So Bill’s theology equates “Makes My Ding Dong Hard: Divine Revelation That I Should Take Another Wife”.
Which is funny, since Nikki sure as hell can’t make his ding dong hard.
She sure has in some episodes. There have been plenty of times that Bill seemed eager and willing to roll in the hay with Nicki, sans pharmaceuticals.
I think he likes Nicki best when he’s mad at her.
And why did she have sex with Scott in Nikki’s house instead of slipping back to his apartment? Are they setting us up for Sara leaving her family and moving in with Scott?
About Barb’s “trial”, if they were so concerned about her recording it why was Margene even allowed to be present? :dubious: Do they realize that Margene is her sisterwife? Was that an accurate representation of LDS disciplinary hearings? Does the LDS Church try people in absentia if they completely severe ties and don’t even bother showing up?
Agreed, Sampiro, Bill and Nicki are very evenly matched. I used to like Margene, but she seems bitchier now.
Considering that Bill and Margie were almost certainly having sex before they married, do you guys also think that maybe the only reason he married her was because he had to? Did he get her preg?
Was that what they thought? I thought they were just pissed that he’d “taken her virginity”. Which is apparently a huge deal to them. Didn’t Sara once tell Ben “Remember in Bible School where they said it was better to see your sons and daughters buried in the ground than have them give up their chastity?” (Not an exact quote, but pretty close)
Yeah, I figured Scott was Bad News just because he’d had sex with Sarah, which is bad enough, for them. And plus him being older than her doesn’t help matters.
ETA: How did Scott find out that she’d gotten pregnant anyway? Did she contact him?
I always think it’s interesting when Roman or Nikki has a moment that shows they’re actually sincere (at least to some extent) in their religious beliefs. One in this episode was when Nikki referred to Sara (to Scott) as “my daughter”, and it’s clear she really does believe it. Alby once referred to himself as Sara’s uncle, though I think he was less sincere, and Roman once told Barb (who’d told him to leave her family alone because his had problems enough) that “you are my family”, and he meant it. I also always felt that Roman really did believe he was divinely meant to marry Rhonda; since he’s almost 80 and she was 15 (and younger than that when betrothed) and he could have any woman in the compound for a wife without having to wait, I doubt it was just lust.
I actually agree with you, Sampiro. Just the other day I was talking to a friend about that and I came to realize that it’s really interesting that some of the most despicable characters are given one trait that makes you . . . almost admire them more than the other characters. Like, I might think that their belief system is flawed, but at least they are true to it (unlike so many others on the show).
I agree too… I feel I am always standing up for Nicki, although recently I think her character will be either portrayed as having much sinsister ulterior motives than expected OR her behavior being a result of victimization by her father/first husband/etc. I don’t know if I want her to go to either of those places. But she was the one who helped Sara the most when she was going through her miscarriage, and time and time again she has stood in front of threat (Alby in the first season, Cindy at times, etc) to her family and defended them. Roman though- I thought he did believe himself but his comment this episode about “what greater good?” seemed very cynical and almost an admission that he’s full of ((@!
Really, REALLY hope Sarah’s using birth control. (Did she use a condom last time, do we know?) Maybe Nicki can give her her scrip!
Well, in fairness, he’s had a rough year.
One of my favorite exchanges was in the first season when Nikki called Adaleen to tell her about her enormous credit card debts. Her mother told her “that’s nothing, I owe $90,000”, and explains that bankruptcies are at an all time high on the compound because “people keep thinking that the end of the world is at hand and… well, your father hasn’t exactly been batting a thousand with his prophecies lately”. (One of his prophecies is that he’ll live to be 118.)
Oh, I love that. Actually I love nearly all of Adaleen’s lines. Mary Kay Place’s delivery is perfect. I can’t even hate Adaleen because Mary Kay is so brilliant.
Also loved her reaction to Roman telling her about what happened with Kathy–“That’s IT?!” And “Your little Roman Holiday is over!”
Friend Freudian Slit,
I agree: Mary Kay Place singing “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” with Emmy Lou Harris is one of my favorite moments in this show.
She was also part of a trio with Roman and Rhonda on Little Brown Church in the Wildwood once that sounded pretty good. They’ve shown recording features for the “Grant Family Singers” before; it’d be interesting to see that examined a bit. (When you’ve got 14 wives, 30+ children and more than 100 grandchildren as Roman said he had, you’re gonna have some who can sing.)
When LDS members go to Temple, they do Temple “work” which means they go for people who died but perhaps did not get a chance to learn about Mormon faith. So they go using other’s names in the marriage ceremony. This is from their extensive genealogy. Since they felt it would be unfair for someone to be cast out who had not heard of the church, they do the “work” for them or in their name. The first time you go to Temple when you are married, you go in your own name. After that, you are going for someone who has died so all of the rituals necessary to be in the Celestial Kingdom (top kingdom) have taken place, in case one decides to accept the Church in the afterlife (I think…not sure…that would be the Terrestrial Kingdom). Highest is Celestial. I think there are three kingdoms and the lowest is here on earth.
I don’t think Bill was ever a member of the mainstream LDS church. That letter means so much if it is authentic because it would mean that it is Barb and Bill have been practicing the correct LDS faith…and that the sister and her husband and mother are the ones in NOT the true religion.
