Reese Witherspoon (Madeline MacKenzie), Nicole Kidman (Celeste Wright), Shailene Woodley (Jane Chapman), Laura Dern (Renata Klein), Zoë Kravitz (Bonnie Carlson), Meryl Streep (Mary Louise Wright), Adam Scott (Ed Mackenzie), James Tupper (Nathan Carlson), Gordon Klein (Jeffrey Nordling), Kathryn Newton (Abigail Carlson), Iain Armitage (Ziggy Chapman), Robin Weigert (Dr. Amanda Reisman), Merrin Dungey (Detective Adrienne Quinlan), Sarah Sokolovic (Tori Bachman), P.J. Byrne (Principal Warren Nippal), Merrin Dungey (Detective Adrienne Quinlan), Ivy George (Amabella Klein), Mo McRae (Michael Perkins), Sarah Sokolovic (Tori Bachman), Douglas Smith (Corey Brockfield), Robin Weigert (Dr. Amanda Reisman), Nelly Buchet (Juliette), Gia Carides (Melissa), Chloe Coleman (Skye Carlson), Kelen Coleman (Harper Stimson), Joel Spence (Matt), Larry Sullivan (Oren Berg), Chris Aquilino (Jeremy Laplant), Darielle Dorsey (Sarah), Kayvon Esmaili (Joel), Katie Featherston (Lilah LaPlant), Ashley Gonzales (Bruna Barista), Eliza Shin (Vice Principal Coolidge), Talia Toms (Dr. Kristin Harris), Paull Walia (David Roberts)

The single-series wonder is a rare TV phenomenon, and for a short time, it seemed as if Big Little Lies was a prime candidate to deliver a short, sharp, one-off shock. The 2017 series covered all of the Liane Moriarty novel upon which it was based, and wrapped up its central story neatly. Season one ended with the abusive Perry, played with such simmering menace by Alexander Skarsgård, being revealed as the rapist father of Jane’s son Ziggy. After he publicly beat his wife Celeste, Bonnie pushed him down the stairs, killing him. The group of women covered it up and had a lovely picnic on the beach with the kids. The end. But it wasn’t, because Big Little Lies was far too successful to bury. So here we are, picking up at the start of another school year, as the mystery is opened up. As soon as the opening credits introduced the women leading this show, I broke into an inner cheer. What a cast! The risks of it doing a Homeland – continuing into far-fetched silliness when it could have been so crisp and tidy – were a concern, but on the basis of this first episode, it is very much top-quality business as usual, with an added and welcome garnish of Meryl Streep at her absolute Streepiest.

Perry may be dead, but he is still haunting Monterey. All of the Liars are back, and nobody is quite okay. Madeline (a brilliantly chippy Reese Witherspoon) has become even more Madeline, high-octane and incessantly upbeat and productive. Celeste (Nicole Kidman) is having recurring nightmares about her husband’s death and his violence towards her, and as her therapist points out, she keeps his legacy alive by continuing to blame herself for it. Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz), who did the pushing, has withdrawn completely, and is being consumed and isolated by her own sense of guilt. The set-up so far is that they have just about got away with it – for now. But when Jane’s colleague asks if she is one of the Monterey Five, and when Renata says the police are at a loss – “The case isn’t closed, closed, but they got nothing” – it is made very clear that this is the calm before the storm, and the winds are about to change.

And I think we all know who will change them. Mary Louise (Streep) proves terrifying from the second we first meet her, her stillness and poise masking rage and her suspicions that Perry’s death was not the accident that people were made to believe. She is part Kathy Bates in Misery, part Aunt Lydia, and wholly alarming. The family dinner at the end was the most tense on-screen meal since the end of Doctor Foster’s first series, and that scream was a howl of agony and rage. If Josh and Max have not yet picked up their father’s habits (the bullying of Amabella last season, and the fork-stabbing at the table, suggest it might be time to intervene already), then Mary Louise’s approach to child-rearing should give them a push. The episode ends with Mary Louise interrupting another of Celeste’s giveaway nightmares: “So. Who are we planning to kill?”