Review - Big Love Season 5 Episode 5 The Special Relationship

Since the beginning of Big Love, Barb hasn't been entirely happy about her situation, sharing her husband with two other women and various other events that occurred which have shaken her beliefs, although it's never been too explicit. However, she has stuck through it all, and reinforced her belief in plural marriage. But this season, with the political turmoil, there is sea change based on her interpretation of the scripture. Without reading the Book of Mormon, all this talk about the priesthood holder goes over my head and I don't care much about it frankly, except that it puts Barb directly at odds with Bill and the rest of the family. Fundamentally, it is about freedom for women--not needing a man to be priesthood holder.

Complicating matters, Bill asks her for a divorce so he can marry Nicki and adopt Cara Lynn. Barb, thinking that legal marriage is important, initially refuses and Bill realizes he shouldn't be asking her this. But as the episode progresses and Barb remembers her college days, the moment comes and Barb states that they need to get divorced. So is this a legal divorce only or a spiritually one as well? Certainly, I can imagine an ending of Big Love where Bill and Barb are separated, but I can also imagine one where the family sticks together.

Alby once again shows how twisted he is, sending out Verlan to hurt Don. By now, halfway through the final season, Alby hasn't shown any signs that he could come around, not even signs of humanity, so there will probably be a showdown in the near future.

I hoped the reveal of Lois with dementia would get rid of her character permanently, but she's sticking around a while longer. The main problem with the story is that it's unrelated to everything else, and it's just a pain to watch Lois yell about something or another.

What's going on with Margene? From what I can tell, this Golgi thing is a pyramid scheme, but everyone, including business-savvy Bill, seems fine with it.

There's also politics in the episode in which Bill has to be stubborn and unrelenting. Both Barnes and leaders from the LDS church ask him to stop being so brazen about his beliefs, in somewhat insulting fashion, but in the case of Barnes, Bill will actually get quite a bit in return, support for Safety Net. Unfortunately, Bill would rather fight than take a deal, so he'll have to try another way.

Score: 8.7/10