I love the idea of representing a modern times, off-the-compound polygamist family. And the show does a great job of making the people in this family (er... most of them) seem really normal. And likable. You kind of look at them and start making excuses for their lifestyle and rooting them on. In fact, I have now said to my husband: How is what they are doing illegal? He isn't legally married to any of the wives except Barb. There is no law against sleeping around, having illegitimate kids, paying someone's mortgage (who isn't your spouse). We decided what they are doing is most likely not illegal but just really looked down upon.
Here are my thoughts on a few of the main characters.
1) Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) - He's a bit of a doofus but he's a good businessman and managed to snag not one, not two, but THREE hot wives. I would be doing fine if I never had to see his unmentionable parts or tighty-whities again, though.
2) Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn) - Barb married Bill before they decided to live the "principle" of polygamy. In fact, he wasn't moved to leave the LDS church and revert to his roots until SPOILER ALERT Barb got sick with cancer and almost died. And I guess she agreed. Barb is the first wife, making her in charge, pretty much, of the other two. She's my favorite wife of the three. She is the most obvious as for why Bill ended up with her and like her kids.
3) Nikki (Chloe Sevigny) - Nikki is the long skirt-wearing, braided wife from the compound. And really she is just obnoxious and manipulative. They ahven't gotten into it much but it has been thrown around that Bill married her because of a business deal with her father Roman, the One True Prophet. She just sucks but I loved in teh final episode when, for Barb's sake, she SPOILER ALERT put on a normal dress and wore her hair down and makeup. She looked pretty.
4) Margene (Gennifer Goodwin) - Margene is the latest addition to the family and is 23 years old. Needless to say, she is immature and has lots of growing to do. She is the most easily sucked into the outside world, but adorable at the same time. I like her but I don't see it going good places with the way Ben (teenage son of Bill & first wife Barb) checks her out.
This part of this post is SPOILERific so don't read it if you don't want to know. I'll put it in italics!
For much of the season, Roman (father-in-law to Bill via Nikki) has been manipulating Bill and forcing him to hand over profits from his business. Bill finally got fed up, got sneaky, and ended up on the elder board so he would find out all of Roman's secrets. In addition, Bill's sister-in-law sort of poisoned Roman's son Albie (I hate his guts!) and to get back at Bill, exposed their entire family in public as polygamists, something they have managed to hide for 6 years. End of season 1.
Hopes for Season 2: They take Roman DOWN. He sucks! More story with Tina Majorino, who plays the friend of Bill & Barb's daughter Sarah (Amanda Seyfried)
Fun side note: Sarah's friend is Tina Majorino and Ben's friend is Kyle Gallner. Kyle and Tina's characters (Cassidy/Beaver and Mac) were dating in Veronica Mars Season 2.
2 comments:
Hey Lindsay! I don't know why I'm looking at old posts when I should be asleep, but hey . . . never mind, I've got no excuse. This was really interesting to read. I tend to stay away from this stuff cuz I haven't found one that represents polygamy and the LDS Church very well. I'm thinking of giving this one a try now. I'll have to talk to you more about it later :)
Well, I have no idea how accurate the portrayal is of LDS or fundamentalism. As a Christian, I know how wrong most of the portrayals are of the church. But I do find it very interesting to watch, just to see how their family manages with so many wives and kids. It has a much bigger focus on the polygamy than the LDS part.
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