flurry of moments that defines the lives of the Monterey Five - Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), Bonnie Carlson (Zoe Kravitz), Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) and Renata Klein (Laura Dern) - at the moment. The lies, all of it, that the five have tried to keep hidden is resurfacing and they cannot seem to move past them.
They haunt them in the night, and by the day, the five women try to lead lives like nothing ever happened. Of course, we know the truth, don't we? We know what Bonnie did, and we know how the others helped her cover up her crime. While this causes all of their lives to unravel, this is not the only 'Big Little Lie' in their lives. Two episodes in, we can certainly say that the untold truths of their lies will surface to take hold of them, and what remains to be seen is how they deal with the aftermath.
While the nights are for haunting memories, the days are all about the double standards that women face in their every day, everywhere they go. Take for instance the pressure Madeline takes on, being back for the first day of school for her daughter, Chloe. She is worried about all the judgment that is going to be passed and it's reflected when she speaks about being a mom and "earning the good mom badges all over again" versus a dad showing up and being complimented with "oh look, he is involved."
Tackling this and their deepest darkest secrets along with navigating an investigation by a detective who is hell-bent on revealing those secrets is not what one would call a fun day. But all of them do it anyway. They go through their routines every day. While Madeline, Renata, Jane and Bonnie have no outside interference that prods and pokes at their guilt, Celeste has Mary Louise (Meryl Streep). Her mother-in-law is in town after Perry Wright's (Alexander Skarsgård) death, and she is suspicious.
She even questions Celeste about murmuring "rape" while she has a nightmare. This is definitely racking up Celeste's guilt about what happened the night that Perry died. While going through life-changing moments do tend to become events that friends bond over, Perry's death and the events that led to his death are becoming a thorn in the path of the Monterey Five, especially with Bonnie.
As Madeline says, "She is off!" Bonnie's husband has also noticed "she has been acting like that for weeks." Cracks in these women's relationships have already appeared, and it is definitely going to widen over time if they do not pull it together. The question, however, remains; will they? From the looks of it, Mary Louise is definitely not going to let her daughter-in-law and any of her friends, especially Madeline forget that she is looking for the truth. Not the "company line" about how Perry slipped and fell, but about what really happened that night. So, the truth shall not be buried for long.
Here, the truth is much more than what they helped cover up. It is not only their crimes that we are looking forward to being exposed. It is also about understanding the root cause of those crimes, the struggle it caused and overcoming it instead of living despite it. When Celeste's psychiatrist says "Even in death his (Perry) message still lives on," Celeste is clueless. It takes her a moment to understand that years of domestic abuse has led her to believe that she is to blame for it all, including his death. These are the kind of truths we will see surface throughout the show interspersed with a big reveal.
'Big Little Lies' episode 3 of season 2 will air on HBO Monday, June 24 at 9 p.m. ET.
