Big Love

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LQ
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Big Love

#1 Post by LQ » Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:38 am

The 3rd season premieres January 18th at 9. I'm trying to plow through the first two seasons so that I can be caught up, and I just finished the first episode of season 2 last night. For anyone who was seen both seasons in full, how does season 2 compare? Everything seemed so..off-kilter.. in the episode I saw last night (which I suppose makes perfect sense, being a result of the turmoil in the first season finale...)

Any other Big Love fans here?

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starmanof51
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Re: Big Love

#2 Post by starmanof51 » Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:02 pm

My wife is more a fan than myself, but I like it too. She's been rewatching the whole thing preparing for S3, so I've caught a fair bit of it a second time myself. I prefer the second season. They've gotten past the novelty of the domestic concept and branched out to the extended family. I struggled a little with that first season because I couldn't find anyone to like - they're all bad guys, even innocents like Margene really. I lost that problem when crime became front and center in S2: They are criminals! It's Sopranos on the Salt Flats! (or is Wasatches - I've no good sense of the geography there, or where Juniper Creek might be meant to be exactly).

I like it now in pretty much the same way as the Sopranos for similar reasons. I especially like how they have no self awareness of their own deep, knee-jerk criminality and lying. Everytime they mention God's Plan or being a Righteous Man it plays as such a smirk-inducing nonsequitor, as it usually follows someone committing or discussing a felony. Ellen Burstyn and Philip Baker Hall get featured in an episode late in S2, and look out for the Greens - oh, I love the Greens - Hollis and "my brother" Selma.

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LQ
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Re: Big Love

#3 Post by LQ » Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:12 pm

I struggled a little with that first season because I couldn't find anyone to like - they're all bad guys, even innocents like Margene really.
I do believe this is the only show where I thoroughly hate everyone on it but still find them fascinating to watch, for reasons that you mentioned. In fact, my hating a character is in direct proportion to how much I enjoy them.

I look forward to the rest of season 2, then (and the start of 3!)

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tartarlamb
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Re: Big Love

#4 Post by tartarlamb » Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:44 pm

All HBO dramas are a bit like The Sopranos (eg Dead Wood, and even Rome somehow degenerated into an organized crime show when the two leads became BC mob bosses in Season 2). You gotta chuckle every time a character wants "a taste" of some ill-gotten gains, or wants to "wet their beak" in some sort of super-legal enterprise. The formula and the dialogue is pretty much the same. But hell, it works.

Season 2 of Big Love moves more into Sopranos territory and away from the domestic, viagra-driven drama of the first season. I think it makes the show a bit more entertaining, even if the characters become increasingly unlikable and more repulsive. There's a big cultural train wreck factor to the entertainment. Its gross, but you have to watch. Can't wait for season 3!

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pianocrash
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Re: Big Love

#5 Post by pianocrash » Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:46 am

I'm only halfway through the second season's repeats, but I found the beginning of Ana, (the waitress), that whole scenario with Bill and Margene, to be the best summary of how I feel about the show as a whole: the loving, best intentions veiled with the worst kind of biting/chasing/scheming cloud constantly wandering overhead. Each time I came close to tears I ended up a little angrier at all involved, though keeping track of the vast hierarchies within the families has provided the writers with several stacked snippets of action instead of what could have been fully formed episodes. It almost seems like they're rushing to tell everyone's story, which led to the first heavy encounter with the Greens feeling less suspenseful, though I know they'll always be lurking in the background with their gift baskets and broadsides. I do hope they ease up on those ill-fated soundtrack cues during the new season, too, as no one really needs to hear "Tiny Dancer" once someone leaves (or "Telephone Line" once someone's digits are exchanged), right? Right.

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LQ
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Re: Big Love

#6 Post by LQ » Tue Jan 20, 2009 9:22 am

Thoughts on the premiere? All in all, I liked it. At first I didn't think it was fair that nearly a year had been elided and they were just going to trot out the tied-up loose ends in fast-forward but at the episode's conclusion, I was pretty satisfied. However, I don't understand Ana's motivations in wanting to join the family (or how Teeny got those dirty magazines).

Somehow, in one episode's time, nearly everyone managed to get a tad more loathsome, too, which is nice. I love to hate these people.

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pianocrash
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Re: Big Love

#7 Post by pianocrash » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:29 am

It's Ana's allegiance to Bill, probably tinged with a smidgen of guilt, that's driving her toward the family, and maybe Margene's pep talk had more to do with irking her fascination with the whole enterprise than following her immediate instincts toward a straightforward "no". Hilarious that all the parents were wrapped up in their own travails as to not suspect Teenie of committing any foul, more so the actual stash and her going per-view prices (fifty cents!). I don't think Alby will last as head of Juniper Creek for much longer, though his closeted suffering will probably bubble up as fury toward his own family and the rest of the compound before he's done playing prophet.

I was happy to see the last half of the second season becoming more reflective and less choppy, which I hope spills into the rest of this season, even with all the new threads that have yet to be explored so far (Rhonda, Sarah & Heather & Scott, Ben's piousness & priesthood, Frank's runaway son, Wanda's sister wife, etc.) - it's nice to look forward to Sunday nights again.

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luridedith
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Re: Big Love

#8 Post by luridedith » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:51 am

This show and its characters are endlessly fascinating to me. Even though its so aesthetically dry (especially the lackluster first season), there's always an uncomfortable tension in the family's dynamics and it lately has moments of Lynchian eeriness that remind me of Twin Peaks at times. It's admirable (although annoying at times) that the writers keep their distance and present characters and situations with no real bias or agenda what so ever.

Bill's sleazy, pseudo "family man" act makes my skin crawl but apart from the obvious Juniper Creek villains (who are too fun to outright hate) he is the only character I find truly loathsome. Most of his scenes are dull, dreary and painful to sit through, full of uninteresting business talk and hypocritical sexist wank (especially with that pig Don). The female characters are the ones who keep this show alive, they are complex, interesting, flawed and sympathetic - although frustratingly in denial about their lives and their happiness.

The second season was a huge improvement and the third shows promise (the premiere was just ok overall). I too don't understand what Ana finds appealing about Bill and why she would be drawn to the situation. With the other wives it makes sense that they would get caught up in this mess (even though they are completely misguided) but they still need to develop Ana more. Barb thought she was going to die and wanted her family to be secure, Nikki wanted "independence" away from the compound and Margene was young and naive but Ana's reasons seem to be that she just really likes Bill and Margie... which just isn't compelling enough.

I really love the character of Sarah and her story arc. She is probably the closest person the audience can clearly identify with, even though she too is flawed (losing her virginity to that creep in a misguided attempt to rebel against her father's teachings). I hope they don't write her out due to Amanda Seyfried's burgeoning film career.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Big Love

#9 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:05 am

After last night's episode, it seems unlikely that Sarah will be written out. Week after week, this show keeps getting better. It's criminally overlooked and underrated, this should be HBO's new Sopranos.

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LQ
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Re: Big Love

#10 Post by LQ » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:36 am

Boy, was I ever rewarded for tuning into this last night instead of watching the Oscars; that was one of the most explosive episodes of Big Love ever. It had all the attendant signs of a season (or series) finale. I'm just amazed at all the dirt the writers managed to squeeze out of the past few seasons and rub all over the characters' faces in the spance of a single episode, it was really almost sadistic. I can barely keep track of everything that went down last night.
How on earth do these people bounce back from the aftermath of all that happened, though? I suppose ostensibly through support of Sarah? But the cracks in certain members' faith in the principle became canyons last night. And my god, Sarah. Poor, poor Sarah. My heart almost broke in two when I heard those sobs.

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