Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Tiger Mom – Why Bebe Chow (Lu Huang) Gave Up On May Ling

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ spoilers finds that we get to see why Bebe Chow (Lu Huang) gave up her little daughter, May Ling. She did not have enough money to get formula for her and it looks like she was not producing enough milk due to a similar malnutrition problem herself. She couldn’t afford to keep lights or heat in her apartment so she literally had no choice but to give up her baby. She left her at a fire station in Cleveland and she tells Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) that if she goes to the police to try and get her daughter back that she will be sent back to China because she is illegal.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Stealing people’s thunder – Lexie Richardson style

Lexie Richardson (Jade Pettyjohn) just committed plagiarism of the worst kind. She took Pearl Warren’s (Lexi Underwood) story, changed around a few details, and made it her own. She said it was her who, due to sexism, didn’t get accepted into a higher math class and turned it into her own struggle. Um, Lexie, that is not the way you do it. Ask your Mom, she’s a journalist, she would know, the media will bust you six ways from Sunday if that kind of stuff is ever found out. Ask Brian Williams… hey, I’m just saying! Her boyfriend, Brian Harlins (Stevonte Hart) is listening as she reads her essay but really isn’t buying her BS, he says he never knew it happened to her and he seems to totally not be interested in what she’s selling… that hunch is totally right because homecoming dance is coming up and he wants to do the deed so badly that it’s on his mind even as she’s reading to him about SJW issues. Wow. That is a one track mind, dude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWGkX8ClhBI

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Hormones strike

Then again, I was a teenager in the 90’s so I know exactly the mindset that this teenage guy has. No one was woke back then and the 90’s were a different culture altogether. Whereas these days it’s all about enthusiastic consent, back in the 90’s that wasn’t such a thing yet. Lexie wants to wait until Prom Night, like Brenda and Dylan did but Brian wants to get down to business as soon as possible… not sure I can get behind this hormonally driven mindset because all I can think about is how comfortable Lexie herself is with this. Maybe I’m just too ‘woke’ to be a romantic.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Favoritism? Elena? Naaah.

At family dinner this time we get to observe the obvious favoritism toward the older children at the table. Elena Richardson (Reese Witherspoon) lets Lexie and oldest son Trip Richardson (Jordan Elsass) say and do whatever they want at the dinner table, but if Moody Richardson (Gavin Lewis) or Izzy Richardson (Megan Stott) step one little toe over the line she reprimands them. As for hubby Bill Richardson (Joshua Jackson) he takes a more egalitarian approach and only gets involved when the kids start in-fighting.What is the family dynamic here, exactly? 

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Brian is done

Brian is clearly uncomfortable here and you wonder why on earth he’s with Lexie at all. Is she really what he wants in a girl, or was it just her idea to get together and he just went along with it? That will probably be elaborated on later. At least I kind of hope it is because their relationship is honestly kind of mystifying. In keeping with the topic of Lexie’s anti-sexism essay, Izzy brings up Lillith Fair and Trip says that Lilith Fair is everyone’s worst nightmare and then says to Izzy, “No wonder they keep calling you Ellen.” it seems that everyone at school keeps teasing Izzy about being gay even though there is no real proof of this being the truth. When I say that 90’s weren’t woke, I mean it. These days it will be about embracing who one is, not about being shamed for it. Also, high schoolers in conservative areas tend to be really brutal. Just sayin’.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Actions speak louder than words… or no words, as the case may be

Izzy’s siblings are not the only ones that are brutal, her parents are too. Even when Bill steps in and makes Trip stop teasing her, Elena just has to continue pushing the issue by asking about the whole Ellen thing. Moody, in his own way tries to protect his sister, when he’s asked why kids are calling his sister Ellen and if it’s because she’s funny, he says no. The parental disapproval in the room is palpable even if they don’t come right out and say it, the subject isn’t elaborated on because clearly, Bill and Elena don’t know how to address the fact that their daughter could be a lesbian. Instead, the next day her Mother told  this story about padding her bra in order to fit in when she was in high school, then she asks if the kids at school are saying anything untrue about her and Izzy says “Of course it’s not true!” and her Mom says she needs to change the narrative if that be the case.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Confrontation… well sorta

