Bless this 'Big Love' mess
Sunday's episode caps a season delving deep into the characters' complicated hearts.
HBO's Emmy-free and too long under-appreciated “Big Love” came out of its yearlong, writers-strike-created hiatus like the buffed-up guy tired of eating sand.
But
instead of going for fireballs and kidnappings (OK, there were a few of
those, but they were totally incidental), cancer scares and intra-cast
murder attempts (well, yes, there were those too, but again, not the point), creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer took their strange and startling American fable to new heights, and depths.
All
of which came to a DefCon 1 "conclusion" in the season finale Sunday
night. Oh, there were several moments of "closure" in the final
minutes, but that was just the writers handing a bit of narrative Xanax
to keep viewers from developing unsightly nervous tics while they wait
to see what will really happen next season.
And not just in terms of plot. "Big Love" has become richer in tone and message. What had been quaint -- the mob-like machinations of the compound at Juniper Creek -- grew dark and murderous; what had been solid and structured -- the Henricksons' prefab polygamous corner of the universe -- collapsed into chaos.
Read the full story here.
-- Mary McNamara
(Photo courtesy HBO)
