Spoilers follow.
How could they end Big Love like that? Seriously? Ugh. They couldn’t think of a satisfying ending with a lot of closure so they did that? As much as we disapprove, we were manipulated into feeling touched when the three wives who bickered through this entire season embraced. Apparently, Marge holds the Melchizedek priesthood with Bill’s blessing now, Nicki is the same person we met in season one (only without the attachment to the compound or the shopping problem), and Margene has become a lesbian. Now that stodgy old Bill is gone, Sarah came crawling around with her husband and baby in a “look I came back” cameo. The lead-up to the end was boring to us and kind of a waste of time. Just some fighting and worrying and showing us that Margene is the Peace Corps type. We thought she wanted to do sales. This season repeated things we had already seen from the show. It was a little unnecessary. Others may disagree, but we think newcomers should stop about three episodes into season 4 and just have it end there for them.
Here are other ways they could have ended it:
1) Bill goes to prison. Margene takes off. Barb moves to be with Sarah. Nicki holds down the fort.
2) They all take off. Margene’s getaway plan!
3) Margene is a casualty in Alby’s shooting. The D.A. and Bill’s political enemies drop the charges out of sympathy. Bill resigns.
And 4) Earlier in the season, the old D.A. from season 3 moves back. Nicki runs off with him. And who cares what happens to everyone else. Psh, we wish.
Question: Can the girls marry three different guys now? Or do they all have to go find the same guy? We are envisioning a future where Nicki goes to Mexico to get Joey, because she's so attached to being Mrs. Hendrickson. We guess the show was about the family relationship between the women (more than it was about their marriage to Bill). We loved the epilogue, actually, all jokes aside. We liked the reference to the Teeny debacle ("That girl doesn't know whether she's coming or going.") The best part of the finale is that those three are still married to each other. With Bill still watching creepily from a chair.
Season Grade: B-
Series Grade: A-
Read this interview with the showrunners: http://www.tvline.com/2011/03/big-love-post-mortem-your-burning-series-finale-questions-answered/
Did you hate it or love it?
I loved it, and I'm surprised that I feel like it provided enough closure. I was expecting it end more like your scenario #1, though, since it seems like they had been preparing us for Bill to go to prison all season. In many ways, killing him off is a bit of a cop-out, but then again, from a dramatic standpoint, it's difficult to imagine the show ending while all four main characters were still alive.
ReplyDeleteIt's also very strange to have felt satisfied with the fact that the wives stayed together as a family after Bill's death. I guess that by the end of this series, though, if you weren't rooting for the family, you may have missed the point!
I think I liked this season as a whole more than you did, but then again, I didn't marathon it in the last couple of months. After season four's frenetic pacing, it felt nice to see the show slow the heck down, and take a few breaths. I think "Exorcism" was a nearly perfect episode.
Not to cop out on the post/be too agreeable, but one of us writes her posts instantly after watching the episode, so it's always the first response that gets thrown up here. Also, most posts take 20 minutes, so it really is the Word Vomit Reaction. The finale holds up a lot better after a few hours of reflection.
ReplyDeleteAfter thinking about it more and letting it settle, it was probably the best ending episode for this season/the direction the season was going. It was hard to root for the family when the characters were so interesting and full of potential as individuals, and it sometimes seemed like the family unit was dragging them down. One of the things both of us like is people growing as individuals. Nicki started to grow significantly, but that slowed to a crawl in season four. But you're right. Family was the point. The epilogue drove it home.
What the marathon did was make the gap in quality from season 3 to season 4 stand out a lot. Still, even season 4 was better than most TV.