The Lesson of this Week's Episode: Margie is Dumb
By Melissa McKimmey | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (11)
I didn’t really like this episode. I thought it was strangely paced, the scenes seemed shorter than normal and the transitions were jumpy. The story didn’t flow the way it usually does. I also thought that there were several revelations just for the shock of it, with no reasoning behind what choices the characters made. And an episode about Ben being kidnapped and the rescue mission shouldn’t have been so A) boring and B) implausible. I must say, though, JoDean is awesome. I want to hang out with her and Margie drinking and making shiny jewelry. Ahem. Shall we?
A Plot. Bill and Joey save Ben, Lois, Frank and JoDean. This plot made up the bulk of the episode. Apparently Bill can leave Salt Lake for Mexico for God knows how long in the middle of a heavily contested campaign, while running two major businesses, one with no partner. That’s the least implausible idea this plot is based on.
JoDean meets up with Bill and Joey. Bill does his yelling and demanding routine at the Mexican police and actually gets them to investigate the Greenes. Oh great, give Bill more reason to demand things. While they wait, they discover that Frank brought along a boatload of guns to sell. I hope Frank gets shot. With one of his own guns. You’d think Lois would be smart enough to not go along with this plan. Joey decides to pack some heat so he can kill Hollis Greene because of his part in killing Kathy. JoDean recognizes the crazy (she is from the compound) and tries to talk him out of it. When that fails, she rats him out to Bill. It’s about damn time someone on this show made the smart choice.
Down at the Greene compound, they are having a mock trial for Lois and Co. It’s creepy and weird and Lois’s contact gets killed. Well, there’s no middleman, now, Lois. Happy? Lois isn’t going down without a fight. Frank runs his damn mouth and I don’t see why they don’t just shoot him. The trial gets recessed (seriously, they use legal terms for it) and they send the family to a make-shift cell.
The best part of this plot is when Hollis calls anyone, he doesn’t say good-bye, he says ‘Yours Truly, Hollis Greene’ like he is signing a letter. That’s some nice quirk, right there.
Bill and Joey decide to sneak on to the compound to save everyone. While they are making plans, JoDean ditches them and walks on to the compound and gets welcomed as a set of extra hands. Now that’s how you do espionage, boys. JoDean is so awesome. I love that she just does what needs to be done, in a smart, practical way. She stakes out the place and calls Bill with the location of everyone. It’s so great until she gets busted by the Greenes. Damn. Still, she’s done better than Bill.
Speaking of Bill, he and Joey decide to head into the Greene compound at night for the rescue. They have a huge shouting match because Joey thinks Bill turned his back on his family and Bill thinks Joey and the family want to drag him down with them. It’s about time these two started talking. They are both right. Bill did amazing things after being kicked out and he deserves credit. However, he’s an ass and he gets really smug and superior when he deals with his family. Joey is jealous that Bill made it all the way out, but he is more compassionate about other people’s failings. I think Joey and Bill actually have a really solid relationship. They seem to support each other well. Joey stepped right up to help Bill with this and Bill was there for him with Kathy’s death. The just need to stay away from their parents.
Bill tells Joey he can’t go and takes his gun. Joey tries to back him down, but Bill stands his ground. I finally agree with Bill about something. I know that Joey is still crazy with grief over Kathy, but he can’t keep up this anger. Not to mention, these people have more guns than brains. Not the best place to draw your pistol all pissed off. Joey admits that he killed Roman. Wow. Bill is in shock, but they don’t really have time to discuss it. I hope that Joey doesn’t get busted for it. Wanda needs a keeper, you know?
Frank and Lois make their apologies. Lois apologies to JoDean, who takes it in stride. Frank tells Lois that Roman came to Frank and told him to kick Bill out or risk having his wives and property taken from him. Yeah, that’s not really a big surprise there. Frank says he was a selfish coward and I actually enjoy agreeing with him. It’s a nice little scene, but there’s no way Frank would have said a word if he didn’t think he was going to die. He’s not getting any major points for this.
Bill pops in and they all make a run for it. Frank can’t go that far. Lois is all about leaving him behind, (heh) but Bill says that this time no one gets left behind. Fine. Be that way.
They almost make it out and, oops, here comes Joey! He’s yelling, Hollis comes over and it’s a big stand-off. Seriously, why didn’t he have his henchmen start shooting? That’s why you have henchmen. Bill tries to get Hollis to let everyone go and keep him. Hollis put his hand on Bill and Lois tells him to take his hand off her son and- I can’t believe I’m going to type this- grabs a knife (a machete? it’s big and sharp) and cuts off Hollis’ arm. And that’s where they lost me. Really? Wouldn’t that be more difficult? His arm hits the ground and Bill tells Selma that they can either help Hollis or kill them. She chooses to help Hollis, but really, how long does it take to fire a few shots? I really think they could have managed both. And really, are they close enough to a good hospital to be able to save him? No one tries to shoot them, ostensibly because they are all so used to being told what to do that they can’t make an executive decision. The family escapes.
