Little Fires Everywhere is both a figurative and literal title in this Hulu original series based on the popular book by Celeste Ng. ABC Signature delivers a twist-filled series about two women, each with their own secrets and quirks that unite them as friends and enemies. Strap in for this juicy eight-episode mini-series that’s full of twists and surprises.
Elena Richardson (Reese Witherspoon, A Wrinkle in Time) is the type of person who lives life by a strict schedule. Even intimate moments with her husband (Joshua Jackson, The Mighty Ducks) are pre-planned. And her four kids are raised Stepford-style, each expected to fit a specific mold.
Mia Warren (Kerry Washington, Scandal) is a single-mother and an artist who moves to Shaker Heights, OH, and ends up renting a house from Elena, who believes her new tenant is struggling to make ends meet. Elena offends Mia when she offers her a job as a housekeeper in her own home, but she eventually takes it when her daughter Pearl grows close to Elena’s teenage children. Their co-involvement with each other's children has lasting effects that neither mother planned for.
Mia’s and Elena’s lives get even more complicated as each discover elements of the other’s past that put them forever at odds. The series adaptation works well because the story feels so episodic, with new reveals in each episode. But these metaphorical fires will ultimately lead to a real fire as the series is told completely in flashback, opening with Elena’s home burning down and the firemen explaining that it had to be a planned arson attack since they discovered that it was actually a series of multiple small fires throughout the house. Elena and Mia go through the story trying to put out the fire’s each causes in the other’s life leading up to the big finale.
The series takes place in 1997 and uses the time period effectively. The soundtrack includes the Spice Girls and Alanis Morisette, the teenagers watch Ricki Lake and The Real World, and Elena is uncomfortable when her book club chooses to read The Vagina Monologues. You won’t see a smartphone in sight, which means Elena has to resort to traditional espionage tactics when she becomes obsessed with revealing whatever Mia seems to be hiding from her.
Themes or racism and privilege are a dominant force in the series. Mia is an African American bi-sexual woman who is racially profiled by all around her, including Elena. As a white, blonde woman, Elena fails to understand or recognize the advantages she is given by virtue of her skin color and talks about affirmative action like it hurts her kids chances of getting into schools like Yale and Harvard. It’s a pre-Black Lives Matter view of racism in America and the subtlety that goes with it.
The audience is along for a fun ride in Little Fires Everywhere, trying to solve the mysteries before the characters do. But the ultimate question of who started the fire is the biggest one and with so many twists, it’s difficult to accurately predict who will ultimately do it. If you haven’t read the book, good luck guessing. And if you have, this faithful adaptation lets you relive the story in a new way.
I give Little Fires Everywhere 5 out of 5 double exposure photographs.
Little Fires Everywhere premieres March 18th on Hulu.