An ingenious and perfectly executed drama that stays just within the bounds of credibility.
While you could be forgiven after the first episode in thinking that it is a simplistic virtue-signalling plot, Little Fires Everywhere swiftly develops into a multi-faceted and thought-provoking drama.
Characters that at first appear one-dimensional soon unveil a complexity that rivets the viewer's attention. The depth of interwoven threads transform seemingly moral dilemmas into an existential recognition that some things "simply are" rather than having a right and wrong. Each of us exists within a specific and individual social, cultural and temporal milieu striving to develop as best we can within the limits of our intelligence and genetic inheritance.
We see the children, battling with developing hormones, establishing identity and self-dominance within a loving family structure, a woman who tries to follow all the "rules" for helping others, society-created rules that believably and heart-breakingly misfire, a man focussed on playing his part, doing his duty, shouldering the frustration he feels when others "get it wrong", and bonds that seem so close yet are only a hair's breadth from underlying disruption. A little flame burns in the heart of every character. When will it become a blaze?
Little Fires Everywhere ultimately smokes out our hidden preconceptions, shows how anyone can feel isolated and alone even in the midst of love, and offers a devastating blow to the concept of the much wished-for perfect family.
A reassuring bonus is that everything is concluded within a single series. When all is said and done, you know in advance there will be a satisfying finale and with the eighth episode you breathe a heartfelt gasp of consummation as the flames return to the fire of the beginning.
While you could be forgiven after the first episode in thinking that it is a simplistic virtue-signalling plot, Little Fires Everywhere swiftly develops into a multi-faceted and thought-provoking drama.
Characters that at first appear one-dimensional soon unveil a complexity that rivets the viewer's attention. The depth of interwoven threads transform seemingly moral dilemmas into an existential recognition that some things "simply are" rather than having a right and wrong. Each of us exists within a specific and individual social, cultural and temporal milieu striving to develop as best we can within the limits of our intelligence and genetic inheritance.
We see the children, battling with developing hormones, establishing identity and self-dominance within a loving family structure, a woman who tries to follow all the "rules" for helping others, society-created rules that believably and heart-breakingly misfire, a man focussed on playing his part, doing his duty, shouldering the frustration he feels when others "get it wrong", and bonds that seem so close yet are only a hair's breadth from underlying disruption. A little flame burns in the heart of every character. When will it become a blaze?
Little Fires Everywhere ultimately smokes out our hidden preconceptions, shows how anyone can feel isolated and alone even in the midst of love, and offers a devastating blow to the concept of the much wished-for perfect family.
A reassuring bonus is that everything is concluded within a single series. When all is said and done, you know in advance there will be a satisfying finale and with the eighth episode you breathe a heartfelt gasp of consummation as the flames return to the fire of the beginning.