With the implication that if she supported Alby, he would allow her back into the family.
Didn’t Joey tell Barb that he didn’t want any more wives and that he was a “monogamist” last season? Now he’s considering taking a second wife who took care of his sick wife (sound familiar :rolleyes: )?
Wanda seemed to think it was a good idea and was all for it. Joey realized that Wanda really is a bit off and needs the help with the baby. And more importantly, she also needs someone to prevent her from poisoning people who piss her off. Overall, I get the sense that Joey really doesn’t WANT the second wife, but has decided that it makes sense. Likely he’ll regret it, like Barb does, in the end, though Wanda and Cathy bouncing on the ball was cute and indicated that Wanda is comfortable with the situation.
You… SPANKER!
Another excellent episode.
That’s exactly right, and what’s so maddening about it is that she isn’t submissive at all. When a person is being passive-aggressive, the passive part doesn’t count as cooperation. She mouths the words, telling Barb and Margene that they should do what Bill says. But then she goes behind Bill’s back and steals and gambles, or visits the compound, or spends tens of thousands of dollars that she doesn’t have. If that’s submissive, I’d hate to see resistant.
I think with this episode, Sara is the only character left with any moral grounding! Margene is the next best, but it’s abundantly clear she doesn’t care about the religion, she is just looking for a big, stable family to make up for her screwed up childhood (not that it’s a bad thing not to buy this crazy religion, but it does make her dishonest).
Ben is rapidly channeling his sexual frustration and self-loathing into patriarchal presumptuousness, and it’s becoming clearer where he got the model for that. Bill gets creepier every episode. Courting the waitress was kind of creepy, telling off Margie about it was worse. Then last week saying, “You’re a very good girl” to Nicki as she rode him was incredibly icky. This week we have him lying to Barb, and continuing to manipulate the wives, with the conversation with Don showing his true beliefs and lack of respect for women. Not to mention the shady/idiotic business dealings, and selling out a major principle of his supposed faith to make money.
I also really like what the writers are doing regarding sexual morality, church membership, and salvation. As mentioned above, Ben (and the other kids) are getting an incredibly mixed message, since their family kind of adheres to LDS teachings, yet the church prohibits their lifestyle, and moreover teaches that apostates will be cast into the outer darkness and so forth. I loved when the bishop told Ben that only a temple marriage would avoid hellfire, when of course his dad is screwing around with two women he’s not married to according to church or state.
I hope Barb does leave - it will be both very dramatic, and still entirely within character and believable. However, she herself can be pretty damn manipulative and underhanded. The thought of her conversation with Bryn still gives me chills.
I’m guessing Nicki’s theft will throw Alby out of contention for prophet-hood, since he will be blamed for mismanaging/embezzling huge amounts of tithe money. Good setup to have Bill in a position to grab power for a season cliffhanger.
Doesn’t Roman have any other sons who could claim his place? He can’t have kicked all the them out except Alby, could he? Does Adaleen have any other kids besides Nikki and Alby? If Alby tossed out the compound (or worse) she could be exiled too and be forced to depend on the largess of Nikki and Bill.
Yes, I feel bad for Ben. Last season, it was awful watching him struggling with sexual feelings, and having to deal with a girlfriend who strong arms him into doing something he feels ambivalent about, and watching his dad get it on with three women, one of whom he finds really hot…
Last season, I had more sympathy for Bill. I didn’t like him, exactly–I found him a bit bland. I didn’t get why three women were willing to be married to him, but I figured, some people are into polygamy and as long as they’re all treated as equal adults, what harm? Now it skeeves me because Bill acts as though he’s better than those at Juniper Creek but appears to be following their religion. And he’s never actually come out and talked about how much he dislikes it, the way you see Barb doing–I get the sense that he doesn’t hate it all that much. Honestly, I really started hating Bill when he made that remark about letting his wives think they have power.
I’ve wondered the same thing about Barb and Bill - what did she SEE in him? Where’s his charm?
