Before a bestselling book like Game Change detailed the behind-the-scenes chaos of John Edwards’ 2008 presidential bid, closely followed by the release of another expose — The Politician, written by a former aide (think of him as a future Don Embry) that provided even seedier details of Edwards’ family-related campaign drama — an episode like Big Love’s “Sins of the Father” might’ve seemed preposterous.
Certainly multiple facets of a candidate’s life — marriage, personal backstory and the lies surrounding it, plotting with a colleague who’s going to sacrifice himself for his mentor’s political career — that stuff doesn’t all implode simultaneously, right? If you were a candidate you wouldn’t get into a huge, intensely personal argument with your spouse right before you’re supposed to present your best face to the political media and party delegates, would you? Well the answer is apparently yes, especially in Bill Henrickson’s case.
I remain convinced that Bill is living in Fantasy Land if he thinks he can continue to campaign for a high profile elected office while keeping his polygamist marriages under wraps. After all, on the night when he was supposed to be preparing for a run-off vote to secure the GOP nomination for State Senate, Bill was at his casino trying to stamp out fires with a U.S. congressman, a D.C. lobbyist, his three wives, his ragtag polygamist parents (including his father’s latest wife who dresses conspicuously in compound-wear) and his polygamist brother all under one roof, while also dealing with the fall-out from the fact that he’d given his son Ben the boot from the house because of the kiss Ben had with Margene, which she initiated. Bill topped this off by physically tossing his father out of the casino, then throttled him in the parking lot. How long all this insanity can be kept a secret can likely be clocked with an egg timer.
It came as no surprise to see Bill’s mug shot plastered across the hallway leading to the convention hall, forcing Bill to admit that there were things he did when he was living on the streets, after having been dumped out of a truck at age 14, that “haunt” him to this day. His criminal background is just one of Bill’s many, many secrets that could cripple his political career, little land mines waiting to explode, such as the inconvenient fact that while Bill was standing at a podium in front of Republican delegates waxing on poignantly about his personal experience and saying that society needs to protect and care for the “Lost Boys” who are run off from polygamist compounds, he had told his own son to leave the house because he perceived Ben to be a sexual threat to his relationship with Margene.
Bill even tried to play politics with Ben, saying that he never really told him to leave the house for good, and attempted to make it seem as though Ben was mistaken. “I know what you said to me and I know what you meant,” Ben said, clearly not buying his father’s feeble attempt to recast his actions in a more favorable light. Ben then made a choice that cut Bill through the heart: He decided to flee Sandy, Utah and go to Bill’s mother Lois, who’s currently allying herself with Bill’s father, the man who exiled Bill decades ago.
Bill’s decision to encourage Ben to leave, along with Margene’s honest admission that she’d had feelings for Ben, put immense strain on the three wives. (Loved the Nicki/Daphne/spy moments in this episode.) Barb took this news hard and lashed out all over the place, calling Margene’s dead mother a “floozy” and Margene a “flirt” (though we all know she meant worse) before she kicked down Margene’s jewelry table. (And, interestingly, the Congressman was the one to help a teary-eyed Margene pick things up afterward. Hmm.) Barb loudly argued with Bill about Ben within possible earshot of the media, walked out on Bill during a pivotal moment during the Utah state GOP convention and later took a long steam in a sweat lodge with Tommy Flute, the handsome widower from the casino who has taken a shining to her. Any one of Barb’s actions could easily blow up in Bill’s face.
Do you think Bill will actually get elected or will his campaign be derailed by the skeletons in his closet? How much will Ben’s exile continue to affect the family?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Feb 08, 2010 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
