Big Love: The Complete Fifth Season

“Why are you trying my family unmercifully?” Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) asks God during the fifth and final season of the HBO series Big Love. Better he should ask himself, since it's largely his actions and decisions that have created for Bill a tower of tribulation. As fans know, Bill's a polygamist, with three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn as Barb, Chloe Sevigny as Nicki, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Margene), a whole passel o' children, and a stubborn, idealistic, and sometimes rather dim disposition. Having previously won a seat in the Utah State Senate, he's decided to reveal that his brood observes “the principle of plural marriage”; he's also determined to fight a steep uphill battle for public acceptance. Serious consequences ensue: many who voted Bill into office, including employees at his Home Plus store, feel betrayed; he may be impeached as soon as he's sworn in; his kids are bullied; and the mainstream Mormon church actively shuns him and his family. Meanwhile, the wives are squabbling again: Barb starts drinking and considers joining a reform sect that opposes polygamy, Marg loses her gig pitching products on TV (she also makes a confession that puts Bill in serious legal jeopardy), and Nicki, by her own description, is “spiteful, jealous, and mean.” Artfully written, acted (others in the outstanding cast include veterans Bruce Dern, Mary Kay Place, Grace Zabriskie, and Ellen Burstyn), and directed, Big Love was a consistently first-rate show. Compiling all 10 episodes of the 2011 final season, DVD extras include episode mini-commentaries and a retrospective featurette. Recommended. (S. Graham)