Big Little Lies - Once Bitten & Burning Love - Review: Tick, Tock

There's more than one person I'd like to shoot in this town.

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, I'll be making a quick review of the last two episodes leading up to the finale of this stunning show. I do have to say, it seems like there's so much more to see, there's only one episode left and, even if some of the conflicts seem to be escalating, I can't say it feels like impending doom is upon us, which is how this types of stories usually make us feel. With the exception of maybe Perry and Celeste (that seems close to exploding) nothing seems close to murder, and the Wright drama doesn't really fit with what we've been led to believe, which is that the murder is somehow related to the war between Renata and Madeline. Still, there's much to talk about so let's get to it.

Once Bitten

There's a creepy sequence at the beginning of the episode where Madeline dreams of being scared off a cliff by Renata, this followed by the other women dreams or maybe thoughts, Celeste seems to be pulled in by knives, Jane sees images of that night on the beach, and we also see an image of a gun. That is followed by a sweet scene of them dropping the children off at school.

Jane sees Nathan at the shooting range and talks to Madeline about it, this leads to a political conversation, though it's glossed over, Madeline's against them, but Jane says having one makes her feel like she's not powerless. Though we see her sleep with it under the pillow and that seems a bit creepy, specially when Ziggy sleeps in her bed.

Madeline: I should get a gun. There's more than one person I'd like to shoot in this town.

But after that, Madeline seems worried about what Jane would be capable of, she tells Ed about their plan to confront Saxon Baker, he's against it but since there's no stopping them, he offers to join in.

They play's back on, since the mayor gave the okay but Joseph seems to be getting desperate for Madeline to admit they have something special, he takes Madeline for a ride so they can discuss the subject but she's got nothing new to say, when they're going back there's a freak car crush in front of them and they're impacted. They end up being fine, but it created doubts about why they were together. Later, at the hospital, Madeline tells him she has feeling for him but she's afraid to destroy her family and that's the most important thing, so he says she should stop getting involved in the play.

Celeste and Perry have some hot sex on the kitchen counter and she tells Madeline, who's intrigued by it but they get interrupted by the girls, so it seems there's not way to spice things up. I have to say I think there's something weird about Ed, about the way he looks at Bonnie, but specially how hen looks at Abigail. There's just something a bit creepy about him.


Renata finds a bite on Amabella and things go crazy in her house, she complains to the school. Jane is devastated and annoyed so she talks to Madeline, their conversations are getting more interesting and intense every episode, she says she's terrified of people finding out what happened with Ziggy's father, about the stigma that could cause him. She even implies that in a way she feels guilty about bringing him into the world, that he didn't get a better life.

There's a very sweet scene at the Wright household where the twins are talking about how teenagers are bad and they want to skip that part. Later Celeste hides her bruises before going into the therapist's office. Amanda has Celeste pegged from minute one, she tries to get her to see that it's not a shared violence, but Celeste fights it, she says she's demonizing him, and that's not her husband. But by the end of the session she gets her to admit the violence, but still, she says they've been through so much with the four miscarriages, and leaving him would be like tearing flesh, so the therapist says they should come up with a plan for the next time he hits her. That scene, along with the moment when Celeste remembers being scared for her life, were so intense, Nicole Kidman is remarkable here.

There's a moment when Amanda talks about how the violence could affect the kids and that made me think maybe they're Amabella's attackers. After that, Celeste cries in her car and decides to pick the kids up from school and goes straight to the airport, for a minute there I think many of us though that was be the moment when she left Perry, but that would've seemed too easy, and it was, it turns out, she's went to pick him up with a welcome party.

Jane asks Madeline to pick Ziggy up and goes to San Luis Obispo meet Saxon Baker, she realizes it's not him, but he sees her gun and she goes home in a panic, on the way she gets pulled over for speeding, and we can see the panic in her face.

Burning Love

This episode begins with a parallel of Jane freaking out about being pulled over and the kids cutely playing over at Madeline's. Luckily Jane only gets a ticket and goes straight to Madeline's, the kids are asleep by then so she tells Madelaine about her trip but says she didn't bring the gun. Madeline tells her she moved to Monterey to start over and that's what she should do. She's afraid she created a monster when she googled the guy.

