Recapping "Big Love": This Is Who We Are. This Is Who We'll Always Be
By Melissa McKimmey | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (7)
This week we’re covering the small side-plots first, then getting to the good stuff.
Don tells Bill he went to see a shrink, he’s taking anxiety medication and basically his life is falling apart. Bill gives the same worthless answer, which is that they’ll fix Don up and he should have faith. Don’s been pretty much tapped out when it comes to faith, since all Bill does is ask him to give more and more. Alby wants to buy out Don’s shares of Home Plus at $80 buck a piece for shares that are worth $35 and he’s thinking about selling. Don’s got no family, been outed as a polygamist and someone tried to kill him. He might as well secure some financial comfort for himself. It would be the only benefit he’s seen from being Bill’s friend and partner. Bill’s in shock, but he should have seen this coming. Don’s been trying to tell him for months that there’s a problem here, but Bill thinks he can wait everything out and God will magically fix it since Bill’s so faithful. If only God would let him know when he’s going to fix it.
Neighbor Carl wants Barb to get Margie to let Pam out of the Goji business. Unfortunately for Carl, this won’t make Pam respect him. Barb’s like ‘Okay?’ I’m mentioning this because I think Carl’s going to do something more noteworthy here soon.
Micheal Sainte, the Goji guy, thinks Margie’s in a cult. Bill and Barb use the same cult logic to try and get Margie to drop Goji juice. Honestly, with these two choices, Margie’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Margie gets her Nancy Drew on about Cara Lynn and Mr. Ivey and follows her to his house. She goes in and comes unglued on him. She yells for Cara Lynn and she comes out and Cara Lynn and Mr. Ivey, oh, I’m sorry, Greg, proclaim their love to Margie. Margie looks disgusted and hisses at him ‘What were you thinking?’ The storyline has been leading us to the obvious parallel between Bill and Margie and these two and the way Margie rails at Mr. Ivey in disgust and anger is amazing. Margie’s not an angry person. She’s more likely to cry at you than hit you. Seeing her so outraged, so furious, it’s obvious that she’s questioning if she really thinks her marriage is the best thing for her and maybe she’s angry at Bill for putting her in the position she’s in. Ginnifer Goodwin really went all out for this episode. She really elevated Margie beyond the giggly girl she was to a woman questioning the fundamental choices that have made up her life.
Cara Lynn has dropped most of her pretenses at being a ‘good’ kid and you can see her wheels turning as she frantically tries to figure out how to keep Nicki from finding out about her relationship. She’s just like her mother.
Ben tries to tell Nicki about Cara Lynn needing professional help and she just yells at him. The problem with this family is that no one actually talks to each other. Instead of saying ‘I think X needs to happen because Y’, they say ‘X needs to happen’. No one ever asks ‘Why?’ They just slam doors.
Margie makes Cara Lynn tell Nicki about her own indiscretion. Nicki is visibly shaken at the news. She drags Cara Lynn to Mr. Ivey’s house and informs the both of them that their relationship is over. Cara Lynn walks right over her mother and tells her that when she’s sixteen she wants Nicki to let her and Mr. Ivey marry. Well, sweetie, people in hell want ice water. These two have been clandestinely seeing each other for all of a few weeks and they are talking marriage? Jesus, soften her up by asking if he can take you to the prom, since you’re in HIGH SCHOOL.
Nicki goes crazy on Mr. Ivey, hitting him and screaming at him and she finally stops when he grabs her hands and she just whispers “Don’t do this to me.” Nicki sees Cara Lynn as her chance to do things over, to have a daughter who gets to have all the things and the freedom she didn’t have and now that same daughter is caught up in the kind of relationship Nicki ran from at her age.
Of course, if being married at such a young age is so bad, why aren’t they all calling Bill a criminal? Double standard what?
