Warning: This story contains spoilers from Sunday’s episode of “Big Little Lies.”
No one knows what’s troubling Bonnie Carlson. One of the show’s infamous “Monterey Five” — a group of affluent women trying to cover up details of their involvement in the killing of one of their husbands at a gala school fundraiser — the guilt-ridden Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz) has been withdrawn since the incident, distancing herself from friends and family. Her husband Nathan fears he is losing her. Her friend Madeline asks if she’s on drugs. Others in her circle are mystified and concerned.
But Bonnie’s mother Elizabeth, who drops in for an unexpected visit in Sunday night’s episode, bluntly offers her thoughts about what’s at the root of the problem: Bonnie is a black woman living in a white community that doesn’t appreciate or respect her.
“You’re surrounded by people who don’t get you,” Elizabeth, played by Crystal Fox, tells Bonnie. “They don’t look like you. I haven’t seen one other black person since I’ve been here. Is that why you’re here? We all know how fond you are of your walls.”
Elizabeth’s view could also be applied to the team behind “Big Little Lies.” When it comes to black people and others who aren’t white, they don’t get it.