Big Love

I'm no expert on the origins of polygamy in the Mormon church. I expect it made certain sense when they were settling in Utah, where maximizing the birth-rate was key. But today it seems little more than an excuse for old men to have sex with young girls and call it religion.

I wonder if most men have had, at one time or another, a fantasy about having sexual access to more than one woman at a time. If so, those fantasies of plush harems and nubile serving wenches go up in a puff of smoke after watching the first season of Big Love, HBO's take on a modern polygamous marriage. Yes, the husband in question has three wives, whom he sleeps with on a rotating basis. But he also has three mortgages, seven kids, and has to hide his marital status from a disapproving society (it's also illegal, but the show never made clear if he was legally married to all three--presumably he was not, but the issue is never addressed). The show is a fascinating and skewered look at the American dream.

Bill Paxton is Bill Henrickson, who owns two home and garden stores in Salt Lake City. He is the grandson of a man once known as "the Prophet," and grew up on a polygamous commune in rural Utah. He was kicked out, though (these groups routinely exile teenage boys so as to limit the competition for young girls). He married Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn), but when she had ovarian cancer and could not conceive any more children, they agreed to re-embrace the polygamous principle. He took a second wife, Nicki (Chloe Sevigny), the daughter of the current Prophet (Harry Dean Stanton), a sinister Warren Jeffs-like figure, and then Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin), a rootless and naive young woman.

As the series begins, Paxton hopes to open a third store, but is feuding with Stanton. He's also dealing with his unstable mother (Grace Zabriskie) and rascally father (Bruce Dern), who still live in the commune. And of course there are the normal family dramas, times three. All the while the family must stay discreet, as though they are surrounded by Mormons, those who are in the regular LDS sect highly disapprove of polygamy.

I watched all twelve episodes of the first season over the last week and a half. I enjoyed it, though it was a glossy soap opera. I was surprised that it pulled no punches in condemning polygamous sects--in this day and age even a religion practicing something illegal might get a break from the sensitive media. Where the series excels in the characterizations of the three wives. Each is well-acted, with Sevigny getting the toughest assignment. Nicki is a conniving, mean-spirited, materialistic shrew, and it's to her credit that she makes the character even remotely sympathetic. I've always found her to be a interesting actress, but I wonder if I'll ever see her again without thinking of this character.

Goodwin has it easier, but is no less interesting as the innocent Margene, who is not much older than Paxton's oldest child. Paxton plays a spiritual man who really believes that he's doing God's bidding, but after watching these episodes back to back I got tired of his smug moralizing and wanted to smack him a bit. A little of Bill Paxton goes a long way.

But any show with both Stanton and Dern can't be bad. Unfortunately they only shared one scene together, but it was a beaut. Also in the cast are Amanda Seyfried as Paxton's oldest daughter, who has doubts about the life style she was born into, and Daveigh Chase, who was so good as the creepy little kid in The Ring, as a fifteen-year-old girl who will be Stanton's next wife. All together now, ewwww!

But something to consider: why should polygamy be illegal? Certainly underage marriage, or forced marriage of any kind should not be tolerated. But if more than two consenting adults want to marry and live as a unit, why should society object? If one is not opposed to same-sex marriage, as I am not, then why not polygamy? It's an interesting discussion topic.