Nicki, I could kind of see her latching on to him for power games. She gets involved because Daddy wanted her to keep an eye on Bill. Her possessive nature takes over, but her loyalties remain divided. She still refers to Juniper Creek as “her family.” She wants to be #1 and Bill is encouraging it (“I want you to have everything Barb and Margene have - and more.”)
Margene? She obviously ran a little wild in the past and has her mom’s history to look at, too. Here’s this guy, nice, respectful, doesn’t drink, smoke, or swear. He’s financially secure (and then some), a ready-made family with two other wives so she’s not totally responsible for anything. She doesn’t have to have a job outside the home. However, she’s matured hugely since the show started - she’s clearly moving to the grownup table now, and I wonder if we will see her exploring whether what she gave up in freedom was worth what she received in shelter.
I remember that funny scene last season when Ben has a “nocturnal emission”, and he tries to sneak into the laundry room to wash his sheets. Nikki interrupts him, and says she’ll take care of it. Ben won’t hand them over, and Nikki just gives him a look and says something like: Ben, I had 18 brothers growing up. Just give me the sheets.
Anyway, I guess that answers your question.
Is Adalene Roman’s first (as in #1) wife? If so, that might explain why Alby’s the heir apparent and hasn’t been kicked out. Good question, though - where ARE these other boys?
She’s wife #6, but kinda operates as Wife #1. I don’t think the writers have explained this very well.
Roman’s gotta be in his 70’s – Stanton is 81. Maybe Wives 1 through 5 have died?
I thought that Adelene said in one of the episodes that she wasn’t first wife.
Have you guys seen the wikipedia entries on Big Love? Lots of details, including spoilers for the last ep. According to it, Adaleen is Roman’s 4th wife. He has 31 kids and 187 grandkids. Why Alby then is the heir apparent is not clear to me.
You know, my memory was that she is 4th wife, but the HBO site says 6th. Maybe she’s 6th in order, but two ahead of her died…?
At one point, doesn’t Adaleen tell Rhonda, “I climbed over the backs of five unambitious women,” or something like that?
As for what Barb saw in Bill when they got together, I think they’ve set it up perfectly. We see Barb constantly trying to save people from the compound and reintegrate them into a normal life. Some people seek out “fixer-uppers,” and she clearly has a hard-on for polygamists, which is consistent with her religious background. When she met Bill, his primary identity seems to have been “Juniper Creek Victim.” When she married him, she had successfully converted a child victim of polygamy into a righteous LDS man, or so she thought.
I have no idea if they’ve even thought about that, but it certainly fits with her character.
As has been stated, there is the Juniper Creek-victim mentality. She’s a very nurturing woman. But somehow I see her with someone a lot more dynamic and charismatic. Bill just seems like too much of a phony.
Nicki pretty much had to marry him, it’s been implied–Roman gave them money when Barb had cancer, and Nicki came, took care of Barb, etc. Of course, in the season finale, Nicki does say, “I brought myself to Bill”…so I can see her doing a little behind the scenes manipulation. Of course, she’s got no concept of equal rights and of the fact that, oh, maybe patriarchy screws women over. Considering where she’s come from, it does make sense that she’d want plural marriage.
You’re right–she has matured. And yeah, she’s had a wilder past. It made me a bit sad to see her in the first season–she clearly was attractive, funny, vivacious…and yet somehow she’s stuck pumping out babies in a polygamist marriage before she’s even twenty-five. She seems happy to be here, though. The fact that Bill would go out of his way to marry someone who clearly has no real concept of religion or what the Principle even means lowers my opinion of him a great deal.
Yes, I seem to remember something along those lines.
Adaleen may not have been Roman’s “first” wife (eg the first woman he married), but everything we’ve seen suggests that the wives that outranked her are gone and she’s his First Wife. Does actual plural marriage (as it was practiced in the past or in modern sects) place the wives into a hierachy or are they supposed to be equal (like in Islam)?