<em>Big Little Lies</em> Exhumes the Secrets of Marriage
In the fourth episode of its new season, the HBO series explores the rifts in its characters’ unions—and the feasibility of forgiveness.
This article contains spoilers through Season 2, Episode 4 of Big Little Lies.
Early in Sunday evening’s episode of , Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) smokes a cigarette with all the finesse of a teenager cutting class for the first time. Lounging affectedly on her back deck with Jane (Shailene Woodley) and Renata (Laura Dern), Madeline is unprepared for the accidental blow that escapes her friend’s lips. Referencing the financial crisis her husband has plunged them into, Renata offers a pragmatic assessment of marriage: “They betray us and we stay, you know. They lie, they cheat on us, and we s—,” she muses, cutting herself off when she realizes she’s struck a nerve. Madeline, whose infidelity to her husband Ed had recently come to light,
