OMG, I watched it twice in a row and then watched the wrap-up on hbo.com . I'm devastated!
Did anyone watch the series finale of Big Love?
by jamiebowers 9 Replies latest social entertainment
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undercover
SPOILER ALERT!!! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINAL EPISODE!!!
I wondered how they were going to wrap the series up. There was just too much going on to be able to bring things to any kind of satisfactory conclusion. Bill was clearly guilty of polygamy...how he went so long without getting busted for that, let alone the statutory rape charges, always baffled me.
As the series progressed, I realised that Bill wasn't a whole lot different than Roman or Albie...not as nutso maybe, but he still felt that he had a calling to lead the "true" church back to the "principle". He was hypocritical, egotistical and felt he was above the law of the LDS church (he insisted using "Morman" in his new church's name) and of the state/US government, yet used his position as a Senator to try to push his agenda.
I was a bit surprised at the end. When I heard the first shot, I thought the neighbor had committed suicide. The second and third shots... I knew better.
And it really was the only way to finish it and build an emotional ending. In reality had Bill lived, he would either go to jail and his wives would have to struggle to exist...or... he would have to pack them all up and move out to the wilderness, starting his own compound community, returning to whence he came for all intents and purposes.
I had hoped all along that they would end it that way. It would have been the perfect ending. Meet the new prophet, same as the old prophet. But people liked the characters too much. No way you could have the main characters become the villians in the end. Having lived in a cult environment, I was uncomfortable watching this train wreck of a family. Some individuals were likable enough, but I never understood why people were pulling for this family/cult to "win".
To have Bill...and his family..."win", he had to die. He lived the principle and he died for the principle, and his principles. He did learn though, in the last couple of scenes that family came first, then faith and he even asked for Barb's blessing as he lay dying. So as far as the TV show goes, it was a bittersweet ending and we felt sad for Bill but encouraged that his family survived and he didn't die needlessly. But for me, I'd have much rather seen a more realistic ending...one where the Hendrickson cult goes underground and moves to a compound to further promote Bill's idea of the principle.
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jamiebowers
I was devastated that Bill was killed in the end, because it was only in the end that he realized his errors. He realized that the love of family is what builds faith and not the other way around. During his Easter morning sermon when he looked at the crowds and saw John Smith's wife, not John Smith is what clnched it for him, I think. And that's when he accepted Barb's right to also be a spiritual leader. It also explained that weird dream he had while in the hospital after being hit by Margene's car in a previous episode. It was prophetic, but I don't think he understood it. He, his mother and John Smith's wife were in the dream, which I think was a foreshadowing of his death and that of his mother. How much more he could've done for the victims of the polygimist cults if he knew then what he learned in the end.
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streets76
I enjoyed the series. Bill reminded me of my gung-ho JW older brother -- just in a different cult.
I wonder how many JWs watched the series.
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rebel8
I came here to discuss this.
I had a morbid fascination with this show, the kind you have when you can't stop yourself from staring at a car wreck. It really disturbed me every time I watched it and I just felt cult ickyness. In particular their views of headship and control really triggered me. Even Bill's "I'm so wholesome" mannerisms and dress made my flesh crawl. Gawd I hate the dub cult and how it messed with me!
Then the show took an odd turn IMO. It was too packed with one tragedy every minute. I thought there was supposed to be an ebb and flow to dramas--not this one--ebbs only!
So I was happy to see it end. I was glad Bill died (for the sake of the wives). Well, that doesn't sound nice of me, but he is a fictional character and that's how I felt--relieved--right or wrong, that's how I felt.
He wasn't going to turn around. He felt women were inferior and wasn't going to let that go. He felt he should force his agenda onto the senate and wasn't going to let that go, no matter how many lives were ruined as a result.
His foxhole conversion to a pro-female stance was disingenuous and unimpressive. I didn't feel any relief that he had been redeemed or repented. He just wanted to do it because he was at death's door.
I was sad Barb didn't stick to her principles, and I was sad she didn't do the right thing and leave him. I was sad Margene backed out on living her own life too.
Creepy show.
He realized that the love of family is what builds faith and not the other way around.
You know what, I still don't get that. He said it like it was some sort of epiphany. What does that even mean?
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jamiebowers
He realized that the love of family is what builds faith and not the other way around.
You know what, I still don't get that. He said it like it was some sort of epiphany. What does that even mean?
To me it meant that Bill started out with rigid ways of thinking, like all cult leaders. His belief was that if the rules were enforced in the family that their faith, both as individuals and as a unit, would be strengthened. What he learned was that rigidity isn't loving and only causes division and that love of family set the building blocks for faith.
