Big Love Series Finale - God only knows what I'll be without you

The past couple of seasons of Big Love have been kind of a disappointment. For a show that started off so powerful and intricately twisted, it sadly ended up a jumbled up mess of confusion near the end. I haven't even watched all of this season's episodes, but felt I had to at least tune into say goodbye to the family that kept me compelled almost to the bitter end.

(SPOILER ALERT!!!) To tell you the truth, I was more than happy to see Bill die in this episode (morbid, I know), but the twist of 'whodunnit' was a bit anti-climactic. Really - the neighbour?! It should've been Alby or Adaleen who did the deed, after five tumultuous seasons of Juniper Creek vs. Bill Henrickson. Or maybe even one of the wives - perhaps Barb, to really make it interesting.

EW.com

The surprising part was that it was actually very emotional. Not at all when Bill died because let's face it, he had it coming. He's been a self-righteous, domineering and stubborn husband from the start, demanding his wives make sacrifices he never considered to make himself. I hate that kind of double standard. What got me emotional was Barb, Nicki and Margene. Those three, and not Bill, as it turns out, were the glue holding the family together. Their joyride in Barb's new car, their group embrace at the end - that's what Big Love was all about - the sister wives. I'm gonna miss those ladies and their endless drama. Even Nicki.

The episode itself wasn't all that great, it's hard to tie up five year's worth of loose ends and so a lot was left up in the air. And even though I would've loved to see Bill die a less noble death, it ended as it should have. With the three wives getting on with their own lives - something they never would've gotten to do with Bill around.


Margene's last blog entry, Goodbye Internet. Sad.

Over Your Dead Body - Only 3 Episodes Left for Dexter to Chase - Jordan

It's hard to believe there are only a few episodes left for this season of Dexter. It feels like just yesterday we expected to join the growing Morgan brood on a trip to Disneyland only to find (SPOILER ALERT!!!) our beloved Rita dead in the bathtub. I know that's not very sentimental, but we've now had almost an entire season to get used to this sad truth. That, and the fact that Julie Benz is now on ABC's No Ordinary Family, so we know she's not actually dead.

I have a major beef with cable television channels for making ridiculously short seasons filled with ridiculously long breaks in between. The only thing keeping me going is the fact that at least with cable, the seasons are scattered, so just when I start to get stir crazy come January (going through serious Dexter-withdrawal), Californication and Big Love will be starting up again to stir up controversy and drama in my TV-life.

This may not be the popular opinion for people who favour the hard-edged Dexter, but this season, I've really grown to love the single dad he portrays, trying to find the balance between his dark passenger and the fact that he has actually started recognizing his emotions. I love the way he handled Astor's inconvenient return to Miami last week - he acted like he actually cared about protecting her from her friend's abusive step-daddy. He always had Rita and the kids around to balance out his demons. And, with the fear that baby Harrison (seriously, can he get any cuter?!) may end up following in Daddy's demonic footsteps, he may need Astor and Cody around to add a dash of humanity to his complicated mix.

A (too short) preview of next week episode that just leaves me asking, "is it Sunday yet?"

This is Not the Little Red Riding Hood I Remember

Warner Bros. Pictures.

This is not the Little Red Riding Hood I remember. With a super-steamy trailer and up-and-comer Amanda Seyfried playing the red-caped heroine, this one's getting filed under guilty-pleasure. I'm actually starting to like watching Amanda Seyfried on-screen, she's grown on me through her time on the addictive HBO series Big Love. But I think I can safely say she'll never be as hilarious as she was in Mean Girls! ("I think I have ESPN." 'Nuff said.)

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, (let's hope this is a little more Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, and a little less Twilight), you can see the obvious parallels between this and Twilight - the werewolves, the temptation of other-worldly passion. It also looks very teenage-melodrama and angst-y, which seems to be Hardwicke's specialty. But I don't know if I'd complain in Amanda's position, since it looks like whoever the wolf ends up being, casting pretty much guarantees he's swoon-worthy. Vulture's Willa Paskin explains it perfectly, that Hardwicke's "using a fairy tale as an allegory of sexual maturity, and a creature of legend to explore the age-old question, what do you do when your boyfriend's a monster and you're super-hot for him anyway?" I do love modern interpretations of fairy tales and stories, though, getting to see a different side to a story you already know by heart, plus the casting looks absolutely scrumptious. Either way, this takes fairy tales to a whole other level. Definitely leave the kids at home though.

