Watching HBO's Big Love, it's hard to imagine that there has never been a TV show about polygamists before. True, Mormon fundamentalist polygamists make up only a tiny portion of the American population. But if the "traditional" nuclear family husband+wife+kid+kid equation is fraught with enough drama to sustain TV writers since the fifties, think of the possibilities of husband+wife+wife+wife+kid+kid+kid+kid+kid+kid+kid!
Like: The season 2 finale had some great lines (e.g., "Our husband's dating life is none of our business!"), and demonstrated how much the show's characters have developed since last season. Bill has gone from a nice guy who happens to be a polygamist to a nice guy who happens to be a polygamist with a pretty consistent selfish and stubborn streak. Barb, Nicky and Margene showed their jealousies, desperation and loneliness. And also their alienation; Barb from "normal" society, Nicky from her fundamentalist family and Margene from the other two wives and from potential friendships. And the kids (at least the older two) began to show some cracks from the pressure of their home life.
Dislike: I've never enjoyed the Juniper Creek plot quite as much as the individual challenges and tensions within the Hendrickson family, and the season finale was no exception. I would give a little further analysis here, but once you begin summarizing this side of the show, it ends up sounding like a bad soap opera. (It's not -- even the weirder elements of the show are still superbly scripted and acted.) But given all the problems that the Juniper Creek clan brings to the table, I wonder why the Hendricksons don't just move, or at least keep their distance. The Weber Gaming drama seemed particularly avoidable for Bill -- why not just look for another door to the gaming industry?
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