Big Love Recap

This week on Big Love, the "previously on" replays Kathy's death scene, which makes me gag because I really could have done without hearing that neck-cracking sound ever again. Thanks, HBO.

Lois and Wanda are preparing Kathy's body for her funeral. Wanda says that she wants to know everything about Kathy's death, no matter how horrible it is, and that she doesn't believe that Kathy fell down a ravine. Interesting cover story. Initially I wondered why Roman and Very Truly Yours Hollis Green didn't just leave Kathy where she was and let folks think that she was just running away from her wedding, but then I remembered that Roman pulled some Stunt Man Mike moves and that might raise more suspicions. Lois tells Wanda to stop talking. I love Lois. Ben is hanging out with those two. Bill calls him to check in and instructs Ben to keep looking after his grandmother, but to give some attention to Wanda, too...just, you know, not the kind of attention that Ben gives to Margene.

At home, Barb is telling Nicki about that letter that legitimizes polygamy and how Bill was willing to re-mortgage the houses to buy it back. Nicki wants to talk more about it, but Barb points out that Nicki still has plenty of 'splainin to do. Sarah shuffles into the kitchen and Barb informs her that she's going to bake a cake for the funeral and hands her The Joy of Cooking. Dude, the Joy of Cooking is no joke. Is that really the best resource for an inexperienced baker? Bill shows up and pulls Nicki aside to ask her why she took herself off the schedule. Nicki insists that she was just tired and is all, "Just put me back on the schedule, okay?" God, these two are just all about the romance.

Nicki shows up at the DA's office and Ray rushes over to whisper with her. Nicki says that they should just nip things in the bud so Ray asks if she's still involved with "that other guy." Nicki's like, "Uh...yes? Er, no." NO?!?! Ray asks if the relationship is over and Nicki says yes. WHOA.

Bill is arguing with Jerry about their casino plans. The Ute tribe has thrown a wrench into things because of a war that they had with Jerry's tribe back in 1877 and has said that they don't want Bill and Jerry's casino encroaching on their casino territory. Bill says that they should smoke a peace pipe and honestly at this point I don't know how Jerry continues to endure the ignorant shit that Bill and Margene say to him on a regular basis. Bill tells Don that he needs to go meet with a guy named Chester to try to settle things, which requires Don to reschedule the custody hearing with his estranged wives.

Lois and Wanda are peeling a metric ton of potatoes. Lois requests some music and Wanda turns on the radio, but soon breaks down. Lois tries to comfort her but Wanda freaks out and admits that she wished for Kathy to die. Lois is all, "Bitch, please, if I had a dollar for every time I wished one of my loved ones dead, I'd be a rich woman." She also points out that she sometimes acts on her urges, what with suffocating Frank and knocking her sister's lights out. Wanda is practically an amateur with her little antifreeze cocktails.

Bill goes to the DA with Joey about Kathy's death and how they're sure that Roman is responsible. The DA understands but shrugs that there's no evidence and Kathy's injuries were determined to be consistent with a fall. Bill points out that Adaleen made a threat but the DA still isn't convinced. Bill finally breaks things down for the DA: not only does he KNOW Roman, he's married to his daughter Nicki and can smell Roman all over the situation. The DA gets a legal stiffy.

Adaleen asks Roman about his role, if any, in Kathy's death. One of Adaleen's sister wives is in the room, but Kathy insists that her hearing aid batteries are low, which to me just screams, "I'M TOTALLY LISTENING TO EVERY WORD AND WILL USE THIS CONVERSATION AGAINST YOU IN AN EPISODE OR TWO FROM NOW." Roman explains that he did bump Kathy's truck but that's it and how he was bringing in the Greens to destabilize Alby.

Some creepy dude shows up at Wanda's house. He apparently is Wanda's big brother and is married to one of Kathy's sisters and skeeves Wanda right the hell out. He asks about how Nicki is doing and Wanda retorts, "Stay away from her is how she is." She tells him that Nicki doesn't ever want to see him again and neither does anybody else.

Margene is chattering on to her baby about the bracelets that she's starting to sell with Jerry's wife. Don calls Bill and says that Ted had the Utes put the kibosh on the casino deal because of that letter. Bill explains this to Barb and Barb says, "This is insane!" HI, BARB, ARE YOU ONLY JUST NOTICING THIS?

Bill goes to talk to Ted and Ted speaks like a robot about his calling and his duty to his church. Bill calls him an immoral suck up but Ted snaps back that "Indians and renegades always lose." What a swell guy.

A flower delivery guy shows up at Margene's house and she's all tickled for a second until she realizes that the flowers are actually for Nicki from Ray, the DA. Margene orders the delivery guy to take them back.

Some thieves sneak into an office, steal a certificate of authenticity, and deliver it to Bill who pays them for their troubles. Apparently the certificate verifies the existence of the letter, which is of some interest to the thieves. Bill calls Don to tell him about the certificate and how he put it in his safe and we see Don going into the safe and staring at the letter.