Brian finally grows a spine in this one and finally confronts Lexie on how her topic of essay was really messed up, that it wasn’t her story to tell. Good. Somebody should tell her that. Mia looks out her window and sees that Bill is the one mowing her grass, which mystifies her. Izzy suggests that she, Pearl, Moody, and Carl (Micah Nelson) all go to homecoming as friends, although, I agree 100% with Carl. If anyone plays Sugar Ray, I’m out too, man. Meanwhile at Mia’s house, Bill informs Mia that her lawn is done and that the mower has gas in it for next time. She takes the opportunity to ask him if he knows any good immigration lawyers (obviously for Bebe) and if any of them would work pro bono. He says that he does know some, but that they would never do pro bono work. Yike. Oh well, it was worth a shot I guess! He asks a few questions about the artwork she has hanging above the fireplace and she state that its hers, then with an odd little look toward each other they part ways.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: When in doubt buy ‘em out–I mean, off

Pearl is invited to go dress shopping for homecoming by Lexie, even though Izzy says that she could easily borrow a dress that she has. Lexie literally takes her out of school (or maybe this is after the final bell? Not sure!) to go shopping so I guess it’s alright. In the meantime we find out all sorts of things about Elena’s friend, Linda McCoullough (Rosemarie DeWitt), and her newly adopted baby. Apparently, Linda has been there for Elena through every pregnancy and even watched her kids when she couldn’t. During this revelation we find out exactly how Elena feels about single Moms, “If you can’t handle being a Mom, don’t get pregnant.” which is very telling. She has fortune cookie party favors at the party because guess what? The little girl’s is Chinese, and her name is Mirabelle… woops, looks like we just found May Ling!

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Lexie your white privelege is showing… all of it, in fact

Lexie does not realize just how horribly racist she comes off when she’s talking to Pearl about her complexion. She at first tells her that she’s so pretty, and compliments Mia as well, but then the conversation devolves into race, like, what Lexi is and stuff and Lexi is clearly not comfortable talking about it. In those kinds of situations, it’s only appropriate to talk about what you are, not speculate on someone else’s ancestry because not everyone is comfortable with that. The thing is, she just keeps on and tells Pearl that she must be mixed and that she was right about her boyfriend being mixed on his Grandmother’s side, still! That doesn’t give you the right… girl! Lordy.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Questions lead to more questions

Mia has two telling newspaper clippings that she’s going through. First is a racially motivated bombing that happened in Shaker Heights years ago, and another is about Shaker Heights being an example of successful intergration. Who knows what to believe right now? She appears to make something out of the clippings and then she… gets high? I’m not sure what she’s doing exactly but it kind of looked like she was toking up. When Pearl comes home, she instantly discovers the dress that Lexie bought her and Pearl tries to lie her way out of it but doesn’t succeed. Then there’s a huge confrontation where Pearl demands to know why Mia is working for the Richardsons and then Pearl demands full disclosure about her family, Mia’s parents and her Dad, Mia gets very upset and very emotional about that saying that Lexi is black because she’s black and that she came from her.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Who is Pearl’s bio dad?

Pearl is relentless though, she asks her Mother exactly why she won’t tell her anything and even poses the question about what if her biological Dad could help them have a better life and not have to shop at good will and buy a house. Of course Mia isn’t having any of it, she just shuts Pearl down with the finality of “Just wear the damn dress.” ouch! Pearl gets no answers, but there’s a peculiar way she told Pearl about her Dad, she says “He’s the one who gave me you.” which is a very odd choice of words. Which begs the question, does she even known who Pearl’s Dad is?

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Mom-daughter bonding moment, aww!

On the day of homecoming, Trip exercises his rights as an older brother to be a royal douche to poor Moody. Moody has roses for some girl and Tripp teases him that they’re for Carl. Poor Elena is having a bit of a problem with the balloons for the party that… honestly do not look like roses but something far, far more adult and are the wrong color for a 1 year old’s birthday party. (How do you mistake ‘pink’ for ‘flesh colored’ I seriously don’t know.) Elena and Izzy have a bit of a bonding moment when Izzy cuts herself shaving and Elena gets to be ‘Mom’ and make it all better, then she shares a bit of lipstick with Izzy who is so beautiful in her green homecoming dress, awww!

