After having been transfixed by last night's episode of The Sopranos, I was pretty
much in the mindset that anything following the show would be a tremendous letdown. Well, the premier episode of
Big Love certainly did not come remotely close to The Sopranos, but I was still rather intrigued by
what I saw.
Now we all have to remind ourselves that when we watch anything on TV, we have to accept dramatic (or comedic) license and have to suspend reality. In the case of Big Love, you're going to have to kick reality out of your house. When you watch this program, you have to constantly remind yourself that this isn't real--at least you don't think it is. It's hard to believe in this day and age that polygamy still exists, and in this particular case, that it seems almost normal.
Bill Henrickson owns a chain of home improvement stores, and he is doing his best to keep his own house in order.
Make that three houses in order, because he has three wives--Barb, Nicki, and Margene--and seven children who all live
together in a trio of houses joined by a common backyard. It doesn't take long to see who among the three wives seems
to yield more of the power. Barb aka "Boss Lady" pretty much runs the entire show, and comes across as the
most logical wife of the bunch. Nicki seems to be the most unstable (if you can believe that) of them all, constantly
seeking out attention and making her jealousy over Barb rather obvious. Margene, the youngest wife, trips over herself
to get Bill's attention, and is ready to satisfy him at every opportunity. Bill manages to move from house to house to
house to wife to wife to wife to family to family to family without much effort. Just picture a typically dysfunctional
American family and multiply it by three.
Bill is on the verge of opening a new store when his estranged brother calls him and says that their father is terribly ill and that he needs to come up to "the commune" right away. Then we follow Bill, Barb, and Nicki up to a remote area in Utah where a number of people live together in this ramshackle commune where religion and polygamy abound. After learning that Margene can't seem to run a house for even a day, a 14-year-old girl marries an older man, and that Bill's mother may be poisoning his father, your head starts to spin like a centrifuge.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of Big Love. The acting was good and the dialogue was snappy and to the point. However, I felt incredibly weird after watching it, sort of the same way I felt after watching The Book of Daniel when it was on NBC. Are the writers and producers trying to shock the audience first and somehow develop a story around it? That approach hasn't worked before, and it's doubtful if it will ever work. The disclaimer at the end of the show said the Mormon Church has disavowed the practice of polygamy, but in modern day America, does this type of culture still exist?
I'll tune in next week for the curiousity factor alone, but if we're going to be subjected to multiple storylines that don't go anywhere and are only intended to shock viewers, then I may not stick around for too long. We'll see what happens next Sunday.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-13-2006 @ 11:44AM
Gene Grow said...
What a great show! After living 3 years in Salt Lake City, and being a "Gentile" (the term Mormons use to describe non-Mormons), I can attest to the fact that this lifestyle does exist not only in the "nether lands" of compunds but in the city as well as suburbia. As to whether it is an accurate depiction or not, I can only guess. I know that I found it very entertaining and some of the references only more meaningful after living among the "Saints". While polygamy is not condoned by the church, I know of many fine LDS members who have that firmly recorded in their family trees. Just fascinating!
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3-13-2006 @ 11:47AM
LarriveeJP said...
It's absolutely real and it's absolutely creepy. In fact, one of the networks had a special about one of these communities just a couple of weeks ago. The story followed a woman who escaped from a commune in Colorado City. Ultimately she returns to her abusive husband and seems to forgive her father who molested her and most of her 55 siblings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Arizona
If I hadn't seen that special I doubt I would have watched Big Love. That story intrigued me, however, and Big Love nailed the craziness that I saw in the profile of Colorado City, AZ. It was surprisingly good and I will definitely keep following it.
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3-13-2006 @ 11:49AM
doc said...
I found the mormon mafia angle kind of interesting. It could lead to some good story. I was left questioning why Bill didn't suspect the mysterious drink that Nicki's dad dropped off as the source of the poison. All in all, I agree with your assessment. Not great, but good enough that I will give it another shot.
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3-13-2006 @ 12:05PM
STEVE said...
