One of the more minor-seeming storylines on Big Love actually has the most potential to be an explosive plot. It occurred to me, though, that viewers who don’t have intimate knowledge of Mormon history, particularly from the past 20 years, may not realize how important that story is.
It’s hard to write this without seeming to malign the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The LDS Church has a history of buying historical documents that show its history in a somewhat unflattering light. Ostensibly, the Church wants to obtain documents relevant to its history for its archives. However, another reason that has been put forth is that the Church has secrets it wants to hide. These documents are not available for public perusal.
In the 1980s, a man named Mark Hoffman created forgeries of old papers and letters from Joseph Smith. These documents would have shown the Church’s first prophet, Smith, to have received visions from a white salamander, among other things. Even though the documents have been proven to be forgeries, the Church’s interest in obtaining them from Hoffman for thousands of dollars each caused the Church to be viewed in a somewhat negative light. I’m trying to be fair here.
The real tragedy of Hoffman’s forgeries, however, was the fact that people discovered his scheme. Hoffman responded by murdering them. He is currently serving time in prison in Utah.
Back to our show: Bill agreed to obtain documents from Alby Grant to sell to Barbara’s brother-in-law Gary. Bill was told that the letter he sold to Gary was about the Mountain Meadows Murders, another stain on the Church’s history. However, one of Alby’s wives, angry at being removed from the schedule to have sex with Alby, gave Bill a copy of the letter: The letter that Bill received was from historical church leaders showing that they had no intention of giving up polygamy.
If that document were made public, it would validate “the principle” of polygamy that the Hendricksons base their faith and lifestyle on. It would also show that the Mormon Church still adhered to the principle (which they do; not on earth, but after this life). However, Gary, turned the letter over to the Church, so it will be buried.
The reason this storyline could become explosive is if the letter is made public somehow OR if we find out that Alby is making forgeries and selling them to the Church. It is possible, given Alby’s violent nature, that Big Love could be looking to repeat the Mark Hoffman story, which would be explosive indeed.
Clacked by Jen Creer
on Mar 04, 2009 @ 14:11 EST5EDT
This could make me return to Big Love, it sounds interesting. Sometimes I cringe at the little inaccuracies, they don’t hurt the show but they do distract me.
Great insight. Now you’ve really got me thinking.
like many commentors on the internet, I often wish that they’d focus more on Bill’s immediate family and less on the Juniper Creek material. But then I realize that the show needs the Juniper Creek folks to show the stereotype of polygamous Mormons to better set off Bill’s version. Bill was sent away from the compound and has remained true to the faith without feeling the need to remain true to the church leaders and their culture. This show has a lot to say about faith and belief as opposed to membership in a church.
It is entirely within Alby to be forging documents. Roman would not — the incident with the guitar from a previous season indicates that he takes the history of the church too seriously to be part of any scheme that would cast doubts on its validity. But Alby just wants power and respect and will do whatever he has to in order to make the money to make it happen. (and he’s supported by cut-throat bitch, too!)