HBO’s Big Little Lies is one of the best new TV shows I’ve seen in a long time. Though it seems to start out as a slightly soapy murder mystery about a ritzy California community, it grows into something much more complex and rich as it goes along. In this new spoiler-filled article, BuzzFeed writers Alanna Bennett, Krystie Lee Yandoli, Adam B. Vary, Kate Aurthur, Alison Willmore, and Michael Blackmon break down what made the show so special. For those who haven’t seen the series yet, bookmark this article, go watch all seven episodes, and then come back and appreciate Big Little Lies even more. Here’s a spoiler-free excerpt:
So much of Big Little Lies was about the traps set for women, the internalized misogyny, the judgments and labels regarding the performance of femininity that we know are unfair, that we suffer and chafe under, and yet so often can’t seem to help but weaponize against others. The working mother is choosing herself over her child, while the full-time mom is obsessive, over-involved, and defined only by offspring. The lower-income single parent is an untrustworthy interloper, the younger spouse is a trophy wife, and the one whose life looks perfect can’t ever imply otherwise. The show’s women understood all too well the respective ways they’re perceived by their community, and yet it’s a lengthy, involved process for each to let these perceptions go when it comes to one another.