The driving mystery on HBO's Big Little Lies is who was murdered (and who's behind it) in the crime scene flickering throughout its early episodes. But in a town riddled with as many scandals as Monterey, there's plenty of other secrets lurking beneath the surface. Chief among them: who is Ziggy's dad on Big Little Lies?
(Major Book SPOILERS Ahead)
Madeline asked Jane about his identity over coffee, but the young mother made a point of keeping things vague, saying only that he wasn't in the picture and never was. Based on the first two episodes, however, there seems to be a lot more to Jane's story than she's letting on. Most people don't sleep with a gun under their pillow unless they have a reason to, and Jane's ominous flashbacks show she probably has a good one.
Those who have read the Liane Moriarty novel the series is based on will already know what it is. In the book, Jane was raped during a drunken encounter with a stranger, got pregnant, and decided to keep the child. Once in Monterey, she struggles with tracking down Ziggy's father. After growing close to Madeline (played by Reese Witherspoon) and Celeste (Nicole Kidman), she tells them her distressing background, and the two deduce that her assailant is Saxon Banks, the supposed cousin of Celeste's abusive husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård).
The women decide to keep their revelation hidden from Jane, but when the families of Monterey eventually convene at a school fundraiser, Jane realizes Perry is "Saxon Banks" and confronts him. Celeste recalls that Perry used his cousin's name to get out of trouble when he was a kid, and Perry unremorsefully admits he was the one that raped Jane. Cue a violent exchange that results in the story's overarching murder. (I'll let someone else spoil that ending).
It's unclear how true HBO's take stays to Moriarty's narrative, but judging by what they've shown so far, it seems likely that Jane will have a similar backstory on-screen. Her flashbacks appear to align with the night she was assaulted, depicting a woman in a blue dress as she stumbles, disheveled, into a bathroom. Many of the original plot points are also included: Madeline is still bitter about her ex-husband's new wife, and Ziggy is accused of bullying at school, fast turning him into the first grade pariah.
Most significant, though, is that Perry's violent abuse is very much in tact, which is a pretty big indicator that his violent past will be, too. It would also explain why Celeste seems to have an odd kinship with Jane: Perhaps a small part of her senses that they're somehow tied to one another through Perry. She even admits to Madeline that the "fights" (read: abusive encounters) she has with Perry often lead to sex, which could indicate that he has a proclivity for sexual violence.
We'll have to wait to see how Big Little Lies unfolds to confirm Ziggy's father's identity, but for now my money's (unfortunately) on Perry.
