Big Little Lies
Somebody's Dead
TV Flash files “Somebody's Dead” as a desk essential hour — Big Little Lies (2017–2019) on HBO, season 1, episode 1, aired 2017-02-19, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 14 in the Big Little Lies guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2017-02-19 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Serious Mothering” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Somebody's Dead”. Somebody's Dead opens Monterey mom-noir as a casting event — Kidman, Witherspoon, Dern under a fundraiser smile.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
In an affluent community, a suspicious death at an elementary school fundraiser draws attention to the friction amongst some of the mothers; Madeline and Celeste welcome Jane into their inner circle; battle lines are drawn after an incident.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Somebody's Dead sit in the Big Little Lies guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 14 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Big Little Lies S01E01 air?
Somebody's Dead aired 2017-02-19 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need season two?
Season one stands alone as a complete mystery. Season two is aftermath with new cast dynamics (including Streep) and is the argument, not a required second exam.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Monterey moms, movie-star athleisure, a death under the fundraiser smile. David E. Kelley's HBO Moriarty adaptation is Kidman, Witherspoon, Dern, Woodley, Kravitz as a casting event; season one is the closed mystery, season two the Meryl aftershock. Mom-noir as awards bait — domestic violence and friendship sharing the cliffs without dropping the gloss.
Monterey first: school-fundraiser smiles, movie-star athleisure, a death under the cliffs. David E. Kelley adapted Liane Moriarty's novel for HBO (February 19, 2017) as a film-star migration event. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz in armor that photographs as casual; Alexander Skarsgård in the house. Season one is a closed murder-mystery pressure cooker. Kidman, Witherspoon, and Dern took major acting Emmys. **This was not a soft launch. This was a hard launch in…
Filed against
- Reese Witherspoon as Madeline Martha Mackenzie
Reese Witherspoon’s Bradley Jackson arrived on The Morning Show as the outsider silhouette — message dress, hot camera, Apple’s flagship workplace soap launched in silk and scandal. Aniston occupies the cathedral desk; Witherspoon reports…
- Nicole Kidman as Celeste Wright
Nicole Kidman’s Celeste Wright made Big Little Lies’ Monterey moms a casting event with a bruise under the athleisure — David E. Kelley’s HBO Moriarty adaptation, Witherspoon, Dern, Woodley, Kravitz, a death under the fundraiser smile.…
- Shailene Woodley as Jane Chapman
Shailene Woodley's Jane Chapman stood in Big Little Lies' Monterey mom-noir as the younger bruise — movie-star athleisure, a death under the fundraiser smile, David E. Kelley's HBO Moriarty adaptation, Kidman, Witherspoon, Dern, Kravitz…
- Laura Dern as Renata Klein
Laura Dern’s Renata Klein brought Monterey-mom steel to Big Little Lies — athleisure, a death under the fundraiser smile — then walked Lynch’s eighteen-hour Twin Peaks: The Return like unfinished business. HBO mom-noir as a casting event;…
- Zoë Kravitz as Bonnie Carlson
Zoë Kravitz’s Bonnie Carlson stood in Big Little Lies’ Monterey mom-noir — movie-star athleisure, a death under the fundraiser smile, David E. Kelley’s HBO Moriarty adaptation as a casting event. Kidman, Witherspoon, Dern, Woodley,…
- Alexander Skarsgård as Perry Wright
Alexander Skarsgård’s Eric Northman made True Blood’s Louisiana vampire politics look expensive — 2000s catalog pulp, a thousand-year stare, prestige sex-and-gore with a civil-rights wink. Generation Kill and Big Little Lies kept the file…