Barb is being considered a person of interest for having allegedly procured Margie for Bill and Ben takes Heather to apologize to Barb because her Bishop called the Stake President,who contacted her father the police officer and now we’re here. She’s obviously torn up about it and Barb says nothing, then throws a cake at the wall. Barb’s got some righteous anger, all right. Mad at Bill, herself, Heather, Margie, Nicki. Some are more deserving than others.
Bill and the wives talk with Lee, the lawyer, who looks like the only reason he’s putting up with the theatrics is because he’s charging Bill double. The wives snipe and spat and everyone is there to save themselves. Margie spends five hours answering questions, trying not to implicate anyone. It seems to hit home a little bit when they ask her to think about why the Henricksons would want her to join them. It sounds so creepy when you say it like that.
Dear everyone: Margie is the VICTIM here. She was sixteen. Yes, she lied about it, but what kind of incompetent moron doesn’t check her driver’s license, her birth certificate, her maturity level? Barb has said that there were hints that Margie wasn’t old enough to be making this choice. And they did it anyway. In Margie’s speech at the polygamy rally, she said she would have left many times over if it weren’t for Barb. I love Barb and I wouldn’t want to see her go to jail, but she did have a hand in this and she should shoulder some of the blame along with Bill, for where the family is at. As it is, they all blame Margie, which is an unfair burden for the sixteen year old girl she was then.
Bill tells Senator Barn to report back to the LDS Church that if they will leave his family alone, he’ll resign. It’s an actual, true act of selflessness from Bill. You know, I’m surprised Bill hasn’t had some kind of heart attack from all the stress. He seems like a prime candidate. He must eat well.
Bill goes to the compound to blackmail Alby with proof of one of his indiscretions. Alby gives him the crazy eyes and when Bill leaves he sets up Verlan to kill Bill. He seems to be low-balling the price, though. He offers a paltry $2,000. Really, $2,000 to kill your nemesis and a sitting senator? Tsk. Verlan wants ten grand, five now and five later. That’s a little better, though I don’t find Verlan to be a reliable henchman.
Barb asks Nicki to talk to Alby, since she’s the only one who has any kind of relationship with him. Verlan stops her and tells her about Alby’s plan to kill Bill. Nicki yells at Alby and threatens him, which isn’t a good call. When we jump back to them, Alby’s got her in a compound outfit and has her tied up, with a pillowcase over her head.
He and Verlan take her to the desert to a tent (I don’t know why he needed to set up camp to kill someone) and when he pulls the pillowcase off of her head, Verlan freaks out. He doesn’t want to kill her. Maybe he should find a different line of work, then. Alby very seriously puts his gun to Nicki’s head and she starts in with a story about how they snuck off to go swimming one day and the current pulled her out and he swam out and saved her. She talks about the bond they have, just the two of them that no one understands. He can’t pull the trigger on her, so he kills Verlan out of frustration. RIP Verlan. Alby tells Nicki they are the same, the two of them. Are they? Nicki is a liar, a manipulator, sneaky, spiteful and power-hungry, but she does have a moral code that Alby clearly does not. They have one of the most interesting relationships on this show.
Bill gets a call from Lee. The DA is only going after Bill, for statutory rape, among other things. As Bill is relaying this to Barb and Margie, Nicki walks in, covered in dirt and silent. And we fade to black.
We’ve only got two episodes left. I don’t really want to see anyone go to jail, but I would like some resolution to this storyline and to the Cara Lynn storyline. I have a bad feeling, though, that they are going to leave a lot of things open-ended.
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Comments
Posted by: jp at March 11, 2011 10:35 AM
Love the recaps!
Two things about this ep: Matt Ross (Alby) is a really excellent actor. The expression on his face when he shot Verlan, and his treatment of Nicki was amazing. I truly was hoping he'd shoot her, though.
Also - when Barb and Bill confronted Marg about the 'cult' stuff, it was they first time I really felt like she was culpable in all of this mess. If Margie doesn't get out, I'll be pissed.