Monday, January 26, 2009
If you want to talk 'Big Love'...
... you can either discuss last night's episode here, or you can go read Todd VanDerWerff's breakdown over at The House Next Door. After going back and forth on it, I've decided that I have nothing to offer on the show other than my standard Women=Awesome/Bill+Juniper Creek=Lame formula, and that's not enough to sustain weekly reviews. So have at it on your own time.
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9 comments:
Though the first episode of this season was really good, I thought this one was a bit lame. Too much compound crap.
Also, what is going on with Sara? I really hope I'm wrong, but it looks like they are trying to hook her up with her young uncle? Yech.
And please, please don't bring back Rhonda.
Nicky's taking control of her "fertility" issues was the best part of the show.
My wife and I decided that, while Big Love is certainly not appointment viewing, we really missed the characters while they've been gone. It's not as though we needed to know what would happen next, it was just nice to catch up with them after not seeing them for a year. Sort of like my brother-in-law: I don't want to call him every week, but the couple hours at Christmas each year is really nice.
I definitely disagree with the opinion that Bill/compound related storylines aren't as good as the storyline involving the wives. That was probably my favorite aspect of season 2, particularly the latter episodes involving the Greenes/Weiber Gaming/Roman's shooting/Alby's manipulations.
The second episode wasn't as good as the first, but I have a feeling they are going to be building up to more intense episodes as the season progresses. I'm surprised, however, that the Barb's cancer plot was ended so soon.
I don't think there's much of a chance that the Anna character will actually become a fourth wife.
I am looking forward to the rest of this season. To me, Big Love is right up there with the other great HBO dramas like Sopranos and Six Feet Under. It's definitely far superior to True Blood, which I don't understand the love for. I guess it's just not my thing.
I was also surprised that Barb's cancer scare was ended so fast. I think that it was maybe just a tool for her to accept the dating of Anna. I'm surprised how dull the actual "date" scenes were.
I thought the scene where Bill tells Nicky about Barb's test was a great one. Her horror at the thought that Barb might be sick again showed the feelings that she doesn't usually let be seen. Along with the rooftop scene from last week, Nicky seems to be getting a little more depth and maybe a little more softness.
Yeah, Barb's cancer scare did end rather abruptly. But I thought, based on that last shot of her standing aside, watching all the others, hugging herself, that maybe now she's going to reconsider her decision to green-light Bill pursuing Anna as a fourth wife. Maybe _that's_ why she got a clean biopsy result--the real conflict may come when she starts digging in her heels while everyone else, maybe even Anna, starts to think it might work.
I was thinking the same thing. Once her cancer scare was over, Barb seemed to be rethinking her acceptance of dating Ana. She's going to have a hard time going back on this, as she was the one who pushed the group dating.
Thanks very much for directing your readers to Todd's piece(s), Alan. Very much appreciated.
I thought Sara was crying at the end because she was pregnant...she had a book with her - something about "young mothers"...no?
Yes, that was a book on teen motherhood that Sarah was clutching and reading. I thought it a really odd choice to represent that, though. Would Sarah really buy a book like that? And bring it into her parents' home? I know that the old trick of holding a home pregnancy test and crying has been overdone, but the book just seemed heavy-handed.
(Unless of course she borrowed it from Margene's bookshelf.)
Another theory: she found it in Rhonda's bedroom, and was crying not for herself but for Rhonda...
I don't think that they are trying to suggest Sarah has the hots for her half-uncle. When her friend suggested it, she looked horrified.
Funny, I found the whole Sarah 5 minutes intensely more interesting than Weber casinos or Bill's crazy Mom taking his dad hostage or the group dating. (Really, are they going to continue to pursue a woman who likes to drink wine? Or is the idea they can "save" her from that sin? Does she realize what she has to give up?)
I like parts of this show but hate being asked to feel sympathy for any of these men. When blubbery Don started losing it over his runaway brides, I thought, serves you right. There's nothing remotely about that life that seems worth it, no matter how many pretty inside picnics they throw.
Loved Nicki in the dr's office, though. Chloe Sevigny can be brilliant.
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