HBO's Big Love -- how Nicki and Margene met

Cafe Society
1

I don’t know if this “mini-episode” has been on TV before, or on HBO’s website – if it was, I missed it. I haven’t seen it discussed in the Big Love threads.

Anyways, HBO aired a 5-minute flashback (after John from Cincinnati) showing how Nicki and Margene met. It wasn’t on the schedule, I don’t know if they’ll show it again, and unless you were one of the 12 people still watching JFC, you would have missed it.

I’ll put it in a spoiler box, just in case. (It was pretty cool.)

[spoiler]Bill brings Margene to Bill and Nicki’s house. He introduces them, and Nicki’s boys are there so he introduces them too. Nicki’s made a nice lunch. They sit down to talk.

Nicki asks Margene why she wants to leave. (Leave where?, I’m thinking.) Then Margene delivers an obviously rehearsed spiel about not being cut out for retail or clerical work – she’s a people person – and so we learn Margene’s been working at Bill’s store.

She’s at the house because she’s being checked out by Nicki as a babysitter, four afternoons a week, to give Nicki a break. Margene’s just too cute, and Nicki’s suspicious.

Nicki tells Bill to leave the room so she can talk to Margene. Nicki asks Margene if she knows about their “living arrangements”. Margene says she does and she’s fine with it. Nicki tells Margene that they’re not ready for a third wife.

[/spoiler]

So that sorta answers that question.

Margene’s hair was different – there was lots more of it. Nicki was wearing a blue dress with a big bib-collar that was much dowdier than anything I’ve seen her in.

2

There’s more than one of these. The one I happened to catch showed how the three wives first asked Bill for separate houses. Their original single-house living arrangements were decidedly cramped.

These shorts have the stink of “DVD extras” written all over them. Though now that I’m thinking about it, they may be available via OnDemand.

3

Well phooey. I don’t have cable, so no On Demand. Maybe the shorts will be on YouTube.

I’d really like to see a wedding ceremony. Are the sister wives a part of it? Does everyone exchange vows and rings?

4

I watched all three of these on the HBO website about a month ago (they can still be seen in the video section of the Big Love page. There are three: the first is Post-Partum – Barb and Nicki at the hospital after the birth of Nicki’s first son; Meet the Babysitter – Nicki meets Margene (a great take on this can be found on Margene’s blog, where she talks about her job at Home Plus and how she met Bill; and Moving Day – the sister-wives confront Bill about the need to have their own homes.

5

Thank you! I’ve been disappointed with HBO’s website so I rarely go there.

6

Just FYI - they are definitely available on demand, at least from Comcast. I stumbled upon them last week and watched all three. I love how they “reverse aged” the actresses…very attentive to details.