Big Love 3/20 (Series Finale - Open Spoilers)

Cafe Society
#1

Well, well, well.

Of all the people who’d want to take a shot at Bill, it figures that it would be the neighbor. I guess the moral is: don’t resod your neighbor’s lawn.

I guess it’s typical of the last two wildly erratic seasons that this would wind up so suddenly and dramatically and unsatisfyingly. Like, why would Bill’s Polygamy Amendment cause all of the polygamists to come out of hiding and show up at his church? What was the suppressed Mormon doctrine that Barb was referring to – something like “queen of heaven” (which sounded practically Catholic).

Still no Teenie or Joey, although at least Sarah makes a cameo.

A sad and touching farewell for Grandma, though.

#2

You reap what you sod.

Though given his wives, I think he might be better off dead. Everything is crumbling down around them and each wife insists on starting their own personal drama/life exploration RIGHT NOW. Geez, wymen, when the shits hitting the fan can’t you put that crap on hold for a bit?

#3

So, it’s finally over. The last few episodes of this final season were great. But that was to be expected as they attempted to wrap up several story lines.
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I was not surprised by the ending. I thought a bit too much time was spent with dealing with Lois.

What was up with the black dresses for the infant blessing ceremony at the end? Was that to try and throw us off and make us think it was a funeral? A few seconds after the opening of that scene, they put up the “11 months later” tag, so it was a bit confusing.

I’m guessing that Bill’s life insurance was substantial enough to provide for all of them.

So what unanswered questions about the series and the characters do you have?

#4

Kind of a wimpy way to go out but I’m just glad it’s over.

#5

That finale was torture to sit through. Just horrible. The writers from this and the last season should be blackballed from the industry for taking an compelling, emotional and edgy (at times) drama and turning it into a joke.

I really loved this show for the first three seasons. Roman and Alby Grant made for good drama. The compound was full of criminal characters as well as some innocents caught in the crossfire. Nicki, Lois and Frank were characters I loved to hate. There were real issues acted out, such as the pre-marriage between Rhonda and Roman Grant and Bill’s history as a boy kicked out of the compound. All of this made compelling drama and in my opinion there was more than enough mileage to make it through five good seasons instead of three great ones and two downright embarrassing ones.

#6

Merged duplicate threads.

#7

I thought that when Frank “helped” Lois, it would have been better if he had “helped” himself at the same time. Maybe show him finish giving himself an injection, with it being obvious that he’s given her a good head start so he can comfort her.

That would work on several fronts. First, deep down he REALLY loved her. Second, as much as they fought, when push comes to shove, he can’t survive without her. And finally, being a rather cowardly sort, I don’t think he would like the idea of a trial/imprisonment for “murder”. Plus, it would be just a bit more sad yet at the same time uplifting.

#8

I’m going to have to rewatch this and I’ll have more to say after I do.

I kind of “called it” in a way, because I thought either Don or Karl might kill him. I felt Bill’s biggest flaw was that he was so centered on himself and his relationship with his God that he failed to fully understand how his personal dramas were hurting those that he dragged along for the ride and I didn’t want him to make a clean getaway from this.

The Margene storyline was the one I found the most satisfying this season. I think the Cara Lynn - Greg Ivey subplot set this up nicely and that no matter how hard everyone claimed that the situations were COMPLETELY DIFFERENT that they all (Margene included) hit the slow realization that the situations were EXACTLY THE SAME and that no matter how much they denied it that Margene had been wronged by the family by being pulled into adulthood and motherhood at such a young age.
When Bill found Margene’s brochere’s and accused her of planning to “run away” I flashed on Elizabeth Smart and kidnapped teenaged girls and I think maybe Bill did, too…the second after the words left his mouth.
The he reminded Nicki that they all have free agency and Nicki acts like this is a new and unwelcome developement.
I liked the fact that in “Barb’s Reformed Church of Bill” Margene was recast as teenaged daughter instead of a young mother and given her childhood back.