Bill shows up at a function that Ted and Cindy are at and starts running his mouth about the letter. Ted pulls Bill aside for WTF? purposes but Bill informs him that it will get 10 times worse if Ted doesn't set things right with the letter and quit throwing roadblocks into Bill's casino plans. Bill informs Ted that he is going to back and get the church to publicly apologize for denouncing polygamy. Take note, kids: effective and productive business meetings always end with a list of action items.

Every once in awhile, the planets align and your sister wife's bitchy sister shows up at the same time as your illicit love interest who also happens to be the district attorney who tried your dad and whose office you worked in under a stolen identity so that you could pass your mom relevant files. Ray knocks on Margene's door and is all, "Hey, Barb! What are you doing at Margene's house?" Margene instructs Ray to wait there while she goes to get Nicki. Meanwhile, Cindy and Barb have it out about the bullshit that their husbands are up to.

Nicki tells Ray that's she's from the compound and Ray's still not following because they have feelings for each other, right. Margene is eavesdropping in the other room and is like, "Whoa, whoa, hold the fucking phone. FEELINGS?!?!" She butts in to tell Ray Nicki's real name and Ray starts putting the pieces together. Margene is rather horrified to hear that Nicki told Ray that her relationship was over and that they kissed. Ray storms out with Nicki following closely behind. Wayne calls after Nicki and Ray blanches at the sight of Nicki's two children. Ain't that always the way? You meet a nice girl and it turns out that she has two kids and husband and a couple of wives and is the daughter of the dude you tried to convict. Of course, at that moment, Bill shows up and asks Ray what he's doing here. Ray explains that he was bringing flowers for Margene (Nicki) and met Barb (Margene) and also met Barb (Barb). Bill begs Nicki to tell him that this isn't true. Ray turns to leave and Nicki runs after him, much to the Henrickson's horror. Ray starts going down the list of crimes that Nicki committed and tells Bill that if this is all true then Nicki turned Bill into a bigger fool than him.

Bill, Barb, and Margene drive to the funeral, all wearing sunglasses and silently fuming. Ever the optimist, Bill says, "We just need to get this funeral...of my brother's fiance who was probably killed by our cheating wife's father. No biggie." Margene notes that this all could be very bad and calmly states that she needs to throw up. Nicki is following in her car with Sarah, who is really having a shitty year: boyfriend woes, family woes, pregnancy, miscarriage, friend break-up, college FAIL, and now being stuck in a station wagon with Nicki's berserk ass.

Kathy's funeral is really sad. Everyone just looks so crushed, especially when they start to throw dirt on the casket. Nicki grabs Barb afterward and says that Barb has to help her but Barb's like, "Uh, NO because you fucked up SO BAD."

Nicki calls Ray and tries to explain that her role in things was all Adaleen and Roman's doing but Ray snaps back with some scary legal shit that he could bring down on her. Nicki catches up with Margene who is getting off the phone with Jerry's wife about their jewelry business. In spite of everything, Nicki still has some energy to talk shit on Margene and her jewelry, which kind of enforces my love for her. Nicki admits that she's scared about the consequences of her actions and Margene's like, "YOU. SHOULD. BE. SCARED. DUH."

At Kathy's wake, Wanda gives some weird looks toward Joey and Jodean. Does she think Jodean is going to marry them now? Bill confronts Alby about his dealings with the letter and Nicki steps in to help scold Alby, I guess in the hopes of getting in good with Bill again. Nicki, like, really doesn't seem to understand cause and effect and is totally delusional about what happens when she does something wrong. It's really quite sad. Wanda gets up to thank everyone for coming and says some heartfelt things about Kathy, which make Joey lose his shit. Lois stands up and actually says some very wise things about bearing such heartache and how this kind of sadness doesn't dry up quick. Roman shows up with the hearing aid sister wife and Joey freaks and calls Roman a murderer. Roman offers to lay a blessing on Joey's troubled soul. Joey passes (ie he screams and runs out in his grief stricken madness). Alby goes up to hug Roman but Roman tells him to never lay his hands on him. Nicki runs up to Roman and tells him about the charges that could be brought against her and Roman's all, "Oh, what's that now? Didn't you push me down the stairs at the court house?" Dude, whatever, you still walked free thanks to Nicki, you could help her out a little. Alby comforts Nicki by pointing out that Roman is pushing 300 years old and his days are numbered.

Joey busts into Adaleen's hotel room but Adaleen insists that she doesn't know anything that will help him. Joey wants to know why Adaleen is protecting Roman and she points out that he's her husband. Adaleen is all ride or die. Joey snits that that's her cross to bear.

Cindy is meeting with some dude, I think a high-up LDS minister or official or something. She wants to offer Barb a path of redemption from this whole letter affair because she thinks it will validate her lifestyle.

