Product Description
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Big Love: The Complete First Season (DVD)
Think having three wives is a dream come true? Think again. HBO
presents the new contemporary drama series that tells the story
of Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton), a practicing polygamist who
lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his three wives and seven
children. An independent businessman who runs a growing chain of
hardware stores, Bill faces a myriad of challenges in meeting the
emotional, romantic and financial needs of his wives Barb (Jeanne
Tripplehorn), Nicki (Chloe Sevigny) and Margene (Ginnifer
Goodwin) while dealing with their kids, three adjoined houses, an
ever-ing avalanche of bills, and the opening of his newest
hardware store.
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Big Love, HBO's newest buzzworthy series, recalls Groucho Marx's
blithe proposal to two women in Animal Crackers. "Why, that's
bigamy," one of the women excls. Groucho responds, "Yes, and
it's big of me, too." But Bill Henrickson's (Bill Paxton)
situation is hardly a laughing matter. Bill is a modern-day
polygamist who lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his seven
children and three "sister-wives": Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn,
never better), the more mature anchor of the household; Nicki
(Chloe Sevigny), who spitefully refers to her as "Boss Lady"; and
recent addition Margene (charming Ginnifer Goodwin), insecure and
childlike. A series that puts a human face on polygamy is
brimming with prurient possibilities. Big Love's first two
episodes are veritable commercials for , as Bill struggles
to keep up with the demands of his spouses, with whom the
ing arrangements are strictly scheduled. But once this more
sensational aspect of "plural marriage" is dealt with, Big Love
moves on to focus on the emotional, spiritual and financial
pressures that beset Bill and his families. As the dreamlike
opening credit sequence (scored to the Beach Boys' ethereal "God
Only Knows") illustrates, Bill is a man on thin ice. He is
carrying mortgages on three adjoining homes. A home-improvement
store entrepreneur, he has just cut the ribbon on his second
store and is planning a third. His wives, not immune to
jealousies, vie for dominant position. And then there's Roman
(Harry Dean Stanton; and any series that puts this venerable
character actor and hipster saint in our homes on a weekly basis
deserves our big love), the sinister leader of an outlaw
fundamentalist compound, who has an escalating disagreement with
Bill over the repayment of his loan that helped Bill build his
fledgling empire ("There's man's law," he states ominously, "and
there's God's law").
There are further complications that make Big Love so
compelling. Bill suspects that his raw-nerved mother (Grace
Zabriskie) may be poisoning his her (Bruce Dern). Nicki is a
shopaholic accruing nearly $60,000 in credit-card debt. Overtures
by new neighbors threaten to expose Bill's unorthodox and illicit
living arrangements. The polygamy factor puts a subversive spin
on traditional matrimonial melodrama. When Nicki plans her son's
disastrous birthday party, her list of "immediate family" tops
150. When Roman, who is Nicki's her, arrives, Bill procls
he is not welcome in his "homes." As with Rome, Big Love may
require a little patience. But this fascinating portrayal of a
shadowy subculture, the intelligent writing, and the estimable
ensemble will soon make you feel like part of the families.
--Donald Liebenson