LBeaux

*WARNING: SPOILERS*

Well I’m still waiting for Comcast to get someone over here to fix my cable so I can watch the Big Love season premiere. So I may as well provide links to the reviews I’ve been reading in the meantime.

Salon.com (Heather Havrilesky): “And this is where ‘Big Love’ really succeeds: By demonstrating the challenges of holding together an elaborate, unwieldy group of individuals, the drama presents an exaggerated portrayal of the very fragile nature of the nuclear family.”

HitFix.com (Todd VanDerWerff): “‘Big Love’ is decidedly agnostic about whether this way of life is a good thing for its central characters, particularly its women. It’s smart enough to realize all of the ways polygamy stunts the growth of Barb, Nicki and Margene, but it’s also smart enough to realize that the Henrickson suburban compound is seductive in its own way, as are all religious sects.”

New York Magazine/Vulture (Nick Catucci): “But the true (and we have to say brilliant) farce plays out between Bill’s parents. Lois — who, with Ben’s help, is flipping birds, picked up at swamp meets, to pet stores — meets Frank for ice cream, and he brings along three goons with ropes. Luckily, she’s packing a pistol. Later he comes to her apartment, and as the birds make their cacophony, the two enact the greatest elderly fight scene we’ve ever witnessed, a messy, lurching match that’s as hilarious as it is pathetic.”

The AV Club (Amelie Gillette): “For me, the most effective part of tonight’s episode was the Henrickson church service—not just because it was one of the few scenes that held for more than 60 seconds, but because Barb, Nicki, and Margene, the emotional centers of the show, were at the center of it. When Bill asked his small congregation if there was anything that they’d like to pray for, it was a revealing, character-deepening moment: Margie, always the chipper cheerleader/businesswoman prayed for the casino to succeed; Barb, ever the nurturer, prayed for the church to bring the family together; and Nicki, being Nicki, prayed for herself, that she would be forgiven.”

Entertainment Weekly (Ken Tucker): “I like the idea of Bill running for political office in order to defend his polygamous lifestyle. So is anything to do with Alby Grant (Matt Ross), a devious son of Roman Grant hellbent on controlling dad’s empire but unable to resist cruising men in the park, a scandal in the making. (These two strands entwine artfully as well: Bill’s move into the political arena for a certain kind of sexual freedom can stand as a metaphor for gay-marriage rights, and the repression Alby suffers, no matter how much of a weasel he is in his other dealings, is rendered with stinging poignance.)”

New Jersey Star-Ledger (Alan Sepinwall): “The strongest aspect of the series, by far, is the interplay between the three wives and their kids (notably Amanda Seyfried as eldest daughter Sarah, who wants no part of her family’s lifestyle). Everything else — Bill’s businesses, his clashes with local politicians and church leaders, and, especially, all the shenanigans with the caricatured weirdos at Juniper Creek — feel like distractions.”

Popularity: 100% [?]