Directed by: Andrea Arnold  |  Written by: David E. Kelley

Official synopsis: In the aftermath of Perry’s death, Celeste, Madeline, Jane, and Renata try to move on with their lives, while Bonnie considers turning herself in to the police. It is the first day of second grade for the children and the five women reunite. Perry’s mother, Mary Louise, who is staying with Celeste, begins asking questions about her son’s death, and clashes with Madeline. Nathan worries about how distant Bonnie has been with him and asks Ed for help. Abigail decides she will not go to college, to Madeline’s disapproval. At the beach, Corey, a co-worker of Jane’s, asks her if she is one of the “Monterey Five”. Jane tells the other women (apart from Bonnie) about this, and Renata assures them that the police have nothing. Celeste has nightmares about Perry and Mary Louise questions her about them.

The single-series wonder is a rare TV phenomenon, and for a short time, it seemed as if Big Little Lies was a prime candidate to deliver a short, sharp, one-off shock. The 2017 series covered all of the Liane Moriarty novel upon which it was based, and wrapped up its central story neatly. Season one ended with the abusive Perry, played with such simmering menace by Alexander Skarsgård, being revealed as the rapist father of Jane’s son Ziggy. After he publicly beat his wife Celeste, Bonnie pushed him down the stairs, killing him. The group of women covered it up and had a lovely picnic on the beach with the kids. The end. But it wasn’t, because Big Little Lies was far too successful to bury. So here we are, picking up at the start of another school year, as the mystery is opened up. As soon as the opening credits introduced the women leading this show, I broke into an inner cheer. What a cast! The risks of it doing a Homeland – continuing into far-fetched silliness when it could have been so crisp and tidy – were a concern, but on the basis of this first episode, it is very much top-quality business as usual, with an added and welcome garnish of Meryl Streep at her absolute Streepiest.

Perry may be dead, but he is still haunting Monterey. All of the Liars are back, and nobody is quite okay. Madeline (a brilliantly chippy Reese Witherspoon) has become even more Madeline, high-octane and incessantly upbeat and productive. Celeste (Nicole Kidman) is having recurring nightmares about her husband’s death and his violence towards her, and as her therapist points out, she keeps his legacy alive by continuing to blame herself for it. Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz), who did the pushing, has withdrawn completely, and is being consumed and isolated by her own sense of guilt. The set-up so far is that they have just about got away with it – for now. But when Jane’s colleague asks if she is one of the Monterey Five, and when Renata says the police are at a loss – “The case isn’t closed, closed, but they got nothing” – it is made very clear that this is the calm before the storm, and the winds are about to change.

And I think we all know who will change them. Mary Louise (Streep) proves terrifying from the second we first meet her, her stillness and poise masking rage and her suspicions that Perry’s death was not the accident that people were made to believe. She is part Kathy Bates in Misery, part Aunt Lydia, and wholly alarming. The family dinner at the end was the most tense on-screen meal since the end of Doctor Foster’s first series, and that scream was a howl of agony and rage. If Josh and Max have not yet picked up their father’s habits (the bullying of Amabella last season, and the fork-stabbing at the table, suggest it might be time to intervene already), then Mary Louise’s approach to child-rearing should give them a push. The episode ends with Mary Louise interrupting another of Celeste’s giveaway nightmares: “So. Who are we planning to kill?”