It may be an indicator of my and my wife's "Age & Stage" - but we have become hooked on Big Love! In the UK we managed to catch Season 1 some years ago - may have been on E4 or some channel like that. We found it intriguing, odd, quirky, believable, fun. Most things from HBO are worth the watch and this delivered as a soap with an edge. But then it got discountinued. Boo Hoo.
Years passed and then we got Sky and were delighted to see it on Sky Atlantic. Joy! So we have now re-watched Season 1, added Season 2 and are now half way through Season 3.
The backdrop is a fictional fundamentalist Mormom sub-sect in Utah. In the centre is the interplay between Bill and his 3 wives who have a fully functioning polygamus family complete with children. The wives are distinctive and edgy, each very different one from the other. In Season 1 we see the chemistry of this set up. All the way through into Season 3 we see extensive development of this family and it's good stuff. Even has spicy bedroom scenes! Surrounding this central text is a dangerous power struggle within the sect which develops into a main "soap" theme.
All of the characters are damaged to a lesser or greater extent by their contact with the sect and in some cases with each other. The subject of polygamus marriage, forced marriage, under-age relations and the ramifications are never far away. Some characters are manipulative or can dip into manipulation as it suits them or their agendas, making trust difficult, even within the family unit. Others are downright twisted malevolent and dangerous. Because we get a feel for the characters, we sense not only the threats - but how they might react even though the situations are fairly well outside what would be considered to be "our normal frames of reference". Bill - the husband appears as the most normal of the lot of them, but even he has huge baggage. He is a very good TV creation for so many reasons.
Without trying to say too much more (impossible for a multi-seasoned soap in any event), and without trying to be too patronising - Big Love is probably for the viewer who is over 30, 40 even, who is in or has been in a long term relationship, possibly with children. There are strong insights into why people stay together, why people fight, about power influence and control - sexual and otherwise. Religion, surprisingly, is not a strong feature.
I commend Big Love - but it may not be for everyone; it's complex, deals with characters in situations that are on the verge of unbelievable. But it IS believable. The script writers and researchers have done clever work with this. It's worth following just to see how the subject is handled.
Well done HBO - we're hooked!
