Big Little Lies - She Knows

With “She Knows” the whole protection of THE LIE is starting to fracture. How could it not, really? Renata’s life for her daughter, the privileged life of wealth, will end upon the posh birthday party as her husband’s criminality takes pretty much all they have, almost including her wedding ring. The bankruptcy meeting gives Renata a clear dose of reality…the “I will not not be rich” assurance she has is met in this meeting with a wallop. Her daughter’s birthday party, an elaborate disco themed shindig with all the rich friends Renata will most likely have to forgo once the money and estate is gone, is one remaining façade that congregates the cast together to further illustrate how each individual story is starting to unravel. Madeline and Ed remain troubled, not helped by Nathan and Ed’s continued annoyance with each other, the sex life and conversation dwindling daily, and no sense that anything will repair what seems to be irreparably broken. Even worse is Celeste and Bonnie just openly criticizing her for encouraging them to lie about what happened to Perry the night of his death. It was bound to finally surface, the regret of agreeing to THE LIE and her corralling them into doing so. Mary Louise deciding to get an attorney so she can take the kids away from Celeste, believing, as she says, that she is unfit to be a mother in her current mental/emotional state. There is a telling moment where Mary Louise assures Jane she would never try to take Ziggy away (because Jane is a fantastic mother and remains with fit mind and behaves herself), asking her if she would trust her son in a car with Celeste…Jane’s non-answer speaks volumes. Mary Louise arriving home with the kids to a zonked-out Celeste (she kept her the night before) with a bartender surprising them in a towel sure doesn’t help Celeste’s cause. All the medications, the previous episode revealing Celeste is involved in a type of Skype sextalk with some other guy (complete with shared masturbation), Celeste slapping Mary Louise (though Mary Louise goads her into it with those prodding barbs) complete with glasses falling off her face, and the vehicle wreck caused by Ambien; Mary Louise has a case to raise and Renata indicates to Madeline that California law might side with the grandmother over the mother if there is enough evidence to prove what is in the best interest of the children. Celeste given the documents by Mary Louise certainly indicates that the boys, that struggle to determine who is best for them, might just further draw out the truth hidden by THE LIE. Including Mary Louise living in the same apartment complex as Jane, Bonnie’s mother having a stroke right as folks are leaving Renata’s, Jane telling Corey about the rape and impregnation (with him holding her hand affectionately afterward), Jane and Celeste discussing Perry and her difficulty not recoiling from Corey, and Madeline almost losing her entire support system as THE LIE and adultery push her friends and family away; the emotions certain run high. Again, is THE LIE worth all that has resulted from it? Renata’s sub-story has certainly been a big surprise, to me, as it isn’t necessarily connected to THE LIE but nonetheless because she was involved in the coverup of Bonnie’s killing Perry to protect Celeste she’s a part of the central story while her own ongoing financial catastrophe proves that just like the others, each individual’s melodrama spins off. Sure the series’ second season makes sure THE LIE is never far from our thoughts but these characters involved have their own personal dramas that compile episode to episode. Where is the breaking point? Each Monterey wife/mother, with their own issues nagging at their psyches and keeping them from true happiness, might have THE LIE always thundercloud-following them but that isn’t all…how will it all end? 4/5