“Excuse me. I don’t need any more comments from the peanut gallery!”
- Nicolette “Nicki” Grant

Hopefully everyone was able to tune in last Sunday to HBO’s critically acclaimed polygamist drama series, Big Love, on which Chloë Sevigny stars as Bill Henrickson’s second wife Nicolette “Nicki” Grant opposite Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin. Here’s our recap of episode 3.04 “On Trial”, please highlight to read:

Bill takes his homeless mother Lois in with the family after Frank is freed of his shackles behind her back, and is now out to get her. Roman’s trial and her sister wives’ insistence on giving Nicki their nights with Bill to help her get pregnant has Nicki on edge, and she lashes out to both Margene and Ana on a grocery shopping trip, which Ana finds intolerable. A reluctant Nicki, reminiscent of her bad childhood experiences, returns to her job at the D.A. at her father’s insistence, while Bill tries to sweet talk Alby to be on his side, which Alby seemingly agrees to. In fear of retribution from the Grant clan, Wanda, Joey and prosecution witness Kathy move to a safe house, where Rhonda refuses to join them. Margie confronts her feelings about the death of her estranged mother in an unusual way. Nicki struggles with her commitment to her father, and tries to confront her mother Adaleen about her first marriage. Adaleen uses Nicki’s stolen money to bribe Rhonda to make a run for it, which she does. Sarah considers adopting out her child to a religious couple, when the husband reveals he’s gay, which Sarah shies away from. A confrontation breaks between the sister wives, Bill, Ana, and Barb and Bill’s mothers when Ana blurts out she is dating the family, which results in Margie viciously insulting Nicki while Bill, Barb and Margie all propose to a hesitant Ana, much to the exasperation of Lois and Nancy. Roman’s trial turns into a farce when Kathy’s sister is blackmailed to turn against Kathy mid-testimony, and Roman is freed of the major charges. As Roman victoriously walks out of the courtroom, Nicki is suddenly angered by all events past and recent, and shoves him down the courthouse stairs.

Whoa, what an episode! I particularly appreciated the courthouse half of the episode, and as always, Chloë delivers an excellent performance as Nicki. Check out the 531 medium-res screen captures of her appearance at our gallery; video clips will be added with the relaunch of the site (and media archive).

Don’t forget to tune in again later today, February 15 2009, for Big Love episode 3.05 “For Better or For Worse”, at 9 PM on HBO, the trailer for which is available on the series’ official site (”Next on ‘Big Love’”). As always, we’ll do our best to cover it!

New Photo Albums:

• ‘Big Love’ Episode 3.04 “On Trial” Screen Captures