Little Fires Everywhere is a weighty and very compulsive new drama that delves deep into suburban prejudices and the complexity of motherhood.
The eight-episode miniseries also happens to be a massive star vehicle for Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, who both also produced the show, adapted from the best-selling novel by Celeste Ng.
Perfectly cast, Witherspoon and Washington’s performances are proof that when you pit one high-profile, talented star against another, there’s an alchemic spark that lights everything up.
You can see the crackling chemistry of those character dynamics, and there’s a real pleasure to be gained from watching actors at the top of their craft.
Set in 1997 in an affluent suburb of Cleveland, Shaker Heights is one of those whitebread communities where the kids go on to good colleges and where the grass on the front lawn isn’t allowed to be more than six inches high.
Elena Richardson (Witherspoon) is a mother to four teenagers, living in a mansion with her lawyer husband Bill (Joshua Jackson).
That house is aflame in the opening scene of the series, the rage of the fire lighting up the cold winter night. The authorities tell Elena it was a deliberate act, and then ask her the whereabouts of her youngest daughter, Izzy.
Flash back to months earlier, during the summer and Elena is going about her daily life, keeping her stringent weight journal (only four ounces of wine a day) and complaining to her friend Linda (Rosemarie DeWitt) about their book club choosing The Vagina Monologues, a title she can’t even say out loud.
That’s also the day Mia (Washington) and her daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood) moves to Shaker Heights.
Mia is a nomadic artist who moves from town to town, living a fairly itinerant lifestyle – Pearl says it’s because Mia moves on when she’s done with her chosen art subject (the town), but Pearl also tells someone else that her mother has secrets.
Mia rents a two-bedroom apartment from Elena who accepts a month-to-month lease out of a sense of guilt-slash-wanting to feel like a good person, helping out an African-American single mother.
The two women and their kids become entangled in each other lives’ and will ultimately find themselves on opposing sides of a harrowing case that could tear apart this fragile community.
What Little Fires Everywhere gets so right is how complicated Elena and Mia are, neither are hero or villain.
They’re both different, come from divergent backgrounds, have almost opposing outlooks on life, but are driven by that same primal instinct to protect their kids, even if their approaches are at odds.
The child characters – Elena and Mia’s kids – are also, surprisingly, well written, especially Pearl and Izzy, both of whom feel a connection to the woman who’s not their mother, to a person they think understands their desires better.
Adapted by Liz Tigelaar (Casual, Revenge) the show is lending its voice to looking at how knotty those mother-daughter relationships are, and the wounds that are so easily inflicted in both directions, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not so.
There’s a cultural element to the series too, and while the racism in Shaker Heights is rarely overt, lowered expectations and clueless privilege scream loudly. It’s another fascinating layer of Little Fires Everywhere that adds to its world.
It’s really sophisticated, emotionally resonant writing and characterisation, brought to life with flair and care by lead director and executive producer Lynn Shelton, who unexpectedly died this past weekend – it’s another mark in her impressive legacy.
The casting of Witherspoon and Jackson as a married couple with four teenage kids is a weird double nostalgia hit thanks to the 1997 setting and all the accoutrement that comes with that time period – a puka shell necklace, Rikki Lake, but more prominently, the music with songs from Counting Crows, The Cardigans, Savage Garden and a cover of Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy”.
But also because Cruel Intentions co-stars Witherspoon and Jackson were teen stars at the time, plastered across TV and movie posters aimed at audiences the same age as their on-screen kids. Jeepers, talk about making you feel old.
Little Fires Everywhere is a miniseries that’s arresting and beguiling, thanks to its strong lead performances and a smart, insightful story.
Little Fires Everywhere is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video now
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2020-05-22 09:26:41Z
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