INTERESTING SHOW...BUT, DO YOU REALLY THINK THE MORMON CHURCH IN AMERICA WILL LET IT GO ON???...IT WOULD BE LIKE SHOWING THE VIOLENCE IN ISLAM AS MAINSTREAM...OR THE CHILD MOLESTING CATHOLIC PRIESTS AS THE NORM...
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3-13-2006 @ 12:12PM
Tucker said...
I didn't catch all of the show, but I 100% agree - all the elements were there, good acting, decent writing, nice pace... But for some reason I just didn't feel grabbed. I'll probably catch on of the re-runs of this episode to see what I missed, and I'll probably watch next week's (if not just because it's after Sopranos), but I don't really see myself becoming a huge fan. Maybe Paxton & co. will prove me wrong!
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3-13-2006 @ 12:19PM
BGDC said...
Saw this close to two months ago. Saw three episodes. The show doesn't get any better. It gets cornier and cornier. Their extended family and the people from the compound are beyond silly...it's like Deliverance but with religious folks.
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3-13-2006 @ 12:21PM
LarriveeJP said...
It's on a premium cable channel. Don't see how they can stop it.
Where exactly in the show was it depicted as mainstream anyway? As a rule, if a compound is involved the behavior inside falls far outside of the norm.
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3-13-2006 @ 1:40PM
Aaron Peck said...
MORMONS DO NOT PRACTICE POLYGAMY!!! This is what pisses me off about this show. It focuses on a sect of people that call themselves "Mormons" but, aren't affiliated with the church in anyway. So, ignorant people end up watching a show like this, and think, "well, they're all crazy out in Salt Lake." Another thing, I doubt anywhere in this state you'll find a man that has three homes together like that in a nice suburban nieghborhood. And the Mormon Mafia, what a joke! HBO has something against Mormon's, which is completely obvious with this show and the movie Angel's in America. HBO wants to portray Mormons as these crazy wierdos with three wives and a bunch of kids, trying to live a normal life. This show is a travesty. HBO, has again NOT done its research, like in Angel's in America, and they continue to fuel the stereotypes of the LDS religion. It makes me sick!
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3-13-2006 @ 2:33PM
Jim Brady said...
I agree- the show was interesting enough to bring me back next week but it lacked the beauty of a deepening plot line. I'm interested to see how far they can take this. As far as the Mormon connection, I've seen alot of press on this issue. I'm certain the Mormon church is disappointed but they are good people and will survive. My neighbor is Mormon and very invovlved in his church. Unless I'm a village idiot, I'm 100% certain he only has one wife. "Real" mormons are not polygamists. HBO entertained me, but they didn't test my intelligence nor suspicion of an entire religion. I predict the show will last 2 seasons and sizzle out but the Mormon church will last many more.
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3-13-2006 @ 2:57PM
LarriveeJP said...
Here is the link to the story I was talking about. These sects, while they very obviously aren't associated with Mormonism, are very real. Compared to the footage in the 20/20 story, the people in the compound on Big Love seem relatively normal.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1672757&page=1
The show nailed the bizarre world that you can see in this story. It's a bizarre world of power and control and it makes a great backdrop for a television show as it is something very far outside the mainstream (as evidenced many, many times in just the first episode).
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3-13-2006 @ 3:49PM
Happy Monkey said...
Aaron Peck Did you watch it? They did mention that they had to keep it secret from the mainstream Mormon church. That's what the point of the fast food scene was - the new girl was a devout Mormon, and Paxton's daughter was avoiding her questions. And when the Mormon girl mentioned that her father was a cop, that made it even more important to keep it secret.
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3-13-2006 @ 4:40PM
heinlein said...
Am I the only one that doesn't get all the fuss about polygamy. For me the reasons for allowing gay marriage and polygamy are basically the same, that it should be up to the people in a relationship to define the nature of the relationship, yet one is extremely PC and the other totally ignored.
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3-13-2006 @ 5:35PM
LarriveeJP said...
Depends on if you are comparing a gay marriage to some guy who just wants a bunch of wives, or comparing it to the practice of arranging for marriages with children and socially acceptable child molestation I suppose.
