Previously: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, and Episode 6
by Nathaniel R
Is Big Little Lies the richest miniseries in recent memory? Its seventh hour was burdened with extravagant expectations and seemingly far too many character arcs, story suggestions, actual plot, and general areas of concern (domestic abuse, female friendship, infidelity, emotional crises, childhood bullying, responsible parenting) to cover in sixty minutes. An impossible task in terms of satisfying its rabid fanbase, surely. And yet here we are. Jean-Marc Vallée (who directed every episode), his crew, and his astonishing actresses, pulled it all together gorgeously and even completely (no second season is necessary, thank you; leave beautiful things alone).
Spoilers obviously follow in this wrap-up list...
Top Ten Top Twelve MVPs of Big Little Lies, Episode 7
"You Get What You Need"
12 "Don't don't... 🎶 "
Zöe Kravitz capped her career best performance as sultry incongruous Bonnie (somehow both believably chill and sneakily intense simultaneously whether you're talking social justice mentoring, firearm practice, or on the dancefloor) by performing Elvis Presley's "Don't" at the "Audrey & Elvis" themed school fundraiser. Madeline dismissed the performance for its viagra-like power but no one else need dismiss Bonnie. She began the slow simmer of dirge-like Elvis covers to underscore all the revelations.
If I get shot in the head tonight half of these moms are going to say, 'she couldn't bother herself to duck?! What? She couldn't get the nanny to stop the bullet. Trust me, these women. They're vicious...
I hate everybody right now.
11 This Speech
Big Little Lies writing team provided the actresses with plenty of juicy catfights and bitchtastic quotables but this one, was a perfect segueway for the episode's rug-pulling. The catfights were actually red herrings, these women are coming together in solidarity. The foreshadowing is right there at the end of this speech when uptight Renata realizes right after "I hate everybody" that she doesn't hate Jane at all... the initial target of all her wrath. "Isn't that funny?" she says to her husband and herself.
You're not perfect. Welcome to the club. We're all fucked up.
10 Self-forgiveness
Who knew this would emerge as a theme? And who knew Jane, who always seemed so possibly off-her-rocker with her evasions, would emerge as the truth-teller. None of the central trio are quite to forgiving themselves yet but they'll get there with a little help from their friends. (Funny how it's so easy to forgive people you love but not so easy to accept your own flaws, right?)
09 Ziggy Waving at Tom
This broke my heart. But in a happy way. Ziggy really wants a father and it's possible to fantasize that Tom will eventually play that role if these characters win happy endings. But there's no agenda in this moment of innocence. It's just a hey, I know and like you... wasn't expecting to see you at my own house moment.
-They're kids. They Bully. It's human nature. They grow out of it.
-Sometimes they don't.
08 The Celeste & Jane Exchange
We'll get to Another Kidman Masterpiece Performance in a second but this moment in the screenplay was as justifiably blunt as Celeste's own final acceptance of How Fucked Up Her Situation Has Become. Note how she stops looking so lost and disoriented at this exact moment but looks right at Jane with certainty born of experience: "Sometimes they don't"
07 The Phone Message
Jesus Christ. As scary as any horror movie climax, only without any jump cuts, music cues, or camera tricks. Just an actress freezing up at two words "property manager," realizing her secret is out.
06 "You're straight?!"
HAHA. Madeline was so sure... but Madeline is almost always too sure. [If you'll recall I was a charter member of the Tom Fan Club from the first episode.]
05 The (Darting) Eyes Have It
We've already sung the praises of the editing of Big Little Lies and the way it draws connections and amps up mood. The editors get another work-out here with two absolutely brilliant sequences. The first is Celeste's frantic scanning of the fundraising crowd, desperate for any familiar trusted face in a sea of Elvises & Audreys. The second, even more startling, begins not with eyes but with a mini body convulsion and hand grab, as Jane realizes that Celeste's husband (who she'd never met before this episode) was her rapist. As the camera jerks to and fro, the actresses eyes dance around in dischordant harmony. A-MA-ZING.
