Thanks to the Oscars being on Sunday, I didn’t get a chance to watch “End of Days” until last night’s replay, and I’m actually glad I waited. Sunday night I would have written a review of the episode, saying how exciting the episode was and how next season of Big Love will hopefully run with that (and be more than nine episodes!). Instead, I went to bed immediately after and didn’t start formulating my thoughts until the next morning. Sleeping on it lowered my good will towards the episode, and the season itself. Last season of Big Love was incredible in part because it was character driven, with the overall narrative coming out of the actions of the characters instead of the other way around. This season has been all about horrible ideas those characters had and their inability to tell each other those are horrible ideas.
But let’s talk about “End of Days.” Bill, as always, has several fish to fry, but apparently more than enough time to deal with them all. There’s the Casino, where he fires Tommy for lying about his involvement in Tribe’s drug dealing, constantly covering for his messed up family. There’s Marilyn, who saves Bill’s ass, only to discover he’s an absolute lunatic that is not going to do anything for her in return, en route to ruining what could be a promising political career. Albie is going out of his mind crazy, ripping wall paper off the walls and cutting his wives’ faces. And there’s crazy ass J.J., who, contrary to what the Feds think, doesn’t promote incest, but just implanting eggs into infertile women without their knowledge. What?! For such a crazy plot line, there was little setup of it. I was conflicted about this, because on one hand, it was pretty messed up, and was better as a shocking reveal as opposed to a slow one. But on the other hand, it seemed like lazy writing, a way to make J.J.’s craziness come to a head.
Then we have the wives. Barb is pissed at Bill for never listening to her, going so far as to leak information about Anna’s baby to the press. She also tells him she needed him for 20 years, but now, not so much. She is still very opposed to the public outing of their family, yet she lacks the ability to permanently close Bill’s mouth and keep him from doing so. Margie’s stance is unclear. She wants to divorce Goren but is opposed to it. She wants to announce the truth, but doesn’t want to lose her business. Nikki is the only one that’s really gung-ho about it all, but she also wants Bill all to herself, which is pretty contradictory to the idea of Bill announcing that he has three wives. She was also drugged up by J.J.’s doctor, and just before getting implanted, was saved by Adeline, who had uncovered the plot the previously. Bill got there just in time too, because Wanda regained the ability to speak just moments after Nikki took off. Then Adeline burns J.J. and his wife in the hospital. Plot ended.
Of course, everything was building up to Bill’s announcement of the family’s polygamy. Before we get to that, let’s go over how stupid Bill is:
1.) He thinks that if they just get in a limo when it’s all over, they won’t be harassed or arrested. We all know there’s different laws in limos.
2.) He tells Barb he knows that the Senate run got them off track, but he doesn’t know what to do other than keep going. I don’t know, how about stop?!
3.) HE RAN FOR STATE SENATE TO REVEAL HIS TRUE IDENTITY! WHY?!
When the announcement finally came, I was, even when I still enjoyed the episode, I was kind of angry. Margie looked so gutted when he name was called, Barb needed a moment to even stand up, and even steadfast Nikki looked terrified. Poor Don was there, a slight smile on his face, but why? Bill literally destroyed his life by making him take the fall at HomePlus. Life won’t at all get easier for him or the Hendrickson family. In fact, it’s going to be an even bigger mess than it was before. Bill will probably lose everything: the Senate job, the casino, HomePlus, probably Barb, and maybe Margie. Sara already left the family, knowing what was to come, and she’s just the first one.
So that’s it for a shaky season of Big Love. As I said at the start, it was a season dominated by stories rather than characters, and it was as a result much weaker than last year. For highlights we had the culmination of the Ben-Margie issue, the return of Anna, Nikki’s transformation, and Albie’s affair with Dale. For low lights, we had the Senate run, the trip to Mexico, and enough scattered and rushed plots to fill a season of Heroes. When Season 4 was at its best, it was very good. When it was at its worst, it was more frustrating than I could have imagined. I don’t really know why either. For all the bad parts, the writing was either lazy or over zealous, which was surprising for a show that improved from an already consistent story. So here’s hoping next season will be better.
Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Michael’s Score: 54
TUIW Grade: C
Michael
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