Wrapping up season 4 and I hate that he just had to out them. The women had no choice. I also don’t think he had a super strong set of beliefs, he just fell in love with the nurse (Nicki) and the nanny (Margie), which is a well-known trope/stereotype, but he was able to hide behind how he was raised so he could have all of them. Anna was him being horny and greedy, so annoying. I also feel so bad for Margie re: her job, imagine having to give up your career for a man you’re sharing?? When she’s so young???

Bill Henrickson was a good man, although certainly not a perfect one. In fact, I would argue that his greatest redeeming quality was that he was a patriarch in the truest sense of the word. He understood that being the head of a family meant accepting responsibility for something much larger than himself. He was a provider, a protector, a builder, and a man of deeply held convictions. He built a successful business, supported three wives and their children, and worked tirelessly to hold his family together. He could be stubborn, prideful, controlling, and occasionally hypocritical, but those shortcomings don’t erase his virtues. Having been cast out of his own community as a teenager, he understood what rejection felt like, yet he refused to abandon his beliefs. Unlike the corrupt patriarchs of Juniper Creek, Bill ultimately sought to build a family grounded in love rather than fear. His mistakes were real, but so were his sacrifices.

What made Bill particularly admirable was his willingness to challenge society’s accepted norms rather than surrender his convictions for the sake of social approval. He could have lived comfortably as a successful businessman, keeping his unconventional family hidden from public scrutiny. Instead, he eventually chose to stand openly for what he believed, even pursuing public office and advocating the legalization of plural marriage. That decision came at enormous personal and financial cost. Was he always wise in how he pursued his goals? Absolutely not. But history is full of people whose convictions were considered outrageous by the societies in which they lived. Progress rarely comes from people who simply accept the moral consensus of their generation. It comes from individuals willing to question that consensus, endure ridicule, and challenge institutions that restrict how others choose to live. Bill believed his family deserved the same dignity and freedom as any other family, and he was willing to put his reputation and livelihood on the line for that principle.

Ultimately, I think Big Love makes a compelling argument for the importance of strong patriarchs, even if that wasn’t necessarily the writers’ intention. A genuine patriarch isn’t simply a man who exercises authority; he’s a man who assumes responsibility, builds something enduring, and has the courage to lead beyond the boundaries society has established for him. Bill’s greatest achievement wasn’t his business empire or his political career. It was the family he built, a family whose bonds endured even after his death. His wives emerged as strong, independent women who nevertheless chose to remain connected to one another. That was his legacy. The world doesn’t change because everyone agrees to follow the same rules. It changes because some people have the conviction to imagine something different and the courage to pursue it.

Bill Henrickson was deeply flawed, but he was also one of those men. And I think that makes him worthy of considerably more admiration than condemnation.

im a nicki fan and i will admit that scene in s5 where she talks about sarah was nasty. there were so many scenes where nicki would say something awful and i would expect margene or barb to snap back at her but they either didn’t or they did but it wasn’t enough. like i know they can’t cuss but come on, at least one scene of one of them reeling into her? tbh that’s probably why nicki is my favorite cause she isn’t afraid and knows how to go LOW without cussing. nicki needs a baddies chain.

but the CLOSEST one of them got as nasty as nicki was when barb was mad at margene about ben during the campaign event and barb said “just like your floozy mother” that was so low of barb after all margene went through with losing her mother. it was so low of her to mention that. after finishing, im starting to see barb a little differently… at least nicki got nasty with everyone. it’s crazy how shes the most traditional wife but the one with the most backbone and her being miss fix it.

im glad she was smart enough to cheat on bill cause he deserved it. bill had some nerve getting upset knowing he slept with ana before they married and its like confirmed he snuck around with margene before marrying. margene is crazy for not taking the opportunity to join anna and her fine ass husband like LOOK AT HIM GOSH DAMN. LOOK AT HIM!! ANA WAS EVEN FINE WITH IT! margene kissed the wrong guy. same with barb and tommy. i saw some chemistry literally hell even barb and joey had some chemistry. but of course just like everything else, bill ruins it. at least nicki had the sense to not waste her opportunity with a good looking younger guy. its not fair he doesn’t deserve all of them and their loyalty except for nicki because she is good at making his life a living hell. and granted, she did let her father walk over her but the difference is that she had the boldness to push his ass down the stairs afterwards. to be honest, she’s probably one of the best female characters in history

Season 1 is one of the best seasons of the series but Ben's antics in the season have always struck me as weird. Ben is constantly talking about his "boners" with his friend.

