Big Little Lies Review: What Have They Done? (Season 2 Episode 1)

The Monterey Five have returned and the secret they share weighs heavily on each of them as they try to put the pieces of their lives back together following the death of Perry Wright. Big Little Lies Season 2 Episode 1, “What Have They Done?” is an intriguing return that delivers a steady level of mystery and emotion with stunning visuals and impressive performances all around. 

Big Little Lies does a fantastic job of playing with time and reality and making the audience question what is real and what isn’t, what’s already happened and what is delicately laid out foreshadowing. 

Summer is over and we are back with the first day of school. Instead of entering this year as messy chaotic rivals, these women are bound together by the events of the previous year and their shared burden of the truth of what really happened to Perry. 

Already boasting a powerhouse cast of incredible women, Big Little Lies has added Meryl Streep to Season 2. Streep is considered one of the world’s most legendary actresses for a reason, her power and skill carry over into this episode as she adds a new captivating, quiet element of both comfort and terror to this already dynamic group of women. 

Mary Louise Wright is Perry’s mother and she’s here both in mourning and under the guise of helping Celeste in the wake of their shared loss. But there is sinister energy lurking beneath her comforting matronly exterior. She doesn’t believe the story everyone is telling about her son, and she is determined to find out the truth. 

Mary Louise sees more than Celeste is comfortable with, but she can’t exactly ask her to leave either. She also instantly clashes with Madeline; Madeline’s strong personality is a bit of a pill to swallow for anyone and she may have met her match in Mary Louise.

The older woman clearly makes her uncomfortable; while Madeline is hardly one to back down from a challenge, Mary Louise knocks her off balance, coming out on top of both of their brief interactions on “What Have They Done?.”

Mary Louise: [Screams] What? My grief is too loud for you?

Each of these women is carrying around the guilt of their shared secret in different ways, while some of them prefer to hide from it and others have let it consume them, it’s clear that this is something that has impacted each of them in a big way. 

Madeline’s guilt has manifested as a short temper and a seemingly endless well of rage. She was already a bold and reactive person before she witnessed/participated in a murder, but now she has a shorter fuse than ever. She is combative with Nathan and the kids, and she barely interacts with Ed at all on this episode. 

Madeline doesn’t take shit from anyone and she’s ready to fight wherever she goes. Her road rage has also gotten worse and from the flashes at the beginning of the episode, it looks like that is something that is going to get her into a lot of trouble this year, as we saw a glimpse of a pretty gruesome accident. 

In complete contrast to Madeline, Bonnie has completely withdrawn, becoming a quiet shell of who she used to be. These two women have always been opposites in many ways and their differences are even more pronounced here. 

Bonnie arguably carries the biggest burden of them all as she is almost entirely responsible for Perry being dead. Each of the women was involved in the incident, but Bonnie is the one who pushed him down the stairs. She blames herself for all of it, and because of Madeline, she can’t talk to anyone about it. Bonnie denies being angry with Madeline, but the resentment is definitely brewing.

Celeste also blames herself for the whole mess, which makes sense as a victim of abuse. However, Perry’s ghost is still keeping her from living a full and happy life. Her subconscious has decided to turn her into the monster, as she dreams of the parts of her life with Perry that were good and envisions herself being violent and unhinged. 

She’s continuing her therapy, but therapy only works if you put it into action. Celeste, and all of these women really, are headed towards a breaking point that will be explosive and spectacular if they do not begin to address what happened. 

The motif of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks is a beautiful, powerful, deadly metaphor for the emotional state of the Monterey Five. 

Aquarium Kid: Why is it the prettier something is the more dangerous?  

Jane has begun to put her life back together and seeing her genuinely happy is a refreshing start for her. She shares in this burden like the other women, but she is also perhaps the most unburdened by it. Throughout Big Little Lies Season 1, Jane envisioned killing her rapist over and over, and in that finale, the audience learned his identity and watched him die within minutes. 

Having wanted this for so long, it makes sense that Jane is affected more positively than the others. She has a good job that brings her joy, she has a good relationship with Ziggy, and instead of running in fear, anxiety, and anger, now she dances on the beach, almost carefree for the first time in years. 

That sense of freedom is complicated by the fact that her rapist turned out to be the husband of someone she became friends with. Jane and Celeste are bound together by the abuse they each suffered at Perry’s hand while he was alive, both having children by him, and their complicated interwoven relief and grief. 

Jane has been freed by Perry’s death while Celeste is still trapped by it. 

Renata is seemingly the least affected by it all, which makes the most sense as she was really the least involved leading up to the fall. Starting the series as Madeline’s rival and the outsider among the group, it’s great to see her as one of them now. 

She is as protective of Amabella as ever, and now that sense of protection appears to extend to these other women as well. Often an antagonist to the rest of them on Season 1, Renata still immediately jumped into the fight to save Celeste after humbling herself to apologize to Jane. 

Renata is pretty good at compartmentalizing her emotions but sometimes that leads to some pretty nasty outbursts. Right now she’s at the top of her game, but the truth is coming for all of them. 

OTHER THOUGHTS: 

• Is Tori planning to sleep with Ed to get back at Madeline? Big yikes. 
• Abigail not wanting to go to college makes complete sense. She’s much more of a get out and do things type of person. The similarities between she and Madeline are exactly what causes the two to clash so easily. I’m looking forward to more of this mother/daughter dynamic. 
• Why is Gordon sitting around in a toy/collectible room getting day drunk and holding a baseball bat? This man is exactly the wrong kind of chaotic and I’m not looking forward to wherever this is going. 
• The implication that Detective Quinlan is gay has me feeling very much like the eyeball emoji. It’s about time Big Little Lies has some queer content. 
• I’m very excited about all the screaming memes that are going to come out of this season. 

What did you think of this episode of Big Little Lies? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Big Little Lies airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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