"Big Little Lies" is a brilliantly addictive adaptation of Liane Moriarty's source material which I am going to have to check out as soon as possible after watching this series. Starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz and Alexander Skarsgård among others, "Big Little Lies" certainly benefits from its brilliant cast, but it's the sharp and clever writing which really allows this series to feel like a true success. Its unraveling was done so cleverly that I could not stop watching and, as rarely as I can be found binge-watching any series, I watched all seven episodes with only a small interruption because I was starving and had to give myself a little break from watching these interesting characters in their not-so-normal lives. In my opinion, in most cases a mini-series should be left completed upon its last episode in order to avoid ruining it, but in this case, I certainly would not mind watching a second season and following the lives of these women for another ~seven episodes. Their stories are not completed yet and there is still a lot of conflict left unresolved, so it would be amazing to be able to follow them for a second season. However, even if the announced second season does not end up happening, I will be happy and content with the way "Big Little Lies" turned out to be: it's pure perfection in its own merits.
The plot works great by using a very interesting formula: take the lives of several characters who appear to be so perfect and oh-so-normal from the outside, and throw them into a difficult situation in order to reveal their true characters by showing how they deal with the situations, and then reveal the dark secrets shadowing their seemingly perfect lives. It's a formula which could not have worked better, though one thing certainly helped: the fact that the actors were so great. On the show's forefront was the groundbreaking performance from Nicole Kidman, who grows so much into her role she becomes almost inseparable from Celeste Wright. Alexander Skarsgård is frightening in his role as Celeste's husband Perry. Other outstanding cast members are Reese Witherspoon, who nails her part of the perfect wife and mother, Laura Dern, Adam Scott and Shailene Woodley, who may finally have proved herself to be more than just an actress for mainstream audiences.
I personally loved "Big Little Lies", and as long as you don't need your characters to be perfectly likable, you will like it as well. Apparently most people who gave the series a negative review on this website reduced their reviews to basically saying this was boring crap because the characters were too self-centered - well, maybe then this show may not be for you if you can't take a story which might have been taken out of real life, because self-centered people like the characters portrayed in this show live all around the planet. What the show did so great was to paint these characters in such an interesting light anyway that you still could not help but root for these women.
The plot works great by using a very interesting formula: take the lives of several characters who appear to be so perfect and oh-so-normal from the outside, and throw them into a difficult situation in order to reveal their true characters by showing how they deal with the situations, and then reveal the dark secrets shadowing their seemingly perfect lives. It's a formula which could not have worked better, though one thing certainly helped: the fact that the actors were so great. On the show's forefront was the groundbreaking performance from Nicole Kidman, who grows so much into her role she becomes almost inseparable from Celeste Wright. Alexander Skarsgård is frightening in his role as Celeste's husband Perry. Other outstanding cast members are Reese Witherspoon, who nails her part of the perfect wife and mother, Laura Dern, Adam Scott and Shailene Woodley, who may finally have proved herself to be more than just an actress for mainstream audiences.
I personally loved "Big Little Lies", and as long as you don't need your characters to be perfectly likable, you will like it as well. Apparently most people who gave the series a negative review on this website reduced their reviews to basically saying this was boring crap because the characters were too self-centered - well, maybe then this show may not be for you if you can't take a story which might have been taken out of real life, because self-centered people like the characters portrayed in this show live all around the planet. What the show did so great was to paint these characters in such an interesting light anyway that you still could not help but root for these women.