Yes, Big Love got silly more than once... But it was never ironic about religion. The show's greatest achievement was its compassionate, complex portrayal of faith and the doubt that comes with it.
Olsen and Scheffer have wisely stripped away elements that distracted and detracted from the family at the show's emotional core. They have channeled their energies -- and the show's focus -- back onto the Henricksons themselves
Even with its incessant drama, Big Love is such a warm show that we've come to know each of the characters like they are old friends. We want to know how life turns out for the Big Love clan.
Big Love was many things... But it was always at its most compelling as an indictment of the mindless spiritual avidity and the bizarre displays of self-exoneration that can go on in the name of faith.
Much about this current season either didn't make sense or greatly annoyed me... At least Big Love had an ending. Not every HBO series has been so lucky.
Like so many HBO series, this one put an unsettling new frame around familiar, very basic conflicts, in a way that pushed viewers to consider their essence.
In a way, the very act of taking part in worship is something eternal and mysterious... The series finale of Big Love abruptly re-engages with these questions in a way that's occasionally satisfying, often erratic, and ultimately moving.
It has always been a slog, Big Love---its much-criticized fourth season was the breaking point for most... but the sheer audacity of the whole enterprise and the class and talent employed to pull it off is a marvel, looking back.
