It's really cool that Reese Witherspoon's role isn't all that different from Madeline in Big Little Lies, but the difference in setting changes the whole conversation. Instead of Jane Chapman from BLL, we now have Mia Warren; both working class single mothers, haunted by emotional ghosts. The biggest difference being Jane and Madeline were immediate friends bonded by their whiteness, while Mia and Elena struggle to find common ground anywhere-but in Elena's defense, Mia's just not easy to connect with. Rather than being a feel-good like The Blind Side, Little Fires exposes how unheroic and superficial white saviors can be, like how Lexie buys Pearl's homecoming dress for Pearl in exchange for her personal story to get into Yale.
I also appreciate the story doesn't shy away from the puzzling role Asian Americans play in this conversation about class and race. While many assimilate with ease like the women at the bookclub (one of whom was a cameo by the book's author), some like Bebe Chow cannot. The one thing I bumped on the most (aside from KW's face expression that everyone else is pointing out lol) is the way-too-convenient way Bebe reconnects with her lost baby. To me it felt too "tiny town," a term I heard in a writers room I once PA'd for. But I will say, the writers and the author did a great job creating a very morally ambiguous dilemma where even I can't find myself siding against the rich white people this time.
I'm very interested to see how this story continues to unfold, but something tells me it won't end in a neat bowtie with all the women bonded at the end like in BLL. The social and economic barriers between the mothers in LFE just seem way more daunting to scale.
----- Finished the series. Despite the couple of lulls here and there (like an entire flashback back story episode when I just wanted to see what was going happening in the present) The finale did not disappoint! I loved it. Not as much as BLL, but it was great.
I also appreciate the story doesn't shy away from the puzzling role Asian Americans play in this conversation about class and race. While many assimilate with ease like the women at the bookclub (one of whom was a cameo by the book's author), some like Bebe Chow cannot. The one thing I bumped on the most (aside from KW's face expression that everyone else is pointing out lol) is the way-too-convenient way Bebe reconnects with her lost baby. To me it felt too "tiny town," a term I heard in a writers room I once PA'd for. But I will say, the writers and the author did a great job creating a very morally ambiguous dilemma where even I can't find myself siding against the rich white people this time.
I'm very interested to see how this story continues to unfold, but something tells me it won't end in a neat bowtie with all the women bonded at the end like in BLL. The social and economic barriers between the mothers in LFE just seem way more daunting to scale.
----- Finished the series. Despite the couple of lulls here and there (like an entire flashback back story episode when I just wanted to see what was going happening in the present) The finale did not disappoint! I loved it. Not as much as BLL, but it was great.