Decker

As usual, can't wait. Previews looked good for this one.

kneijst1

ditto. 9pm tonight. woo hoo!

boogieman03

I'll be there. Caught up last week on Season 1 (Thanks On Demand!). Had the S2 premier on the dvr.

BDB

This was an excellent episode, i liked how margene went to visit the compound. And she seemed in quite control of the situation..

kvrdave

It is always a weird deal. Whenever I watch this show I can't help but feel incredible sympathy for the entire family. I couldn't do polygamy, but I can't help think that there is nothing wrong with it if the people consent to it, and it certainly doesn't justify the persecution they are under. If anywhere, you would think that Utah would be a fairly open place to plural marriage.

Anyway, great episode.

johnnysd

Another really good episode. It is interesting how "tense" in a way this show can be, covering material that should be anything but. Superb acting.

Loved Emmylou Harris' cameo. Only she could sing like someone who is kinda good but not that great on purpose like she did.

Red Dog

J.J.A. Sabadoz

The people of Utah have to live with the bad reputation and jokes everyday, so they'd be more likely to try and prove that they're not like 'those' people.
Whereas people that don't encounter it can just not care either way.

Michael Ballack

I don't have a problem with polygamy either. The problem is the polygamists that have underage wives, treat their wives and kids as slaves, and the abuse both sexual and physical that goes on. I've watched a few documentaries on polygamists and they tend to be more like Harry Dean Stanton's compound than Bill Paxton's family.

adamblast

Indeed. It's fascinating writing and character work, but his fictional family seems more like *regular* Mormons than they do real polygamists. Maybe that's why I love it so much... It's actually one of the most sympathetic fictional portraits of Mormonism I've ever seen. Though for the reasons JJA mentions, I think most LDS churchgoers find the show unfair and don't think highly of it.

DeputyDave

Any documentaries you can reccomend? Maybe something I could rent from Netflix?

Meteu185

I really like the way they write this show: you can feel awful for Barb being in this plural marriage that she doesn't really want to be in, and while it's not a life she would ever choose again for herself, she loves the people who are a part of it just the same. Then they flip to having Nicki describe her thoughts on marriage and how she doesn't understand how 2 people could ever make a marriage work on their own, and you just understand her point of view.

What normally would totally make zero sense to 99% of us is totally understandable when it is said coming out of Nicki's mouth in the way she explains it.

kvrdave

Yeah, obviously I don't condone that. But I have read about "normal" polygamy families and they make it sound pretty similar to what you see in Big Love.

It makes me wonder if the polygamists tend to be like the compound, or if polygamist press tends to be about people that are like that. The other would be pretty boring if you were going to make a documentary.

adamblast

The renegade LDS branch which founded the Hilldale/Colorado City polygamist culture has roots *very much* like the compound.

Of course, that's not to say there aren't nice, happy blended families throughout. But I wouldn't want to be a kid growing up there; chances are still too strong you'd be married off early as a girl, chased off early as a boy.

kvrdave

Yeah, I've read some of that stuff. Sick and sad.

I will admit that when I think of polygamy, I don't think of the LDS church. I think more of hippy types that think it would be a cool thing to do. Get religion caught up in a lot of things and it will become pretty evil.

Michael T Hudson

I have no issue with it either. My only concern would be for the kids who did not choose the lifestyle.

adamblast

I suppose that's our difference then. Since there are 10,000 to 15,000 in their offshoot denomination, depending on who you believe (and whether you're talking about nationwide claims or just the Utah/Arizona border) I think they probably account for nearly all the polygamists in the US.

Hippie polyamory isn't much of a known phenom; though it surely exists in isolated cults and ad-hoc communes out there somewhere... Bisexual hippie polyamory even less so... (Of course, I'm pulling all this straight out of my... knowledge banks.)

Coral

This was a very good episode and leaves me wondering why the show isn't more popular. Big Love is very underrated.

Is it me, or does Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) look extremely cute in this episode? I always thought she was cute, but the camera really complimented her looks in this episode.

Ashirg

Did anybody catch 5 years ago, 3 years ago and 14 months ago promos from HBO on demand?

Michael Ballack

Ron of the Ron and Fez show said that Big Love was a chick show. I never thought about it in that way till then. Maybe guys don't watch the show because it doesn't have enough action? Who knows?

Margene looked damn hot in that skirt she was wearing.

Giantrobo

I don't know about that but I do know the 3 wives are the backbone, heart, and true spirit of Big Love. I love Paxton, but compared to their roles he takes a backseat and I don't say that in a negative way towards him.

Groucho

Mainstream Mormonism is very much anti-polygamy. They want to distance themselves from the practice as much as possible. I think the show has reflected that well...but to the point that the regular LDS folks in the show are typically portrayed as unsympathetic and/or villains (such as the nosy office worker).

The state has turned a blind eye to polygamy, simply because it's hard to enforce. As the 2002 Olympics approached they got more proactive, but even then they'd go after polygamists for other reasons (typically statutory rape).

kvrdave

That seems odd for this reason. The Mormon equivelent to Pope decrees that plural marriage is a good thing and what God intended. The next "Pope" decides it isn't at a time when it should be obvious to everyone that the announcement was to get statehood. Cathoics seeme to be able to "put up with" other Catholics that think some decree of the Pope was silly, or if they are pro-choice, etc. But with Mormonism you have a grouop that basically is saying, "This si the way it was originally, and you guys hate us for sticking to it rather than beding over for a new rule made for political reasons?"

I understand how most would be against the incest, child marraige, rape, etc. But for a "regular" plural marriage, I would think that they would not see it as a negative, but more as a "traditional" (or some other similar term) belief.

The few Mormons I have talked with about the subject tend to believe it WAS a good/holy thing, and it will return some day in the future, though none seem to be interested in it for themselves.

adamblast

What religion *ever* admits that it is changing key doctrines due to social or political pressure from the rest of the world?

The LDS could no more admit they dropped polygamy for Utah statehood than they could admit they dropped "blacks are inferior" to retain their tax-exempt status.

Ditto for divorce for mainstream protestantism today. And in the coming generations, ditto for "gays are wicked." (And if we're *really* lucky, Islam might be pressured out of its "kill all infidels" and death-worship.)

Groucho

My wife is LDS. I was doing her family tree, and ran into a polygamist family (surprise surprise). "Which wife am I descended from?" she asked.

"Don't worry," I replied. "It was the young, pretty one".