Did anyone watch BIG LOVE this season? SPOILER ALERT

[yurbud]

It started out chaotic and awful, but once it got rolling, it knocked it out of the park a couple of times.

One was with the borderline retarded cult leader Hollis Green. In America, the guy seems about as threatening as a homeless person off their meds. But when the Dim-witted Hendricks grandparents and teenager Ben fall into their clutches in lawless Mexico, that was a real sense of danger and the climax of that plotline with the machete had every previous appearance of the irritating Hollis worth it.

Likewise, Bill's decision to run for office with the mother of all skeleton's in his closet, then use a win as a platform to out himself as a polygamist seemed random and hare-brained at first, but built to a great plot on the role of lobbyists with with Sissy Spacek, and by the end you think Bill is going to come to his senses and NOT out himself, but then---


The other thing that was notable was how effortlessly Bill screwed people who were allies if they seemed to obstruct his plan for getting elected, like his long time business partner Don and the leaders of the Indian tribe, even though ALL of them could have outed him as polygamists.

Sissy Spacek's speech about Bill being a polygamist as an excuse to have a lot of sex was also great and Barb's seemingly last minute attempt to saboutage his campaign kind of turned the show inside out--for the first couple of seasons, they writers did everything to make the Hendrickson family look almost more functional than their monogamous neighbors, but by the end of this one it looks like everyone and everything was subordinate to Bill's epic ego and fixing whatever psychic injury he has, which really makes him the logical successor as the Juniper Creek compound since he truly believes he's on a mission from God and echoes one of Bill Paxton's scariest roles in FRAILTY.

Any thoughts?

[DevonRex]

1. I've watched the first few shows so far. It really bugged me that Bill

turned into an asshole and had no problem screwing people over to win an election. So I stopped watching.

I figure I'll watch the rest On Demand when I get over being pissed off at him enough to stomach it. My annoyance at him made it difficult to watch the sex scenes, too, because it made me feel like he was just a guy who wanted to have sex with multiple women instead of a guy who really believed that he had a calling to be polygamous and have a gazillion kids.

Overall I think the plot lines this season were really interesting. And I loved Sissy Spacek. So I'm sure that wanting to see what happens will pull me back in, even with the high "ick" factor in there.

[yurbud]

4. Bill turned the corner from misguided to a potentially epic, tragic figure

he's succeeded in spite of his polygamy and could have had a nice, long, wealthy, comfortable life like the biblical patriarch he imagines himself to be, but instead, he wants to risk it all, probably not to vindicate himself but out of some kind of death wish and wanting to be punished and treated as an outcast, like he was as a teen, and experience that probably warped him even more than coming from a polygamist compound.

The other angle they more than hinted at is he really is a true believer. The face of his partner that he forced to take a fall for the polygamy rumors earlier lit up when Bill followed through on his plan to out his family.

This could set Bill up to be the next prophet of Juniper Creek, and because we have spent a couple of seasons growing to like him, he won't initially seem despicable as he takes on that role.

But someone once said, ''The job changes the man, not the other way around," and maybe Bill will descend into the evil of Roman or the madness of JJ.

[WolverineDG]

2. watching Albie completely wig out was fun

but I get the feeling that the show has been written into a corner & it makes me wonder how they're going to straighten it all out. I thought Bill was going to get shot when he announced he was a polygamist.

dg

[yurbud]

5. I liked the dramatic effect of people walking out, but in reality, you'd hear all the reporters

frantically texting and calling their editors and telling them to hold the presses!

Local news gets this exciting only so--well never.

[yurbud]

7. how albie and the other guy thought about being gay was tragic

"We'll only struggle with this in this life not the next."

[WolverineDG]

8. You knew that story line wasn't going to have a happy ending nt

[yurbud]

9. it could have been worse for them (and better for viewers) with a parallel to Bill's story:

What if Albie proclaimed himself the next prophet then came out as a flaming homosexual?

The result would be either Jonestown or a lynch mob.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. I love what is happening!

Bill seems to be on a massive self-destruction mission -- for a man who is supposedly so "moral" and "righteous" he has fucked over people right and left -- the selling out of his business partner being the most horrific instance. Good god what a train wreck he has creating! You are right, it really IS all about Bill -- and the Mormon faith feeds right into that.

I really think this next year will be the final season -- they seem to have ended this season with setting up for the breakup of the family. Margene making a "new" family and continuing her business, Barb finally reaching a tipping point about what she wants from her relationships and her budding relationship with Tommy (?), Nicki coming into her own in so many ways -- it is wonderful seeing her growing -- even as awkward/ugly as it sometimes is.

I can really see it ending with Bill in that big ol' house he wants to buy so badly, all my his lonesome.

I tell you -- don't fuck with the women on that show -- you'll lose an arm or get yourself torched! :wow:

[yurbud]

6. the only thing I didn't like about the arm scene was she stopped at one whack

one more and that painful character would be out of the show.

The more interesting angle on the show is the Hendricksons vs. the real world, not the Hendricksons vs. the retarded hillbilly cult.

In a battle of wits, you want the hero to meet his match or better, not someone unarmed.

[Tailormyst]

10. I had a problem with the running for office thing

After the big brew haha a couple seasons back about them being outed when Barb won that award and her being ex-communicated, running for office would have been absolutely impossible.

I am a big fan though and I loved the Albi storyline.

[graywarrior]

11. I wish I had watched this show from the beginning.

I'm missing so much. And I'd like to slap the shit out of Bill. But man, what a great story and a fantastic cast!