I think Nicki hit her own fatal flaw on the head when she realized that she was basically an unkind person but I have trouble believing that this realization would’ve cured her. I’m sure that at least once during the unseen 11 months she blamed Margene and her need to befriend the neighbors and “sell that juice” for Bill’s death.

I most certainly didn’t buy the final plot point of Barb becoming the family’s spiritual leader. What the F did Don have to say about this, I can’t imagine how dissed he must’ve felt. And I don’t for a second believe that Nicki would accept Barb as her priesthood holder, she has been deeply indoctrinated and I think she would believe herself doomed for eternity if she didn’t have a male priesthood holder.

#9

Okay, so what became of Alby again?

#10

I think Nicki’s character got the most writer-induced yank-around this season. Between last week and this, all the hateful things she said to Kara Lynn were “sorry…didn’t really mean it”.

But she gets all the best lines. LOL’d at “Margene Without Borders”.

#11

Good question – you’d think the archvillain of the last 2 seasons would make an appearance in the finale.

He’s in jail; presumably (although not explicitly mentioned) to be tried for the murder of Rhonda’s weasely husband, and maybe the Senate security guard.

#12

This is why we quit watching the show, unfortunately. I don’t mind unsympathetic characters, but the writing just seemed to be taking a nosedive. We liked the series, but didn’t feel it was worth re-subscribing to HBO to watch this last season. Maybe we’ll rent it someday.

#13

I can’t imagine how they could have wrapped it up much better. Bill’s death was probably the only shot the family had at any kind of happy ending, leaving the wives with a nice insurance settlement and without Bill’s neverending maelstrom of bullshit.

The one character from this season that I thought deserved a better wrapup was Don. I’m curious to know where his life would have gone without Bill and Home Plus, considering how tight he held on even though he probably suffered more than anybody from Bill’s bad decisions.

#14

Despite Bill’s shooting, I felt that the finale was rather anticlimactic. What of Rhonda? She’s widowed & presumably moving back to Nevada. Cara Lynn? Does she just give up on Greg? What happened to Greg? Is he just continuing to teach high school? And what about Joey & Wanda? Alby? The rest of Juniper Creek? Poor invisible Teeny!

I’m greatly disappointed.

#15

Teeny made it to the finale. I am pretty sure Sarah said that Teeny was in the bathroom putting on mascara.

#16

Yeah, a *mention *of Teeny made it to the finale. But she’s still invisible. Poor Teeny. :wink:

#17

I just read an interesting quote from the show’s creators. I talked to a friend about it and we have completely opposite opinions, but I’m wondering what you all think about it:

#18

I always thought the show was more about the wives than about Bill.

And in the end, it showed that the wives would continue to grow and develop without Bill.

#19

She was applying it to Wayne! :smiley:

I was horrified at the BS copout ending. To think that Bill overcame so much and survived Roman, Hollis Green and Alby only to be shot by his idiot neighbor is just too much. How did the women support themselves without Home Plus? That’s a huge family with a very expensive life! Three houses, three women and seven kids (give or take)! And everyone is cool with Margene ditching her sons to go on the medical ship because she never got out much when she was younger? Why would she even want to leave her small children for weeks or months like that?

I liked Frank being so loving and caring to Louis in the last few episodes and I liked how Nikki figured out the real reason for Cara Lynn’s relationship with the teacher, but other than that they blew it. It’s amazing that they had five seasons to tell their story and they knew entering this season that it would be their last and this crap is what they came up with while Caprica was cancelled early in its second season and somehow the writers managed to wrap everything up in a stunning finale that felt satisfying and genuine. I think Big Love’s writers stopped caring since they have to get new jobs while the writers of Caprica really loved the material.

#20

This last season has been some of the absolute worst television writing I have ever seen in my life. This horrible, sloppy finale doesn’t even begin to wrap up the show; it was a cop out. But the whole last two seasons have been a cop out. I don’t know how the writers managed to fuck the show up so bad, but they did. They took a compelling, high-tension drama and turned it into a complete unfocused haphazard mess of a show with a million loose ends. I am so goddamn disappointed in this show.