Later, Jane finds out there's not only a petition calling for Ziggy's suspension but kids are being instructed not to play with him. We can see how helpless this makes Jane feel and she ends up getting physical and hurting Renata's eye, though I'm pretty sure she plays the victim just a little bit too much. Madeline says it's okay, that she needs to stand her ground. Speaking to Madeline, Jane confesses she took her gun to see Saxon Baker and that she's worried about going insane, she says she even tries to think something positive about the guy, that maybe it was a misunderstanding, or he had some sort of excuse. She says that she wants to believe the father of her child is in some way a good person.
Shaileene Woodley is amazing here, portraying the confusion and complexity of the matter, trying to hang on the slightest chance that the father of her little boy is not a complete monster.

Celeste continues with her therapy, she talks about this vicious cycle of power changing hands between her and Perry, but Amanda is not having it, she won't allow her to write it off as couple dynamics. She tells her she needs to rent an apartment, somewhere she can go if there's an emergency. Celeste says she feels Amanda is unprofessional, but the therapist already had made it clear that professionalism doesn't matter to her when she sees someone in danger. She tells her she should document her injuries and medical bills, that if she laves him she needs to be ready because he'll go after the kids. She plays the lawyer, asking the questions someone would ask, appealing to Celeste's own lawyer mind to show her how things could go wrong for her if she's not smart about it.

Jane decides to apologize to Reneta, very honestly, she says she understand's Renata's impulse to protect her daughter, she tells her about the psychologist saying Ziggy wouldn't be the bully, and asks for a truce. This takes Renata's walls down she says she feels powerless, specially if she truly doesn't know who is hurting her daughter, it looks like was easier just to blame Ziggy. So she changes her strategy, she starts planning play dates with every kid, to watch them closely until she finds the culprit.

Ziggy tells Jane he wants to see the puppet show, his mom says he can't and he asks if it's because the puppets have sex, he describes it as icky, so Jane says sometime magic comes from icky, and later she explain reproduction to him in a very sweet scene. This naturally leads to him asking about his father but there's no new answer to give.

Perry's going to Phoenix for work and asks Celeste to go with him but it's opening night for Madeline's play and she wants to be there for her. This creates friction but finally Perry gives in and comes back for opening night. He wants to have sex as a welcome party but Celeste says they're going to be late and refuses him, he gets angry because he's already aroused and tries to force himself on her but she hits him, right there and he ends up with a broken urethra, when they come back from the hospital he says she's lucky he didn't kill her, and the damage is not permanent. After that, she starts looking for a place. This doesn't go unnoticed and gets Perry paranoid fast. Something tells me Perry finding out about the apartment is what will get her one of them hurt.

The play goes well, except for the absence of the Wrights and the fact that Tori, Joseph's wife, confronts Madeline and asks if she's the woman her husband is in love with, this throws her but she denies it. Perry and Celeste make up a story about the injury happening during sex, this brings up a very honest conversation between Madeline and Ed, he ends up saying that she's a fiery person and that her tepidness for him is more conspicuous because of it. Later, she apologizes to him and seems to be about to confess about the affair but he stops her.

Bonnie and Abigail were championing a dinner with both couples to get them to get along better. I have to say both annoy me a little bit, Bonnie with her "spiritual" act and Abigail by being a teenager. But this dinner is doomed since it's the moment when Madeline will find out Abigail's passion project for school, which is selling her virginity on the internet for Amnesty International, to make a political statement about sex trade. Madeline's reaction is puking on everything, even Bonnie. I swear I hate puke in general, as a plot device, as a joke, as a reaction, this is the first time ever I have enjoyed a puke scene, ever, and I think I owe it to HBO. Once she's feeling better, Madeline finds Abigail and tells her her body is not for sale, ever, and she'd regret it eventually. Abigail's answer is that her mother can't know the first thing about making mistakes, since she so perfect. That's when Madeline confesses she cheated and has a cathartic moment saying it wasn't even for a good cause, meaning even in her mistakes Abigail is better than her, she leaves her daughter stunned.

And that is one of the great things about this show, it doesn't hit you over the head with the meaning of their words, you just get them, no matter how short the scene, or the dialogue, it's subtle, it's brilliant, and it's utterly stunning. I really can't get enough of this show, I'm excited for the conclusion but I don't think only one more episode will be enough.

What did you guys think about this episodes? Are you excited for the finale? What are your predictions? I'd love to read your thoughts.