What age is Big Little Lies appropriate for?

Rated TV-MA in the US. 17, alone or with a parent; 16 in France. All 14 episodes of the 2 seasons, watched one by one: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Big Little Lies not recommended under 17?

What's in it: the official rating, first; a marriage that hurts; a death, and everything around it; the blunt talk of adults; a glass always within reach; children who are watching. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · series · what age

Big Little Lies: what age is it for? 17, alone or with a parent

From 17, alone or with a parent.

Series · 2017 · 2 seasons · 14 episodes · drama

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

89101112131415161718

not yetwith an adult, or to talk about afteralonethe sweet spot

The official US rating is TV-MA, and we never go below it. Alone from 17, and not before, even with an adult.

The sweet spot: around 17-18, once you are forming your own idea of what a relationship is, and can still talk it over with a parent. Why a sweet spot?

Official US rating: TV-MA. In France, zinema would say 16.

Watch the trailerContinue in zinemathen where to watch it, in zinemamore trailers, and where to watch films

Where to watch itWhere to watch

Included withWith a subscriptionHBO Max Amazon Channel · HBO Max
BuyTo buyAmazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · Fandango At Home

Offers in the United States, collected automatically. Catalogues change often.

What it's about

The tale of three mothers of first graders whose apparently perfect lives unravel to the point of murder.

Why 17

The official rating, firstRated TV-MA in the US (mature audiences only). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.
rule
A marriage that hurtsAt the heart of the show is a marriage where desire and violence never come apart. You watch a woman say no and ask to be let go while the scene keeps going, and the story returns to it across both seasons without ever treating it as a headline. This is what sets the age, far more than anything else.
A death, and everything around itA death opens the story and closes it. It is shown, briefly: a body at the foot of a staircase, a bloodied face, police already on the scene. The rest of the time it is talked about, in interviews, by neighbours with opinions.
shown
The blunt talk of adultsSwearing and cutting remarks run all the way through. The adults talk about sex constantly, with innuendo in nearly every scene, often within earshot of their children.
shown
A glass always within reachAlcohol is in almost every adult scene without anyone remarking on it, and the pouring picks up as the tension does. Tobacco and drugs come up in conversation more than they are shown.
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Children who are watchingThe children in these families see and hear far more than the adults assume. Several scenes leave them alone in the dark, and what they have worked out becomes part of how the story turns.
shown

What the series brings

It shows that a life which looks enviable from the outside can be the exact opposite inside.
It hands a teenager the words for coercion, in a relationship or anywhere else, and shows why leaving is so hard.
It shows women who end up backing each other instead of judging each other.

Watching it together

Before

You can say beforehand that this is not a complicated love story, and that a man's tenderness never cancels out his violence.

After

at 17 and up

What do you think keeps Celeste there, when she knows exactly what is happening to her?

Season by season

the reading per season, episode by episode · expand

Season 1 · 7 episodes, 51 min on average · zinema reading 16, 15 with a parent · France 16 · the hardest

1 episode out of 7 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Somebody's Dead	Many dark scenes; deaths told; scary music; some swearing; drugs mentioned; and a lot of laughs, 21% of the episode.
2 · Serious Mothering	Scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; sexual violence.
3 · Living the Dream	Deaths told; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; and a lot of laughs, 15% of the episode.
4 · Push Comes to Shove	Scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; alcohol.
5 · Once Bitten	Frightening images; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing.
6 · Burning Love	Many dark scenes; deaths told; scary music; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
7 · You Get What You Need	Many dark scenes; deaths shown; a lot of swearing; alcohol.

Season 2 · 7 episodes, 47 min on average · zinema reading 10, 9 with a parent · France 10 · the gentlest

no episode at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · What Have They Done?	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; and a lot of laughs, 23% of the episode.
2 · Tell-Tale Hearts	Deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
3 · The End of the World	Deaths told; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
4 · She Knows	A lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 16% of the episode.
5 · Kill Me	Many dark scenes; deaths told; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
6 · The Bad Mother	Deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; ends on a tense note.
7 · I Want to Know	Deaths told; frightening images; some swearing.

See the facts

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A zinema reading from September 23, 2026 · the 14 episodes of 2 seasons, watched one by one · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made