‘Big Little Lies’: Nathan Vs. Ed is TV’s Best Dumb Rivalry

I’m loving the newest season of Big Little Lies. Nobody does opulent drama better than the bevy of affluent weirdos from Monterey. The passive aggressive insults; the backhanded compliments; HBO continuing to reinvent the way human beings interact with chairs; Big Little Lies is a luxurious madhouse of insanity, and Sunday night’s episode was no exception.

I have two major takeaways from Episode 4 (“She Knows”): First, Chloe Mackenzie’s intrepid attempt to bring prop comedy back into the zeitgeist by obliterating her mom via an intricate school projected assisted barb was, honestly, the shrewdest kid burn in TV history. Second, the great testosterone-fueled Nathan vs. Ed imbroglio has morphed into TV’s best dumb rivalry.

In a story of aggro-male friendship gone haywire, Nathan (James Tupper) and Ed (Adam Scott) were doomed from the start. Nate is the ex-husband of Ed’s current wife; the duo are as ostensibly different as night and day; and if Big Little Lies is to be believed, Monterey sits atop a dramatic Hellmouth, substituting fire and brimstone for gossip and scuttlebutt. In Season 1, a simple conversation about marriage and fatherhood between the two devolved into a barrage of thinly-veiled threats about beating the shit out of one another.

Their bizarre beef goes against the pop culture grain. Historically, you’d expect Nathan, who Ed describes as the type of guy who “likes to fish and hunt,” to be the agitator, but that’s not really the case. While both of these dummies bear a portion of the blame, Season 2 has shown that Ed’s the one pouring gasoline on the highly combustable feud. Here’s the subtext of every single wonderful Season 2 exchange between the two:

Nathan: My wife is physically and emotionally distant, and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m scared to talk about something so personal with another man. Being vulnerable frightens me. Will you be my friend?

Ed: You’re dumb. You’re a dumb person. Also, this should go without saying but I’ll say it anyway because, as previously stated, you’re dumb: I’m smarter than you.

These two share such a strange dynamic. Nathan is painfully insecure about sharing his feelings with another man, and Ed, who’s dealing with his own disintegrating marriage, basically hates Nathan and could not mentally or physically care less about his problems. It’s obvious that both of these guys need a male friend. It’s also apparent that the friend should be literally any other man in Monterey.

During a tense convo in the season premiere, Ed reluctantly advises Nathan to embrace a few of Bonnie’s (Zoë Kravitz) interests. Nathan calls Ed a “snide fuck;” Ed’s condescending. Same old, same old. But Nathan, seemingly desperate for anything resembling companionship, actually follows Ed’s advice. When Nathan shares this news with Ed in Episode 2, it… well… it doesn’t go swimmingly.

This interaction concludes with Nathan essentially challenging Ed to a fight. I don’t purport to be a guru of male friendship, but a twelve pack of Dogfish Head and Death Cab for Cutie concert at the nearby Mountain Winery would do wonders for their relationship.

Anyway, the saga continues at a child’s disco birthday party — a daring anachronistic and logical boondoggle that Big Little Lies and only Big Little Lies could realistically pull off — when the two meet again, this time in fun disco era attire! After yet another argument with Madeline, Ed is emotionally checked out. Just a guy who is over everything, except, interestingly enough, Nathan’s wife. At this point, Nathan, who should be wearing a t-shirt with the phrase “somebody please hug me” embroidered across the front, asks Ed if he’s okay. Credit where credit is due: Nathan is desperately trying to will this friendship into existence.

Ed, a man best described as someone who’s slowly morphing into the literal manifestation of the word “ugh,” is just DONE.

You know how we all try to be nice people but sometimes a person you don’t particularly care for says the wrong thing when you’re completely fried and you no longer have the mental bandwidth to pretend that you like them? That’s Ed here as he snaps Nathan’s olive branch in half by tersely telling him to shut up. Nathan, a simmering volcano of friendless rage, responds in typical Big Little Lies-esque fashion:

Thank GOD these two monsters didn’t ruin Amabella’s disco birthday party. That would’ve been the real tragedy. Also, while the dudes are dealing with all of this petty nonsense, the ladies are covering up a freaking murder. Big Little Priorities, guys.

In all seriousness, James Tupper and Adam Scott are terrific as these squabbling buffoons. The ladies of Monterey receive most of the acclaim (and deservedly so), but Tupper and Scott add an extra layer of delicious lunacy to an already delightfully bonkers show. Is it the dumbest rivalry on TV? Absolutely. But it’s also my favorite.

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