Amazon Prime Video viewers have less than a month to binge a TV series hailed as an ‘absolute masterpiece’.
Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere dropped in 2020, executively produced and starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.
Legally Blonde actress Reese plays journalist and mother-of-four Elena Richardson, with Scandal’s Kerry starring as mother and artist Mia Warren.
They’re joined by Joshua Jackson as Elena’s husband Bill, Rosemarie DeWitt as Linda McCullough, Jady Pettyjohn as Elena’s daughter Lexie and Lexi Underwood as Mia’s daughter Pearl.
The eight-part series follows the apparently picture-perfect Richardson family whose lives are turned around by a mysterious mother and daughter.
It revolves around the secrets kept within families, motherhood and identity, as well as racial and political tensions in America.
The series flicks between 1997, when the Richardson’s house is engulfed in fire in an intentional attack from inside, sparking tensions between Elena and Mia, and years earlier, from Mia’s life as a single mother to her working as a housekeeper for the Richardson family.
After its release, Little Fires Everywhere became an instant hit, scoring a 78% Rotten Tomatoes rating and a score of 7.7/10 on IMDb.
At the time, it generated more hours of viewing over the past two weeks than any other Hulu drama, and was watched by more subscribers than any other programme on Hulu overall during that period, according to Deadline.
The series was nominated for several Primetime Emmy awards including outstanding limited series, while Kerry received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for outstanding performance by a female actor in a TV movie or limited series and Lexi won a Black Reel award for outstanding supporting actress in a TV movie or limited series.
But despite its roaring success, Little Fires Everywhere will be expiring from Amazon Prime Video in the next 30 days.
‘An absolute masterpiece. What a masterclass in writing, plot twists and character development. The whole cast was impeccable, an outstanding level of acting,’ one review, by Tamara B, on Rotten Tomatoes reads.
Keith M said: ‘Loved it! True masterpiece of writing and acting! Characters and storyline were compelling and authentic. Was not predictable and did a great job of illustrating both sides of a situation with both intended and unintended consequences. Looking forward to season 2. Great job.’
Erika F added: ‘Best series I have watched in a while, and one where you can see everyone’s point of view and understand. Stayed with me this series.’
Pamela H wrote: ‘This is 8 episodes of misery, but it was so gripping. The acting is tremendous.’
‘It was an absolute masterpiece. It had a believable storyline and characters that you could root for. In the end you felt bad for everyone because it wasn’t anybody in specifics fault. It shows that society can bring down families and cause little fires everywhere,’ Carson M also said.
‘It really was an honour to produce [the show] with Kerry,’ Reese told Metro in a 2020 interview. ‘I felt like it was a challenge that we took on, I mean definitely [it was] one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
‘It does tackle so many different issues, you know we talk about motherhood from so many perspectives, but also race, American privilege, homophobia, the immigrant experience.’
Reese added: ‘We wanted to do that in a way that was genuine and honest. It was an incredible experience to be able to talk about those things so freely with a group of women who were leaders on this project.’
‘I think we’re all damaged, I think we’re all perfectly imperfect,’ Kerry argued. ‘I don’t think any of us should walk around conceptualising ourselves as damaged goods, but life has its impact on all of us and we carry those scars.
‘We all have different tools on how to deal with those scars and unpack that baggage, it’s part of the human experience. You don’t get to walk through life as a person and not deal with pain and lows and anger and fear, and love and joy.’
‘I’m drawn to playing characters who are damaged,’ she added, ‘because I’m drawn to playing complicated human beings.’
Little Fires Everywhere is available to stream now via Amazon Prime Video.
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