After two years of anticipation, Big Little Lies has finally dropped.
Based on Australian author Lianne Moriaty’s bestselling book of the same name, the mini-series centres around a circle of suburban mums who are all caught up in a murder.
The twist? Not only do we not initially know who did it, we don’t know who died either.
Listen to Laura Brodnik and Tiffany Dunk explain why Big Little Lies is unlike anything we have seen before on The Binge.
After finishing the book, Reese Witherspoon immediately saw its potential on the small screen and optioned it, with herself and Nicole Kidman as executive producers.
With a stellar cast including Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz as well as Witherspoon and Kidman, it’s been likened to everything from Orange Is The New Black to Desperate Housewives for its female-led ensemble depicting a diverse group of women with different backgrounds and stories.
"We don't often see a big cast of women where they do have these really meaty roles... it's the kind of drama we need to be watching," The Binge host Laura Brodnik said on this week's episode.
While it's a masterful and mysterious series, there's one thing that is really impressive - Witherspoon. There's just one word for her portrayal of Madeline Martha Mackenzie.
Game-changing.
"The most impressive thing to me was Reese Witherspoon and not just her portrayal but her character. You don't usually get to see a character like that on our screens," says Laura.
Top Comments
I am at a loss as to why Reese was cast as Madeline (other than the fact that she's the exec producer). In the book, she is of Lebanese descent, and is described as a "sparkly" woman (in the fashion sense). Definitely very feisty. From the first episode, Reese seems to be re-playing all the doe eyed characters she has played in the past and doesn't seem to give an accurate portrayal of Madeline. In essence, I felt sorry for Madeline in the book, but did not feel sorry for the character in the TV series.
Stupidest review ever.
Game changing? The character (in the book at least) is literally identical to 80% of Moriaty's other characters in her books.
And as for representing a "diverse group of women with different backgrounds and stories" - they are literally all middle class white women in America. One is a young single mum, so she is struggling more than the others financially, but even she is from a middle class background.
I might still watch it to see how they portray it, but it is literally the opposite to a game changer. It's a fun, easy story about some school mums, with a 'who died and why' twist in it.