And then when Bill and Ben get home? All three wives are on Barb’s porch in robes, hugging them as they come home. Oh, that won’t tip off the neighbors, MORONS. Subtlety is lost on these people. Ben ignores Margie, but I don’t care anymore.
B Plot. Ana, Margie, Barb and Ana’s fiance. Ana’s going to leave the country with her fiance because his Visa is up. Well, nice knowing you, Ana! Oh wait, we’re not done. Barb blusters about the law and their right to see the kid. Ana’s pretty much tells her to get over it. I agree. Margie tries to talk Ana out of it and gets some thinly veiled remarks about blackmailing Bill from Ana’s fiance for her trouble. Then she has the outstandingly stupid idea to marry this guy so Ana can stay. What the hell? I get to thinking that Margie is a smart, capable woman and then she pulls stunts like this. Not to mention, this guy is supposedly pursuing a medical degree. I find myself skeptical.
Margie does it anyway. She and Ana and the fiance stage a bunch of pictures to fake the marriage background. Oh my god, this is so stupid. And so not going to work. Did she even think about a prenup? She’s got cash in the bank and this guy has already made it clear that blackmailing isn’t an ethical boundary for him. Brilliant. Barb and Nicki are shocked that Margie could be that dumb.
My theory as to why Margie decided to go with this plan is that when Bill comes out as a polygamist, she is protected because, see, she’s already married! She’s looking out for the business and herself. Honestly, Bill should be proud. I’d be more proud if it wasn’t so dumb. I also suspect they are setting Margie up to have ‘feelings’ for this guy.
I think that Barb is so crazy to have Ana and the baby in the family because if she’s gets to be a psuedo-mom to the kid it is like she is involved. If she’s not, then it is secretive and wrong and the fact that Bill cheated (had sex outside marriage) is real. This way it’s like they are all still bound together and her fragile world is still safe. I feel pretty bad for Barb that she has to do so much pretending to make her life acceptable to herself. That’s not a happy way to live.
Side plots. Nicki and Adalene. Nicki gets the news that she has secondary infertility. Man, that sucks. She is really upset about it and I didn’t get why until she says that her childhood was taken from her and she’s not going to let her womanhood be taken either. Oh. Yeah, I can see where she’s at with that. Plus, on the compound a woman gets more status with more children.
The whole pregnancy issue is further complicated because Adalene is pregnant. Yes, you read that right. Fifty-ish Adalene is knocked up by her daughter’s ex husband. You can only imagine how happy Nicki is about it.
That’s the normal (ish) part of this side plot. It gets kind of weird because JJ talks to Wanda about Adalene being pregnant and Wanda gets freaked out (again) and says that JJ said he promised he wouldn’t ‘do it again’. He threatens her with Joey’s secret about offing the prophet to keep her quiet. Okay, what is this? Is he pretending to be a doctor? Is he giving the women hormones? Why can’t it just be a normal creepy incest-y pregnancy storyline? Why does it have to be all weird and mysterious? I’m more annoyed and less intrigued by the mystery, because whatever they reveal isn’t going to be as good as they have built up. Get on with it, show.
Casino. The casino is getting picketed by angry conservatives. There is a bomb threat. No one can reach Marilyn Densham, who should be fixing this, apparently. (See what I mean about Bill leaving town for a few days? Not possible.) I still think this plot line is boring. It perks up some when Barb and Tommy figure out that the conservative leader, Payley and Marilyn Densham are in it together. They decide they are being played. I decide I don’t care. Then I decide that it’s either A) Marilyn was in on it all along and was evil and Bill was right (no!) B) Bill pissed off Marilyn and she’s selling them out or C) Marilyn will show up and have saved the day after summiting with Payley and the conservative. I am pulling for C because I hate Bill being right because he was just being a jerk. He didn’t dislike her for any valid reasons, he treated her like crap, she gave it right back to him and he couldn’t take it. I hope she fixes everything and then he loses the vote. To be fair, I hate Bill marginally less in this episode. He was sweet about giving up his life for Benny.
So now what? Like the Greene family is just going to let it go that Lois chopped off their prophet’s arm? There is no way that it’s over. I really didn’t like that they went with the melodramatic ending to the escape. There are so many ways that could have gone that weren’t so forced. It makes more problems and loose ends that are going to be extremely difficult to tie up. Plus, it was kind of dumb. And dumb is something Big Love is not.
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.
Follow @pajiba
← The Five Best Horror Movie Remakes | Harold and the Purple Crayon Heading to the Big Screen →
Comments
Posted by: Dudleys Mom at February 25, 2010 4:54 PM
Man, I feel sorry for you having to do recaps on such a muddled mess. This show is like watching a car wreck. You keep watching, hoping Nicki's going to put the miniskirt back on and do something totally batshit crazy. But, no, it's Lois with a machete. I guess that was kind of cool for about one second, if you could suspend disbelief (which is a big assumption), but all the intrigue with the compound factions just makes me go...meh. This season is a waste of good actors.