A grand finale indeed! After five seasons, HBO's acclaimed family drama Big Love came to an end tonight, and it ended with a bang.
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Logical lapses and character inconsistency plague this episode. It is so frantic, so full of plot lines that have to be wrapped up nownownow, that the problems are impossible to ignore.
Welcome to Wife Watch!, the only blog post that ranks the most powerful wives on Big Love. For once, most of the dunderheads in this week's show are teenagers, not grown-ass men.
I love this week's episode. I even love the title, "The Special Relationship." This whole series is about special relationships, really, and the right to declare them.
I live for the scenes where the three wives fight in public places, and the throwdown at the fashion show -- with Barb's estranged sister in the background! -- is a classic.
Too much stuff happening in too little time led to unconvincing writing, unsatisfying plots, and unrecognizable characters. It also forced the show to focus on conflict-conflict-conflict.
This week was the clearest the show has ever been about how Bill's faith or hubris has warped him into a self-centered, self-righteous, and immature hypocrite with a raging God complex.
I feel Big Love changing, and while I'm not quite ready for a divorce, our marriage is certainly in trouble. Every week, you see, the series looks more like a grotesque soap opera.
Massive developments flickered by in a second, barely registering before they made way for the next crisis, and because there were so many big events, there was no sense of pacing or focus.
I mean it as a compliment when I say that watching Big Love always makes me feel kind of sick. I get so tense every week with all the drama and the fighting and the secret loving.
This week's episode finds every character in some kind of crisis, so the First Wife title goes less to the woman who's got it all together and more to the woman who is the least out of control.
It's time to say goodbye to another season of the greatest drama currently on television. Yes, you guys. That's exactly what it is, and the finale proved why.
I've taken an extra day to process this week's installment -- "Outer Darkness" -- because it's the most controversial of the season (if not the series.)