Big Love Season 3 Ep1 ~ Block Party

[song on mp3player above is * Butterbeans & Susie "I Want A Hotdog For My Roll"]


"Bill's always the hotdog man." ~ Barb Henrickson Wife #1

i guess that line sums up why HBO's Big Love is naughty but nice. Season 3 episode 1 titled "Block Party" finds the Henrickson clan still trying to fit in with their "traditional" neighbors while maintaining their polygamous lifestyle. It's time for the neighborhood block party, and the Henricksons have been dis-invited by the other residents. In previous years, Bill always manned the block party hotdog stand, hence Barb's unintentional double entendre utterance. The family thinks they're being ostracized because the neighbors across the street [Pam and Carl] 'outed' them to the rest of the community. Pam convinces them that she has not betrayed their confidence---the block association's map of the neighborhood lists the Henricksons as "inactive" and has greyed out Nikki's home entirely. Nikki's public last name being Grant, the same as Mormon prophet Roman Grant, is the reason for the grey-out of her property. Although the community does not know for certain that she is in fact Roman's daughter, they're not taking any chances.

And speaking of 'outing'...Alby Grant may still be a closeted gay man, but someone knows his secret, and wants him gone.

Some rough trade was recruited to try and make that happen. My guess is Adaleen [played by Mary Kay Place], 4th Roman Grant wife is the one who hired someone to get rid of Alby. Whomever the culprit, Alby survives.

One sub-plot of the ep touches on the subject of families residing on the compounds discarding teen boys. They are sometimes referred to as "lost boys"
. Franky, who is also Bill's baby brother comes to him for help. Franky has been tossed out for the usual reason---perceived to be too much of a sexual threat to the elder males, including his own father Frank [played by Bruce Dern]. Franky's character is only slated for 4 [inclusive of ep 1] episodes, but i'm hoping the show will aggressively address this issue.

Big Love airs on HBO Sundays at 9:00pm Please check your local listings.

* The Butterbeans & Susie song "I Want A Hotdog For My Roll" was not used on Big Love but it has always been a fav of mine and i couldn't resist including it in this post.