“Bill? How come I’m always called upon to do the morally ambiguous things?”
- Nicolette “Nicki” Grant
As always, we hope you were able to tune in last Sunday to the newest episode of Big Love, the critically acclaimed polygamist drama series starring Chloë Sevigny as Nicolette “Nicki” Grant opposite Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin. Here’s our weekly recap as per usual, of episode 4.05 “Sins of the Father”; please mouseover to read (under the cut):
A week after Margene’s confession about her feelings for Ben, she and Bill are barely on speaking terms. Barb tries to convince Bill to get over his ego, at which Bill reveals to her the true extent of Margie’s relationship with Ben, much to Barb’s shock and amazement. She is outraged and shuts Margie out. With no one on her side, Margie rushes to Ben, staying over at Sarah’s, to compel him to return home, but Ben, who has a different picture of what’s happened, simply shuts the door on her.
Lobbyist Marilyn Densham expresses unusual interest in the Henricksons’ Indian casino by trying to convince Bill to take her on as the casino’s representative, while Nicki continues her “recon” mission at the Colburn campaign office at Bill’s iniative. Bill uses Nicki’s information to secure Congressman Paley’s endorsement, however Nicki begins to feel uncomfortable in her new role as Bill’s mole, and tells him so. She then tells him that, despite their efforts she’s still not pregnant, but Bill reassures her there’s nothing to worry about, that they’re only just “getting back into the groove”. The two then make love, and things seem to be looking up in their relationship.
The next day, at a candidacy event, Margie makes an unexpected and unwelcome appearance, and although Bill is visibly displeased at seeing her there, Margie is unrelenting and compels Bill to “get over it”. Their argument, however, is interrupted by Bill’s brother Joey, who points him towards Colburn making a statement about polygamy and its “lost boys” outside the event venue. When Bill appears at the scene, Colburn calls him out on being one of these so called “lost boys” himself, and Bill is forced to evade his accusations in front of the press. The situation gets even stickier for Bill when a furious Barb calls him out for “banishing” Ben from the Henrickson household and orders him to fix the situation or else, while Marilyn Densham comes only seconds away from catching Nicki, whom she knows as “Daphne Curtis, Bill’s assistant”, in Colburn campaign attire. Bill then tries to patch things up with Ben, between whom there seems to be a misunderstanding as to whether or not Bill “exiled” him. Ben cannot be reconciled with, and he leaves.
The wives then confront one another about the entire ordeal; Barb accuses Margie of causing the rift between Bill and Ben and therein indirectly driving Ben out of his home, while Margie only now hears about Bill having thrown Ben out rather than Ben leaving on his own accord, with Nicki, until now completely unaware of any Margie-Ben developments, is somewhat lost at what’s happened and is being said. Barb then accuses Margie of being a “floozy” and of flirting her way into Barb and Bill’s marriage, viciously insulting and hurting Margie, and orders her to stay away from Ben. As an outraged Barb and an unsympathizing Nicki leave the scene, Margie is unexpectedly befriended by Congressman Paley. Close by, a pressured Bill is finally coaxed by the media to counter Colburn’s statement on “lost boys”, and lets it slip that he is “100%” against him on the matter. When Bill sees the mess that is Margie and is then confronted by Barb about his “new acquaintance” Marilyn, an irritated Bill tells Barb she needs to “control her emotions”. An incensed Barb leaves Bill at the scene.
Later than afternoon, Bill loses the first round of the candidacy vote to Colburn by nine votes, however there’s still another opportunity for Bill to get the better of him in the second round. Bill’s brother-in-law Ted, however, tells Bill flat-out his stance on “lost boys” will be his undoing and make him lose Paley’s endorsement unless Bill publicly corrects his earlier statement on the matter, while Marilyn implies her recent expressions of doubt to Paley about Bill’s ability to “close the deal”, most explicitly as a response to Bill’s blatant unwillingness to hire her as his casino rep, have swayed Paley against him. A reluctant Bill then agrees to introduce Marilyn to Tommy at the at the casino in exchange for her support. The situation turns close to farcical, though, when Bill is supposed to take Marilyn to the casino for an introduction with the tribe, and is unexpectedly accompanied by not only Marilyn, but driver “Daphne Curtis”, and Congressman Paley with his new acquaintance, Margene Heffman.
At the casino, Bill quickly brings Barb up-to-date on all the recent developments and then confronts her about leaving him to cope on his own. He also tells her he by no means intentionally drove Ben out of the house, but before the two are able to discuss the matter any further, they are faced with yet another problem when Bill’s parents Frank and Lois make a noisy and disorderly surprise entrance. The wives confront each other again about their respective frustrations, while Joey and Lois both confront Bill about “throwing Ben out.” Tired, Bill turns his back on his troublesome family, at which Joey furiously tells him he’s “on the wrong path.” Bill leaves the scene, however, and moves on with introducing Marilyn to Tommy, as promised. Marilyn, however, eventually has to leave the casino empty-handed, suspicious of what really just happened in that meeting. Later, Tommy and a tired Barb bond unexpectedly.
The next day, the entire Henrickson family receives an unwelcome surprise when they enter the campaign venue and find copies of an early mug shot of Bill plastered all over the place, and Nicki apologizes to him for not having been able to catch the information in advance at Colburn’s, clearly insecure about how this slip will affect her standing with Bill. Ted tells Bill it’s all over for him now, but Bill refuses to accept this, and wants to go ahead with the runoff election against Colburn. Bill then takes the first steps to reconcile with Margie, including by instructing Barb to do the same, before butting heads with Colburn in an onstage debate, as his three wives and Marilyn look on. He then makes an emotionally charged confession to his audience, of having indeed once been a “lost boy” himself, and what that meant for him. He reveals the mug shot is the result of him being arrested for assault, and then moves on to make a loaded and compelling speech in defense of “lost boys”, as alienated from the society by society itself, before leaving the stage.
After his onstage appearance, Team Henrickson is exceedingly surprised to hear Bill has won the Republican nomination from Colburn. Bill, however, finds himself unable to celebrate when Marilyn tells him she knows of her meeting with Tommy having been a setup, while Sarah then has to tell him that Ben has run off, possibly for good. The episode ends with a shot of an anguished Barb, sitting on the bathroom floor. Like Nicki and Margie before her, could she now also have feelings for someone outside her marriage?
As those who checked out the show last Sunday will surely have noticed, this week’s focus was very much on Bill Paxton’s Bill Henrickson, and I, personally, was very much impressed with his strong, emotional performance. Chloë Sevigny as Nicki had her moments as well, however, and there were a few absolutely hilarious ones in this episode. I also laughed so hard at the end credits theme song — simply priceless, and so very fitting. Season 4 is really turning out my favorite season yet!
Media-wise, we’ve updated the gallery with 347 site-exclusive HD screen captures of Chloë in last Sunday’s episode. We’ve been very happy to be able to cap new episodes in HD of late, and will try to do so whenever possible in the future as well; we’ll also try and find the early Season 4 episodes, from which we currently only have medium-res caps, in HD (especially episode 4.02, Chloë’s arguably best and most compelling turn as Nicki to date). Stay tuned for some DVD quality replacement captures from Season 1 and 2 as well; we hope to be able to start updating the gallery with those later this month. Finally, we’ll be updating the site with video clips from episodes 4.04-4.05 later this week, so please keep checking back for all the new Big Love stuff!
New Photo Albums:
• Television Work > ‘Big Love’ Episode 4.05 Screen Captures
