(S03E13) Well, it seems that setting Mike free had a symbolic meaning for Susan as well as a literal one. When Susan was embracing a distraught Ian at the end of the episode, she had her eyes closed. There was no lingering glance, no eye rolling, nothing to indicate that she was anything less than sincere in her love for Ian.

Oh, I'm not buying it for one second. But there it was. And now that Susan isn't flinging herself in his direction, of course Mike seems interested.

(S01E12) Fun episode. I was instant messaging with my friend Susan while we were both watching it, and she kept typing, "Rob Lowe is totally HOTTT!" This may tell you something about our ages.

Then at the end of the episode, she began typing frantically, "Where's the NOOKIE!" Because we were both misled by Kitty's saying in the previews, "Let's just pretend this night never happened," to believe that there was nookie. But I am sure there will be nookie soon. After all, why hire Rob Lowe otherwise?

Who knew that Earl Hickey was such a stud muffin? Before his ex-wife Joy came along six years ago, Earl had an intense three-week relationship with Jessie (played by the excellent Juliette Lewis). While hanging out in the local bar, a pregnant and desperate Joy manages to steal Earl away. Later on, Earl and Joy end up becoming husband and wife.

Cut to the present, and Jessie, still working in the bail bondsman's offices, still lacking those front teeth, and apparently still angry over what happened, overhears that Joy never showed up for a traffic court appearance. Jessie decides to become a bounty hunter in order to bring her in, and trains intensely to the sound of the lost 80's classic, "Lunatic Fringe" by Red Rider. (This show continues to brilliantly use music at key moments.) She also gets new front teeth to go with her "Dog, the Bounty Hunter" look.

After having been transfixed by last night's episode of The Sopranos, I was pretty much in the mindset that anything following the show would be a tremendous letdown. Well, the premier episode of Big Love certainly did not come remotely close to The Sopranos, but I was still rather intrigued by what I saw.

Now we all have to remind ourselves that when we watch anything on TV, we have to accept dramatic (or comedic) license and have to suspend reality. In the case of Big Love, you're going to have to kick reality out of your house. When you watch this program, you have to constantly remind yourself that this isn't real--at least you don't think it is. It's hard to believe in this day and age that polygamy still exists, and in this particular case, that it seems almost normal.

Bill Henrickson owns a chain of home improvement stores, and he is doing his best to keep his own house in order. Make that three houses in order, because he has three wives--Barb, Nicki, and Margene--and seven children who all live together in a trio of houses joined by a common backyard. It doesn't take long to see who among the three wives seems to yield more of the power. Barb aka "Boss Lady" pretty much runs the entire show, and comes across as the most logical wife of the bunch. Nicki seems to be the most unstable (if you can believe that) of them all, constantly seeking out attention and making her jealousy over Barb rather obvious. Margene, the youngest wife, trips over herself to get Bill's attention, and is ready to satisfy him at every opportunity. Bill manages to move from house to house to house to wife to wife to wife to family to family to family without much effort. Just picture a typically dysfunctional American family and multiply it by three.

As we began to learn more about Earl Hickey and his quest for karma, we find that he has become a much more compassionate man and is one who can't just walk away from a situation where he can lend a hand.

Number 62 on Earl's list of past transgressions was his siphoning gas out of a neighbor's Yugo (with the help of brother Randy). Earl decides to right his wrong, and finds that the owner by the name of Philo is a very depressed guy with no job, no friends, no nothing, who is determined to commit suicide. It turns out that Earl was actually saving Philo's life by stealing the gas since Philo was trying to end it all by sitting in his car with a line running the exhaust into the driver's area. The car always ran out of gas before anything happened. It's karma, I tell you!

Philo tries to get run over by a car or truck on the highway, but Earl and Randy prevent it from happening. They decide to help Philo find a reason to live by lifting his spirits. He can't find any joy in small talk, motel hockey, or Earl offering up Catalina (she refuses to be with him because of the smell), the boys learn that Philo has a crush on a girl. Of course, things get a bit stick when the girl turns out to be Joy, Earl's ex-wife and Darnell (Crab Man's) current wife.