‘Big Little Lies’ Recap For Season 2, Episode 3: ‘I Will Not Not Be Rich’

After watching Big Little Lies’ third episode this season, many fans have been mimicking Laura Dern’s character, Renata, who said, “I will not not be rich.” Actually, this scene in which the outspoken woman yelled this double negative while visiting her husband in jail happened during the second episode and then was repeated in last night’s episode, titled “The End of the World.”

This could have been why Sunday’s Big Little Lies episode had that title because the reference to this memorable line will not soon be forgotten. But, for all intents and purposes, Renata’s rant was not the main reason why this riveting hour on HBO was titled what it was.

“The End of the World” referred to the concept of climate change, something that the children of the show’s main characters had been studying in second grade. While the intentions here were well meaning and important, learning this information was too much to take, for at least one of the kids.

Renata’s little girl, Amabella, suffered an anxiety attack while in class. The paramedics were called and she was taken to the closest hospital. When Renata showed up for her little girl, she demanded that she be moved to Stanford — meaning that Stanford was a better hospital — but the doctor on the case said Amabella had been cleared to go home.

The doctor then suggested that the duress the girl was under had come about due to the climate change discussion at school. However, she was also anxiety-ridden as a result of her mother’s distant and stressed-out attitude, so the physician suggested the whole family seek counseling.

While all of that happened to Renata and her family, Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and Celeste (Nicole Kidman) were not faring very well, either.

Celeste realized that her marriage to Ed (Adam Scott) had been crumbling, which gave Ed’s usually bland character a way to get in some good digs at his potential ex-wife. At one point, he said, “Whatever I am or have been hasn’t netted the desired results, so why not mix it up?”

As for Celeste, she could not seem to let go of her dead husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgard), even though he had been extremely abusive during their marriage. She considered her life while talking to Madeline, calling it “colorless.” Perhaps the world ended for this Monterey mother the moment her husband died.

Jane (Shailene Woodley), Mary Louise (Meryl Streep), and Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz) seemed unaware that the other women had been suffering such severe troubles that they’d been close to calling it quits on the world. Still, their lives were not perfect, either.

Mary Louise cornered Jane at her place of business, only to realize that her son, who had died, was probably not the nicest person. Apparently, he did have relations with Jane outside of his marriage because their child, Ziggy, looked just like his brother. Still, Mary Louise did not feel that Perry had had his way with her against her will.

Bonnie seemed to be getting back to being her old self. This had been a slow process but no wonder, given that she pushed Perry to his death in an action that had been covered up by all the main characters. This HBO show definitely hit the mark when the program was titled Big Little Lies.