Big Little Lies: The Finale
Sky Atlantic & NOW TV, On Demand
Imust admit that roughly in the middle of this seven-part drama, I was starting to wonder if it wasn’t one of those massively promising shows with incredible credentials and talent that gets off to a pretty damn great start, but then starts to wilt and feel stretched. I’m thinking of those Netflix Marvel series, such as Iron Fist, which is about eight episodes too long. But how wrong I was to doubt Big Little Lies. Sure, it’s no Line Of Duty and, despite ostensibly being a whodunnit as well as a “whydunnit” and even a “whogotdun”, it doesn’t rely on the traditional genre trappings of a crime drama, but I’ve been thoroughly riveted by the central mystery set up right at the start of who has been killed by whom in the gilded community of glamorous super-privileged types in Monterey, California. There was also the secondary and equally compelling question of which little kid was bullying the brilliantly named Amabella, daughter of the town’s most tiresome citizen, Laura Dern’s Renata Klein. Now, the whole series has reached its superbly conceived and genuinely electrifying climax (no spoilers, in case you still need to catch up), I realise that every episode was carefully building our understanding of the characters and their deep psychological flaws. I can’t think of another US drama in recent times that created such richly three-dimensional roles for its peerless cast. The scenes between abused wife Nicole Kidman and her therapist (Robin Weigert) alone deserve all the awards. But it’s that ending – both supremely satisfying and utterly real – that really makes this show into the masterpiece it undoubtedly is.