We’re more than halfway through season two of Big Little Lies, and I have to ask: Who even are the men on this show? Did you know there were men on this show?

Last night the second annual Amabella’s birthday-party episode aired, and while I was struck by the glitz and glamour of the Monterey Five, dazzled by a Laura Dern monologue, and stunned by Nicole Kidman's slapping Meryl Streep, I noticed something completely chilling: There are men on this show.

At first, I didn’t want to believe it. There I was sitting in my home, minding my own business, scrolling through Twitter while glancing at the TV to watch Zöe Kravitz dance like a tipsy mom at a block party, when it happened: I saw a tweet that read, “Marry, Fuck, Kill, Big Little Lies husband edition…go.” I thought, Husbands? And when I looked up at my television, I realized there was indeed a man on my screen. Yes, reader, a man on Big Little Lies.

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I didn’t want it to be true, but I rewound, just to be sure, and there he was: that guy from Parks and Recreation who’s funny on Twitter, Adam Scott. He’s on Big Little Lies, a show that, until last night, I believed was about Academy Award–winning actresses staring into the sea. I considered this show a safe space, a place for women to talk about our patriarchy-induced traumas. A show that swept at the Emmys in 2017 for its layered and poignant illustrations of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Once I saw that men are allowed to be on Big Little Lies, I thought: But why? What for? What could any of these complex, beautiful female characters ever need from a man? It was like I was wearing lesbian goggles, and once I lifted them, I realized not one but all of the women on Big Little Lies are married to men—and not to each other. It was shocking.

Scott (the guy from Parks and Rec) plays Madeline’s husband. As far as I know, he doesn’t have a name; he’s the kind of husband I imagine straight women choose to be with because he’s barely even there in the first place, like furniture. He just fades into the background like a taupe chaise longue. This guy is sad because Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) had an affair with—get this—another man. He also has beef with Madeline’s ex-husband (a third man!) whose name is likely Joe or Bill, but who can be sure. Here I was thinking that Madeline was a single mother of two effervescent daughters, living a mystical life of a spritely sea witch in the cliffs of Northern California. I was so wrong. Had I just rubbed my eyes and squinted once, I would’ve noticed that this whole time there was male furniture in the background.

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Then there’s Renata's husband. (Yes, a man actually lives in her home. In this climate?) This season Renata (Laura Dern) is currently bogged down by this man’s legal issues. The man (Gary, maybe?) was arrested for fraud, forcing Renata into bankruptcy. On last night’s episode, Renata and her husband attend a bankruptcy hearing to discuss their assets, which are being stripped from them thanks to The Man. As a lesbian, I was totally blown away. Women share money with men? Who would do that? In this economy?

Of course, I was aware of Celeste's (Nicole Kidman) late husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård. That character was a rapist and an abuser who was killed off in the season-one finale. He was also father to Ziggy, Jane’s (Shailene Woodley) son, because he assaulted her. But I was under the assumption that he was just a device, a catalyst to illustrate the numerous ways in which women are ensnarled in patriarchal trauma every day.

So imagine my surprise at the appearance of Other Men on this show. I mean, let’s be real: They serve no real purpose here. It’s like the series is just throwing them bones, offering loose, inconsequential storylines so the guys have something to do with their hands while their exceptional wives sip $8 lavender lattes and glare at them.

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Last night’s episode was a wake-up call for me: I watched Madeline’s husband and ex-husband get in a scuffle at Amabella’s birthday party. I saw Renata’s husband stare into the void while she delivered a devastating monologue. And when Jane finally opened up to her new boyfriend about her assault, all he did was grab her hand. Was it sweet? Or did the Big Little Lies writers completely throw the towel in rather than give this guy a line of dialogue?

Although I maintain that the men of Big Little Lies serve no real purpose, it’s good to see men supporting women like this—both onscreen and off—as they should. I'm happy as long as Big Little Lies writers continue giving me what I really want: Oscar-winning actresses fighting and flirting with each other over cocktails and sea mist.

Jill Gutowitz is a writer and comedian living in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @jillboard.