This show suffers from the most fundamental flaw imaginable -- not a single main character is worth caring about. Why? Because their flaws range from pure evil to raging arrogance, lying, lust, greed, jealousy, pettiness, delusional thinking, hypocrisy, and sheer, utter stupidity. I'm not kidding. These characters lack even the most basic fundamental human qualities. The men are misogynist, and the women are portrayed in a variety of negative lights -- take your pick.
There are two main groups. The first group consists of a suburbanite polygamous husband and his 3 wives and 7 children who are self-styled adherents to an outlawed variation of Mormonism called Fundamental Latter Day Saint (FLDS), many of whom have broken away from "the compound", an even more extreme version/full-on polygamous community which constitutes the second group.
The head of the FLDS household is Bill, a former member of the compound who was exiled when he was 14 years old (supposedly a common practice to eliminate younger males, leaving more teenage female brides for the older pedophile leader types). He's the "American Dream" come true. He's built up a prosperous home improvement business in the Utah suburbs, where he lives with his three wives (Barb, Nicki, and Margene) and 7 children. (NOTE: Bill's solution to the impotence that is confounding his ability to have continual sex with his 3 wives (they have a schedule) is: Viagra.)
To make a long story short, his first wife Barb is a cancer survivor. They have 3 children. While Barb was going through cancer treatment Bill had a "revelation" that he was supposed to start practicing "The Principle" (the doctrine that some select men are told by G-d that they should take on more wives in a holy mission to get to heaven). So he married Nicki, the daughter of Roman Grant, the self-proclaimed prophet and leader of the compound group, and she bore him two children. Then later on Bill met Margene, a young waitress with whom he fathered two children.
In the process of attempting to expand his one home improvement store, Bill finagles a way to eliminate the 15% due his father-in-law, Roman Grant. (Since Roman fronted Bill the money for the first store for an agreed-upon 15% of the profits, he (Roman) believes he is legally entitled to 15% of the profits from the second store as well. Bill disagrees. Thus begins "The Dysfunctional Family Feud" in earnest.)
Tangentially, since polygamy is illegal, everyone in the suburban clan lies -- to neighbors, co-workers, classmates, etc. As indicated above, all the business dealings are sketchy at best, and situational ethics is putting it mildly when it comes to how this group lives their lives.
As far as the compound group goes...one nut case runs around poisoning those she dislikes. Another nut case (Bill's father) goes around peeing in the sink instead of the bathroom. Bill's mother and Bill's father are at odds and can't be in the same room together. And on...and on...and on.
If there are people in this world who are more lost than these miscreants, I'd sure hate to meet them. They seem to have NO IDEA what they are doing, or why. They claim to be spiritual, yet they constantly obsess about money, each other, and their rivals/enemies. There isn't a single healthy relationship in the bunch -- especially at the compound. (That place is such a total mess it's impossible to even get into it here. One lurid example: Roman Grant can "reassign" any woman/wife to another man whenever he feels like it.) Everyone is constantly lying to one another and cheating on each other and basically just making a total mess out of their lives and the lives of their children.
In short...if you have a lot of patience for stupid, shallow, pompous hypocrites who have no insight into their own behaviors and/or motivations, then this is the show for you. Otherwise, do yourselves a Big Favor and pass on Big Love. The acting is amateurish (Ginnifer Goodwin really SHOULD quit her day job; she's a train wreck in everything she's ever done. And Bill Paxton isn't much better. Heck...even Chloe Sevigny, who I like a lot, is totally wasted here.) The dialogs range from witty and funny to just plain ridiculous. And the story lines are all over the place. The first season was kind of interesting. After that it really went off the rails.
There are two main groups. The first group consists of a suburbanite polygamous husband and his 3 wives and 7 children who are self-styled adherents to an outlawed variation of Mormonism called Fundamental Latter Day Saint (FLDS), many of whom have broken away from "the compound", an even more extreme version/full-on polygamous community which constitutes the second group.
The head of the FLDS household is Bill, a former member of the compound who was exiled when he was 14 years old (supposedly a common practice to eliminate younger males, leaving more teenage female brides for the older pedophile leader types). He's the "American Dream" come true. He's built up a prosperous home improvement business in the Utah suburbs, where he lives with his three wives (Barb, Nicki, and Margene) and 7 children. (NOTE: Bill's solution to the impotence that is confounding his ability to have continual sex with his 3 wives (they have a schedule) is: Viagra.)
To make a long story short, his first wife Barb is a cancer survivor. They have 3 children. While Barb was going through cancer treatment Bill had a "revelation" that he was supposed to start practicing "The Principle" (the doctrine that some select men are told by G-d that they should take on more wives in a holy mission to get to heaven). So he married Nicki, the daughter of Roman Grant, the self-proclaimed prophet and leader of the compound group, and she bore him two children. Then later on Bill met Margene, a young waitress with whom he fathered two children.
In the process of attempting to expand his one home improvement store, Bill finagles a way to eliminate the 15% due his father-in-law, Roman Grant. (Since Roman fronted Bill the money for the first store for an agreed-upon 15% of the profits, he (Roman) believes he is legally entitled to 15% of the profits from the second store as well. Bill disagrees. Thus begins "The Dysfunctional Family Feud" in earnest.)
Tangentially, since polygamy is illegal, everyone in the suburban clan lies -- to neighbors, co-workers, classmates, etc. As indicated above, all the business dealings are sketchy at best, and situational ethics is putting it mildly when it comes to how this group lives their lives.
As far as the compound group goes...one nut case runs around poisoning those she dislikes. Another nut case (Bill's father) goes around peeing in the sink instead of the bathroom. Bill's mother and Bill's father are at odds and can't be in the same room together. And on...and on...and on.
If there are people in this world who are more lost than these miscreants, I'd sure hate to meet them. They seem to have NO IDEA what they are doing, or why. They claim to be spiritual, yet they constantly obsess about money, each other, and their rivals/enemies. There isn't a single healthy relationship in the bunch -- especially at the compound. (That place is such a total mess it's impossible to even get into it here. One lurid example: Roman Grant can "reassign" any woman/wife to another man whenever he feels like it.) Everyone is constantly lying to one another and cheating on each other and basically just making a total mess out of their lives and the lives of their children.
In short...if you have a lot of patience for stupid, shallow, pompous hypocrites who have no insight into their own behaviors and/or motivations, then this is the show for you. Otherwise, do yourselves a Big Favor and pass on Big Love. The acting is amateurish (Ginnifer Goodwin really SHOULD quit her day job; she's a train wreck in everything she's ever done. And Bill Paxton isn't much better. Heck...even Chloe Sevigny, who I like a lot, is totally wasted here.) The dialogs range from witty and funny to just plain ridiculous. And the story lines are all over the place. The first season was kind of interesting. After that it really went off the rails.