How ‘Big Love’ redeemed Mormonism
Spoiler: If you haven’t watched the final episode of Big Love – stop reading!
HBO’s Big Love concluded last week after five memorable seasons. Creators Will Scheffer and Mark Olsen found rich material within Utah’s quirky cultural landscape to tell the stories of a suburban fundamentalist Mormon household. Although the fictional Henrickson Family created some discomfort among mainstream Mormons, the series was more than a mere airing of the faith’s dirty undergarments. Yes, Big Love explored American “family values” in an alternative family context but it also accomplished something much greater. The series encouraged Mormonism to become something better than it has historically been. The final episode offered The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a most sacred gift; redemption for their multitude of sins.
The LDS Church’s transgressions reflect the cultural naiveté of their history. They perpetuated racist doctrines regarding African-American and Native peoples. They mobilized political campaigns to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment and aggressively funded Proposition 8. They excommunicated members who publicly dissented. They electrocuted gay men. And most egregious to some, they inaugurated a practice of marriage that required women’s subservience to men. Church prophets always invoke divine privilege to justify such outré theo-political posturing, however their true motivation is always apparent; the unquestioned perpetuation of patriarchy. Church priesthood maintains the divine right of men to rule righteously over wives, kingdoms and planets in a cosmic manifest destiny.
The writers of Big Love understood this. And when the end credits rolled it was the three wives who had risen victorious from the ashes of a fallen patriarchy. As Scheffer told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, “The big secret is that it’s always been a feminist show.”
The series ended with a fatal shock. While facing a possible prison sentence for his illegal third marriage, Bill Henrikson (Bill Paxton) is shot pointblank by his emotionally disturbed LDS neighbor. His wives Barb, Nicki and Margene (Jeanne Tripplehorne, Chloë Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin) rush to comfort him as he slips through the veil. His final request is a blessing from Barb who has spent the season yearning to minister through the Melchizedek Priesthood. This beautiful sequence exposes a larger truth about Mormon culture; for women to truly be free, patriarchy must ultimately die.
In the series denouement we see how Bill’s death allows Barb to ascend to the head of his church. Margene is free to travel the world as a humanitarian missionary. And the emotionally repressed Nicki has become the nurturing center of the household. The three widows remain sealed as a platonic Sapphic trinity that comprises a new celestial family.
But in his final days Bill is also an agent of Mormon redemption. He becomes the necessary blood sacrifice required by a Christian god.
Throughout the series Bill wars with the sinister prophet of Juniper Creek, Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton). He also quarrels with Roman’s homosexual son Alby (Matt Ross) who is an uncanny doppelganger of Joseph Smith. In the fourth season, Alby’s LDS male lover commits suicide rather than face excommunication. Alby, having newly assumed the mantel of prophet over Juniper Creek is sent on a destructive path that culminates in a mad vendetta to destroy Bill. The religiously mandated repression of Alby’s sexual orientation ultimately leads to his tragic unraveling. Alby confronts Bill at gunpoint in the Utah State Capitol. When the smoke clears Bill stands triumphant over Alby and by extension the darkest aspect of Smith’s legacy.
As a state senator Bill works to root out the abuses of polygamy and provide safety nets for abused plural wives. His final act is to call for the decriminalization of polygamy. His courage brings hundreds of exiled polygamists to his newly formed church. During the Easter service Bill experiences a vision of his pioneer ancestors accompanied by Emma Smith (the first wife of Joseph). Emma lovingly nods her approval. She recognizes that Bill has worked to undo the generational damage wrought by her husband’s advancement of patriarchal marriage. It is significant that Emma approves of Bill’s work and not Joseph. Emma was the original victim of Mormon plural marriage. She was so wounded by polygamy and her husband’s death that she refused to follow Brigham Young’s company west. Emma perhaps knows that after Bill’s passing Barb will lead the congregation. Gender equity is at last restored in Mormonism.
Through Bill’s sacrifice, the sins of the fathers that have been visited upon the children are now paid for with blood atonement. The hearts of the children have turned back to redeem the fathers. In Mormon fundamentalist lore Bill has become the man who tries to steady the ark but falls “by the shaft of death.” Could it be then that Barb is the long prophesied “one mighty and strong” whose role is to “set in order the house of god?” (Doctrine and Covenants 85:7-8). Perhaps this was Emma’s master plan all along?
Finally liberated from the most burdensome accoutrement of Mormon theology, the grieving Henricksons are left with the most profound feature of LDS faith; the enduring bonds of love and inclusion. This is Mormonism’s best gift to the world. LDS faith amplifies the power of loving families to comfort others during difficult trials. At their very best Mormons bare one another’s burdens and minister to those in tribulation. At their worst, they perpetuate patriarchy, racism, sexism and homophobia, all of which the world has endured enough.
Big Love has torn these theological relics asunder and laid them to rest within the graves of our pioneer ancestors. Scheffer and Olsen invite Mormons to let go of the past and embrace their future. It is fitting that a gay couple backed by queer staff writers that include Dustin Lance Black and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, would craft a narrative that so effectively redeems the faith. The Henricksons are now Super-Mormons. They taught us to expand our capacity to love those outside the so-called traditional “family.”
Will Mormons have ears to hear and eyes to see? Will they humbly embrace the redemption offered by Big Love? It is possible. To remain relevant in the 21st century they must.
Troy Williams blogs at QueerGnosis.com.
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