Stolen Innocence
By Melissa McKimmey | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (12)
Hey guys! I really liked this episode. Everyone seemed really on their game in this episode, the acting was superb. The editing seemed a little choppy, though. I think it was broken up into smaller segments than normal and it was less fluid than normal. Still, one of the best episodes, content-wise.
A Plot: Bill. Bill’s storyline includes Barb and freaking Ana, who comes back in this episode to cause tension, basically.
Bill’s trying to screw up the casino and Barb’s trying to keep things stable. Bill wants to advertise in Idaho, which would be great except all the evangelicals in Idaho don’t take to gambling real well and decide to try and pass a ballot initiative to ban gambling. Nice one, Bill. God, how have Jerry and Tommy not asked him to stay the hell away by now? And where is Don, damn it?
Marilyn conveniently comes in to town and gives Barb a gift of hot chocolate. She reads Barb right by telling her she knows the casino must be like a boys club and yet Barb is doing a good share of the work. I know Bill thinks that Marilyn is out to get him, but I don’t think so. First, Bill’s small potatoes. She wouldn’t waste this much time on a jerk from Utah unless she thought she could get something out of it. She wants to represent the casino and if Bill plays nice, so will she. The problem here is that Bill is such a stubborn jerk and he is afraid of any woman who has more power than he does. He knows Marilyn has more power, is confident and that she doesn’t automatically defer to Bill (or even respect him). He’s used to being the figure head and the power source and she just laughs at his attempts to be domineering. I love her. She tells Barb that she respects her and she doesn’t know why she’s with a horse’s ass like Bill. Bill’s standing right there as well. I laughed out loud.
Barb and Bill wind up seeing Ana waitressing at a high-end establishment. I guess she’s left the diner for greener pastures. And probably less pie. Barb notices Ana’s baby bump and freaks out. Ana’s hair looks much better now. Ana’s understandably freaked out, because after it’s established that the baby is indeed Bill’s, Barb spills to the other wives and they decide that, of course they will all be the baby’s mothers. Why they think this will go over well, I don’t know. The woman didn’t want to be married to all of you, why would she want to raise a kid as a group? Barb does the whole ‘the baby was conceived in our marriage’ self-righteous attitude and all I can think is, ‘Good luck enforcing that!’ Ana does me one better by telling Barb that actually, Bill jumped the gun on the whole waiting-for-sex-with-his-new-wife-until-married thing. Barb was so damn smug about confronting Ana and getting in her face that she almost deserved the news.
Ana comes to Bill separately and tells him that she is okay with Bill helping her with the baby, but none of the wives. And she wants to have a lawyer draw it all up. Bill freaks, because a lawyer means a trail and a baby with a woman who’s not your wife doesn’t make for a great campaign slogan. Oh, she has a fiancee, too, which I don’t care about. I just want her to leave.
Barb and Marilyn bond and they work together to get Jerry and Tommy (heh, Tom and Jerry) to sign up with Marilyn, even though Bill told Barb no. Maybe Bill shouldn’t have screwed around on the first wife, eh?
Barb and Bill reconnect at the house and Barb lets Bill have it, which is awesome. It comes out that Bill slept with Margie before they were married as well. Why the hell is Barb putting up with this? After all the things that Bill has done, I cannot believe that she was all gung-ho about being a mommy-and-me group with a woman who screwed her husband. Barb really, truly deserves better than she gets from Bill. And she may have come to that conclusion as well, because she tells Bill that she thinks it may be less about the higher good for Bill and more about Bill doing what Bill wants. The audience says ‘Duh, Barb’.
Bill thinks that he can prove to the wives that he really does everything for the good of the family by showing them a big house they can all live in together. Really, that’s his plan? Look, we can all be in a big house together, irritating each other more? I get that he wants them to come out as polygamists, but isn’t he jumping the gun a little? Of course, at this point, there’s not a lot Bill can do that I’m going to be on board with one hundred percent.
B Plot: Alby. Oh man, this one’s going to be hard to cover. Alby got himself a love nest for him and Dale. Which is sweet, but how is he paying for this? Isn’t the compound money tied up in the UEB trust? Of course, Adalene was skimming off the top, I bet Alby got his too. Bill talks to Dale and tells him Alby is a sociopath. He’s not wrong.
Dale freaks out about what Bill said. Alby seems really earnest when he assures Dale that he cares about him and that Bill’s a damn liar. They split from the apartment. Alby fails to notice that Lura is watching and she is pissed and crying. Damn, she’s as vicious as Alby. No good is coming of this.
Dale goes to his bishop to get help. It goes very poorly. From what I gather, LDS believe you can be born gay, but in order to be pure, you have to abstain from homosexual contact and spend the rest of your life repenting and trying to drive away the feelings. Basically, they believe you can pray away the gay. Dale’s not a big believer and he seems dejected and beaten. It has to be horrible to spend your life trying to fight something you’ve been told is unnatural and then to go to your spiritual leaders and not be given compassion, but to be scorned and lectured.
