Big Little Lies Season Two: The HBO show is back with a vengeance

Big Little Lies wasn't about the story, it was about putting five iconic actresses in a room together and letting them duke it out

The lies in Big Little Lies were never little. In the HBO series’ first season, which premiered in February 2017, there was domestic violence, extramarital affairs, childhood bullying, and, of course, murder. What would be a big, big lie — war crimes? 

And yet the show’s upper-middle-class, coastal Californian trappings lent it a patina of stereotypically chick lit-lite drama, a fate the show avoided, thanks to spectacular performances by Reese Witherspoon (Madeline), Nicole Kidman (Celeste), Laura Dern (Renata), Zoë Kravitz (Bonnie), and Shailene Woodley (Jane). Each actress seemed to be waging a low-key battle to out-act the other, a tactic that