Mary Louise Wants Answers *Now* in New ‘Big Little Lies’ Episode

The episode opens on Celeste, who is driving while having, er, sexual flashbacks of Perry. Smeared mascara and dazed expression aside, there’s no way Celeste should be behind the wheel. Our suspicions are confirmed when she crashes, forcing Madeline to play Mom and come pick her up.

On the way home, Celeste explains that she took a pill and doesn’t remember getting in the car. Just then, Madeline spots Bonnie on the side of the road and pulls over, asking if she’s OK. Bonnie brushes it off, saying she’s hiking and that Madeline shouldn’t be so uptight.

When they get home, Mary Louise is the first to greet them and demands to know where they were because she was “worried sick.” Madeline makes up an excuse, claiming Celeste helped her in the midst of an emergency.

When Mary Louise suspiciously asks, “What kind of an emergency?” Madeline fires back, “The kind short people have.” Bazinga!

After Mary Louise accuses Madeline of not liking her, Mary Louise dives into a story about how her father always taught her to “seek out the bully and make friends with her.” Madeline is understandably offended.

Jane heads to yoga to meet up with Bonnie, who is still struggling to cope with everything. Not only is her daughter, Skye (Chloe Coleman), starting to catch on to the tension between her and Nathan (James Tupper), but she’s also really, really on edge—as in, she thinks every car, person and moving object is out to get her.

Trying to change the subject, Jane confides in Bonnie about her new co-worker, Corey (Douglas Smith), who won’t stop hitting on her and suggests he take her on a “practice date.” Although he’s not exactly normal, Jane’s never met anyone like him—and that’s saying something.

When Bonnie returns home, she’s surprised to find her mom, Elizabeth (Crystal Fox), who says that Nathan called her. When Bonnie confronts Nathan, he lays it all on the table.

“I don’t know where you’ve gone, but you’re not here,” he says.

Elizabeth doesn’t have any luck getting to Bonnie either, though she’s not as easygoing as Nathan. In fact, she knows something’s up, and she won’t stop until she figures it out.

“Something’s in the air, Bonnie,” she says. “And I don’t like it.”

Renata couldn’t be happier to learn that she’s going to be on the cover of the number one women’s magazine. However, her excitement is shattered when the FBI bursts into her home to arrest her husband, Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling).

When she (begrudgingly) visits him in jail, Gordon reveals that he made a deal gone awry. Oh, and he bet everything they own, which means all of their belongings—excluding Amabella’s (Ivy George) trust fund—are now property of the state.

After setting bail, Renata drives Gordon home, but they don’t make it very far. When they get in a fight over Renata’s inability to be poor, Renata kicks him out of “the f***ing car” and drives away with her middle finger sticking out of the sunroof. Classy.

After a few minutes, Renata turns around and picks him up. Lucky Gordon…

At the therapist’s office, Celeste is concerned that she’ll never stop missing Perry, since she doesn’t want to date anyone but him. So, Dr. Amanda Reisman (Robin Weigert) coaches her through a drill, in which Celeste thinks back to when Perry was physically abusing her.

When Celeste closes her eyes and replays it, she has no reaction. But when Dr. Reisman tells her to picture Madeline in her place, Celeste explodes at the vision, screaming, “Noooo!”

At school, Celeste’s twins—Max (Nicholas Crovetti) and Josh (Cameron Crovetti)—are in trouble…again. It all starts when the teacher asks the class if anyone wants to talk about anything.

“What about a dead father?” Max says.

Although the teacher suggests that Celeste put the boys in counseling, she apologizes before dismissing the encounter.

At home, Mary Louise presses Celeste for answers about her absence earlier that day, and Celeste comes clean. Mary Louise assures her that she’s getting an apartment nearby, so she can be here whenever she needs help with the twins.

“I’m so grateful to you for everything you’ve done, but a little space might be good,” Celeste says.

When Celeste brings up Madeline, Mary Louise immediately says, “I don’t like her.” Although Celeste tries to convince her otherwise, Mary Louise is set in her ways.

“Well, you’re mistaken,” she says.

Right on cue, their conversation is interrupted by the twins, who are fighting on the balcony. When Celeste tries to break them up, Max turns to her and says, “F*** off,” prompting Celeste to push him to the ground and scream, “No, you will not be like him!”

