“The Monster”There were a lot of reasons to hate Alexander...

“The Monster”

There were a lot of reasons to hate Alexander Skarsgard’s character in Big Little Lies.  I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that the main one was that he beats his wife.  That’s horrible, of course, and absolutely the main reason to hate him.

But, wife-beating aside, the other reason I hated him was that every other scene was him “playing a monster” to the endless amusement of his kids.  I found it EXHAUSTING.  Every time his sons came in the room and the writers needed to show that he was a “fun dad” and also [subtext alert] a monster he’d start chasing them and saying “Here comes the *monster*….”

That’s the only move this guy has in his fun dad playbook?  The tickle/I’m-gonna-get-you-monster?  Not even an I-got-your-nose?  Not a pretend-to-play-hide-and-seek-and-then-never-look-for-them?  This guy’s a wife-beater AND a boring dad.