This episode was a little bit of a let down after last week- still good but nothing like the intensity of the previous episode.
Was just telling my partner that the Anna wedding question would be strung out all season then five minutes later, she was married to them. Go figure.
Was not surprised at how quickly Anna bailed out, was a little unbelievable that no one would have discussed how she would have to pool her money in the community pot with her. Nikki’s facial expressions were fun to watch as Margene confronted Barb with all of Nikki’s little insinuations.
Good scene between Roman and his children, laughed out loud when Alby accused his mother of trying to have him murdered and his mother reminded him of “just where that occured” at.
I’ve wondered for awhile when Bill would actually start showing his true self to his family, and I think that the incident with Anna will be the wedge between him and his wives. He will blame them for losing Anna and it will be easier for him to make decisions based on his own interests, probably still under the guise of protecting the family, but I expect that he will become more like Roman as the series progresses. Or maybe like Tony Soprano VBG :).
I agree, this was the least satisfying episode of the season. It was really annoying to have Anna actually go through with the marriage and then bail within days. Of course, the strangely casual middle-of-the-afternoon backyard wedding probably didn’t make much of a serious impression on her.
Nikki is amazingly manipulative for such a sympathetic character. We just watched her systematically dismantle the Anna situation.
I actually think Bill is sincere and basically kind-hearted, and believes he’s acting in his family’s best interest.
Yeah, I think Bill is sincere. But you know, a sincere schmuck is still a schmuck. And Bill’s kind of a schmuck. He’s like a kid in a lot of his planning for stuff–he gets as far as “I want” and that’s pretty well where his critical thinking about a situation ends. It honestly doesn’t occur to him to think about how what he wants will affect other people.
He wants to marry Ana right then and there, so he plans a thrown-together wedding with an hour or two notice, and then goes back to work with not the first thought that maybe for her first and maybe only wedding she might want something more. He wants the wives to settle things amongst themselves with no hurt feelings or difficulties, like they’re the freaking Buddy Bears, so he assumes they will and is disappointed and kind of annoyed when that doesn’t happen. And that’s just…delusional for anyone who has actually met his wives.
For once, though, Nikki wasn’t the wife I most wanted to slap into the next time zone. That was all Margene this time around. I mean, what fucking grade is she in? Acting like having Anna move in with her would be one big slumber party (and soooo much cooler than stinky old Barb’s boring slumber party), and then getting all pissy that people don’t automatically like her best? It was like the worst parts of high school all over again.
I don’t find her particularly sympathetic. She’s a snake who has back stabbed every single person on the show in some way, while pursuing selfish goals. I do feel sorry for her, considering her upbringing, but I don’t like her much.
That said, I think undoing the Ana situation was a good thing. What the hell does Bill need another wife for? He can’t afford to send Sarah to college, and has 8 children and 3 houses. Their credit is maxed out. I just don’t understand the need to have babies until you’re broke. He’s insane.
I agree the general “meh”-ness of this episode. It seemed really disjointed. I didn’t get the point of the kids’ roadtrip to the compound at all, except maybe to give Frankie a chance the smack the shit out of Bill’s dad (god he’s vile.) I also don’t buy him up and running off to Nicaragua - you have neither ID nor passport, son! You better hope you can find her!
It also seemed unrealistic that even Bill would be stupid enough to try to have Anna live with Nicki. And where are all the LITTLE kids? We see lots of teenagers, Teenie’s completely disappeared, and apparently even with 3 - 4 adults in the home at any one time, nobody’s providing any childcare!
Still, this show’s like a bowl of potato chips - I will not stop til it’s gone
That’s not Bill’s particular need, it’s the need of his religion. I don’t know the details, but Big Family == More Holy. Even Barb thinks they should have a bunch of kids - it’s why she agreed to the polygamy to begin with, because she couldn’t have any more children herself.
I mean, I think all the kids and wives and houses is crazy, too, but they are following the guidelines of their religion.
Thanks for the info on the musician on “Gimme Shelter,” cause I’d been wondering who that was. LOL Not that Patti Smith really tells me anything but now I can go google her.
