Big Love Recap

Yay! Big Love is back. I, personally, have been foaming at the mouth for the new season. Last week, we watched Barb attempt to recover from the shenanigans at the Mother of the Year award. Everyone helped in their own way: Bill and Don spied on Wendy, Nicki attempted a takeover of the first wife position but also sic'ed her mom and her Hummer on Wendy, Margie whimpered, Roman strong armed Joey into some shady deal with the UEB to avoid re-assigning Wanda to some prune and Joey got to take a look at Roman's "Bridal Registry" which contains Polaroids of pre-pubescent girls and their hands and feet which I guess serve as proof that their digits aren't webbed or something. Also, the dorky neighbors invited Bill and Barb over for a luau. This week, Barb seems to be recovering, which is good because things are looking to get even more chaotic.

During her meltdown last week, Barb decided to start taking classes to work toward her master's. This was funny to me because at the height of one of my stressful periods last year, I did the exact same thing. Barb and I have some advice for all of you: graduate school does not cure stress. Duh.

So, it's morning at the Henrickson households and Barb is all a-flutter in anticipation of her first class. In her excitement she has donned a neck scarf. Nicki comes over with pastries and is all pointedly smiling and saying hello to everyone and they're all, "Yeah, hi, Nicki. Nice braid." Nicki gets that stormy look on her face, which is usually not a good sign, but she does read my mind and tells Barb to lose the scarf. Barb, you just got fashion advice from someone who wears prairie garb and aviator glasses. Just sayin'.

Today is a big day for Ben as he is starting his new job at Home Plus and it's a big day for Home Plus as their new billboards go up. Driving to work, Bill and Ben get all excited to pass one of the new billboards but some clever delinquent has spray painted "+US +US +US" over the "Home Plus is Us." Oh, haha. That's so witty! Bill, understandably, freaks out.

At Juniper Creek, Alby and a crony hop out of their Hummer, where they are listening to "Tainted Love" (what the...?), to grab Joey so that they can take him back to Roman for his daily guilt trip and mindfuck. At the compound HQ, Rhonda is recording the blandest version of "Oh Happy Day" ever. Apparently the Juniper Creek posse is preparing to take the creepy cult music industry by storm. Roman bursts in with Joey and apologizes for the interruption, especially to Rhonda. She mews and thinks, "It's cool, asshole, I'll just crawl through the TV and kill you later." Roman has Joey call Bill and have a revealing conversation about Alby's poisoning. The conversation is, of course, taped and stashed in a drawer with an alarming number of other audio recordings of Bill's conversations. Roman prods Joey with an upcoming UEB vote and sends him on his way. Alby's pissed that his dad isn't going to attempt to bring legal action against his poisoner. He storms off to, presumably, listen to more Soft Cell or maybe switch things up with some Flock of Seagulls. We later see him talking to the police and checking out their butts. Hot.

Joey, at this time, makes an informed decision to fall waaaay off the wagon. Wanda calls Nicki in a panic and tells her that things aren't going very well and they need help getting out of the compound. Nicki, who has just gotten done being reamed by Barb for not depositing Barb's tuition money, hightails it to Juniper Creek with Margie who is all kinds of giddy about going to see the compound. On the drive there, Nicki reveals that her wedding anniversary to Bill has been completely forgotten. Look, man, I'm not saying it isn't a shitty thing to forget, but let's remember that many husbands forget their anniversaries with their one wife. Nicki might just have to accept the fact that she needs to be a little more proactive with such matters. Then she gets pissed when she catches Margie calling Bill and Barb to give them the "fucking duh!" routine.

At the compound, Margie is gawking at the various behaviors of the residents: heavily pregnant women tending to beehives, heavily psychotic women running into underground bunkers with their children. Fun! Wanda's a bit of a basket case and the state police choose that time to show up which of course freaks Nicki right the fuck out*...leaving Margie to run the show. Adaleen and Emmylou Harris are in the middle of a private serenade for Roman when the cops arrive and Adaleen's all, "Stop singing, Emmylou Harris, and go fire up the jet!"

On the Home Plus side, Bill and Don have to go lay the smackdown on the billboard company exec who isn't really in any rush to serve his customers. Bill lets him have it and I am quite proud. On the Home Plus loading dock, Ben's girlfriend visits and he drops the polygamy bomb in her lap. She's a little skeeved. Nonetheless, she agrees to go home to meet the +USes.

Barb tries her darndest to get back to campus for her second class, even going so far to recruit Brynn into cooking dinner (call me crazy but I think giving a newcomer "woman's work" when she's already a little apprehensive about your polygamist lifestyle is a questionable call), but she's stopped outside by a black-eyed Wendy who begs Barb to call off the people in the Hummer. A light goes off in Barb's head and she realizes that Wendy, despite her stalker tendencies, was not responsible for her humiliation. But it looks as though she might realize that Rhonda was after she receives a call from the Bad Seed who calls to apologize for her behavior at Barb's house and says something cryptic along the lines of "Sorry about that whole thing."

Later, after a dinner that provided an adequate amount of groveling, Barb and Nicki discuss family life and how much they love each other. Nicki says something about how she doesn't think love is enough or that love is the wrong thing on which to build a marriage. Barb doesn't have much of an answer other than to look at Nicki like, "Quoi?"

We go back to Juniper Creek one more time where Joey has sobered up enough to wait for the cops to show up at his house. They've come for Wanda but Joey tells them he's the one they want. Eh. Joey's had dumber ideas. This might actually work out. I'm guessing Bill will get control of the UEB seat, and Joey will have to a few years but it's not like he can't get a job with Bill...assuming Bill isn't attacked by a swarm of sister wives.

Oh and the kids? Well, besides Ben's visit with Brynn, Sarah has attempted to make a friend from her ex-Mormon support group but he balks when she reveals that she's still in high school. Sarah seems bummed but I really don't know why. The dude had a molester moustache and wanted to take her to a Toto concert. A TOTO CONCERT.

*There's an article in this month's Bust about Chloe Sevigny and she says that there will be some big reveal about Nicki's character in the third season. I'm guessing it will shed some light on that frantic, wild-eyed look Nicki gets and the way she screams "THE STATE!" whenever police-types threaten to come around.

Comments

[Rachel Hauck]

Laughed out loud at your comments. Too funny. I've only seen this show a few times, but it drew both my husband and I in, even though we think the premise is quite sick. ;)

Rachel

[Eleanor]

I love this show. Great recap!

I hope there's one every week. :)

[Isabel]

Did the part with Margie and Nikki are talking in the car about how they feel sorry for Joey and Wanda because they only have each other make you want a sister wife? Because it totally made me want one. I mean, they were right..it is hard to only one the one spouse to lean on.

Anyway, I thought that was proof of some awesome writing!

[Kelly]

Isabel, yeah, totally. That was a really nice moment. I don't get the impression that actual polygamists are wild about this show, but I think it portrays it in a very honest and sometimes very positive light. It *is* very hard having just one other person to depend on. Wanna get married? ;-)