Aired on : HBO (2017)
My Rating : 7 out of 10
Three years ago, a similar thing happened. I had finished writing a review of the series Affair on Showtime. Although I liked it, I was a bit surprised to see it win the Golden Globe. This time, it’s the HBO series, “Big Little Lies”. As I was finishing this review, the series won the Golden Globe, and I was a tiny bit surprised.
HBO was heavily promoting this series. After seeing the ads, I decided to read the book first, and then watch the series. So my review is written from the point of view of someone who has read the book.
The plot is very similar to that of the book. The main characters are three women, Jane (Shailene Woodley), Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and Celeste (Nicole Kidman). Part of the story is about their friendship, their marriages, their past and their daily lives. The other part is a double mystery, we are told right in the beginning that someone died. We don’t know who, and we don’t know who did it. How it happened, is told in a flashback, interspersed with police interviews that are happening now. The combination of sub-plots of multiple families, and a murder mystery keeps your interest level very high.
A very common observation is, books are better than their screen adaptations. That is true in this case as well. The longer series format is better suited to allow development of characters and smaller subplots, and it’s done very well done here. The problems stem from the changes made to the novel.
Some changes are immaterial to the story, and may even be necessary. The location has changed from Australia, to California. Such minor changes are totally fine. What I didn’t like was the changes made to the definition of the character. Madeline’s character gets a backstory that wasn’t in the book, and in my opinion, this was a bad call. Jane’s character also takes a decision that didn’t fit the image the book had painted in my mind. Such differences change the basic character development, and I am not sure why these changes were needed. Finally the amount of explicit scenes shown is simply too much. Maybe HBO has a new rule on how much sex has to be shown at the minimum. The plot needs this element, but so many scenes just take the time needed by other scenes to make the story more complex.
Considering the star cast, it should hardly be a surprise that the acting is of high calibre. The casting, for the female leads, is just perfect. I am a fan of Reese Witherspoon the actress. I was very impressed with Shailene Woodley in Descendants and she has done a fantastic job here as well. Nicole Kidman also delivers in a very challenging role, and deserves all the praise she is getting for it. I cannot imagine a different trio that would have been better.
The production quality, direction and most other aspects are top notch, as you should expect from an HBO series. It seems that there will be a second season. I am not too excited about that, as the story reached a proper conclusion in the book, and the series. Given the cast, it's possible that they can pull off a compelling season, but it will be a different story altogether.
With only 7 episodes, this is more of a mini-series, and that’s just fine. If you haven’t read the book then some of my objections won’t matter to you. For those of you who have read the book, now you know you will notice some important changes. In any case, this series is worth watching. It’s correctly rated TV-MA and is not for kids.
