"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...

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Big Love 5.3: Grim Christmas

A more grim than merry Christmas on Big Love 5.3, in which about the only really uplifting moment is when Bill and family serenade Senator Dwyer (Gregory Itzin), morose in his office with his wife in the hospital.

Everything else for the Henricksons was from bad to worse.   Bill's mother has real dementia setting in (she's enjoying Diane Renay singing "Blue Navy Blue" on television, about the sanest thing she does tonight).  Cara Lynn figures out (and Nikki confirms) that her father is dead.   In close to the worse development for the family, Alby's wife Lura takes her kids and comes to Bill for safe haven.  All of this on Christmas eve.

But the worst, in terms of its apparent impact on everyone, is Margene's admission that she was only 16 when she married Bill (legal age in Utah is 18).  This sets Barb to hit the bottle, Barb and Nikki at each other's throats, and you can imagine the rest.

I was wondering, though, just why this is such a big deal for Bill and family?  After all, they've already been living in defiance of Utah law, so what's the problem, other than a little more bad PR, I suppose, in Margene marrying into the family at 16?  Margene's mother gave her permission, and, according to what I see on Wikipedia, 16 is a legal age to marry in Utah, with parental consent ... so Bill and Margene's marriage wasn't even technically illegal.

Laws and morality always co-exist uncomfortably, and more so in Bill's family, work, and life.   But this season, the Henricksons are having an especially tough time of it.  The last scene in tonight's episode, with the Henricksons in a nativity scene, was close to heartbreaking, as the expressions on their faces betrayed what they were feeling.

There are some rays of hope, though.  Ben and Heather (Sarah's friend) seem to be on the start of something good.   And Cara Lynn and Don's son are even further along - though Caroline's male teacher, who clearly likes her,  may be another bad cloud rolling in...

Well, Christmas is over, for the Henricksons and the real world, and it will good television indeed to see how the new year works for out for those characters on our screen.

See also Big Love's Back and North to Alaska

See also Big Love Season 4 Start with Casino, Psycho, and Birds ... Big Love 4.2: Politician or Prophet?  ... Big Love 4.3: Super-Compressed, Super-Fine ...  Big Love 4.4:  Bill and Don
... The Potential for Brilliance in Big Love 4.5 ... Big Love 4.6: Barb Ascendant ... Nearly Gunfight at the OK Corral for Big Love 4.7 ... Big Love Breakout Season 4 Finale

See also: Big Love, Season 3 ... 1. a 4th ... 2. Two Issues Resolved, Two Not So Much ... 6. Exquisite, Perfectly Played ... Big Love Season 3 Finale: Bigger Love ...

And from Season 2: 2: Oh, Happy Day, and Not ... 3: Sons 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 ... Big Love Season 2 Concludes




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