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
Comments
Post a Comment