The practices of these sects cannot be compared to your average gay couple. That's a political issue. The type of nonsense practiced by these sects is about power and control under the guise of religion.
It's a false analogy to compare the two. I could honestly care less what two (or more) consenting adults do of their own volition to be quite honest. Arranged marriages to children is another story altogether.
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3-13-2006 @ 7:52PM
MrC said...
Couple of comments
first Aaron Peck, the show made a point to show that not only is Bill's family not mainstream mormon, but the "compound" is even less so. It couldn't be more obvious is they put a disclaimer at the end of the episode.
Oh wait they did.
It's pretty obvious the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (NOT "The Mormons") and their leader Warren Jeffs are the inspiration for it. (http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy360.html)
As for the "Mafia" angle, I think that's just a cult leader's personality. They have to get people to follow them by hook, crook, or threat.
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3-13-2006 @ 8:24PM
HiveRadical said...
I just had to say that the real issue I see with the show in connection to my faith(I'm LDS (Mormon) and didn't see the pilot) is mainly the fact that it's filled with scenes of gratuitous sex.
Aside from that the only thing I've heard that's really bothersom is that I've heard that the 'Roman' character has the image of the Salt Lake Temple somewhere in his office (which doesn't make much sense, in my mind, for a break away apostate group) which seems like either a misdirected attempt to accent his office or an intentional attempt to blur the lines between true LDS and apostate polygamous groups.
But I think the main issue is that idea that their trying to pass off 'soft porn' as beinlinked ti an institution that, while we don't currently practice it, still regard as sacred. It's an attempt to make something seen as sacred in our eyes as monogomous marriage is in our eyes and in the eyes of our traditional Judeo-Christian brothers and sisters to seem like something that is principaly about sex. Sex is a key element in monogomous or divinely commanded polygamous relationships but it is not intended to be published abroad like some apetite enducing fast food comercial. That's the issue I have with it. It cheapens sexual intimacy and the overall integrity of any kind of divinely sanctioned marriage setup, whether you're a Christian bishop or Jacob/Israel married to Leah, Rachel etc..
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3-13-2006 @ 9:32PM
Ellis Hade said...
HiveRadical,
You didn't watch the show, and your critisism is off base. If you actually watched the show, you'd probably have a different take on it. The sex scenes were hardly gratuitous, I was surprised at the lack of them being as its HBO. It was more of a comedic angle than a sexual one. Actually the show is pretty tame for HBO's standards. And I think they made it very clear that these people were not affiliated with the mormon church and if they were discovered, they'd be in big trouble. Watch the show, then you can criticize. Otherwise you just come off sounding like another close-minded, brainwashed mormon.
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3-14-2006 @ 9:48AM
R.A. Sylvester said...
It's "WIELD" more of the power, not "yield"
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3-15-2006 @ 11:08AM
B.J. Millican said...
I too thought the show was facinating.
Some people are going to take it too seriously and get their feelings hurt. That is already evident in only 17 comments on this show.
Lighten up- it is only a television show.
As for the show itself. I thought the characters were great and the acting was very good. Since "Walk the Line" I can't see enough of Ginnifer Goodwin, I will keep watching for her at the very least. And I thought Bill Paxton did a good job in his character as well. I will certainly add this show to my "must watch" list.
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3-15-2006 @ 2:31PM
Bukster said...
The Bill Paxton character did not have a picture on his office wall, but did gaze out the window with a temple clearly visible inthe near distance. I asked my wife (who lived in SLC for a time) if that was the Mormon temple and she said it looked like it but couldn't be sure from the angle it was shown. But, if not, it's clearly intended to be.
As for calling some scenes "soft porn" is laughable.
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3-15-2006 @ 2:31PM
Bukster said...
The Bill Paxton character did not have a picture on his office wall, but did gaze out the window with a temple clearly visible inthe near distance. I asked my wife (who lived in SLC for a time) if that was the Mormon temple and she said it looked like it but couldn't be sure from the angle it was shown. But, if not, it's clearly intended to be.
As for calling some scenes "soft porn" is laughable.
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