Big Love

A great eventful episode of Big Love. We've got so much on going arcs here, I have no idea where to begin. Let me start off with clearly the best part of the episode. And that is the development between Ben & Margene. They end up getting in the strangest situations and I just loved Barb's reaction to all of them. We haven't seen development between these two since season one, and I think at this point, things came to a boil, with Barb confronting Margene and Margene's breakdown. Nikki & Bill's story line was slow burning considering how much we found out by the end of it. Roman exposing the family? Rhonda and her mother. The family picture, and Alby calling the police.



Nikki & Bill aren't alone together much and we haven't seen these two alone since Nikki revealed her debt, so it was nice seeing a plot like this. Seeing Rhonda crawl out of the car was just scary, we knew she was weird, but that scene was just crazy. Interested to see what's to come, hopefully Aaron Paul will be back soon.

This was an intense episode of "Big Love," and as I've mentioned before, it wasn't even in the "action packed, physical violence" way. The characters of this show are so well drawn out and developed that we're able to invest our entire attention onto them so that when something traumatic or important happens, it feels like it's really happening to people we know. This episode follows Bill and Nikki onto the compound as they do a family reunion and finds things kicking into a whole new gear as Alby continues to ignore Roman's orders and tries to get Joey and Bill put in jail for poisoning him. This was as intense of an episode as any other show on TV.



The show starts off innocently enough: Bill and Nikki head to the compound and prepare for a family reunion. Bill sits in on an UEB meeting and votes against Roman, claiming he refuses to agree with him on anything until he clears Joey of all charges. Back home, Ben is pressured by Don's son to join the straight-edge movement and abstain from drugs, alcohol and sex but feels pressure to continue with sex with Brynn. Barb also gets sick of watching Ben and Margene flirt with one another.



About mid-way through the episode, everything changes. Alby's frustration at being shoved to the side for everybody else takes over and he decides to call the state police on Bill, claiming he was involved on covering up the poisoning. This puts Nikki, Bill and the rest of the Henrickson's in a bad place. They're forced to leave with the police close on their tail, while they unknowingly take Rhonda, Roman's future wife, back to their house. She wants to run away and refuses to return to the compound.



The episode was superb in taking all of these plots and making them equally entertaining. Big Love has a way of taking a plot that seems unusual for television (polygamy) and finding ways to dig to the core of these characters and make the topic as interesting as anything else. If anything, the episode is a symbol of how much better Season 2 should get.

You have to love the foreshadowing done by this show. Most people watching Season 2 Episode 3 of Big Love and seeing the relationship between Ben and Margene would not expect this to come up again almost two years later in Season 3. That is just a true testament to not only how well-written this show can be but how it does not insult the intelligence of its audience (like most programs) and realizes that fans can remember things that happened in previous years and that every story arc does not have to end within the confines of a few episodes in a single season.

I thought that this was a great episode of Big Love. I liked that Bill was taking Joey's place on the UEB council. It was great that Bill was using the his vote as a bargining chip to get Joey released from jail. I thought that it was great that Alby did not do what his father said by going to the police and saying that his father was talking about how to get the case to go away. It was nice of Alby to give Nikki a heads up about what was about to happen and that he told Nikki that it was thier father who ratted out her family. I can not believe that Rohonda's mother was pushing her to marry Roman and that she ran away by hiding in Bill's car.

A few things happen this week that lead me to think Bill is going to be taking the wrong path in life out of his own selfish desires and greed. He would have been the last person who I could have imagined endorsing the use of video poker machines, let alone considering going into business with them and forgetting about opening a 3rd store. Where did that come from?! Don was hesitant, as well he should be. We also got to meet Rhonda's Mom, and she was exactly as I expected she would be. All she cares about is that Rhonda is going to marry Roman. Rhonda has ideas of her own and hitches a ride (unbeknownst to anyone) back to Bills house. So many things are coming to a head this season, I don't know where to begin, but I am loving the ride!