At the Television Critics Association on the show's press day, Meryl Streep commented on her personal connection with her character Mary Louise, aka Perry's mother and Celeste's mother-in-law. She had interest "in playing someone who is dealing with whatever the deficits of her parenting were, and the mysteries in that, and how you can't go back in time and fix something." So while Mary Louise is terrifying to Celeste in the season two trailer, her feelings about the situation may be more complicated if she had learned about her son's behaviour. Perhaps in learning about his abuses, she might even back off the case.