I’ll say this for Bruce Dern - he’s terrific at playing vile and evil. The hatred he shows for his sons and his grandson is just almost beyond belief. Is there some kind of FLDS place in Central America … home for recalcitrant wives or something, in Nicaragua?! I really wish that Lois had finished him off. Speaking of Lois, wth is she doing, living in her car while at Bill’s little compound?! You’d think that they could find a bed for her in one of the homes. Although maybe she’s the one who wants to live out of her car. That just seems a bit odd to me. Lois did clean up rather nicely at least.
The soapishness of Big Love came out to me at least in this most recent episode. In particular, the wives picking and pecking at one another! And Ana wasn’t really helping any, especially getting Nikki drunk. LOL Poor Margene, though, she wants so much to belong and be loved; I can see why Barb wouldn’t want to live with her—she’s only a few years older than Sarah, after all; sometimes it -is- a generational thing. The scene where Nicki got Margene all riled up, though, about the azaleas and then they started ripping them out of the ground … that was pure soap. LOL How come no-one stopped to wonder why Ana just didn’t tell Barb that she preferred white to red?! Oh Nicki just completely orchestrated that. I don’t think things are finished with Ana just yet though.
I’m going to have to re-watch, at least once more. LOL I’m sure there are things I still want to comment on.
Their religion also says that drinking and gambling are bad, as well as adultery. Bill managed to violate those tenets when it suited him. He could look at his finances and say, “Well, I have 3 wives and 8 children. I’ve lived The Principle. Time to be real and consider the needs of the kids I already have.” I think all the wives and kids are a bit of egotism for him as well as being a religious belief. You know you’re off the deep end when Nicki is more capable of rational thought on a topic than you are, Bill.
Was she living out of her car? I thought she was just getting something out of it–her sleeping in the car is sure to draw all sorts of attention and comment in that sort of neighborhood, and it seems like none of them would put up with that. I mean, if you have to explain to the neighbors that your mom is on the run from her husband on the compound, where your next-door neighbor and admitted daughter of the Prophet grew up, and her kids are calling the old lady grandma…they’re not going to have to worry about Carl and Pam outing them to the neighborhood because everyone will figure it out for themselves.
I don’t think it’s a generational thing at all, about Barb not wanting Margene to move into her house with her brood. It’s partly a practical thing–adding Anna maybe means the girls share a room for a few months until Sarah goes to college, adding Margene and her three kids is much more complicated–and partly a personality thing. Margie is thoughtless and impulsive in much the same way Bill is, like with her automatic assumptions that of course Anna would want to live with her or that of course Barb would want to have her move in, or that of course her ever-so-special self makes Barb feel like this whole plural marriage thing wasn’t a mistake. I can see that really grating the hell out of Barb’s nerves. God knows it was grating the hell out of mine.
And, you know, the whole hysterectomy thing still breaks Barb’s heart, and seeing other women bear her husband’s children has to be painful. Having that happen in so much closer proximity after you’d got used to having some distance from it…I think that would be rubbing some battery acid into the wound on top of the salt. It’s probably the main reason I typically have very little sympathy for any of the other members of the marriage; I don’t think any of them have ever stopped to think about what it costs Barb to keep this thing going. Sure, she evidently thinks this is saving her soul and giving her heavenly rewards, but the price she’s paid in this life has been pretty damn steep.
I did think the expressions on Nikki and Margie’s faces were priceless when they were bitching about not being consulted and Sarah welcomed them to her world. I don’t think any of them have ever thought about what it must be like for the kids growing up in this family, to have all this stuff that most of the world thinks is fucked up thrust upon you without so much as a FOADIAF. To be powerless so far above and beyond the normal powerlessness of minor children, and yet to have so much responsibility for keeping other people’s secrets. Nikki I can kind of understand, since she grew up in a similar family but without the need for secrecy. Margie, though…bless her heart, she’s sweet and well intentioned but has about as many critical thinking skills as Bill has, and I’ve already said my piece on that.
Oh, and I forgot all about what I meant to say about the breakdown of the Anna marriage so quickly. I wasn’t particularly surprised that she was so ill-informed about so much. She spends the most time with Margie and Bill, the two least likely to actually think ahead about all the consequences of their actions. Not thinking to tell her about how things actually work and what she’s really getting herself into, that fits right into their characters. And it’s reasonable for the others to assume that surely her swain or her bff would have already told her this stuff beforehand and not speak up.