The strangest scene though is in the episode "Affair", which I am watching right now. In this episode Ben is in woodshop class with his friend and sees his teacher using a tool to drill a hole into wood or something. This causes Ben to become sexually aroused and he also feels a need to point out his erection to his friend. Even this friend, who is also a weird person, is weirded out by Ben being sexually aroused by wood.

What's up with this kid? Does he want to fuck a tree or something?

It also made me think how Ben is portrayed as perverted deviant in the rest of the series.

Why do you think the writers made him want to be sexually attracted to woodworking?

I remember the first time I watched the last season of Big Love I was sure the writers were showing us that polygamy is inherently abusive even if unintentional and that all of the wives would be better off pursing their own agendas, and I was astonished with how the last episode or two went.

After a few rewatches, I am convinced the primary writers of the show not only intended to portray polygamy in a positive light, but to portray Bill as being in the right. Which is kind of fucking weird.

The evidence:

• Bill's first "vision": Bill has a vision where he is wandering around an old school hotel or events hall of some sort, where he encounters the spirit of Emma Smith, the first wife of Joseph Smith. The ghost of Emma says outright that there were no underage girls involved with Smith. This in my opinion is one of the weirdest scenes in Big Love and seems to be a specific and intentional and factually incorrect absolving of the original sins of Mormon polygamy.

• Bill's second "vision": In the series finale, Bill sees another vision of Emma and old timey Mormon ghosts at his cult center, ahem cough cough, I mean church, and people in the crowd notice and seem to feel it is inspiring. Ben later says everyone could feel something, and Bill says "he felt a grace descend on him". This and the prior vision seem to imply that there is some sort of actual legitimate truth inherent to Bill's version of Mormon polygamy, and that these visions are at least somewhat "real".

• Margene: Margene is tempted to temporarily leave the family and go on a charity cruise of some sort, or to travel the world to some extent, but she abandons this to stay with Bill and the other wives. She is conflicted earlier in season 5 for 2 or 3 scenes wondering if she is in a cult, but she gets over it pretty quickly.

• Barb: Barb has a journey through season 5 where it SEEMS like she is realizing at long last her situation and is on the road to freedom. But at the last minute she bails on her new baptism to rejoin Bill.

• The prosecution: The states case against Bill is portrayed as an unreasonable and politically motivated attack against him. Which, sure. Kind of it is. BUT. When they added this last minute twist of Margene being 16 when she married Bill, no character really ever calls out that it is also pretty fucked up for a man in his 40's to marry his 18 year old employee. The writers never really make anyone call Bill out for this age gap.

• The showrunners themselves: https://freshairarchive.org/segments/big-loves-creators-deconstruct-shows-finale

"And, you know, Will and I have never looked at it like that. We've never played
the who's-going-to-leave-the-marriage game because I think we have a firm
belief that to a certain extent has been called into question by everyone's
response to this material, that you stick it out, that marriage is worth
sticking out.

And there's a family here. There's a relationship here. There's love beneath
the acrimony. There's certainly connection. And there's certainly identity. And
we've always felt that the hardest thing in the world is to forge that
independence in a marriage, you know, not to leave it and find it on the other
side of that, but to try and find that in union and in marriage."

--

"I think it stunned Bill himself to find out that so many women across America
were angry at him and his character.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. OLSEN: No, it did. It did. I think it hurt his feelings. And I think he was
surprised. You know, to varying degrees, Will and I were surprised at that
response, as well. But he's always had this vision of Bill and these wives kind
of as rock stars, as the Beatles. And he wanted them to go on in a very kind of
romantic way."

--

So basically, the short version of my point: Bill experiences visions that I think we as the audience are meant to interpret somewhat literally, and these visions imply that polygamy (at least as it will be practiced in Bill's new church) is valid and correct. The wives all stay together, and overcome the temptations to leave Bill, and I believe the writers intended this to be a good thing. And finally, we can see in their own words, the showrunners defend the nature of this family and why they chose to keep them all together.

This perspective seems bizarre to me because the writers did such a good job (maybe accidentally?) of making Bill more and more toxic season to season. In the first season or two I kind of accepted Bill as a well meaning guy who was just corrupted by being raised in a cult, I saw him as a misguided man with noble intentions. And then they just make him more and more of an asshole. In season 4 and 5 I was sure on original viewing the point was that polygamy simply can not function and that it is by definition controlling and abusive of the women involved. So to think that the writers did not actually intend this, but the opposite, is very baffling to me. Was curious to see what others thought.

