Little Fires Everywhere Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Find a Way
Kiara Imani
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The long awaited results are finally in!
On Little Fires Everywhere Season 1 Episode 8, we learned that the Richardson children were responsible for burning down Elena's house.
Not only was the finale episode highly entertaining, but it raised incredibly poignant questions about truth, hypocrisy, racism, and morality.
For starters, one of the most fascinating things about most of the characters on the show was their lack of self awareness.
The characters judged themselves by their intentions, but they were all quick to judge everyone else solely by their actions.
While on the stand, Linda says that no mother gets it right all the time, but also crucified Bebe for making the difficult decision to save her daughter's life by leaving her in front of the fire station.
Pearl gave her a mother a hard time for lying about her past, but lied to Moody about her relationship with Trip.
Elena judged Mia for lying to Pearl about her real father, but she lied to her husband for years about her secret relationship with her ex.
No human is perfect. If we expect to receive grace for the mistakes we make, we have to be willing to give that same grace to others.
I loved that Mia and Pearl were able to humble themselves and repair their relationship.
Mia's willingness to invite Pearl into her art studio represented her willingness to stop keeping secrets and let Pearl into even the darkest parts of who she is.
You’re my mother. You’re always my mother. No matter what.
Pearl
Mia's willingness to invite Pearl into her art studio represented her willingness to stop keeping secrets and let Pearl into even the darkest parts of who she is.
Earlier on in the season, Pearl asked Elena to read some of her writing.
When Pearl asked her mother to read her poem, it represented the respect she has for her mother, and her commitment to move forward in truth and vulnerability.
Unlike Mia, Elena was not able to repair her relationship with her own children because she refused to acknowledge her own dysfunctions and apologize for the toxic decision she made.
Elena prided herself on giving up eveything for her children, but simultaneously refused to accept Izzy for who she was, and admitted that she never wanted her in the first place.
Do you think I wanted a daughter like you? I never wanted you in the first place.
Elena
Elena also judged Pearl when she thought she had an abortion although Elena wanted to have an abortion when she found out she was pregnant and Izzy.
Both Lexie and Elena also refused to acknowledge their own discriminatory tendencies throughout the entire season.
Though neither Lexie or Elena was consciusly racist, their ignorance kept them from seeing how race plays a role in the way they view their world.
Lexie continually tried to assure Brian that she was raised to be colorblind, but there is no such thing.
Race is an immutable characteristic. In the same way we see people's other physical attributes, we see their skin color.
When she’s afraid, she reaches for me. She didn’t come from my body, and I’m sad about that. But that doesn’t make me any less of a mother.
Linda
By refusing to acknowledge that color exists, we often do more harm than good. Colorblindness is a convenient excuse. It causes people to overlook discrimination and ignore racism.
As a black woman with Haitian decensants, I don't want people to ignore my blackness. I am proud of my heritage, my kinky hair, and my culture.
By reusing to acklowedge my blackness, people refuse to see me for all of who I am.
The fact that Shaker had such a complex racial past was also telling.
White residents had to be given financial incentives not to flee when residents of color moved into town.
Sometimes you have to scorch everything to start over.
Mia
If the white people in town were truly colorblind, they wouldn't have had to be bribed into staying in Shaker.
In the first episode, Elena called the cops on Mia and her daughter when she saw them sleeping in their car.
Elena likely saw them as threatening, or at the very least, an unwanted inconvenience. The cops asked Mia to drive away.
Episodes later, a cop found Elena sleeping in her car in front of Mia's parent's house.
The cop didn't see Elena as the threat but as the victim. He told her that he was concerned about her safety.
The only difference between Mia and Elena was the color of their skin.
By ignoring their own white privlilege, Lexie and Elena continually had skewed versions of reality.
Elena's refusal to accept the fact that Lexie was not perfect was an illustration of her internal dysfunction.
From the very beginning, Elena described Lexie as her mini-me. By accepting Lexie was imperfect, Elena would have had to accept that she is also imperfect.
The court missed the mark by giving Linda full custody of baby Mei Ling.
While both Linda and Bebe probably would have made great mothers, Bebe is Mei Ling's real mother.
Linda's lack of knowledge about the Chinese culture, and her refusal to acknowledge that integrating her culture into how she is raised is important, was incredibly uncomfortable.
By changing her name from her given Chinese name to a white American name, Linda demonstrated her intention to erase every trace of Mei Ling's cultural identity.
When Me Ling grew up, Linda would have had to explain to her daughter why she refused to
In the last episode, Bill said that people like Bebe Chow don't win.
There’s no pain like the loss of a child.
Mia
At first, I assumed Bill was making a judgemental assumption about Bebe's inferority.
In reality, Bill was making an objective statement about the way people of color, and people of low socioeconomic status, are treated in America.
The system was created by white people with money, and it is designed to protect other white people with money.
While Bebe's decision to steal baby Mei Ling is controversial, I understand why she did it.
She did everything she was supposed to do as a mother. She fought for her daughter, and went through the court system like she was supposed to.
In the end, Bebe only did what she had to do to get her daughter back.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire season!
The writers, directors, actors, and actresses did an incredible job of bringing Celeste Ng's novel to life.
While rumors of a second season have been circulating online, there has been no official confirmation about the show's future.
Until then, you can re-watch Little Fires Everywhere online!
Kiara Imani is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