The Henricksons are leaving the funeral and Bill asks Nicki if she's coming home with them. Nicki opts to stay behind and Bill says, "Suit yourself." Before he leaves, Bill asks her if she acted on her indiscretion and she says no, which is kind of not true. Nicki asks Margene to tell her boys that she's staying behind to help Wanda and Joey. Ugh.

Sarah asks Barb if everything is going to be okay and Barb says that she honestly doesn't know. Sarah asks, "What am I going to do about my life?" Barb takes the opportunity to get in one more dig about Sarah giving it up to Scott and it's like...okay, with all of the shit that you guys are in I think you can find it in yourself to get over Sarah being a horny teenager.

Things aren't much better for Nicki on the compound. Joey doesn't want her in their house because she's a Grant and as far as he's concerned, she killed Kathy, too.

The thieves show up at Bill's office with the Greens. Bill tells them to get out but Selma, who has recovered from her pig attack and her recent foray into women's clothing, tells Bill to render the respect due Very Truly Yours Hollis Green. They want the letter and Bill says that he doesn't know who has it, but he has the certificate of authenticity. Bill goes into his safe but discovers that Don took the certificate. One of the Green's big scary goons removes his belt and begins to choke Bill. Don shows up in the nick of time and trips the alarm, causing the Greens to scatter. Don admits that he took the certificate because he wanted to show his estranged wives that this was the way but the wives told Bill that they only loved their children and each other. Don's family has fallen apart. Interesting! Way back in the first season, I think, Don and his wives were over at the Henricksons to play cards and we saw those two wives playing footsie underneath the table. I always wondered if they were going to do anything more with that.

With nowhere else to go, Nicki shows up at Alby's house. He invites her in. It's a really frightening state of affairs when Alby is the nicest guy around.

Comments

[LuraRules!]

No Lura mention in the recap?!?!!?!?!
Thats SOO unfair!She had an awesome scene with nicki!
But anyway great recap!!!

[Suziannie]

I LOVE your recaps, it's so entertaining that I've stopped watching the show and started waiting for you to post!

[Rhonda]

Yay! I wait for these recaps all day! It is a bright spot in my flaming enema of a Monday. Thank you for that.

[Suzy Q]

"The DA got a legal stiffy." Bwahahaha!!! That entire scene with Ray in the street was surreal.

Great recap, as usual. Even better since I just watched it.

What's up with Wanda's creepy brother? Could this be the guy that Nicki married first?

I don't remember Don's sister-wives playing footsie under the table. But, then again, it's difficult trying to keep all the players straight in this show.

[KBO]

KDiddy, will you marry me? I'm kinda sorta glad TWoP no longer recaps Big Love because I like yours better. Fave line: "Adaleen is all ride or die"

Of note:

1) Big Love is freaking awesome right now.
2)The dude Cindy met with is the Henrickson's former pastor. Remember Ben met with him once? He has no idea they are plyggy (well, he does now).
3) Say it ain't so with Alby and Nicki about to join forces? Is there really any way she can make things right? Her ability to concoct hairbrained schemes she wholeheartedly thinks she's get away with knows no bounds.
4)Suzy Q is right, Wanda's creepy brother is Nicki's first husband.
5) Bill, as usual, was a major dick. Don's family is falling apart and Bill sends him to possibly get offed on the rez? He's so freaking self-centered.

[amalah]

"Take note, kids: effective and productive business meetings always end with a list of action items."

BWA HA HAAAA. Awesome.

Do you think the DA will cut Nikki a deal to save her own ass if she turns on Roman? If she gives up the Joy Book pages she tore out and testifies about how she was married against her will at 15?

[cindy w]

"Ain't that always the way? You meet a nice girl and it turns out that she has two kids and husband and a couple of wives and is the daughter of the dude you tried to convict."

kdiddy = AWESOME.

I thought this was a great episode. That scene in the street with the DA where everything came out was just insane. I mean, you knew Nicki was going to get caught eventually, but that was just epic.

I wonder if Wanda is going to try to steal Jodean from Frank as a consolation prize for Joey? Hmm.

[Irma]

Here in my part of the world, Big Love only started on TV last year, which means I am in the middle of watching Season Two for the first time. So I KNOW I shouldn't be reading your Season Three recaps. I know it but I am weak.

[WabiSabiLife]

Guess what I just found out? Selma is Napoleon Dynamite's Llama-lovin' grandma!!

Love the recaps-they help me wrap my head around everything I just saw!

[bd]

My husband was all like "Why is the guy from Heros on Juniper Creek? Does Wanda really have some superability and really isn't bat-shit crazy?"

[Debby]

Shut up about Grandma Dynamite!! I thought she looked familiar! "Knock it off Napoleon! Make yourself a dang kasadilla!" This is my fave show right now! Does anyone know if the show has been picked up for more seasons? Are there really only tqo total episodes left? Ack!

[jeremiah]

You have the best recaps. The scene in the street with Ray Nicki and the Henrickson awesome. Ray is like my favorite now. Nicki needs that man in her life. This show just keeps getting better and better