Too many oxymoron’s in one title? Probably, but bear with me. A few months ago I started a very highly touted TV series titled How to Get Away with Murder. The ABC series made a living off starting every episode with Viola Davis’ brilliant students digging themselves a deeper and deeper hole and then rewinding to the beginning of the story catching the audience up on how these smart students could be so stupid. The formula reeled me in for six or seven episodes when finally I had enough of the flashbacks and was tired of trying to figure out the show’s timeline. The formula is effective and reels in an audience but ABC writers abused it leading to my disinterest. The strategy of starting an episode or a series with the climax and then rewinding to “when it all began” is a cheap trick used to draw in audiences. Very effective if used properly such as HBO’s most recent hit, Big Little Lies which was so well executed that it balanced this use of flashbacks without rushing the plot or making them second guess the timeline. If the concept of not rushing a plot is lost on you then please, Consider the Following…. (Bill Nye the science guy reference. Nailed it)
Disclaimer: The Show is an adaptation from Liane Moriarty book titled Big Little Lies and published in 2014. I want it to be clear that I never read the book and am primarily focusing on the directing style of Jean-Marc Vallée. Specifically the final thirty minutes of the show.
After finishing episode six and realizing that episode seven will be the end of the show, I had to check and double check if that was correct. The show at this point, had lulled it’s audience into a direction that led to nowhere. Questions still remained in each and every story line: Jane still had not found Ziggy’s father, Celeste was still conflicted with the idea of taking the kids and leaving Perry, Madeline couldn’t shake the constant feeling of guilt after cheating on Ed with shaggy-haired theater director (wasn’t a fan of this guy), and Renata was ready to have a play date with the entire first grade class to find out who attacked her daughter. All these loose ends going into the final episode AND someone dies?! I felt as if Vallée and company had written themselves into corner leaving too much for the finale.
“Make haste slowly”. The oxymoron falls on deaf ears in the entertainment business, especially when FOX, NBC, and ABC can’t help but blindly throw TV shows at a ratings board hoping one hits a bulls-eye. And yet, HBO found a director who executes it to perfection. The finale did not feel rushed, I did not feel as if each plot line had to be given a certain amount of time to be dealt with and given closure but suddenly there are thirty minutes left in the show and nobody has died yet!
Anxiety sets and Vallée’s genius is revealed. The man was willing to take his viewers to the last seconds of the show before revealing it’s secrets. Selfish bastard. It’s at this point where sideways glances between Madeline and out-of-Reese Witherspoon’s-league theater man begin the drama-filled trivia night. Suddenly, small fights begin to happen throughout the party and the audience is left to guess which one results in murder? It seems petty that a “who has a bigger dick” fight between Ed and Nathan could end up with someone dead but past episodes have proven that even sober Monterey citizens will act like a cornered raccoon if they feel like their perfect image is being threatened by a peer.
It’s at this point where I applaud the decision to delicately address the climax of the series. Heart is racing while I witness Celeste running away from Perry, drunk Madeline unable to contain her guilt any longer, Renata following the crowd cause she’s snoopy, and Bonnie using her spidy senses sees danger ahead. But in a matter of seconds, Jane finds her mystery rapist (surprise surprise it’s the monster man), Celeste decides she wants to be free of said monster, and Madeline suddenly has a moment of sobriety long enough to telepathically read Jane’s mind and connect the dots along with the audience. Yet, I check the time and there’s less than seven minutes left in the show and NOBODY HAS DIED.
A calming piano sequence (another killer song choice from this show) does not help my anxiety as the audience is shown the police lights. Finally. The camera follows the detectives to the crime scene to show Perry’s bloodied body dead at the bottom of the cement stairs. Not a huge surprise but it was a satisfying sight to see.
Vallée saved the show’s climax for the very, very last minutes of the show and I absolutely applaud it. It’s an artistic leap of faith. He relied on the talent and skill of the cast to carry the audiences’ interest while at the same time postponing the moment he had to reveal all the show’s secrets. The patience most certainly becomes lost on industries only make a shows trying so very hard to appeal to certain demographics (cough This is Us cough) and most get away with it and do very well hence the prosperity in network TV right now. But I must applaud artistry that is able to rise above the means to make a profit.
In a time when HBO is being pushed to its creative limits by Netflix and Amazon, they absolutely hit the head on the nail with this show. I can’t imagine the pressure Vallée faced from the HBO execs. The same executives who witnessed Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, win three Academy Award and Netflix carry home big awards with their blockbuster hit, The Crown, which oh by the way still has five more seasons. Yet, I believe it was this pressure which allowed Vallée to really stretch his creative mind and push the audience to it’s highest levels of anxiety. The competition between streaming sites has created a golden age in television unlike any we have seen before. A List actors and actresses are willing to take on roles which are guaranteed one or two seasons as to not take up too much of their precious time and still tell an incredible story because writers are able to finally write with the creativity and freedom without worry of cutting down their product.
Quentin Tarantino has said on multiple occasions that he was very close to making Inglorious Bastards into a mini series but the money and the acting star power would not come with that decision. Tarantino’s film came out in 2009 and in only a couple years, we are witnessing a momentum shift in the entertainment industry towards drawn out stories expressing detail in character development and plot lines. I ask that you take the time to live and celebrate this time and writing and directing because us, the viewers, are being blessed with a final product that understands there is a climax but is in no rush to get there. It’s a beautiful thing.
Random thoughts I have to get out about this show:
- Renata’s daughter is going to play in a horror movie very soon. just wait.
- Is murder really that big of a bonding experience? Beach scene at the end might have been too far
- Skarsgård’s acting career is over now. Way to end on a high note bud.
- Every time you sneeze Zoë Kravitz gets closer to receiving her angel wings
- Madeline’s daughter is actual daughter goals. The one in First grade. Not goth/hipster one.
- Adam Scott finally broke out of his Ben Wyatt typecast and we are all proud and happy. Now go home cause Leslie misses you.
- Jimmy Fallon will not be asking Adam Scott to do a lip sync battle with him. Ever.
The Pretentious Prophet 
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