04 The Audrey and Elvis Costumes
We can surely thank the source material (note: I haven't read the book) but it was a stroke of tone-juggling genius to blanket the increasingly intense tragedy with an overlay of absurdist red carpet celebrity mimicry. Costume Designer Alix Friedberg has never been nominated for an Emmy. FYC: CORRECT THAT! Bonus points for the subtle but totally believable offscreen realization that the women have all coordinated their Audrey outfits so that everyone is doing a different character or iconic look from her filmography.
I wish I knew the answer to that. I can't really make sense of it.
03 Reese Witherspoon
Though the second half of the miniseries became the Nicole Kidman show, Reese owned the first half with her career best work. She continued the finely tuned characterization here with another incisive detailing of her new opennees with her teenage daughter, and her increasing self-awareness. Note how exhausted Madeline suddenly is in every scene. Self-awareness is hard work. Reese nails the abrupt world weariness. She's heartbreaking watching her husband sing while her guilt just crushes her.
02a Nicole Kidman
It's no secret that your host Nathaniel (c'est moi) and Team Experience (in general) lean toward the Kidmaniac spectrum of fandom. But wow this performance. We'll add it to her top ten of all time and if you've followed her career there are a lot more than ten fine performances vying for that honor. The best thing about her work in this final episode is surely that shot of anguished unconditional love for her son Max who she realizes has been damaged, she hopes not irreparably, by her abuse; he just doesn't have the physical bruises.
and by extension...
02b Social Media BIG Big Little Lies Frenzy
Much of the fun of TV in the modern era is that the water cooler is no longer confined to individual work places. The new water cooler is the internet. Some key tweets about this show...
BIG LITTLE LIES FINALE PREDICTION: an Emmy is too small an award for what Nicole Kidman will give us.
— Jesse Knight (@Superfluously) April 2, 2017
"Shh, it's starting." - Nicole Kidman watching BIG LITTLE LIES with all of her wigs
— Jordan Veilleux (@veilleuxwho) February 19, 2017
Is Big Little Lies made of crack?
— Kyle Stevens (@cinementalist) March 28, 2017
@rilaws I want it to go on for 12 seasons and each year Nicole, Reese, Laura, Shailene, and Zoë murder someone who really needs to be dead.
— Jeremy C. 🦊 (@JeremyCFox) April 3, 2017
I can't believe she was the murderer and she killed everyone's kids while they were at the gala WTF #BigLittleLies pic.twitter.com/NQJ4xQ8KFq
— Madame Trash Heap (@penisretrograde) April 3, 2017
exclusive footage of Jean-Marc Vallée conceptualizing the beach scene pic.twitter.com/xfp7uEoyZ8
— Kevin O'Keeffe (@kevinpokeeffe) April 3, 2017
Feeling oppressed by 90% of twittersphere try'n act like Nicole Kidman just started being a genius. Watch some movies fer chrissakes!
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) April 3, 2017
That's just a TINY sampling. Twitter was positively obsessed with the show.
While it's been absolutely agonizing for this long term Nicole Kidman fan to realize that there are a ton of people who just don't watch good movies (UGH) and are thus ignorant of Kidman's actually hard-to-miss genius as a performer, and even more people who refuse to grant her her triumphs and instead demand that she remind them constantly of her talent (which they will forget again in 3...2...1...), I will try to just enjoy that, at least this month, people think Nicole Kidman is a miracle actress.
In the spirit of making peace with imperfection as the characters on Big Little Lies have to do, I'll try to stop saying "Duh!" and just say "Yup!" instead, okay?
But peace be damned if the Emmy goes to anyone besides Reese or herself!
01 That Silent Glorious Ending
A daring and masterful wrap-up. This is not an overstatement. One of the best high-wire 15 minutes television has ever produced. There is almost no dialogue for the entire final 15 minutes of a seven hour event and yet, we are given this exquisite and utterly complete dovetailing of multiple character journeys and a flip from cattiness to solidarity. The two halves of this final 15 minutes -- the murder and the beach playdate -- work whether you take it all as metaphor or literal gatherings or a combination thereof.
Sly bonus points that the final shot is viewed through binoculars; the series has always been at least partially about the way people watch and judge their neighbors, and play their designated roles when they're being watched, too.
That's all. Next stop the Emmys which we hope Big Little Lies will be showered with!