Out of nowhere, Mary Louise confronts Celeste and says the boys told her that they have a half-brother in their class. Celeste immediately calls Madeline, who claims that she didn’t tell anyone about Ziggy (Iain Armitage). When Madeline hangs up, her daughter, Chloe (Darby Camp), asks what the conversation was about before revealing that she previously overheard Madeline talking on the phone about Ziggy’s connection to the twins—and she told them all about it. (Kids, amirite?)

Next thing we know, Madeline is on the phone with Jane, who goes straight to Ziggy’s room. He admits that he knows his dad’s identity and that he’s upset Jane didn’t tell him first.

“How could you just lie?” he asks.

Jane comes clean about everything—well, not exactly everything. But she does tell him that she ran into him at Trivia Night and didn’t know how to tell Ziggy because he’s the result of a rape.

At the Mackenzie home, Ed is pissed at Madeline for not telling him about Perry’s third child. Although she assures him that it wasn’t her secret to tell, he’s not having it.

“I’m your husband, I’m supposed to help you with this stuff,” Ed says.

Elsewhere, Celeste is forced to come clean to Mary Louise about Jane. When Celeste reveals that she found out the night he died, Mary Louise gets defensive, saying, “I don’t know why you’re willing to assassinate his character, his memory—who he was.”

To top it off, Mary Louise can’t wrap her head around the fact that this all happened the night he mysteriously died.

 “I’ll go to the police,” Mary Louise says. “To get some answers.”

In other awkward news, Bonnie and Nathan sit down for dinner with Bonnie’s parents. Although Elizabeth initially blames her presence on Nathan, saying, “I’m here because you’re ill-equipped to connect with your wife.” She soon pinpoints the real problem, acknowledging that Bonnie hasn’t been the same since she witnessed the homicide.

Later on, Bonnie thanks her mom for coming. Elizabeth goes on to say that she’s been having strong visions about somebody “drowning.” “What have you done this time?” Elizabeth asks.

The next day, Madeline pulls Bonnie aside and suggests that Abigail (Kathryn Newton) come live with her. Bonnie happily agrees, saying, “Yeah, she needs more than I can give her.” When Madeline asks if she’s doing better, Bonnie admits that she keeps waking up at night with a feeling that “it’s going to get them all.” “The lie,” she clarifies.

When Abigail returns home, she reminds her mom that she still isn’t going to college. Madeline explains that she just wants her in a stable environment, even though she thinks she’s missing out on one of the most “fundamental building blocks.” Abigail chimes in and says that “family” used to be Madeline’s most fundamental building block—that is, until she had an affair with the theater director, Joseph (Santiago Cabrera).

“Hey,” Abigail says in horror, looking over Madeline’s shoulder. Cut to Ed standing in the doorway. When he asks about the theater director comment, Madeline assures him that he misheard. Without missing a beat, Ed grabs his keys and says he’s going to get his ears checked.

When the door shuts, Abigail whispers, “You said he wasn’t home.”

At the coffee shop, Celeste meets up with Jane, who reveals that Ziggy knows everything. Celeste is upset, since they had a deal to not say anything.

“I know that you have to protect your boys, but I have to protect mine,” Jane says.

That night, Celeste returns home and sits down with Max and Josh, explaining that Ziggy is their brother.

Meanwhile, Ed returns home to Madeline, who assures him the affair wasn’t about him. After Madeline suggests they get therapy, Ed says he’s hurt that she kept this secret from him but told Abigail. When Madeline asks what he’s thinking, he says, “I think we’re done.” And then walks out.

The episode concludes with a few important scenes. Here are the key takeaways:

• After Bonnie asks her mom to leave Monterey, she heads inside and cuddles up to Nathan for the first time since the murder.
• Jane has Celeste and the boys over for dinner, so Ziggy can get to know his “family.”
• Madeline is sitting on the beach in tears as the screen fades to black.

Will Madeline’s affair be the end of her relationship with Ed? And will Celeste be able to convince Mary Louise that Perry’s death was an accident? Guess we’ll have to wait until Big Little Lies returns to HBO next Sunday, June 23, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.