I really took this show to heart, because I thought it gave honest portrayals of each of their characters based on their individual experiences. Although it was slow going, Bill's rigid concepts of faith, love and spirituality were steadily stripped away with each season by his experiences with his wives and children. Nicki's affair with the DA and her indebting the famly with credit card bills, the attraction between Margene and Ben and his pursuit of her, Barb's desire for priesthood rights, and Sarah's illegitimate pregnancy were all things he learned to accept and forgive whereas in his world, those things are reason for divorce and/or shunning.
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Doubting Bro
I thought it was a pretty good ending. I also thought that maybe Bill would take over Juniper Creek while Albert was in jail or maybe start his own compound. The scene when he was giving the Easter sermon was a bit weird especially with another flash of Joseph Smith's wife. I guess the whole "women are just around to serve men" thinking finally was turning around. I thought it was interesting that Barb couldn't get baptized in the Reformed LDS church and I even said as she was stepping into the baptismal pool that she wouldn't do it. What I really thought was interesting is that her rejection of his church hurt him more than anything else. After all they've been through, it was a stupid religion that was going to tear them apart. Sound familiar?
At the end of the day, Barb still loved Bill and she had actually grown to love her sister wives as well. Her holding Nikki in the shelter was a moving scene.
Bill had so many people gunning for him that it was a matter of time before he would actually get hurt. The ending was probably best for everyone. The fact that he accepted Barb's priesthood I thought was significant.
The last scene tied up everything pretty well. Ben & Heather get married. Sarah and her family are again part of the clan. Barb has emerged as the spiritual leader and quite frankly she's much better at it than Bill was. Margie cut her hair which seems like a real statement (like a JW growing a beard).
It was a really good series and I'm glad it ended when it did. It was starting to get too crazy.
Interestingly I learned a lot more about the regular LDS and realize how close their structure and cult like ways are similar to JWs. Plus it allowed me to discuss cult tendancies with my wife without the emotion of talking about JWs. Crap, now I need another cult show to watch!!!!
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Dagney
Interesting listen on NPR with the writers of Big Love about the series and the ending.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/21/134661696/big-loves-creators-deconstruct-the-shows-finale
I've been watching the show from the beginning. This season, well, didn't hold my interest as much. I liked the previous season's story with Albee and his dad, and the latent homosexual tendancies rather than "Albee gone rogue" in the later episodes. His dad added a colorful creepiness and coolness, in a cultish sort of way. Bill...mixed emotions. Didn't like him so much, then sort of liked him and his devotion to what he believed. But he very much had a ruthless side, warranted, to be sure.
I might need to watch the episode again since I kept having power outtages and the show was a little chopped up.
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lrkr
Like the rest of you- I was fascinated with how this series accurately portrayed cult life, group think, leader worship, the corrupting affect of power, etc, etc.
I was confused on where it came down on polygamy though. There were several and often- digs against the whole lifestyle (lack of empowerment of women, jealousy problems, money issues, etc) but the last couple of episodes almost made the case for the state not regulating poly-amorous relationships. "Let people love who they want, how they want" seemed to be a message that was lurking in the script. But that message was hard to reconcile with the damage that the lifestyle did to those who participated.
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Band on the Run
Bill was every bit as sanctimonious as The Prophet and Albie. I must admit I sort of liked the family first season which is amazing b/c I see how The Pfrinciple can only end in the patriarchal of women and have too many children that the state must end up supporting. Their life style would be impossible. Only a Gates or Rockefeller or Bloomberg could afford all those homes, cars on a small business take plus one teacher. Bill was as zany as the Greens. Polygamy cannot be santized. I am adamantly opposed told it not on moral grounds but women have precious few rights in monogamous marriages. I also cou ld never understand unmarried couples after high school shacking up. When crisis strikes, you have no legal rights.
There is no such thing as common law marriage today. Only a few Southern states had common law marriage. And you had to hold yourself out as man and wife for almost twenty years to qualify.
The writing was becoming very erratic. No one life is that dramatic. The entire cast would need psyhiatric admissions for all the constant trauma. I read the writers were a gay couple and the polygamy was a way to write about gay marriage without being preachy. I hated Barb. Felt very bad for Nicky. Margene is the only one I respected. Curiously, I hated her for being a teenage strumpet when the show opened. They never addressed what a man hie s age was doing with a teenager, besides the obvious. Bill deserved to go to prison.