Big Little Lies: Season 1, Episode 4 "Push Comes to Shove"

 Big Little Lies: Season 1, Episode 4 "Push Comes to Shove"

March 12, 2017

In “Push Comes to Shove,” control and power are some of the main themes that are heavily on display. Celeste begins to show command and power that she thought she had lost when she gave up lawyer duties to become a full-time mom. Her husband, of course, objects because he is the man in control. Jane tries to find power as she internally struggles with how to find the man who raped her. Madeleine tries to find control within her marriage as she complains about her sexless life, yet kisses Joseph, the play director. As you can tell, each character internally struggles with how much power and control they have. That said, I find it hard to believe that any woman would turn down Adam Scott in a vampire Elvis costume. Like all episodes to this point, the acting has been magnificent. Heavy themes are tackled throughout. The cinematography and the music remain exquisite and gorgeous.

Madeleine’s quest to have her play produced is put to test in a meeting with the mayor, the board (which includes Renata and her fake laugh), and Celeste. While Madeleine flails, Celeste proves that she still has major lawyer ability. Perry does not even want Celeste at this meeting or involved with any lawyer work. Physical abuse becomes an issue again, but now their children may be involved. Madeleine decides to overstep her boundaries while putting out an Internet search for Jane’s rapist. Ziggy’s teacher is concerned about him as she believes he is still attacking Amabella, but a child psychologist puts any concerns to rest that he is violent. So, who is harming the poor girl?

This is another excellent episode, like each episode has been. There is tension and menace in the air (especially when it comes to Perry). The episode’s conclusion is definitely a shocker. Adam Scott’s Ed is a bit creepy, but I do like his character. But more questions arise as now Madeleine faces some questionable decisions about her past and Nathan decides to have a sitdown with Madeleine and Ed to discuss parenting techniques for Abigail. Ohhhhhh boy!

My Grade: A-


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Image
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Ah, wise words from our new young friend, Ferris Bueller. In John Hughes’s 1986 film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , all Ferris wants to do is take a day and have fun. That is the most simplistic theme the movie has. You can go deeper, but the main takeaway is that it is okay to have fun. That is a motto I have taken to heart. I really loved the film. People consider The Breakfast Club to be Hughes’s best and most important movie. That’s a fine statement to make, but I would personally rank the film number two behind this particular one. The teen characters are instantly relatable, it has a memorable antagonist for the children, and this is basically a thirty-year-old travel guide for Chicago. Just how Woody Allen creates his movies as love letters for New York, this is applicable for John Hughes. A Chicago love letter!   Like all of his films, Hughes wrote...
Read more

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Image
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) The James Bond franchise is one of those franchises that will never die. It has been going strong since the first movie rolled out in the early 1960’s, and new James Bond movies are still produced today. What makes this series unique is they use multiple actors to play the titular character over the years. They all bring their own gravitas to the role, and each Bond is a different man when compared to each other (although the martini, shaken not stirred and the beautiful women among other things remain a constant.) So my first James Bond review for this blog is 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. This wasn’t my first look at the series, but it was my first look at the older movies. I really liked what I saw. This is an old-fashioned story that combines a spy drama and an action-packed war movie into one package. Like many of the older Bond movies, the story can get borderline preposterous. The cheesiness of the plot did come to grow on me after awhile, even...
Read more

Table for Five (1983)

Image
Table for Five (1983) I can guarantee that ninety percent of my readers here have not seen this tear-jerking melodrama 1983’s Table for Five , yet alone heard of it. Hopefully after reading my kind words, you will be somewhat intrigued by this movie. When doing my research for the film, I was shocked to see how vastly underrated the movie is. There are only a few reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, hardly any information on Wikipedia or Google-hardly anything out there in this vast Internet landscape. Then, why on earth is this movie so good? Sure, maybe some folks will say the movie is just a predictable Lifetime TV movie, but honestly it is much more than that. There are some elements that makes this film seem destined for the television at times, but to me it is much more than that. I consider the movie to be an honest, emotional portrayal about fatherhood and family. Directed by Robert Lieberman, this film is about a man named J.P Tannen (Jon Voight) who fails at being fathe...
Read more