YOU’VE GOT TO LEAVE TO BE LOVED

The question on most TV viewers’ minds right now has to do with whether or not Big Little Lies, the acclaimed HBO miniseries that recently came to a close, will get a second season. However, the question we should be asking is: Should Big Little Lies get a second season?

I can offer you an answer right now: no. Never. The first season of Big Little Lies was a perfect slice of television, from its writing and acting to its lush, cinematic views of California. Part of the reason it was so good was because it was so short. Much like the Sex and the City trilogy of movies that hit theatres not long after Carrie Bradshaw tapped her heels through New York City for the last time, or the uncomfortable revival of Gilmore Girls this year, elongated content that had already come to a happy conclusion inevitably reduces characters to paper- thin clichés through drawn- out love triangles and tired tropes.

So why, as fans, can’t we leave well enough alone? It’s an urge that extends far beyond the boundaries of television. When something is that good, we’re going to want more. Whether that’s drawing out an electric summer fling into a fizzled relationship, not being able to have just one potato chip or buying all of the shoes in all of the colours even if we can’t afford them, the habit is prevalent among all of us. The consequence being, of course, that these things are destined to lose their sparkle. We tire of people, we lose taste for that dish and we overdose. The things that punctuate life and make it good suddenly lose meaning, and we’re back in that vicious cycle hunting for our next hit.

Endings and limitations exist for a reason: to make something special for the time that it exists. Adding more sugar to the delicious confection that was Big Little Lies will make it lose its X- factor. That’s why the old showbiz adage – always leave ‘ em wanting more – exists. Eventually, you have to leave ‘ em though.

Big Little Lies – and that chocolate bar, that new sweater, and that steamy hook- up from last Friday – did what it was supposed to do. It doesn’t owe us anything else. To demand more might be human, but to accept and value it for what it was is to be a real fan.