Big Little Lies episode 4: Non-book readers, let's guess who got murdered 

. If you’ve read the 2014 Liane Moriarty book the HBO drama is based on, you know who that someone is, and who killed that someone. But this is for everyone else who hasn’t read the book (and if you have — keep your spoilers to yourself, please): Each week, we’ll take stock of which characters — played by big

Hollywood names including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz — seem the most suspicious… and which ones seem the most likely to end up killed during an elementary school trivia night fundraiser. This week, we look at the fourth episode, “Push Comes to Shove.” Click here to see our theories about the premiere, here for our rundown of the second episode, and here for the third episode. 

Let’s start by looking at everyone who said something violent this week. First, we have Perry, who asks, “Do you want me to hit you, Celeste?” when he gets mad about her briefly returning to law to help out Madeline with the whole 

mess. Then, Madeline tells Ed that if Bonnie “so much as teaches me how to peel a f—ing potato, I’m going to go for her f—ing throat.” (“That might not be a good idea,” Steady Eddie notes.) And later, Jane is talking about the man who raped her when she reveals, “I’d kill him if I could.” (“Well, I wouldn’t say that out loud,” Steady Maddie notes.) Nathan is also feeling pretty aggressive, as he tells Bonnie he’d like to “pop” Ed after hearing he stopped by her yoga studio.

So, yeah, these people all have some definite rage spilling out, but rage doesn’t necessarily translate to murder. Out of that group, I think — at this point, anyway — Madeline is most likely to be the killer. The show’s been setting her up as having all these female enemies, but it’s also been showing how fiercely loyal she is to her female friends. Just look at last week’s episode, where she cried alone in the car after she heard Jane’s story about getting raped. She cares 

we know that. Now imagine how much she would care if she found out that Perry’s been beating her very best friend, Celeste?

It’s also possible that Perry is Ziggy’s dad, especially because Jane hasn’t encountered him yet and might not until trivia night. She could show up there, recognize him, and then reveal who he is to Madeline. After finding out that he’s mistreated not one but 

of her friends, Madeline could totally freak out. Plus, she does tell Ed she feels like she’s “losing control a little bit” in an earnest moment. This is also after the 

director, with whom she had an affair in the past, surprise-kisses her, but still. Losing control is losing control.

All this really depends on what kind of message 

wants to send: It’d be cool — or, as cool as this very sad story line can be — if Madeline killed Perry and then Celeste returned to law to represent her protective best friend. Those two were so insanely thrilled after their brief 

victory in this week’s episode, and practicing law is obviously something Celeste has been missing that Perry has been keeping her from. Here would be a perfect-slash-traumatizing opportunity for her to do that. And Madeline 

tell her, “You’re gonna be a lawyer again” this episode. It’s just a matter of when.

Honestly, everyone’s suspicious at this point. Even chill-as-ever Bonnie could turn out to be a dark horse — “We don’t want anyone getting hurt, do we?” is a fairly ominous thing to say, isn’t it? But judging by this episode alone, I feel like Renata doesn’t really have it in her. She’s too wound tight, too uninvolved in any other story line but her own, and, perhaps most importantly, too worried about her reputation. The queen of Monterey would never make a mess like that at a school event, would she? (Okay, maybe she would.)

The obvious answer is Perry. Celeste could kill him. Jane could kill him. Madeline could kill him. Ed could kill him. Hell, Ziggy could kill him. Or all of them together! This show isn’t going to end without some sort of finite conclusion for Perry, whether that’s death or jail or… well, it could also end with him facing zero consequences, if it wants to comment on how our society doesn’t punish male abusers — namely, successful, white, male abusers — the way it should. If it 

go that route, I still think Jane is the victim, especially with all this imagery these past couple episodes of her going into the water or almost falling off a cliff. But I’m starting to think a brighter future’s in store for her, that those scenes are all just red herrings. Ziggy could have a good life after all — and so could she.

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