Big Love

Big Love will be coming to an end in just a few months. This episode, the season premiere of the final year, truly made me realize that.



This is a show that changed television forever, it looked an often mocked religion objectively, it showcased the kind of people who are not often shown on television and it just set the bar for dramas on HBO.



All of those accolades aside, this was just a so-so premiere for me and that is because they skipped a lot of the immediate fallout. I wanted to see the reaction right after Bill went public about his situation. I wanted to see what it was like for a man in office to be a polygamist. We got a sense of that from the assault of their child, from the tongue-lashing in public, but not as much as I would have liked. Still, there were some good scenes here. It would be hard not to feel for Margene as she watched her hopes of being a businesswoman collapse. And the scenes in Bill's store are always good.



This was one of the weaker season premieres, but I have no doubt that Big Love will rebound and fast. Last season was about taking risks, this season will be about giving fans the closure they need.

As far as premieres go, this one was pretty great. It started out a bit slow paced with not a lot going on but in all honesty, by the end I was really enjoying it. I do feel as though, this show has lost some of it's heart after season 4, but this show still proves to be one of the most addicting shows on television, and this episode was a prime example of that.



I found myself missing Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Paul, and a lot of the other younger ones especially now that Douglas Smith only got two lines as Ben Henrickson. But I guess Cara Lynn and Gary Embry are supposed to fill that void now. I expect to see much more of Cara Lynn, her character seems interesting. Who else loved Nikki in this episode? Her terrorizing that kid? Hysterical. Also Margene's outburst was funny too.



The family is still falling apart, wasn't season 5 supposed to be after the fall? Hopefully by the end of the season, the future won't look so grim for this family since now we got Barb with a drinking "problem", Nikki ready to be first wife, Marge being the most affected by the publicity, and her jewelery business going down. That's one of the things that I did like about this episode, all the ridiculous story arcs came to a close here from season 4 (Margene's jewelery business, the casino, the election, the eggs).



By the end, we've got a positive outlook but we still got some underlying problems. Overall a great premiere for what it likes to be a great final season of this very addictive show.

It's amazing how much calmer the entire premiere felt compared to every episode last season. It's no surprise that last season of "Big Love" was easily its worst, a complete trainwreck that was redeemed only by a few select episodes and moments that probably only added up to about a couple episodes worth of material. But I have renewed hope for this season. I over-rated last season's episodes, I realize that now, so I look at these episodes with a fresh eye and I must say, despite its slow pace, the show did a great job of keeping things to a minimum.



What worked best was when the show focused on Bill and his wives attempts to keep things at an even keel following his revelation that he is a polygamist. These moments were more real than the entire fourth season and I have to give some respect to the writers for slowly whittling away the idiotic plots from last season without actually spending entire episodes on it. The casino? Left behind in the dust with just a few lines. J.J's disappearance and death and the whole Adaline plot is still sort of sticking around, but I care more about Adaline and how she deals with her pregnancy more than I cared about J.J. Zeljko Ivanek was a great actor and still is, but it felt random having him appear.



There was some great moments here and some superb acting. I loved the awkwardness felt whenever Bill was forced to face people who once trusted him and especially when him and his wives went to the school meeting only to find the press there and the entire board against him. Along those lines, it was nice to see Nikki step up and protect her family even though it meant being more aggressive. I'm not sure how I feel about Raymond's bully being part of a polygamous family too.. it feels a little contrived. But if that's what we have to sacrifice to get a more controlled season, I'll take it.



And as for the last scene.. it may be one of the more honest scenes the show has done in awhile and it addressed what's bugged me about Bill Henrickson for awhile: he's an a-hole, and he deserves all the hatred he's getting. He claims he does this for his family and for the principle, but boy, he really botches stuff up. Him admitting to being responsible for all the problems was a touching moment and may have redeemed Bill Henrickson for me.



There should be a good amount of story to be told here.. I'm not 100% sure what we're supposed to believe Alby's doing, but I look forward to seeing a Bill vs. Alby face-off. It may not be as epic as it was with Roman Grant, but it should be great television either way. I also look forward to seeing more of Gregory Itzin as an enemy of Bill. I also look forward to seeing exactly how the show will get itself out of the hole its dug itself into with all the plots. However, so far, so good.