A Yellow House: Unquiet Souls on "Big Love"

"There's no law against crazy." - Bill

Do we become our parents in the end? Regardless of the rights and wrongs of our forebears' actions, are our fates sealed from the moment we're born? Are we forced not to follow our own paths, but rather to fall into old patterns determined by those who have come before us?

These are questions brilliantly unearthed and examined in the latest episode of HBO's Big Love ("The Mighty and Strong"), written by Melanie Marnich and directed by Dan Attias.

Throughout its four seasons so far, the drama series--created by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer--has done an incredible job at painting the struggles between multiple generations of believers, setting in motion an exploration of family destiny and a personal journey. Last night's episode brought these conflicts to the fore, exploring the relationship between fathers and sons and mothers and daughters and offering a shocking reveal at the episode's end that might point to the blindness of men when it comes to their pasts.

With the halfway point of the season already in sight, this week's episode of Big Love ramped up the tension and offered us a series of brutal revelations, many of which centered on the deeply conflicted Bill Henrickson. Belief is a dangerous thing, especially when it is accompanied by blind faith and an inability to see the consequences of one's actions.

Bill believes himself to be on a righteous path, one ordained by Heavenly Father, that has compelled him to run for political office. But he's stumbled into a moral quagmire, one that enables him to take a decidedly wrong ends-justify-the-means approach to his campaign... and his life. His decision to send Nicki on a recon mission at his opponent's campaign headquarters flies in the face of reason, considering that Bill was meant to keep Nicki on the straight and narrow. Why is his use of Nicki's skills here any worse or better than Roman drafting his manipulative daughter into going undercover at the D.A.'s office during his trial? While it's not illegal, it's just as morally reprehensible. Yet Bill does so without any compunction.

Likewise, he's only more than willing to throw poor Don Embry to the wolves. Don who has stood by his side for years, endured Bill's egocentricity with little more than a sigh, and done everything that his "partner" has asked of him, all while his own personal life has fallen apart around him. That Bill would ask his long-suffering friend to "take the bullet" and out himself as a polygamist is just too much. That Don would willingly go along with this, to endure the hostile glare of the polygamist-loathing media, and still show up at Bill's announcement, is the sign of a true friend. If only Bill would ever return the favor...

But it was Bill's behavior at the episode's end that truly shocked me to the core. Having been sent away by his own father Frank as a teenager, Bill does the very same thing to his own son, effectively banishing him once he learns that Ben's feelings for Margene are reciprocated. It's this falling into old, familiar patterns that made Bill suddenly seem as weak as Frank. That his actions--and his decision not to stop Ben from leaving--should come so soon on the heels of Lois introducing him at the rally and his words about how the man he is today is due to her influence alone is all the more ironic. Has Bill truly not learned from his past? Is he becoming Frank before our eyes, a tyrannical priesthood-holder whose will is ultimate among his wives and children? Is he so weak and jealous that he fears a wife being taken away from him by his teenage son?

It was interesting to me that Bill only perceived Ben as a threat after Margene tearfully admitted that it was she who kissed Ben and not the other way around. Bill could handle his teenage son having a crush on his youngest wife and learning, thanks to Teenie, that he had given her a love letter on their trip to Cumorah, but the moment it became clear that those feelings were reciprocated by Margene, the danger signs began to flash before his eyes.

I was proud, however, that Margene came clean about her feelings for Ben to Bill. The old Margene would have let Ben take the blame for the "blooper" at the television station in order to keep the peace at home. But Margene is transforming before our eyes too, becoming a strong woman who refuses to keep her feelings bottled up or lie about her own past. (Perhaps to a fault, her on-air confession about her parents may not have gone over well with "shiny things" purchasing viewers.) Her tearful display of honesty to Bill ("I kissed him. And I meant it.") spoke volumes about her inner conflict as much as when she subconsciously looked at Ben's stomach as he stretched to retrieve the hot cocoa mix for her earlier. She can't help the way that she feels. Despite striving for perfection, she is imperfect and has deep feelings for Ben that she can't control.

