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

Official synopsis: Celeste questions Mary Louise in court about Perry’s brother’s death and how he coped and how she treated him. Later, Celeste shows a video that her son took of Perry physically abusing her, and claims that Mary Louise would raise her own sons to be similar abusers. Celeste ends up with full custody, and Mary Louise leaves Monterey Bay. Bonnie tells her mother she loves her just before she dies and tells Nathan she does not love him. Ed and Madeline renew their vows. Jane and Corey progress in their relationship with Ziggy’s approval. Gordon arranges to keep his train set despite the repossession of their other property, to the disapproval of Renata, who furiously destroys it and leaves him after he retorts about his infidelity. Finally, Bonnie texts the rest of the Monterey Five that she is going to confess, in response to which all four women accompany her to the police station.

“This is not some put a ribbon on it, bygones be bygones ending, OK?” Ed may have been talking about the renewal of his and Madeline’s vows, but this finale (and perhaps the last ever Big Little Lies) was a put-a-ribbon-on-it send-off. Bathed in blue light, it was an episode dedicated to tying up what few loose ends there really were, and to its characters realising they would tell no more lies. Not even big little ones. The teaser had set up a disintegration of the group, sneakily taking Celeste’s “the friendship is the lie” line and making it seem as if it would all fall apart for the Monterey Five. Ultimately, though, solidarity prevailed, and as Bonnie made her way to the station to hand herself in, they were right there with her. It was no beach picnic, but it was, in its own way, warm nonetheless. And it was fine, as endings go.

The much anticipated courtroom showdown did not play out with the fireworks I expected, though to watch Kidman and Streep go at it with relative restraint, at least at first, was one of the more elegant turns this season. Celeste was clean, quick and efficient – professional, even – in her questioning of her mother-in-law, until she brought up the death of Raymond, and Perry’s account of the tragedy, which placed the blame squarely on Mary Louise’s temper. Once again, the stress of a cross-examination so horrible and so intrusive made it difficult to watch; topping it off with a clip of Perry beating Celeste, filmed by one of their young sons, did little to alleviate the tension.

The judge said last week that she had made her decision, and when it came to it, it was as expected: there would be conditions, but taking the boys from their mother would only make their lives more difficult. Celeste won. There have been a lot of these narrative cul de sacs this season, and it’s a shame the big custody battle storyline didn’t avoid it either. It left me with the sense that none of this had been particularly necessary (a criticism that could have been levelled at the whole season). I have loved watching actors of this calibre share the screen, and there have been moments of true glory – thank god for Laura Dern, whose Starbucks meltdown and trainset massacre were the only moments to really quicken the pulse. But it has felt more slight than the first outing, a showcase of strong performances in need of a plot to match them. There were no twists, no shocks, no cruelties, just the story wrapping itself up with a ribbon.