Big Little Lies - The End of the World

When you left the previous episode, it did appear Ed would be leaving Madeline after learning of her infidelity, but “End of the World” opens with them attending marriage counseling with Celeste’s therapist, Dr. Reisman. The shouting match between Madeline and her daughter returns to the fore when Dr. Reisman confronts her with the possible truth of feeling not altogether whole because she didn’t go to college, not wanting Abigail to “suffer a similar fate”. Even asking Madeline about her own parents, while also confronting Ed about perhaps his own issues possibly pushing his wife towards adultery, maybe indifference of some kind distancing the marriage to the point of her straying.

Poor Bonnie continues to relive Perry’s death and her direct association to it, still encumbered by the lie shared with the other ladies present at the scene. If the truth had just came out there, maybe Bonnie wouldn’t be carrying the emotional baggage that disquiets her. The reliving of past trauma does seem to accumulate. Her mother just letting her go in deep water to teach her how to swim, and Bonnie just going into the ocean as an adult. Memories and their trauma shaping Bonnie into this wreck.

Madeline forced to confront a memory of her father’s own infidelity, being manipulated by pops to keep it a secret, revealing this to Celeste…the women must talk these things out to each other if just to somehow maintain their sanity.

Perry’s mother trying to “squash” this idea that her son isn’t a rapist, even pleading with Jane to submit to a paternity test, that truth is just not something Mary Louise wants to contemplate. What a relief it would be to not have that truth…for it to be anything but. What I LOVE about Streep is that she communicates something I can only imagine is tangible in any mother who doesn’t want to accept that their son was just evil. They want to so badly prescribe to the idea that something went wrong but that their son had good in them. Mary Louise almost begs for Jane to give her just some type of relief because to have to absorb the truth of a son who raped an innocent woman and impregnated her isn’t what most mothers ever want to deal with. Streep’s agony, the eyes hardly open, the countenance withering as Jane’s pain is just too apparent and obvious to shoo away, is so impactful. Jane knows what happened and doesn’t budge from the position that she was victimized and Mary Louise is left troubled by what she finds damn near inconceivable if not for meeting Jane.

If Streep wasn’t in the cast this year, I would be close to convinced Dern would win the Supporting Actress Emmy again for this second season. She’s just a scene-stealing machine. Her bombarding the principle and her daughter’s teacher in the office about their telling her that climate change is destroying the world has left the little girl horrified. The “I will be rich again, and when I am I will squish you like a bug” alone is just proof of Renata as this force of nature that causes teeth to clinch and hearts to beat rapidly at her presence, her volcanic temper, and voice of thunder that rips asunder the pillars of heaven.

There is a great scene in the episode where the parents are congregated together by the principle and faculty to discuss the heavy topic on climate change and its effect on the students. Madeline is asked to speak for the parents first and she just breaks down about how parents often fill their children with lies to try and pass off an illusion that everything is Santa Claus and a-okay when, actually, it is a shitshow out there in the world. It is Madeline without the shield up, holding on by a thread because of concern that Ed will leave her. Talks with Celeste about not recognizing her own marital troubles, so seemingly “unavailable”. Ed just avoiding her, as friends try to push him towards reconciliation when he feels as if so much is kept from him. Ed remaining elusive to her and Madeline feeling the ill effects of their distance. Abigail trying to comfort her mom, learning about the “speech” which undoubtedly will spread around the community considering the parents in attendance. Madeline interrupting a pleasant conversation between Ed and Bonnie, which isn’t exactly something that would go over well with her.

After a conversation with Jane, Mary Louise caught “snooping” in the medicine drawer of Celeste, learning that the Vicodin  was for the pain after Perry would kick her repeatedly sends mommy rushing off before anymore could be said. Living in denial is always better than letting the truth sink in.

Jane trying to let her defenses down with a new potential romantic interest (Douglas Smith; Terminator Genisys, The Bye Bye Man) is obviously not easy because of the trauma of her past but a hug and Corey’s teaching her son to surf goes a long way. Corey will need to prove to her that he can be trusted. Bonnie tries to encourage her, all the while still processing how to function without her own trauma getting in the way. 4/5