Weâre also getting more ZoĂ« Kravitz, whose small role as Bonnie has been substantially expanded here, following the huge impact her character had in the climax of the preceding season. This time âround, Bonnieâs story is the most compelling of the ensemble, as she grapples with what happened at the end of season one and the substantial differences between her and the other women of Monterey. The only cast member whoâs been relatively sidelinedâat least, in the first three episodesâis Shailene Woodleyâs single mother Jane, although her scene with son Ziggy, in which she explains the nature of his biological father, is the emotional high point in the early going of season two. Importantly, Woodley also runs neck-and-neck with cast member Adam Scott for âmost improved hair.â
Mary Louise saves her most venomous barbs for Reese Witherspoonâs Madeline character. âYou are very short,â she informs Madeline matter-of-factly. âI find little people to be untrustworthy.â These lines, of course, are ridiculous on the page (writer David E. Kelley is back on script duty, realizing a story he and Moriarty devised together), but itâs no surprise that Streep is able to sell them. And thatâs ultimately the fun of Big Little Lies 2: The Streepening, which seems to have much lower stakes than the first season. The showâs soapiest elements are ramped up, and thereâs no overarching mystery to frame the story (at least, not yet), so weâre ultimately hanging out in a very beautiful, very moneyed part of the world and watching exquisitely coiffed people say atrocious things to one another from behind zeppelin-sized glasses of chardonnay.
If thatâs your Gucci fanny pack, then Big Little Lies wonât disappoint. I should perhaps warn you that I found the first episode to be kind of a disaster, but the season finds firmer footing in episodes two and three, as new director Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights, American Honey) locates the proper balance between camp and melodrama. Where the show will go in the remainder of season two remains to be seenâmarital discord seems to be the gas of the plot engine so farâbut with the traumatic events of season one in the rearview and Streep and Kravitz helping grip the tiller, Bigger Littler Lies could be a dishy good time.
Big Little Liesâ season two premieres on HBO this Sunday, June 9.