Big Little Lies
Serious Mothering
TV Flash files “Serious Mothering” as hour 2 of 14 in the TV Flash guide — Big Little Lies (2017–2019) on HBO, season 1, episode 2, aired 2017-02-26, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E02: listed hour 2 of 14 in the Big Little Lies guide, hour 2 of 7 in season 1. It aired 2017-02-26 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Somebody's Dead” (S01E01). Next is “Living the Dream” (S01E03).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Jane deflects Ziggy's questions about why they moved; Madeline is outraged over a slight from Renata; Celeste suggests that she and Perry should see a counselor; Nathan and Ed meet in hopes of smoothing out tensions between their wives.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Serious Mothering sit in the Big Little Lies guide?
S01E02 is listed hour 2 of 14 — hour 2 of 7 in season 1, season 1 episode 2.
When did Big Little Lies S01E02 air?
Serious Mothering aired 2017-02-26 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…