This is not far from the truth because there have always been rumors and some fairly substantiated that this was the way the church was meant to operate, but once they were ostracized for polygamy in laws of the land, then the LDS church claimed those who practiced polygamy were the ones who fell away, when actually it could be just the opposite. This would validate Barb’s choice to her family. It’s more than just a piece of paper…it would make HER practicing the true religion and her mother and sister the ones fallen. Supposedly, in real life, the church has squashed all of the evidence of this.
Even though Barb has chosen life with Bill away from the main church, to be told one would be cast into darkness would be devastating. Bill renewing the vows at the end, as the head of the home and head of the Priesthood, gave structure to their way of life and authenticity. This would cut Barb off from all her relatives…mother, sister, grandparents, etc.
Now that they say the letter was made up, I don’t know what to think. Apparently the mainstream LDS church thought it wasn’t. The argument is who are the authentic LDS members and if that letter is real, that would mean it would be the polygamists. This terrifies the mainstream LDS church because their choice then would be to practice polygamy and then they would be ostracized from society because of laws of the land. Or they would officially become the part of the church that broke away from the original – which means all of them would officially be excommunicated because they are the ones who broke away from the REAL teachings of the church.
If I were Bill, I would keep that tidbit of information to myself and not tell his brother-in-law or bishops or even Barb – that Roman told him the letter was a fake. I would let them think it was real forever. In real life, this causes many troubles in the church…arguing about which is actually following the true Gospel.
FairShar
I think Bill’s younger brother went to Mexico to look for his mother. Not sure, but I think that is what he said he was going to do. It seems that when Roman wanted to cast someone out or hide someone, he sent them to Mexico.
I am always feeling sorry for Nikki also. I’m not sure what will happen now that she brought her daughter. Family and children are everything, so maybe Nikki will be accepted back into the fold.
Before this, I was thinking that if the DA decided to prosecute Nikki for obstruction of justice or any other reason, and Bill had divorced her, she could turn on Bill…she could say she had grown up in a compound, he and Barb went there to get her. She didn’t even realize polygamy was wrong…had been taught it is the right way, so she was vulnerable and he and Barb took advantage.
She could have her own apartment, get a career (she seemed to be good at what she did), find a boyfriend, and be “normal.”
But now that her daughter is in it, this won’t happen. Wouldn’t that have been something though – she could go after Bill like Bill went after her father. Difference is she was of age…but she probably could have gotten away with saying she grew up in a compound and was emotionally still quite young.
I think Bill is more sexually turned on by the other two women. Nikki innately knows that also, so having someone pay attention to her, want to kiss her, date her, brings her flowers could be very appealing. Even if Bill is turned on to her, she thinks he wasn’t because she was the one he was with when viagra was discovered. Margene thinks so too.
Wouldn’t it be sweet revenge if she became “normal” and joined the mainstream LDS church, found a nice Mormon guy there in Utah, sealed in the Temple, have children sealed to her and new husband – while Barb and her clan have been “cast out?”
Until the older daughter, this was the twist I wanted it to take.
One thing for sure…the 2nd or any wife after the first has absolutely no legal rights. This is just wrong. You can see how the other wives always feel insecure and unprotected. Nikki was always worried that if Bill got mad at her he would get rid of her…and that is exactly what happened…like a self-fulfilled prophesy. She could even lose her kids especially if she has no way to support them. Even if the 2nd or later wives insisted on a legal document for protection, since polygamy is illegal, it probably wouldn’t hold up in court.
If she went mainstream, Margene may also be tempted. Wouldn’t that be something. BTW, the way I thought of all this is that Bill’s friend (forget his name now) – his wives left him and took the kids. Barb won’t do that so Nikki was on her own. Even if Bill takes her back since she brought her daughter, she will still always be insecure about being dumped. She needs to get her own life regardless…for her own protection.
One of Brigham Young’s last wives, Ann Eliza Webb (subject of an abysmal recent novel), divorced him in the last years of his life and sued him for a ridiculous amount of alimony and child support (her children were by a previous husband but she claimed he adopted them). A Federal judge ordered Young to pay her something like $800 per month (the equivalent of a low 6 figure income in today’s money) and Young, nobody’s fool, was more than happy to do so, stating that with this order the Federal government had officially recognized the validity of polygamy and it henceforth should be legalized. (In 1875 there was nothing akin to palimony and mistresses had no legal rights to any of their patron’s income.) The U.S. Attorney’s office recognized how dangerous this verdict was- Young really would have a case for legalization that if not successful could at very least be very embarrassing- and immediately overturned the verdict: Ann Eliza got no alimony.
I’ve thought that if Nicky and Bill did split it would be a very interesting case if she sued him. Polygamy is still illegal, but there is such a thing as palimony now, plus there’s no contest that he’s acknowledged a marital relationship and is the father of her sons. Most polygamists today are either indigent or their assets are so intermixed with the church’s that any type of financial recovery from them is hopeless (Carolyn Jessop for example: her husband was a rich man, but all of his businesses could be claimed as church owned when convenient- though he did get visitation rights to their 8 children), but the Henricksons would be unique due to Bill’s non involvement with a larger sect and the fact he is a wealthy man. I think it could be a good mock trial (though I’d much rather see Nicky, as I mentioned earlier, write a tell all and become a media darling, which I think she’d thoroughly enjoy).
Did they just drop the divorce lawsuit that Lois was bringing against Frank for half of his assets?