Little Fires Everywhere was all the rave on social media when it aired on Hulu. If you are one of the only people on the planet that hasn’t seen it. Stay away from this post because….SPOILERS are all in it!
First thing first, Little Fires Everywhere originated as a book written by: Celeste Ng and I am a strong advocate for reading, so grab a copy!
The show is set in 1997 in an affluent neighborhood in Shaker Heights, Ohio. It opens up to a cop asking a family about their teenage daughters’ whereabouts as their house has been burned down by little fires, with mom still inside. This small little scene proposes several questions; Did Izzy do it? Why are the other three kids so angry at their mom? Why is the dad convinced Izzy had nothing to do with it?
Based on two very different families forming a relationship with each other that uproots family secrets and leaves one family broken and the other going back to heal old wounds.
Elena (local writer) + Bill (Big Shot Lawyer) Richardson seem to have the perfect family. 2 of their 5 children, Trip + Lexie are popular jocks in high school, Moody is the cool nerdy kid trying to find his place in the world, and Izzy is the youngest rebel child who is tired of playing by her mother’s rules. Mia (Mom) + Pearl (Daughter) Warren seem to have a great mother and daughter relationship despite their moving around every few months. Mia is a professional artist making ends meet as it seems.
The families are introduced to each other when Elena offers the Warrens an apartment in their rental home after feeling guilty for calling the cops and informing them that the two were living in their car. Because Elena feels this sense of white duty/guilt she goes out of her way to try and help the Warrens, offering Mia a job as a “Housekeeper” that she eventually accepts to “protect” her daughter who has become fast friends with the Richardson kids.
After a series of events Izzy begins to confide in Mia, Pearl begins to confide in Elena, and Mia’s undocumented co-worker’s (Bebe) baby who she abandoned at a firehouse is found to be in the household of Elena’s bestfriend, Linda, who is looking to adopt her. This is where the plot really thickens as Mia tries to help Bebe fight Linda to get her daughter back. Although Linda believes this is all Elena’s fault, Bill is representing Linda in the case and Elena begins to look into Mia’s past to find something she can use against her.
Then all HELL breaks loose. We find out that Mia was a surrogate for a wealthy black family, the girlfriend of her professor who was also a very popular artist, and a woman, and that she had a younger brother who was killed and their last name Warren is actually his first name. Now all that was revealed and came out on Warren’s side but soo does a lot on the Richardson side. Izzy the rebel, is gay, Lexie the popular girl is pregnant and has an abortion, Trip and Pearl do the do even though everyone know Moody is in love with her.
All of this comes to a head and while Mia and Pearl are able to mend their relationship and leave Shaker Heights behind to go and meet Elena’s parents, the Richardson household LITERALLY goes up in flames as the children and Elena finally reach their breaking point. Elena let’s Izzy know she never wanted her, Izzy pours gasoline over everything and eventually runs out of the house as the other three children set the house on fire with mom laying in the bed.
Now I for one was surprised that they went back to get mom out of the bed. I for sure thought they were going to leave her there to burn to death and atoll for her actions but no they got her out of bed. When we finally get back to the opening scene Elena admits that she was the one who started the fire and while she physically start it, her need to build this perfect family with no flaws definitely did.
To me while the show focuses heavily on Mia and Elena I believe the show is really about Izzy and Pearl. Pearl just wants stability and wants to know the secrets her mom is running from and Izzy just wanted her mother to understand her and be ok with the fact that she was different. The kids find solace in each other’s parents and the parents hate it because it shows that they have flaws within themselves that make their children find refuge in others.
While I LOVED Little Fires Everywhere and all of its different twists and turns, I don’t think it should have a second season. The show ended perfectly, yes while I would love to know what happened to Izzy, it’s not enough to bring the show into the next season in a way that would make it feel real. Showrunner Liz TIgelaar’s in an interview with ET stated, “I would shudder to think of a contrived way to get Mia and Elena back in each other’s orbit that would at all feel real.” I agree with her there is no way to put them all back together that would feel like it could happen in real life.
Did you watch Little Fires Everywhere? Let me know your thoughts about the show and if you think there should be a second season in the comments!
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