Binge worthy: Catch up on Big Little Lies before season two

Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoe Kravitz. If you thought that was a powerful combination of Hollywood’s leading ladies, the next season of Big Little Lies will be much better with Meryl Streep joining the cast.

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It’s that time of the year again when it is compulsory to spend as much time as possible in front of the TV to either catch-up on or revisit that show before the next season is about to drop.

There’s nothing worse than being out of the loop when the water cooler talk turns to the show of the moment and you’re clueless.

I am one of “those” who held off on watching Game Of Thrones for several years after it went nuts. Result: I became a social outcast.

People wouldn’t ask if you’d seen the show, they’d ask: “Where are you up to?” When I’d sheepishly tell them I hadn’t watched a single minute, they would laugh hysterically then say: “No, seriously, where are you up to?”.

Nicole Kidman returns for season two of Big Little Lies. Picture: Foxtel

After realising I was serious, the circle seemed to suddenly close and I was on the outside.

Even when people were talking about it around me and I would expressly give them permission to talk about spoilers, they wouldn’t because: “No, you will definitely watch it and this will ruin it.”

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I guess they were right because I was basically shamed into watching in the end.

But I digress because this isn’t about Game Of Thrones. This is about another bingeable series that you have to get on to before the second season drops soon: Big Little Lies.

Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoe Kravitz. If you thought that was a powerful combination of Hollywood’s leading ladies, the second season adds the arguable leader of them all — Meryl Streep. But you need to get across the first before embarking on the second.

Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman on the set of Big Little Lies, season two. Picture: Supplied

Based on the book by Aussie Liane Moriarty, BLL follows a group of mostly affluent mums in the upscale beachside hamlet of Monteray, California (the book is based on Sydney’s North Shore).

It delves into their hidden lives and their struggles, but essentially it’s a whodunit because there’s a death at the centre of this story — but to tell you who is killed would be to ruin the story.

Kidman gives an award-winning performance as battered housewife Celeste — the confronting scenes of the abuse at the hands of her husband, played by Alexander Skarsgard, are shocking and desperately needed on TV so people can visualise the under-reported and often ignored epidemic of spousal abuse.

Each of these women have complicated stories, each of them you will suspect is the killer throughout and it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Get season one out of the way before Meryl enters the picture.