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Review: 'Big Love' - 'The Mighty and Strong'
by Danny Gallagher, posted Feb 1st 2010 1:35PM
(S04E04) "You wanted to play nice dolly with the nancy boy, but he's collaborating with your enemy. What a fool you've been." - Roman's ghost to Alby on discovering that Dale is working with Bill
This week's episode was full of moments that made my spine want to worm its way up my neck and straight out the back of my head like sp,e bizarre alien larvae working its way through my innards for a chance at breathing some clean air.
Sure, the tension was thick and coated the show in a gooey texture from the opening to closing credits, but this week also added an extra layer of pure visceral emotion that broke through the screen and made you feel the unspoken tension in places you didn't know had nerve endings.
As Bill prepares to move forward with his run for a state senate seat, things are starting to get really dirty thanks to his rival Rep. Colburn who now sees him as a Defcon-3 threat for the first time. Maybe it's Bill's naive nature or just plain stupidity, but his lack of preparation for the dirty, scum-sucking world of the political landscape is almost laughable and his surprise reaction to an anonymous INS tip about his business to his questionable bookkeeping practices. Phillip J. Fry would not have had a less laughable reaction to these bombshells.
The JJ angle continues to become the most interesting subplot in this HBO emotional clusterf#&$. This time he has expressed an interest in being suited with one of Roman's old wives and Alby's mother, Adaleen. It was hard not to feel sorry for this woman when she received the news from her wormy little toad of a son.
The scene immediately following, when she calls Nicolette and can't even bring herself to break the news through a wall of wailing and tears, turned into an explosion of tragedy and sadness. Place deserves some sort of recognition for her supporting work, even if she's already buried under a big pile of dramatic talent.
Of course, Alby has his own demons to chase since he's still pursuing Dale with the nervous fervor of a boarding school student chasing the handsome headmaster. The squirmiest scene by far was when Roman popped out from Alby's subconscious as Alby realized his secret gay lover had some secrets of his own. It's good to see that Harry Dean Stanton won't even let death stop him from appearing in the show and it helps explain why Alby is just as nutty as his old man.
But the squeamish prize continues to go to Bill's son, Ben and his very uncomfortable romance with Bill's wife Margene. Sure it's not technically incest or inbreeding, but with this family it might as well be. The stare that Bill gave Ben when he admitted to chasing Margene pierced through the glass of my TV and conveyed a great deal of furious, hellfire anger that no amount of words could replicate.
It made it all the harder to watch when Margene broke down and admitted that his feelings for her weren't exclusive to just Ben, despite the fact that Margene expressed them while wearing the world's most ridiculous elephant costume for Bill's first political rally. Kudos to the costume department for making the moment all the more solemn and sad.
By the way, did anyone else get giddy when they spotted actor and comedian Thomas F. Wilson (you might best know him as Biff from 'Back to the Future') as the radio host interviewing Bill in the show's opening scenes? He's the 'Where's Waldo' of the entertainment universe. If Kevin Bacon ever needed someone to take over his "I'm linked to the universe" throne, he would be the man to do it.
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