Six Feet Under - HBO's First Family of Death

"Alan Ball's all-in-the-funeral-family drama expanded on the themes of his movie American Beauty: families keep secrets, people maintain facades, and while death may be final, life is messy." - TIME

Death is such the mystery. No one can really explain it, although there are countless theories as to where we go and what happens when we die. I recently started watching Six Feet Under, HBO’s critically acclaimed drama (and sometimes comedy) about a funeral home, and two seasons in I can honestly say I’m officially hooked. Why I suddenly developed an interest in this show now, over four years since it went off the air, I have no idea.

I have nothing really in common with a story like this on the surface. It’s like when I first got into Big Love, I was somehow so interested in the concept, although I couldn’t relate to polygamy at all. There’s a certain attraction to watching something original and out of the ordinary, something that pushes the envelope. And it's definitely an interesting and unexplored idea. How do funeral directors deal with such sadness around them on a daily basis? Do they become numb to it or does it affect the way they live their life and the choices they make.

Six Feet Under is dark and morbid, depressing to watch at times, but always compelling and incredibly well-acted, challenging us with each episode. It’s more than just about funerals, delving into spirituality, relationships, and how we react to losing people, not solely through death. And at the root of the show is the Fisher family, dysfunctional at best, but with all the elements of a traditional family structure. Except of course that the Fishers run a mortuary from their home, the father’s just died, the second son (Michael C. Hall of Dexter!) is a closet homosexual, and the mom is overbearing and uptight, yet surprisingly free-spirited at times. Visually, it plays out with flashbacks and daydream sequences that are very realistic to the way we exist, distracted by memories of people and events from our past.

I'm terrible since I need to know how it all ends before I get there but even though I already googled the series’ ending, I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. Now I know what all the fuss was about.


Frances Conroy is phenomenal in her role as the Fisher family Matriarch.

BIG LOVE season ender leaves me wanting more

I started watching BIG LOVE after Chloe Sevigny won her Golden Globe earlier this year and i was instantly hooked to the drama, intrigue and suspense, yet normalcy of the Henricksons. And Sunday night’s 4th season finale was no exception. As someone who thought the whole show would be too weird and wrong to watch, since it’s about the very provocative subject of polygamy, I now find BIG LOVE one of my guilty pleasure can’t-miss shows of the week.

The element that keeps me watching is the characters. As the audience, you end up having such conflicting feelings for each character. You love them and hate them, all in the same episode. This season, we really see a significant change within the three wives, as they grow and become much less dependent on Bill. Barb, his first wife, actually ends the season off by telling Bill, “I don’t think I need you anymore”, leaving the audience wondering if she’ll even stay within the dysfunctional family. As the audience knows, Barb has always been the most divided on Polygamy, and we always get the sense she’s in the marriage primarily because of her love for Bill, and finally, she admits she wants a different life than the one they’re living. Even the staunchly Polygamist Nicki confesses she may no longer want to share Bill, and Margene, so preoccupied with her conflicting attractions to various other men and her business, seems indifferent.

Bill himself has become so flawed as a character, the audience is left with very little faith in his beliefs. He seems to be acting now, out of selfish power-hunger, and not for the good of his family, that he consistently preaches. And with his extramarital pregnancy (baby conceived before the woman became his fourth wife) , we’re left wondering if this ‘Principle of Plural Marriage’ that they live by, is just an excuse for Bill to sleep with various women. This couldn’t come at a more appropriate time, with the whole Tiger Woods debacle.

Also, hats off to Sissy Spacek for playing the role of conniving political lawyer wonderfully. As someone who is obsessed as they come to Gangster and Crime-related shows and movies, like THE SOPRANOS, I’m used to quite a bit of swearing, but I must admit, BIG LOVE has sensitized me so much so that, I found it refreshingly shocking when Spacek would open her mouth and F-Bombs would drop. So unlike the hilarious Mormon-friendly swearing like “What the H?”

At only 9 episodes, this season was way too short, and they tried to cram as much storyline into the short season as possible, with their trip to Mexico, the opening of the Reservation Casino, and Bill running for office. So gripping and twisted that I can’t imagine what craziness will come next.