Big Little Lies

Madeline rests in the hospital with a broken ankle. Beside her, Ed tells Madeline he has an appointment to speak with the police. He doesn’t know if he can lie to them. Madeline tells him she understands his reasoning, “but sometimes doing the wrong thing was also right” (457)). Madeline still tries to persuade Ed. At the very least, they agree that they don’t think Bonnie intentionally killed Perry.

Nathan arrives. He tells Madeline that Abigail wants to move back home, in part to help Madeline while she recovers from her injury, but also because Abigail simply wants to be back with her mom. Nathan remarks “She missed her mum. We’re not her real life” (458). Nathan also tells them that Bonnie came from an abusive household, and the experience left her with post-traumatic stress. Seeing Perry hit Celeste set Bonnie off, and she reacted intensely.

Madeline understands. She accepts Nathan and Bonnie as members of their extended family and can’t imagine doing anything that would take Bonnie away from her daughter. Madeline tells Nathan they won’t say anything to the police for Bonnie’s sake. Ed doesn’t respond and leaves the hospital room.