There are only two songs that I like by the Beach Boys: "Sloop John B"--which, listening to the lyrics, is a bit on the rough side--and "God Only Knows." A taste for those living under a rock and not familiar with the lyrics:
I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
Ill make you so sure about it...
"God Only Knows" is the song played behind the opening credits for the HBO series "Big Love," which I have taken up watching on my Netflix rentals. I started the series this week, late as usual to the craze if there is one (I didn't come to the table for West Wing until season 5, but was addicted within about 2 episodes). I have watched a few episodes from other HBO series, such as "Deadwood" (GREAT writing, but enough verbal profanity to dull the senses), and "Rome" (which I will probably rent after "Big Love;" what I saw of it and the writing made me think of the glories of Shakespeare, or, at least, Tom Stoppard speaking for Shakespeare). I never saw the other popular ones, like "The Sopranos" or "Entourage," but they don't really draw me.
"Big Love" drew me for the association of it--to see a set of believable characters grapple with an odd relationship in marriage(s).
I sort of felt like I could relate to someone.
If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me...
The lyrics play on the opening characters as they ice-skate on a precarious surface, and they balance on one in the show as well. Bill Henrickson, who is played by Bill Paxton (this is the second time that I have seen him play a character with his same first name--see also, "Twister"--and I have to wonder with actors if they ask the writer, "Hey, can we use my first name so I am on top of my cues?"), is a polygamist in Salt Lake City. He is not a Latter Day Saint, at least, not an "active" one, as he and his three wives and their seven children do not go to church, but he does love God with all of his heart. He prays simple and yearning prayers alone in his GMC truck from the curb in front of his three houses, he guides his children through the love of Christ, but he is uncomfortable with organized religion due to past experiences with a Mormon "clan" in the Juniper Compound where he was raised (if you could call it that--his parents are a couple of children in the first two episodes, and I don't mean children in the physical sense but the emotional sense). He is a business owner who is trying to provide for three wives of VERY different temperament, and he loves them all. I don't know why he loves the middle one--haven't learned much about her yet except that she is incredibly manipulative--but he loves them all.
Bill is not a saint, but he tries to do well, even when the hope and striving of doing well provide him with more trouble than walking away. In the pilot episode Bill is experiencing performance issues for the first time with two of his wives, and by the third wife's turn for him rolls around--perhaps I should backtrack a little. The wives rotate Bill through their households, with certain nights designated as family nights where everyone sits down to dinner together. Then Bill follows a wife upstairs--whosever turn it is to spend the evening with him. All three women have pretty healthy libidos, fueled by the fact that each woman only knows him in the Biblical sense about 30% of the time, and Bill is additionally stressed out about his business and his drive to expand it. So we see him frustratingly impotent with the first two wives, and by the time the script gets to the third wife's turn he is dressed in a full set of pj's. "Since when did you start wearing pyjamas?" she says sardonically, and the pressure is on.
In the second episode Bill has procured Viagra, but that is creating a problem in the opposite side of the spectrum--he now can't control his libido very well, even though he is performing great. Conflicts arise when some of the wives are finessed during the day of when other wives are supposed to have a turn. It's not an orgy, but women in this situation are very defensive of what little territory they have, and when Bill sleeps with one wife in another wife's bed, the relationships are strained all around. Bill apologizes, but doesn't come clean on the Viagra, which he is taking without their knowledge, and ze plot thickens...
Keep in mind that I don't have a particular wish to be Mormon, and I haven't read enough to objectively decide what to believe about the LDS. (Although, after watching scenes from the Juniper Compound in "Big Love" and reading Martha Beck's "Leaving the Saints," I have a pretty negative image of the faith.) "Big Love" does a wonderful job of showing the complexities and dedication behind any culture that sits outside a larger "norm," however, and I can relate to the characters in the fact that they have relationships that are generally misunderstood and that generally don't follow the same experience as what is even relatable by people in their own community. We see Sarah, the oldest daughter, struggling with her parents as polygamists on her own and when facing her friends. We see Bill using care to depart from the same house every day regardless of where he sleeps so that the neighbors and authorities won't suspect. And yet, despite all the secrets and wrestling of conscience, we see a family of integrity. My goal is to have that much integrity and dedication in my quest for the life-long relationship, even though I feel I am getting too old and jaded to meet my life partner, wherever he is.
At least for now. ;) Something may come up, and knowing HBO, a scandal has to floor someone somewhere.
*************
I used to think Beach Boys's songs were empty, sunny, silly, unloaded and light.
Then I watched the beginnings of "Big Love."
God only knows
God only knows how I feel about you...
I am having so much fun and relief finding out.
No comments:
Post a Comment