I am – Hercules!!


A big, crazy soap opera centered on a sprawling family of Republican Utah polygamists, “Big Love” returns Sunday as assured, addictive and compelling as ever.

The nuttiest thing about the show is the number of characters it keeps adding to its already massive cast. New to the flock early in season three is an Indian gaming entrepreneur (“Star Trek: Voyager” first officer Robert Beltran, now looking startlingly like Brando’s Jor El) and Bill’s much-younger half-brother (exiled now, as Bill once was, from the Juniper Creek compound that raised him).

Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) continues to court immigrant Ana (Serbian actress Barnka Katic) as a potential fourth wife, Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) has found her calling in helping Bill shore up his new career as a Mormon gambling czar, Nicki (Chloe Sevigny) has unwoven her braid and taken to “immodest” workplace attire in an effort to secretly subvert the state’s case against her pervy “prophet” dad Roman, and Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn) has to contend with both a scary diagnosis and her spiteful, newly returned sister.

Normality-craving daughter Sarah Hernrickson (Amanda Seifried, still sharing loads of screen time with fellow “Veronica Mars” vet Tina Majorino) is freaking out at the family’s pursuit of a fourth wife. Deceitful teen showbiz aspirant Rhonda Volmer (Daveigh Chase) continues to employ her jailbait sex appeal as career leverage. And with Roman in stir, sinister new Juniper Creek prophet Alby Grant (Matt Ross) finds himself sufficiently emboldened to more aggressively pursue his unsavory yearnings.

Back at Juniper Creek, Bill’s parents (Bruce Dern, Grace Zabriskie) seem locked in their own hate-fueled spinoff.

And you have to credit this series for its economy; twists and turns keep coming at a breathtaking pace and little of it feels like filler.

All of this, and vengeful supercreeps Hollis and Selma Greene continue to lurk, seemingly just off camera.

Entertainment Weekly gives it an “A” and says:

… Love like this is definitely worth the wait. …

TV Guide says:

… uncommonly addictive …

The New York Times says:

… has hardly come soon enough. … exquisitely plotted … an ingenious act of double-dealing, offered as a test of our social tolerance as it coaxes us toward condescension. The writers seem to be whispering to us, “If you’re all for gay marriage, then what is wrong with this?” at the same time they are slapping us with evidence validating our reflexive prejudices. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… If there's a better written, better acted, more originally conceived show on television, I defy you to name it. … What makes "Big Love" so compelling is not the extremity of its situation but its insistence that the most wildly disparate people can share feelings and flaws, long-guarded secrets and hoarded desires.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… "Big Love" just doesn't induce love. And yet, the series crafts compelling stories. How is it that season after season, "Big Love" can hook you into watching multiple episodes but somehow falls short of making you care about the characters? It's a conundrum. Watching with interest but not actually caring is unique, but "Big Love" itself may no longer be.…

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… as surprising and hilarious as ever … Funny, occasionally heartfelt and filled with unpredictable plot twists, "Big Love" may be the most welcome returning series of 2009. …

Variety says:

… delivers some of TV's most sharply drawn characters … an inordinately twisty and absorbing family drama. The only drawback is that "Big Love's" narrative tree has become such a tangled vine it's unlikely a novice could hope to join in without some fastidious back-episode watching; still, for a loyal core the series continues to be enormously satisfying -- and relatively unsung awards-wise, given its creative merit. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Particularly in the first episode, penned by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, the humor flows far more naturally from the material than ever before. It's likewise significantly more character-based than story line-dependent. Against the odds, this series looks to be evolving into something unexpected: an ensemble hour with true provocative flair.

9 p.m. Sunday. HBO.

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