"Big Love" on HBO [spoilers for season 4 episodes]

I did a search for this show on the forums and couldn’t find a thread, but if one exists, please forgive me.

Does anyone watch this show? I personally think it’s an incredibly well-written show with excellent performances from a solid ensemble cast. Although the topic of the show (a secretly polygamist Mormon family trying to be mainstream while struggling with their entangled roots) is not one that would normally catch my interest, I became addicted after my ladyfriend made me watch the first season. So, the premier of the third season was last week, and the new one is premiering now, so I thought I’d start a thread for the show.

If you do post to this thread, please make sure you use the [spoiler] tags to safeguard others’ possibly virgin eyes.

Here’s to another great season. Cheers.
ETA: HBO Website (there is a spoiler on the front page, but if you don’t care…): http://www.hbo.com/biglove/

Also, many story arcs from the first two seasons mirror the stories of Warren Jeffs from a few years back.

Here’s a link to a thread about last week’s episode.

There’s a pretty good following for the show here.

Ah thanks. I did a forum search in Cafe Society for “big love” and it didn’t pop up. How odd.

What’s so odd about the search function not working? :slight_smile:

Going to bed soon, and haven’t seen a thread pop up about the new episode, so here are my quick impressions:

[spoiler]17.1.2010 Season 4, Episode 2
A lot of funny moments in this one:

  • Alby all doe-eyed with Park Poke and Nikki all doe-eyed with Ray
  • Ben getting all weirded out about the wine and having to go
  • Men Helping Men and Alby shows up! And they start making out!

Some interesting developments:

  • Nikki admitting she’s struggling with her beliefs to her daughter, and her daughter’s outrage at the family’s behavior
  • The push and pull between Rightful Heir v. Politician for Bill, with the unlikely allies of Nikki and Joey wanting Bill to be the next Prophet, while Barb goes with Bill to beg their way to rejoining the LDS
  • Marriage with Nikki might not mean a thing to Bill, and Nikki’s not sure that she’s in love with him
  • Marge keeping money for herself ($134,000 projected!) instead of putting it in the common pot reminds me of Ana from last season (I think she may come back at some point this season)[/spoiler]

ETA: Forgot my own advice.

Interesting episode this week, although whenever Bill comes up with a big plan, I wonder what the hell he’s thinking. He is constantly biting off more than he can chew, but for dramatic reasons I think he might be successful this time. For the record, though, if he:

runs for the state senate, wins, and comes out as a polygamist, the senate would probably be able to kick him out of office.

Especially since it seems to be just an appointment by delegates (122, IIRC) instead of a general election. Plus, how long does he think he can avoid the scrutiny of the press while in the public eye?

Oy. Spoiler boxes for already aired episodes, eh?

That’s normal, I think. But I’ve added “spoilers for season 4 episodes” to the thread title so we don’t have to conduct this whole thread in spoiler boxes.

Cool, much better, thanks.

It is not normal, btw. In fact, it would be singularly unique. No tv show threads box spoilers for already-aired episodes.

What was the deal with JJ not having fingernails? Is he supposed to be inbred or something?

Well, I doubt JJ is any more inbred that anybody else from Juniper Creek, though I suppose that’s probably not saying a hell of a lot. I’ve never heard of inbreeding leading to not having nails, but I suppose anything is possible.

Still, if I had to speculate, I’d guess his nails are gone secondary to physical trauma to the nail bed. If you rip a nail off at the bed or smash the digit badly enough, sometimes the nail just doesn’t grow back. It’s not uncommon to see people who do a lot of physical labor with a couple fingers/toes that only have a partial nail or no nail at all due to accidental trauma. But for someone to not have any nails at all implies deliberate, systematic trauma to the hands, i.e. torture, which would imply he’s run seriously afoul of TPTB somewhere along the way.

I wouldn’t think Roman would be responsible, since JJ was at one point sealed to Nikki and seems to come and go freely at Juniper Creek. But the Greens are way more batshit than Roman or even Frank ever dreamed of being, so torture doesn’t seem beyond them. Or maybe there’s another power player we’ve not been introduced to yet.

Why would Bill want to run for State Senate? Right now, it seems like his polygamist family is an open secret, but if he does mount a primary challenge, his opponent is going to bring that up publicly. That will hurt business at his home centers and casino. (Also, the fact that he’s part owner of a casino isn’t going to be popular in Utah.)

And I thought about why Alby kissed Dale outside the Alignment group meeting. I think he did so deliberately, because if it becomes known that Roman Grant’s son is that close to the trustee of the UEB, it will destroy Dale’s credibility, and Alby may be able to regain control.

Last night’s episode was better than the premiere.

My prediction is that Bill will somehow (and probably not quite on the up and up) win the State Senate- but then I guess he will put off exposing himself until it becomes critical that he isn’t exposed.

Barb— grrr! It’s not about you! She’s so annoying.

The scene with Adaleen, Evie and Nikki was very good and I do like the problem of Nikki’s daughter being upset with the status quo in Bill’s house.

Margie is going to have a serious crisis soon- because if Nikki and Bill’s marriage isn’t moving forward, guess who has to become the baby machine…again?

I wonder what “precious thing” of Wanda’s is it that JJ has? We were thinking last night that he’s probably been around his sister enough to not drink any of her Kool-Aid.

The fingernail thing was bizarre- maybe an inbred thing. I thought it was strange that Carolyn was so excited about getting a picture of her “grandpa”- did she always know Nikki was her mother or is he possibly a grandpa on both sides :eek: ?

People who already know Bill is a polygamist:

  • The LDS church (at least, they know he recently was a polygamist, which would probably sink his campaign just as bad)
  • His buisness partners (Chakotay et al., the “What’s your vice, Bill?” guys, the guy he bought Weber gaming from, etc.)
  • Their neighbors
  • The people from the “Mom of the Year” competition
  • Everyone in Juniper Creek
  • The Greens
  • Barb’s family
  • Bill’s second in command and his family
  • Their lawyer
  • Sarah’s friend and her family
  • Anyone else who’s been attending his new polygamist church
  • The head prosecutor from Roman’s trial

and probably more that I’m forgetting.

Somehow I don’t think this secret is staying quiet for 6 weeks while he runs for office . . . .

If I’m thinking of the same guy, I believe that he’s also a polygamist, although two of his wives ran off to be a couple together.

Well, Don is a monogamist now, because of the whole “two wives running off” thing. But, yes, Bill’s polygamy is the worst kept secret in the world.

You’re also forgetting:

Scott
Sarah’s slutty friends
Ana

BTW, last season I made a big-ass giant family tree so I could keep track of everyone.

Nice family tree. Although, JJ is also Wanda’s brother.

Thanks, I couldn’t remember Don’s name for the life of me. Even though he’s been a polygamist, I definitely put him in the category of “might stupidly spill Bill’s secret by accident”. In fact, I could see many of Bill’s family doing the same . . . it was Nicky after all who tipped off Alby about Weber Gaming.

Good call on the other ones that I’d forgotten.