"I went to a place to eat. It said 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered french toast during the Renaissance". --Steven Wright ... If you are a devotee of time travel, check out this song...

Monday, June 18, 2007

Big Love 2 Episode 2: Oh, Happy Day, and Not

It was good to hear "Oh, Happy Day" on tonight's Big Love, first sang by Rhonda in a recording session, and then over the closing credits. I've really enjoyed the harmony ever since I first heard the Edward Hawkins' Singers hit recording of the song decades ago.

But, unsurprisingly, not everything was happy and harmonious for the Henricksons on tonight's episode.

Everyone forgetting Nikki's anniversary was billed as the main theme of the show - but that was by far the least of the problems that beset Bill and his family.

Someone defaced one of his Home Plus signs, and he was plenty upset about that, but even that wasn't the main hit he took, tonight. (And the Home Plus incident did provide some great comic relief - with the head of the company who makes the signs attacking Lady Bird Johnson. Who? When she was First Lady in the 1960s, Lady Bird launched a campaign against billboards, as defacing the beauty of America...)

But the biggest problem Bill is now facing came from Alvin, poisoned last year by Wanda, Joey's (Bill's brother's) wife. Although Roman commanded Alvin to keep quiet about the poisoning - so that it did not bring the authorities swarming all over them - Alvin goes to the police, anyway, who in fact swarm....

With the ultimate result that Joey, wanting to protect Wanda, says he was responsible, which gets him hauled off to jail.

Life's not easy for Bill. As was made clear last year, the family which causes him the most grief is not his nuclear family of three wives and their children, but his larger family which includes Roman et al.... In many ways, it's not polygamy at all, but dirty business and greed and wheeling and dealing that pose the most threat to his family's well being.

More next week ... when the days look to be getting even less happy, and more riveting...

See also Big Love Resumes and Episode 3: Son and Mothers ... 4. Help Me, Rhonda ... 5. The Waitress and More... 6. Just Lust ... 7. Margene's Mama ... 8. Polygamy and Misgivings ... 9. Swing Vote Margene ... 10. Polygamy as the Ultimate Cool/Bad ... 11. Family in Crisis ... 12. Polygamy and Great Performances Confirmed



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this show! So glad the new season has FINALLY started!

Paul Levinson said...

Me too! Good to have your comment!

S-Love said...

It probably wasn't the best idea for Bill to put his face on the signs. Why not just random, photogenic Utah families?

This is a great show--and fortunately I just watched Season One, so it's fresh in my mind as I watch Season Two--but I think there are a few fairly visible weaknesses. I don't think Alvy's repressed homosexuality is conveyed in an effective way. I think there's not enough of Nikki doing anything other than complaining, manipulating, or backstabbing: what happened to the Nikki we see in the first episode, in the very tender bedroom scene, with Bill struggling with impotence? (We do get some sense of their healthy physical attraction to one another later, but those scenes are lead-ins to other issues: Margene feeling disrespected and Nikki finally admitting to a credit problem.) Finally, I think Harry Dean Stanton's screen presence is hit and miss. He overplays the cold stare to the point where he's an ersatz Christopher Walken.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know where I an get a recording of "Rhonda" singing "Oh Happy Day" ? She has a really beautiful voice!

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, I'm glad you love Big Love too. I hate correcting blogs/posts, but I can't help it: It's Alby. Not Alvy or Alvin. Sorry!

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