Big Little Lies closes out its near-perfect season by finally answering the two major mysteries of the season: who was murdered and who was the classroom bully.
“You Get What You Need,” wraps up almost everyone’s story while leaving the door open for a potential second season. Luckily, if this is the end, the show closes on a high note with a fantastic first season, an amazing cast, and complex characters that are so rare on television these days.
Episode 7 opens up to the twins playing video games as Celeste screams in agony upstairs. It drives home the point that the therapist made last week: even if the twins haven’t seen the abuse, they’ve definitely heard it.
While we don’t initially see the beating that she endures, it is still painful to watch Celeste cower in fear as Perry insists she’s fine. Luckily, she comes to the conclusion that the time has come to take the boys and run which she plans to do after the charity event later that night.
Image Credit: HBO
Celeste isn’t the only one having a bad morning because Ziggy attempts to skip school by feigning illness. Jane sees right through his façade and quickly gets him to confess that Max, one of Celeste’s twins, is the real bully who has been attacking Amabella.
The realization doesn’t come as much of a shock considering they grow up in a house of constant violence but at least Ziggy is finally acquitted. Jane tries to break the news to her gently, asserting that kids usually grow out of that behavior but Celeste already knows that he won’t. She immediately runs home and attempts to break the cycle of abuse which ends with Max sobbing in her arms as he finally admits his mistakes.
Jane gets a more upbeat start to her day after having such a torturous time since moving to Monterrey. After being confronted by Renata’s husband over their altercation in the previous episode, Tom steps in to defend her honor. The move definitely impresses her and offers him the opportunity to finally ask her out.
Their brief flirtation throughout the season has been pretty subtle but the moment where Jane finds out he isn’t gay and happily accepts the invitation for a date is one of the few bright spots in “You Get What You Need”. With what could be the makings of a stable relationship, Jane looks like she might finally be able to move forward with her life.
Image Credit: HBO
Sadly, “You Get What You Need,” doesn’t end there, and the long awaited charity event is chock full of passive aggression and drama. Madeline is still reeling from her secret affair as well as the threat that Joseph poses to her marriage. It’s the lowest stakes problem of the women but Reese Witherspoon still knocks it out of the park as a drunken Madeline can no longer live with the guilt as Ed beautifully sings her a love song.
She runs off and breaks down to Jane how horrible she feels to cheat on her husband who has been nothing but supportive throughout the span of the show. The two spend the remainder of the night chatting in front of a set of stairs which is nice to see the affirmation of the bond the two have formed since the first episode but makes it hard for Celeste to find them at the party.
Nicole Kidman has been the heart and soul of Big Little Lies throughout the entire season by stealing every scene she’s been in. Celeste appears perpetually afraid and ashamed all the time that people initially believe is just her soft-spoken or shy personality. Seeing her as an ambitious lawyer earlier this season displays just how much power Perry has stripped away from her since the start of the relationship.
When he confronts her about her plans to leave him, she starts out quietly resigned to just make it through the night but quickly escalates as she defends her own actions. It’s completely heartbreaking because you can feel how much Celeste loves him but knows that staying any longer will just lead to more harm than good for both and the twins. By the time she frees herself from Perry and gets to the party, her friends have disappeared with no one but Renata close enough to find.
The mini-series format has allowed Big Little Lies to expand on Renata’s character from her one-note book villainy to a full-fledged sympathetic character. While the insight into her life helps develop her into a complex female figure, Laura Dern gets most of the credit for injecting true warmth and strength to a lot of her scenes.
Image Credit: HBO
Upon learning that one of Celeste’s boys is responsible for hurting Amabella, she reacts with speechless shock. Earlier in the series, she may have lashed out dramatically, Renata instead chooses to find Jane and immediately apologize. This moment actually spurs Madeline to do the same after spending the entire show locked in a battle over pure envy and misunderstandings.
Celeste finds the three of them but is followed by Perry who is desperate for the two of them to talk alone. Shailene Woodley demonstrates her raw acting ability as the look of realization and terror cross her face as her rapist finally reveals himself: it’s Perry! She’s spent her time in Monterrey carrying around her gun, prepared to attack her assailant, but of course he appears at the one time she’s without it.
Woodley’s face conveys the vulnerability and fear so well that both Madeline and Celeste realize that Perry is the man they’ve been looking for. Of course, this only sends him into a fit of rage where he lunges at his wife and proceeds to beat her down.
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Bonnie, who’s backstory has been overlooked in the series but it’s alluded that it involves abuse, runs forward from behind a bush to step in. One small push sends Perry sailing down the stairs to his death but has the five women form an unbreakable vow as they choose to defend Bonnie by claiming he fell.
The ending is satisfactory, with the final scene of the mothers and their children spending a joyous day at the beach. There are a few open-ended questions like: Why is the detective still watching the mothers? Did Jane and Celeste tell their children that they’re brothers? Did Madeline ever come clean with Ed?
Director, Jean-Marc Vallee, asserted that the ending is meant to leave some questions because, like life, there is no definite answer to everything. For book readers, the ending did differ from what was a pretty faithful adaptation by having Perry attack all the women privately rather than in public but nevertheless was a great finish to an amazing show. Whether or not the cast decides to join in for a second season, “You Get What You Need,” will always be an amazing episode of television.