And I would guess it’s never really been an issue before. Barb and Bill didn’t have a pot to piss in when they married, so everything they accrued was already a joint asset. Nikki didn’t have any money or property of her own before marriage, and besides she grew up on the compound and thoroughly understood the system from childhood. Margie also didn’t have anything, and her stint as the babysitter got her pretty intimately acquainted with how the household runs before she ever started dating Bill. Anna’s the only one who came into the relationship with any material assets, and she’s also the only one who wasn’t essentially a member of the household before dating Bill.
Sarah still doesn’t have a clue that Sarah’s attracted to her, right? It was a little strange they way they started talking about setting up house and raising Sarah’s baby. After all to live in family housing they’d need to pretend to the Housing Office that they were a lesbian couple. Heather also seemed to enjoy making out with Franky so she’s either bi, confused, or both.
When Ana mentioned that she had some money that could go towards the downpayment on a home of her own, you could see the dollar signs in Bill’s eyes. I think he wanted to use that money for his casino plans. And the marriage seemed like a bad idea for Ana from the beginning, so I was surprised that she agreed and pleased when she backed out.
It’s weird that of the three wives, Nicki is the only one who grew up in a polygamist family, yet she seemed least enthusiastic about the idea of Ana joining the family. And I also thought it was interesting that the appeal for Barb was that she would then have a friend. Even with two “sister-wives” she doesn’t feel like Nicki or Margene are her friends?
I thought that in the previous episode they sent Teenie off to sports camp.
She was but I think later in the episode Bill said she was living in an apartment owned by his business partner Dan.
Why would she feel like either of them are her friends? It’s not like she picked either one of them out. As she put it, one of them was forced on her on her deathbed, and the other was the babysitter that bit her in the ass. She’s grown to love them as members of her family, but they just don’t click in the same way you do with friends. The closest analogy I can think of in non-plural families is that of sisters-in-law. I got two of 'em, both of whom I love dearly as family and like and respect as people. But we’re not exactly sitting around french-braiding one another’s hair, if you see what I mean.
That’s a good point. I think the need to keep the family secret makes it difficult for Barb to make friends among outsiders (even other Mormons). So at least she felt she could be open with Ana.
BTW, one thing I find amusing is how white-bread their food is. I think Margene talked about having egg salad sandwiches and casseroles as the food on the casino buses.
I agree. Roman’s rationale for investing in Weber gaming was that it’s okay to invest in something that will bring down the rest of society. Which is creepy and hypocritical and just plain wrong. Yeah, let’s profit by something we find evil. Bill always has some excuse for why he’s doing what he does. It’s okay to earn our money by gambling but god forbid my wives go on the pill? We’ll NEVER get to heaven that way.
I also really liked that the kids were watching Rosemary’s Baby and Heather couldn’t handle that. Awww, Heather.
I disagree with this analysis. I think Bill is basically staying true to his faith, both with Weber Gaming and with his desire to have more children. It’s the faith itself that’s creepy and hypocritical and just plain wrong. (Fleece the sinners, turn the women into subservient baby factories, etc…) You can’t lay that on Bill, though if you wanted to lambast him for blindly following a religion, I’m right there with you.
Bill running Weber Gaming is the equivalent of a Catholic running a Planned Parenthood. Would you call that creepy and hypocritical and just plain wrong too?
Also, Ruby, when has Bill gambled or committed adultery? And I don’t recall anything about drinking being bad in their religion.
If the Catholic was always going on about how they have to keep the faith and resist temptation to sin and how wrong abortion and contraception was…yeah. Does the Principle say you’re supposed to fleece the sinners? In that case, okay, Bill may not be a hypocrite. But his faith sure as hell is fucked up in my view. No wonder Sarah wants to get the hell out of dodge.
He’s also trying to build that casino marketed specifically to Mormons living in Utah. There’s a difference between fleecing “outsider” sinners and doing everything you can do lure your own people to sin. Bill says he’s not LDS, but they’re more his people than, say, atheist and lost non-LDS christian gamblers.
It’s like the difference between a Catholic giving out condoms in inner city public schools and a Catholic giving out Virgin Mary Aproved ™ condoms in a Catholic school.
Speaking of Lois, wth is she doing, living in her car while at Bill’s little compound?! You’d think that they could find a bed for her in one of the homes. Although maybe she’s the one who wants to live out of her car. That just seems a bit odd to me. Lois did clean up rather nicely at least.