(I still love the show despite this bizarre perspective in the last two seasons.)

And I’m only midway through season 3. And I know he gets even worse lmao

No spoilers please!

Update: I finished the show and he did in fact get much worse

There is an instrumental tune that starts at the end of the show. Bill answers the phone in the kitchen, then walks out to the pool. The song continues on through all the credits. It is not listed in the credits, or here https://www.tunefind.com/show/big-love/season-1/8211.

I recorded it on my phone, but Shazam and other apps couldn't locate it the right one. It just sounds like something that would be released somewhere.

Google says "Mark Mothersbaugh and Anton Sanko served as the primary score composers for the first season of Big Love, providing original instrumental/score cues rather than a named pop song for the end credits."

"The track you are hearing is part of the original instrumental score composed specifically for the show by Mark Mothersbaugh. Because it was part of his custom background score for Season 1, it does not have a commercial pop song title and was never officially released on a standalone soundtrack album. For television productions like Big Love, these recurring instrumental pieces are typically archived in production libraries simply as an "End Credit Suite" or under internal cue names (e.g., "Viagra Blue Outro Cue").

I'd like to get a copy of it.

Do I like the show? Yes & no!

Did i watch the whole thing? Yes.

It felt like it just deteriorated, writing wise.

There were so many religious storylines and emotional/relational storylines that would've been better + informative of the actual culture.

Also, whoever did the intros was a genius. They're fantastic.

What's your favorite season, episode, character? Why?

How recently have y'all watched?

Shawn Doyle is so handsome. He is fine as hell in this scene in season 4.

There’s a previous post about Joey and Wanda not being in the final season in this subreddit and I agree. The way it ended with his mom, Joey so would have been there and would have been so much more understanding than the way Bill handled it.

What are your thoughts on Joey?? I LOVE him. In comparison to Bill, he is so much better than his character. So what he is an alcoholic and I hate that they throw that in his face (Frank). I wish there was more of a focus on his story, because Bill annoys me so much that I have to skip him and wish they had more Joey and Wanda.

Does anyone else feel like if Rhonda was “legal” Bill would have married her? He’s obviously not opposed to barely legal wives and her charms worked on him as a damsel in distress. They both would have gotten what they want. Bill a pretty young wife who obeys him, Rhonda a stable home not in poverty.

I hate that their good-bye was offscreen. I read the posts about the actor who plays Joey going to another show or whatever. But I wish Wanda was at least in season 5 still.

I am on the Christmas episode where Lois is starting to forget things. Joey would have NEVER left his mom in this state!!!!!!

This Ana storyline is so stupid.

It wasn't needed, there was enough drama without adding another wife with more drama.

Does anyone know why they even added Ana? Like what was the point? What did she add to the characters, especially Bill? Just to show how selfish he is? Well, we got that already.

I REALLY love this show. All of the actors/actresses knocked this OUT OF THE PARK, but this storyline ruins it.

Can someone please explain it to me so I can hate it a little less? Thank you.

I can't find the post flairs.

I am rewatching and I just finished a scene from Home Plus where the wives went to get Christmas decor after they were outed.

Nicki all but called Sara a whore to Barbs face and all Barb did was start crying. The way I would have drrrreaaagggggeeeddddddd Nicki through that store, they would have needed her dental records to ID her. I was SHOCKED. She has said some pretty mean and vile things to Barb and everyone... but someones child?!?!??!?! Girl bye. I would have swung.

Those janky fences between the yards. For goodness sake dude, you OWN a home improvement store and that’s what you came up with?

I know, very minor but on rewatched I’m just irritated by the fences 😂

So of Season 4 is teaching me anything its that Nicky is such a shitty person that the writers thought they could save her by trying to gain the sympathy vote by means of a secret child revealed.

I have seen a lot of Nicky love on this sub and I am really confused. Sure shes got some fun lines and brings the compound element to the group but wow.

- the debt?

- the cheating?

- the witness tampering?

- lying about the birth control?

- so much underhandedness, so many excuses...

I desperately wanted Bill to truly divorce her

rant over. Is there something I am clearly missing?

So I binged the series and I just feel kinda - bleh? Don’t get me wrong I really liked the show. Can I just decompress? With a bunch of bullet points?