Bill hears from Lura that Alby’s taken up with Dale. He meets with Dale and confirms that he’s involved with Alby. Bill shows genuine compassion for Dale, because it is clear that Dale is struggling. Bill says Dale needs to come clean with the commission, which is easier said that done. Dale is just sobbing and it is really heartbreaking. If it comes out his whole life is over. His job, his marriage, his faith will reject him. Damn.
Lura goes to Dale’s house and sees his wife. I’ll bet that was an awkward conversation.
And then, Alby comes to the apartment with flowers. And Dale’s dead. He hanged himself there. Alby just crumples, crying and kissing his feet. It is incredibly sad. I have no idea what this will do to Alby and I’ll always wonder if Dale was the person that could have drawn Alby out of the crazy. I guess we’ll never know. Rest in peace, Dale. You seemed like a nice guy.
Side plots: Nicki. Nicki is doing a lot of soul searching. She and Bill have an interesting talk where she confesses to be damaged. It’s nice to see her understanding that her past has made her who she is, but it’s so messed up that her parents turned her (and Alby) into such screwed up people.
Wanda’s keeping an eye on Cara Lynn for Nicki. Wanda’s family rolls into town because JJ’s hitching up to Adalene. Wanda’s parents are cree-py. He dad calls her babydoll that suggest some seriously icky boundary issues. She reverts back to childhood mannerisms when they come around, which also suggests some serious issues from her childhood. Poor Wanda. I hope we find out more about her and Nicki’s shared past and about why JJ’s so horrible.
Nicki finds out that JJ’s agreed to marry off Cara Lynn the same day as Adalene. Nicki shows up to the seedy hotel where the sealings take place and is dressed like it’s 1985. She’s got on a mini-skirt with a flower-y print, a tan top that shows her bra through it and a grey jacket. And her hair is out of it’s braid and in a wavy ponytail on the side of her head. It is most sincerely awesome. (If you’ve ever seen Chloe Sevigny off screen, it looks like something she might have worn to work that day.)
Adalene freaks and Nicki pays her no mind and starts opening doors. With each room, there is a glimpse of a scared, crying girl (or girls) and an older man next to them. It is horrifying. It sounds exactly like the situation described in several books on polygamy. Carolyn Jessop, who wrote Escape, left polygamy and is an consultant for the show. (Further reading: Elissa Wall’s Stolen Innocence, from another polygamy escapee.) Nicki gets Cara Lynn and tells JJ she’ll kill him if he tries it again and they leave. He’s not too broken up about it, because he goes to his ‘honeymoon suite’ with Adalene and I refuse to describe it, because it was creepy. Adalene even seemed scared, and she got it on with Roman.
I think it’s really telling that Bill wasn’t there with Nicki, that he’s so involved in his own interests that they don’t even bother going to him now.
Ben, Lois, Frank, JoDean. Jesus, these people. This group makes an ill-advised trip in to Mexico to get the birds directly and cut out the middle man. I just bet this was Frank’s idea. He’s cheap. Of course, so is Lois. They get the run around for awhile and then get busted by the Greene family, for poaching their supplier. Oh man, this is about the worst thing that could have happened. The Greenes will kill them. Hey, maybe they’ll kill Frank for Lois! I don’t think JoDean knows that the Greenes were involved with her sister’s death, but if she does, she has got to be traumatized. Frank’s too arrogant to be worried. Lois isn’t dumb, she’s got to be worried and Ben’s probably thinking he shouldn’t have lied to his dad about where he was and just gone home.
Margie. Margie’s still QVC queen and into Toastmasters. She rocks a speech about being your own woman and independent. Uh-oh, looks like Bill may have a revolt on his hands. (I hope!) Bill and Margie have some conflict about Margie not wanting Bill to come out as a polygamist. He figures out that she’s worried about her business. He gets all whiny about it. She seems to ignore him, which is the smart thing to do. He hair is still super cute.
Well, that’s it. I’m really going to miss the humanized Alby. I love the depth that his character has. I’m also interested to see if Barb will really give Bill some consequences for his stupidity, or if she’s just going to play the good wife again. Something in these relationships is going to have to give. I hope it’s Bill.
Melissa McKimmey is a mom, wife and grocery merchandiser who spends too much time on the internet and has a Chai tea addiction. She spends most of her time on the internet as TWoP Fan and can be emailed at here.
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Comments
Posted by: Melissa at February 19, 2010 11:28 AM
I was sick with worry when Nicki was going room to room looking for Cara Lynne. That entire sequence was unbelievably heinous. Great drama, but the fact that it's based on real events... wow.
And as if I didn't already love Nicki, she goes and shows up in that ridiculously awesome outfit. This is Chloe Sevigny's season.
I HATE Ana. I have no idea what any of them ever saw in her, and I feel certain that someone else is pulling the strings and trying to ruin Bill's campaign. Hopefully all the wives will revolt against Bill's selfishness soon.