BIG LITTLE LIES
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
“At the end of the day we are still family,” Meryl Streep’s Mary Louise tells her late son’s wife, Nicole Kidman’s Celeste. Coldly and with understandable wariness, Celeste responds, “We are not family, Mary Louise.” And so it goes, as the mother-in-law gets closer to the truth about what happened to her husband. And behind the scenes, stories of discord have surfaced regarding the creative family behind Big Little Lies, with Season 2 director Andrea Arnold reportedly displaced by Season 1 director Jean-Marc Vallee, who returned and was given editing and reshoot responsibilities over Arnold. Whatever has occurred offscreen, the on-screen drama, to date, has been engrossing, and Streep, Kidman and Laura Dern, in particular, have navigated some very emotional waters with intensity and bravado.