Big Love – It’s never unraveled quite like this before

I can’t believe this week’s episode was only an hour long. Things that have been coming to a head for months — not just this season — suddenly exploded all at once this week. I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck by the time it was over. If you thought things were bad when Nikki and Bill were having marital problems, or remember way back when the problems were as simple as Barb not winning Utah’s Mother of the Year or when Nikki had loads of credit card debt? Or when Roman was trying to dismantle the family?

Those seem like lighthearted days compared to some of the problems the Henricksens are currently facing. SPOILERS ABOUND. If you haven’t watched yet, DON’T READ FURTHER.Let’s get caught up with some bullet points:

• Wouldn’t you think that a lot of problems would go away with Roman’s death? Wrong. Now Joey is being blackmailed by Nikki’s creepy ex-husband J.J., who has apparently just replaced Harry Dean Stanton as resident evil compound bad guy.
• Nikki is actually behaving herself and trying to make a better life for her daughter. This is, however, a weak storyline and not very interesting.
• Margene, of all the three wives, has seemed to be the one most solidly devoted to Bill. However, she, too, has had her head turned. The fact that it’s by Ben and that she kissed him, meant it, and then admitted it, is… well, how do you get past this in a marriage? Guess Bill understands now why he was run off the compound.
• The scene in which Ben announces that he is leaving and Bill agrees was chilling. I don’t know what planet they’re living on, but when the teenager gets hit upon by the wife? In my world, it should be the wife who starts packing.
• Bill sold out reliable Don by having him resign as a polygamist to save Bill’s political career. Bill thinks that simply by running for state office that he is going to make the world safe for polygamy. Narcissistic much, Bill? Oh yeah. Or your name wouldn’t be Bill Henricksen.
• Bill has always managed to walk through piles of muck and come out smelling like a rose, but I hope Don doesn’t forgive him for this one.
• Barb is showing a distinct lack of cultural sensitivity at the reservation, first by hitting an Indian woman (having Leila be a meth user doesn’t sit well with me — can we get beyond these cliches?), and then by lying, through omission, about Sarah not only being her daughter but also caring for Leila’s son.
• I understand wanting to give the terrific Amanda Seyfried a good storyline. Keep trying.
• Of course Leila is claiming kidnapping. It’s over the top. And yet, somehow, through some really over-the-top plot lines, Big Love always makes it seem completely believable.
• Alby was serenely getting a haircut from evil wife Laura while informing his mother that Heavenly Father wants her to marry J.J. As Nikki rightfully said over and over and over: This is demented.
• Alby has really shone this season. I have always kind of hated Alby, but I have to admit: Matt Ross’s portrayal of Alby is so conflicted, so tender and bumbling at moments, and so absolutely chilling at others that now he is one of my favorite characters. When Alby takes a snapshot of his love sleeping next to him, the two of them together, it was sort of heartbreaking. Of course, having Roman taunt and haunt him doesn’t help matters, but I really think Alby might be starting to come into his own. He will lose everything, however, in the process.
• I’ve never liked the character Jodean as much as I liked her twin, but that is a testament to the actress Mireille Enos’s portrayal.
• New Teenie: Didn’t much like the old one. Don’t much like this one either.

My favorite three moments from this episode were:

1. When Barb starts unbuttoning her shirt in the basement and tells Bill not to worry, this will be fast, but she thinks it will make her feel better. After sifting weevils.
2. When Margene breaks down on television, talking about how her mother died on the laundry room floor next to the change machine. “I’m pretty sure alcohol was involved.”
3. When Jodean sets free all of the birds Bill’s parents are trying to sell while they snore in the backseat. Passive/aggressive much?

There was so much to process this week — what is working for you this season? And what do you hate?

Clacked by Jen Creer
on Feb 01, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT