“Heaven forbid we should upset Bill. [...] What? I’m just stating the obvious. Forgiveness is a commodity that’s pretty hard to come by in this family.”
- Nicolette “Nicki” Grant

Hope y’all were able to tune in last night to the much anticipated Season 4 premiere of Big Love, the critically acclaimed HBO polygamist drama series starring Chloë Sevigny as Nicolette “Nicki” Grant opposite Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin. As always, here’s our recap of yesterday’s episode, 4.01 “Free at Last”; in the interest of those who wish to remain spoiler-free we’ve hidden the recap text from plain view, so please highlight to read:

The Henrickson family continues to move ahead with their casino plans, despite the FBI being on their tails about the mysteriously missing Roman Grant. The excommunicated Barb is feeling increasingly inadequate next to the “blossoming” Margene, who in fact may be on the brink of a burnout with her many business endeavors. Bill continues to harbor doubts about Nicki’s sincerity regarding her family and missing father, and their relationship is at a standstill. The rift deepens even further when Nicki’s ex-husband pays the family a visit, claiming Nicki has cut all contact with him after “kidnapping” their daughter. Little does Nicki, who’s growing more and more attached and proud of her daughter, know Cara Lynn has in fact no intention of staying with her for a longer period, setting Nicki up for a future letdown. Meanwhile, Bill’s mother Lois, afraid for her life, is trying to patch things up with the unstable Frank, and in exchange for Lois’ life the two come to a new agreement about Lois’ bird business.

Elsewhere, Alby finds an unexpected “friend” with a mutual secret in the new-appointed trustee of the Juniper Creek funds, as appointed by the state in the absence of the fugitive Roman Grant. From the Compound, Nicki’s mother Adaleen Grant then makes a desperate call for help to Nicki, who’s been trying to severe her ties with her family as a sign of repentance. Nicki, however, obliges, and in a shocking reveal finds that Adaleen has hidden Roman, as strangled to death by Bill’s brother Joey in the Season 3 finale, in the Compound freezer. In the interest of preserving Roman’s legacy Adaleen tells Nicki she hid the body, with both unaware of how exactly he died. When Nicki reveals the truth to Alby, who in that moment becomes “the new Prophet”, he decides to do away with Roman’s body, and plants it on the casino property to set Bill up. An anonymous tip about Roman’s “whereabouts” to the FBI threatens to jeopardize the casino opening, and Barb and Margie are left to deal with the casino on their own while Bill and Nicki dispose of Roman’s body. But although the casino opening night turns out an overall success and the Henrickson family looks to be on their way to healing, Roman’s death may yet come back to haunt them…

Personally, I hugely enjoyed this episode, despite the complexity of having so many different stories going on at once (hence the length of our recap). Chloë Sevigny, as Nicki, was once again simply terrific, with some really great, emotionally compelling moments. I was also most pleased to see District Attorney Ray Henry is still around, as I, for one, really liked where the writers were going last season with him and Nicki. Oh, and let’s not forget the new opening credits! If you haven’t checked out the episode yet, we highly suggest you tune in for a rerun, because this looks like a promising season to come!

As for media coverage, we’ve updated the gallery with 654 medium-res screen captures of Chloë’s performance in the episode. We’ll soon update this post with video clips as well, so be sure to check back with us for them. Meanwhile, check out the caps and set your TiVos for next Sunday’s episode, 4.02 “The Greater Good”.

New Photo Albums:

• Television Work > ‘Big Love’ Episode 4.01 Screen Captures
• Television Work > ‘Big Love’ Season 4 Opening Credits Screen Captures