Some actresses are legendary and when you place them together you have a truly iconic and dynamic moment! Enter Hulu’s latest original series, “Little Fires Everywhere,” starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon! Based on the book of the same by Celeste Ng, the series centers on two mothers from very different walks of life. Set in the late nineties, Elena Richards (Witherspoon) is an upper class and well to do newspaper editor with OCD who prioritizes her home, family, and traditional values to an anal degree. Meanwhile, Mia Warren (Washington) is a single mother and artist who travels the country working with her teen daughter, Pearl (Lexi Underwood).
Mia rents one of Elena’s homes and the two soon begin an uneasy and unconventional tenant-landlady relationship as their children become friends and the former begins working for the latter in her home. Unbeknownst to both women, both families are hiding secrets–“little fires everywhere– that with the right conditions could set their lives ablaze–literally!
Grade: A+
“Little Fires Everywhere” is easily the best original series Hulu has ever created. The show is brilliantly cast and challenges so many social norms and stereotypes. The epithets of race, class, sexuality, and parental bonds are moving, relatable, and uncomfortably necessary as they force you to rethink your own stereotypes and perceptions of others. We all know a Mia Warren and an Elena Richards.
These women are your neighbors, community leaders, local employees, etc. The drama playing between and personally intertwined in both families is deliciously intricate like thick spider webs surrounding a house fly–prepare to gorge! Honestly, we love seeing Kerry Washington as a single mom, stripped from her former “Scandal” days as Olivia Pope. She is Mia now and we see it and believe it. Reese makes us flashback to her Manchester Academy days from “Cruel Intentions,” but is now all grown up in a “Stepford Wives” kind of way.
The series premieres exclusively on Hulu Tuesday, March 17! Happy Viewing!