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: The proof is in the pictures

Mia offers to take pictures of the birthday party for Elena. Obviously this is a ploy to get pictures of May Ling for Bebe. At homecoming, Brian is still mad about Lexie stealing Pearl’s plight for her own essay. We kind of put two and two together and learn that the reason Lexie took Pearl shopping was to butter her up about stealing her entire life story for the essay and she tells Brian that she talked to her and that Pearl assured her that it was no big deal, but she didn’t really so much talk to Pearl as she twisted the narrative and say that she did a much more broader spectrum piece than she actually did. At the Homecoming Dance, Trip sees Lexi in her dress and he’s taken aback, does Moody have competition now? We leave with Moody and Pearl dork-dancing on the floor like two 15 year olds should.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Quiet Prejudice abounds everywhere

At the party it looks like Mark McCoullough (Geoff Stults), Linda’s husband, takes one look at Mia and is surprised that Bill and Elena even let her in the house. There we go with that quiet racism again! I can’t tell if he has a secret thing for her, or if he’s surprised that Bill and Elena let a woman of color into their household every day. Geeze, Mark, it’s not like she’s got the plague! Stop staring, you might freeze like that. Also, Elena meets one of the other Moms at the party and apparently they try to educate her on what Izzy’s ‘original sin’ was and why she’s being ostracized now. Great… more close-mindedness, I’m sure. Izzy decides to change the narrative and put Carl’s hand on her butt and kiss him at the dance! Moody takes her aside and tries to reason with her that it was a bad idea and that she doesn’t have anything to prove but I’m not sure that Izzy believes that.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Make sure your sins find you out, Lexie

Meanwhile, Brian talks to Pearl and tells her that he knows how Shaker can be and that if Pearl ever needs anything to come talk to him. Also this is the moment that he chooses to fully disclose the thing that Lexie did to her and that’s when he realizes that Lexie wasn’t honest at all about talking to Pearl. He’s more appalled than ever to be associated with someone like Lexie and he stands her up as Homecoming King, Pearl tries to fix what went wrong and tells her that she doesn’t know what happened but Brian is gone.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Izzy gets outed

Thanks to the Close-minded white Mom’s association, Izzy is outed to her Mom by the other Mom at the birthday party. She says that Izzy ‘sexually accosted’ her daughter, Amanda, at a party over the summer. A horrified Elena tells Bill the news, thinking its all a rumor, and she pushes Bill to defend Izzy but Bill all but admits that whatever rumor this other Mom is spouting is true and that he knows more than he’s telling. Mia goes upstairs to where little Mirabelle/May Ling is sleeping and inspects her closely and finds that she does indeed find the birthmark that Bebe was talking about, so it is indeed little May Ling.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Fighting the good fight until hormones get involved, eh Brian?

Brian and Lexie end up consummating their relationship in the back seat of the limo after homecoming after a fight that should have been horrendous but didn’t end up that way, obviously. Teenage hormones took over and that was the end of that. Mia disappears in the middle of the birthday party to go tell Bebe that she’s found her little girl and Bebe wants to go the house and get her little girl right now and points out what she would do if another family had Pearl which is a tough question for Mia. Mia has her boss drive her home and they end up together. Bebe crashes the birthday party and screams that that is her baby, she gets removed from the property.

Hulu ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Spoilers: Elena wants to get to the bottom of things

Izzy takes the bus home because apparently she’s been abandoned by all of her siblings. Yike. Moody and Pearl are watching Before Sunrise, Pearl appears to be crying and trying her best to hide it. Obviously the cops have been called on Bebe and she was disrupting the party. i don’t know if she ends up in jail or what but Elena is trying to comfort Linda about what would happen if she comes back and assures her that she will get to the bottom of things. Izzy ends up at Mia’s, who’s asking where Pearl is.. geeze. Stay tuned!!!