Not much love for "Big Love"

I have to say right off the bat that "Big Love" is one of my very favorite TV shows.

I mentioned very briefly in an earlier post how the season that just ended was kind of going off the rails. Now that I've had a couple weeks to really digest the season finale, I think I'm ready to get into what it was about this season that I didn't like.

The very first thing I noticed was the change to the opening credits. The title sequence had been what drew me to the show in the first place, featuring one of my very favorite pop songs (the gorgeous Beach Boys masterpiece "God Only Knows") over scenes of Bill and his wives gliding to and fro on ice skates. The new beginning is the Henrickson four floating through space to an ethereal "Home" by London based band Engineers. Aside from that, the most glaring difference that you may have noticed about season 4 is the fact that it was unusually short. Most premium cable series tend to have considerably shorter seasons (around 12) than broadcast channel series (around 22), but this season of "Big Love" was a whole 1/4 shorter, checking in with only 9 episodes. I think this was a huge part of why this season was such a mess, they just jammed so much into so few episodes.

Season 3 ended with some great cliff hangers. There was the murder of Bill Henrickson's main rival, his father-in-law and leader of the United Effort Brotherhood, Roman Grant by Bill's brother Joey. There was the issue of the murder being in retaliation for the death of Joey's intended second wife, Kathy Marquart, and the involvement of the Greene family (the McCoys to Roman's Hatfields). There was the issue of Ben Henrickson's growing feelings for his father's second wife, Margene (who is considerably closer in age to her "son" than to her husband). There was the growing relationship with Sarah Henrickson and her desire to marry her boyfriend and move away, much to Bill's chagrin. And there was the upcoming opening of the Blackfoot Magic Casino, a collaboration between the Henricksons and a local Indian tribe.

That's a lot of intriguing material to carry into a new season, right?

Well, season 4 addressed all of those plots as well as introducing Bill's mother's Mexican parrot smuggling ring. The kidnapping of Lois, Ben, and Bill's father by the Greenes. Bill's continued campaign for state senate. We were introduced to a new major character, a shady Washington lobbyist (Sissy Spacek, who went from zero to lunatic so quick that you were left wondering how you missed her being doused in pig's blood) who was out to screw Bill (and not in the good way). Alby muscled his way into his father's seat as prophet, while finally falling in love...with a dude. Ben admitted to kissing Margene (and meaning it). Nicki got to know her daughter while trying to deal with the return of ex-husband JJ (the always creepily evil Željko Ivanek), while trying to deal with her infertility, while seeing her mother promised to JJ, WHILE uncovering a nefarious plot by JJ to impregnate Nicki and her mother, oh yeah and finally finding out that her father was murdered by her husband's brother. We're not done yet, Bill and Barb grew increasingly tense and unsettled. The casino opened amid tension with the tribe and bomb threats from religious extremists. Bill threw best friend Don under the bus to save his political aspirations. We saw the return of former fourth wife, a very pregnant Ana (who was sealed to Bill and his wives for about the length of a Britney Spears marriage). And Margene focused more on her TV shopping business while agreeing to a green card marriage to Ana's boyfriend (without anyone else's knowledge of course). As I'm trying to think of all of this past season's major plots I'm sure I left something out, but add to all of that the distractingly recast Henrickson daughter Teenie.

This was all in only NINE HOURS of television, folks!

Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up on the show. I still think it's a fascinating concept and is well acted (as evidenced by Chloë Sevigny's recent Golden Globe win for her portrayal of Nicki). All the individual plots this past season were interesting and held your attention by themselves, it was just way too much to process simultaneously.

The show has already been renewed for another season, so here's hoping they settle into a more comfortable pace as we anticipate the fallout of Bill's campaign win and simultaneous disclosure of being a polygamist (during his victory speech, seriously?).

- Justin