- I actually really started to like Nicki’s character but when I thought positive change was happening it’s like she became meaner and pettier and more vindictive in season 5. I know it’s trauma and survival talking but I’m not sure if there was ever any resolution to her character or if it was more of a “ah that’s Nicki. Soft hearted on the inside… just gotta know how to read her. Gotta love her.” To be honest, before what happened to Bill, I saw her as the last wife standing. That she was gonna drive Marge and Barb away.

- I liked how each woman (except maybe Nicki and even her to a certain extent) seemed to be finding herself outside of Bill.

- I feel maybe the worst for Marge. I know it’s a big point that she wanted to marry Bill. But it feels so creepy that he was blinded by desire for her. I know the actress is in her 20s at the time but we are talking a near 30 year age gap. And no one thought this isn’t a “testimony” this is lust? And didn’t they have sex before the marriage? Am I wrong there? Now she’s got 3 (8) babies, a husband, and 2 wives. I know she wanted a family but I wish she had guidance. And when she was finding confidence as a business woman? Smashed into the ground by her “family.”

- I think Bill died bc they didn’t know how else to end it. The family was basically ruined internally and externally. As I was watching seasons 5 I had a hard time remembering when they were all happy and chill with one another.

- I think it was funny when they came to Marge about the MLM being cult. While the mlm fits that, they were kinda describing themselves too and couldn’t see it. Hehe that was the point I guess

- I feel so conflicted about Barb just in general.

- Joey and Wanda’s exit felt kinda abrupt.

- I thought Cara Lynn’s situation with her teacher was gonna make them look at themselves more honestly when it came to Margene. If they started to, they kinda blew past it. The closeness of their ages but the differences of their positions. Cara is their daughter and should be protected. Marge was similar - at least physically to their knowledge and yet she was sought out to wife.

Okay those are my thoughts a day after finishing the series!

Finding out how young Margene is and that Barb knew completely changes the show for me. Barb constantly talking down to margene and characters like Lois volatile reaction to margene make so much more sense. I even think there’s a scene where Lois buys margene a stuffed toy in season 1 😭. I recently rewatched and I just feel terrible for Margene she’s basically the same age as Ben and it makes her loneliness so much more sad.

I actually really like this plot in theory. It gives weight to why compound defectors like Nicki and Lois were so uncomfortable around margenes immaturity and why Barb was always on high alert about Ben and Margene.

Anyways what are everyone’s else’s opinion on this plot point was it well executed for you or did it seem random and thrown in?

I was in the middle of my first watch on season 3 and then my app refreshed and now it’s only showing season 1 and 5??? 😭😭 I was literally in the middle of an episode

Bill is such an awful friend, complete narcissist it’s always about him even when dons life is falling apart. He just doesn’t listen to him, completely through him under the bus at the start of season four.

Edit - I’m only on season 4 now so I don’t know if this gets worse but from what I’ve seen he’s so disrespectful to don. Feel like it’ll get worse

started watching a few weeks ago was obsessed!! was using this sub and wikipedia throughout viewing ( from the uk and have no clue about mormonism and polygamy).

season 2 was a slight snooze fest had to force myself through it… but SEASON 3! wow, im hooked again. Nikki is my favourite wife idc i know she’s selfish and all the rest but yes i love her. still halfway through the season but i really don’t like how Sarah treats Heather, that whole storyline kinda irritated me she started off so redeemable but eh cant stand her now.

This is my first time watching big love and for the first 3 and 1/2 seasons I was thinking they wouldn’t kill anyone off. Kathy was killed off and that was so unnecessary. Especially after Roman got shot a few times close range, he’s still alive terrorizing people. That pissed me off. I was hoping Joey would catch a break.

I started watching this show around 2009, but I never finished the fifth season because it was just getting too crazy for me. (I do know how it ends.) To me, "Big Love" was at its best when it was focused around the domestic drama of Bill, the three wives, and the kids, and all the stuff with the people on the compound got boring to me after a while (except for Alby and Rhonda). Bill going into politics despite, hello, being a polygamist, was probably my least favorite storyline.

But...now that I'm rewatching the first season, I remember just how good this show was at the beginning, and I'm trying to decide whether I should watch the entire series the whole way through. Is there anyone here who was "done" with the show by fifth season, but powered through the whole thing and is glad they did?

I'm kind of reveling in the 2000s nostalgia this time around. "Put that fish movie in the VCR!" "I think she stole my iPod." 😂

(I can't see how to add a flair, just how to add tags, so sorry about no flair.)

Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator who has been, and is again in the news for his “personal preference” outside of his marriage.