MovieChat Forums > Big Little Lies (2017) Discussion > Letdown (spoilers)

Letdown (spoilers)

posted 8 years ago by zyzzyb95 (1)
2 replies | jump to latest

I will start with the disclaimer that there were some things I liked about this, first and foremost the acting (Kidman inparticular). The production value was fantastic, and little touches became quite humorous when all things came to light (such as the fact that they always showed Madeline ducking the yellow tape to go up the stairs that played such a role in the ending. Neat).

Having said that, I feel like this entire show was a manipulative buildup to what turned out to be a big nothing. The show began with strangers telling police about a big scandalous murder that happened at some big social event, which of course led the viewer to try and decipher not only the identity of the murderer but of the victim as well. Then we sit through 6 more episodes with no real clues or substance (as far as this "case" is concerned), just slow development of various red herrings which all turn out to be nothing. We watch five hours of misbehavior and drama between these characters, trying to figure out which one of them snaps and crosses the ultimate line, only for the story to lead up to an ending straight from the Lifetime Movie Network in which a group of women kill a wife abusing (and possible murderous) asshole in what amounts to self defense. Yawn.

This would have worked much better for me if they had done away with the entire framing device of announcing the "murder" at the beginning of episode 1. It made me anticipate and try to decipher something that was never there, and killed the suspense in every scene that wasn't at the big social gathering in the end because we all knew that is where the shit was gonna hit the fan. And is it not a huge plot hole that in a show where every single person (especially children) is glued to a smartphone or tablet that there would be no cameras in a public place to record the "murder," not to mention cameras in a school to record young children abusing each other, especially in such an affluent area? Unlikely.

Having said all that I think Kidman will (and should) win an Emmy for this. I just wish all of these great actresses would have had a decent script that failed to waste their talents. Just my two cents.

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 8 years ago

I didn't focus on the murder mystery aspect of the show much, exept for some little guesses here and there. I looked at it more as an examination of the women's lives and their various struggles, and how they resolve them, in the build up to this big event.

I'd argue that there was suspense. If they didn't announce that someone was going to end up killed in episode one, this would've been just a straight forward drama. No mystery, no suspence either, because you don't know what they're building towards. I don't know if the conclusion would've been as satisfying if we didn't have that information before hand. I liked the anticipation of how the events are going to play out in the finale, and how the different parts are going to click into place.

[–] Maya (116) 8 years ago

I'm a bit on the fence about the ending. I do agree that it didn't feel powerful enough to warrant such a huge build up over so many episodes. It definitely would have felt far more climactic seeing out of the blue that someone ends up dead at the party. But knowing that it was a one-off mini series it kind of made sense to tie up all the ends in the way that they did.

However I did also really like the idea of a bunch of tiny things coming together to end in murder. In the very first episode one of the witnesses mentioned something like "Maybe if she never tripped nobody would be dead." And that line was honestly what got me interested in the show. People get killed every day but to see all the minute details that lead up to the outcome is really what made the show so captivating to me.