Big Love

Just watched the Season 5 opener of Big Love – a show about a modern polygamist family in Utah. V and I have been watching it faithfully (in the PVR sense) since the start, but I can’t say always with complete enjoyment. The actors and premise make this a compelling show, but the narrative can get quite soapy at times. For example, if you ever have a character saying, “And I still have to go tell [my second wife] that my brother killed her father,” you know the plot has become a touch too melodramatic.

Much of last season revolved around the patriarch of the family, Bill Hendrickson, pursuing ownership of a casino and a seat in the Senate. But there were far too many subplots swirling around and the narrative became so bogged down at times that even the actors seemed exhausted.

Nevertheless, for me this show worth is watching for the strong performances of the three wives and the relationship dynamics between them, their children, and their shared husband. The Los Angeles Times critic, Robert Lloyd, comments that “All of the wives are more interesting than their husband. [Bill] Paxton’s [the lead] character remains a problem for me and, as the pole on which this tent depends, a crucial one.” I fully agree.

While I find the show interesting for all its relationship dramas, I’ve never managed to really sympathize or identify with the central character. His bull-headed pursuit of his own objectives and constant tendency to stir up trouble and controversy gets tiresome – like a friend who is always complaining of problems of their own making, after awhile my sympathy runs thin.

In this way, watching Big Love gets me thinking about who I feel sympathy towards, and for what reasons. From experience, I know that I don’t just sympathize with those whom I agree with – and yet, how do I decide where my sympathies lie? What exactly does sympathy, or empathy, mean? How easy is it to feel – and not just to intend – sympathy and compassion towards those who differ from us? Where does it stop? Where does it begin?

So for all its faults, at least this show gets me thinking.