Sending Ben away might remove temptation for now but it won't fix anything in the long-term and it's only further sending Bill down a dark path towards the ideology of Frank. I was surprised that Frank turned up at Bill's announcement but he's quickly dispatched by Bill's glowing remarks about Lois, a surprise about-face considering his issues with his mother. But Bill's whole candidacy would seem to be based on a false foundation of traditional family unity, a lie that will corrupt his campaign from the beginning.

Others have plans for Bill as well. It's not immediately clear just what JJ wants Joey to do but he has Bill's brother under his thumb after he and Malinda photographed Joey and Wanda digging up Roman's body and burning it. Joey shows up at the rally and makes an entrance that plays up his own lost past (football hero) and his own morally fractious present. Will Joey sell out Bill in order to ensure JJ's continued silence? Most likely, yes. He yearns to give Wanda the life she wants and, rather touchingly, her dreams aren't big or lavish. They involve a yellow house, a sanctuary for her and her family away from interference.

But JJ isn't likely to allow that future to come to pass. He has plans for Juniper Creek and for the empire that Roman Grant built. His first request of the newly installed heir to the prophethood Alby is to request placement of Adaleen in his household, a marriage "for time" rather than eternity. Just why he wants Adaleen is a mystery but his twisted nature must find some "perverse" humor in the fact that he will marry the mother of his ex-wife and become, essentially, Nicki's father on earth.

As for Adaleen, her pained keening on the phone to Nicki was diametrically opposed to her out of character Zen-like calm when Nicki learned that she was to be sealed to JJ. Adaleen purports to be on a path of righteous obedience, but that's never been the case with Nicki's mother; she operates out of self-preservation more than anything. Was that why she turned her trailer around and returned to the compound? Did she realize that she couldn't exist on her own outside of Juniper Creek?

(Addendum: Also wanted to say how much I loved the moment where Jodean freed the Mexican parrots while Lois and Frank slept in the back of the car. Her satisfied smirk was the icing on the cake after her efforts at rebellion, payback for being treated like little more than a work mule. Nicely played.)

Alby, meanwhile, went to a whole other level of crazy when he broke into Dale's house in order to give him a present of grape jelly and cook him dinner... only to flee when he found proof of what he believed to be a grievous betrayal. I had wondered if Alby was playing Dale but he seems to have become obsessed with the UEB state-appointed trustee. His return to Dale's house signals perhaps a more honest union between the two but one that's doomed to come crashing down around their heads.

Our futures aren't always set from big actions but sometimes the small ones. I was glad to see that the writers dealt head-on not only with Ben's love letter from the Cumorah trip but also Sarah's miscarriage, turning it into something poignant about false second chances. Sarah's efforts to keep Leila's son after she abandons him (and tells the reservation authorities that Sarah took the baby) isn't so much the result of wanting to care for this child but the consequences of the loss of her and Scott's unborn baby. Unlike her mothers, Sarah has a supportive husband who isn't a dictator in their household; I was happy to see Scott offer Sarah his unwavering support and understanding, no matter what she decided to do.

Could it be then that there is hope for the next generation of Henricksons? Or are they too doomed to follow in their parents' footsteps? I don't think that Ben would have thought that his father--who earlier said that they shared an "open door" policy of trust between them--would have supported his exile from the Henrickson household. Is this breach a potential sign that Ben might have second thoughts about the Principle? Or that he sees his father clearly now, perhaps for the first time?

All in all, a fantastic installment that continues to see Bill sacrifice everyone around him to achieve his ends, even as his family continues to unravel at the seams. With only five episodes of Big Love remaining this season, I dare say that Barb may be right: the sugar is about hit the fan in a very big way.

Next week on Big Love ("Sins of the Father"), Bill tries to win Paley's support for the state Senate nomination; Marilyn makes a pitch to represent the casino's interests in Washington; Frank drops by the casino with Lois and Jodean.

Ep. 39: Sins of the Father - Preview