| Television Review: Big Love Season Three | |
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By David Derus LA TV and Movie Review Examiner Examiner.com | |
Last Sunday HBO's famous polygamist family premiered their third season. Big Love premiered in March of 2006. But because of last years writers strike and the decision to move the show from a summer release to a winter one it has been over a year and a half since the last season. Big Love follows the story of the Hendrickson family. Bill, played by Bill Paxton, is the patrarch with three wives and at least eight kids (It's hard to keep track of all the little ones). At the age of thirteen Bill was kicked off of the polygamous compound where he grew up. Since then he had mad a good life for himself. He went on the straight and narrow. He only took one wife, Barb played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, and they were model Utah citizens. when Barb got cancer Bill gets pulled back into the lifestyle due because of factors outside his control. Since then he has really embraced "The Practice." Now the family has to deal with the fall out of being in bed with Roman Grant, keeping their lifestyle a secret in a judgmental world, and maintain peace at home between the three wives and host of children, the oldest of which grew up outside of polygamy and take serious issue to their parents choices. Why is this show so good? Politics. Bill and Roman are on this constant power struggle. Roman is constantly trying to bring Bill back under his control and Bill is trying to distance his whole family from an oppressive cultish regime. Everyone from "The Compound" schemes to place themselves in positions of authority. It might be through an arranged wedding or maybe just good old black mail but any way it comes about they all want a piece of Bill, who is a successful businessman. Characters. Bills three wives are a perfect complement to each other. Barb is a great leader of the house. Nikki Grant, played by Chloë Sevigny, is the only wife who grew up around polygamy. She is a bit of an ice queen but her bullishness often comes in handy when dealing with her father, Roman Grant. Finally, there is the ever so lovable Margene. She is the youngest of the wives and a free spirit. I could go on about the menacing and power hungry Alby Grant, or Louis Hendrickson who is Bill's eternally conniving mother, but I do not have time to highlight all the fun characters that flesh out this cast.Mormons. This show is an odd duck. On one hand it has some classic HBO elements. There are secrets, betrayals, and endless politics. But the special sauce that brings the show together is Mormonism. As someone who has spent a lot of time around Mormons it is almost unsettling watching how straight forward the show is with many of the religious factors. Most modern LDS will be the first to point out that polygamy has been an ex-communicable offense for nearly a hundred years in the church. But in actuality there are still hundreds of small sects around the country that practice it. Much of the shows conflict comes in because the rest of the Mormon world rejects these families. In the season primer we get a taste for what the season will be focusing on. Roman is in prison for statutory rape. Barb's' cancer might be coming back. The neighborhood is getting wise to the family who is partially outed. And finally there might be a forth wife joining the ranks, one that is a strong independent woman who has already caused Bill to compromise his code of ethics. It will be interesting to watch which direction the show takes. Executive Producer Tom Hanks has put Mormons in general on his short list after the passage of California Prop 8. Which he opposed and was funded largely by LDS money. It's rumored that the main writers for the series has also taken a step back to pursue other projects. If they are not careful this could be the year that the show jumps the shark by becoming preachy and abandoning the themes that have made the show so interesting in the first two seasons. That being said it's movie from Monday nights to Sunday Nights might show that HBO is confident that they will do well and be able to reach a larger audience. David is a graduate of UCLA and has been a blogger/author for seven years. He is a southern California local who has spent his life sniffing out the fun and affordable in Los Angeles. | |
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Examiner.com Originally published January 20, 2009 | |
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