Big Love
Faith & religionBelief, doubt and religious institutions.This show: 9/10Family sagaBonds and fractures across generations of one family.This show: 9/10Secrets & liesHidden truths straining every relationship.This show: 9/10Suburban underbellyDark currents beneath tidy suburban surfaces.This show: 8/10SerializedContinuous arcs where every episode builds on the last.This show: 8/10Character studyInterior life matters more than plot.This show: 7/10Ensemble castMany characters carrying equal weight.This show: 7/10
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Starring
Bill PaxtonJeanne TripplehornChloë SevignyGinnifer GoodwinDouglas SmithGrace Zabriskie
Written by
Mark V. OlsenWill Scheffer
Starring
Bill PaxtonJeanne TripplehornChloë SevignyGinnifer GoodwinDouglas SmithGrace Zabriskie
Written by
Mark V. OlsenWill Scheffer
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
Big Love Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | E11 | E12 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 8.2 | |
| S2 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.2 | |
| S3 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.4 | |||
| S4 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 8.2 | ||||
| S5 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.5 |
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About
"A polygamist marriage played as domestic tension, not scandal"
Big Love follows a Utah businessman secretly married to three women, juggling separate households, finances, and children while trying to keep his family's polygamous lifestyle hidden from neighbors, church, and law. It's a slow-building domestic drama that treats its premise with surprising seriousness, mining tension from logistics, jealousy, and faith rather than scandal for its own sake. The show widens over time into a broader look at fundamentalist Mormon communities and power struggles within them. Performances carry long stretches, especially the three wives, and the pace rewards patience over quick payoff.
Watch it for
the nuanced performances that make an unconventional family feel achingly ordinary and human.
Maybe skip if
you want fast pacing, since the domestic plotting unfolds slowly across seasons.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Season 12006
7.73K1210h 23m
Big family. Big dreams. Big problems. Big Love. Season one begins exploring the evolving institution of marriage through one atypical family. Bill Henrickson is a practicing polygamist who faces a myriad of challenges in meeting the emotional, romantic and financial needs of his three wives and seven children as they live together in suburban Salt Lake City.
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Season 22007
7.93K1210h 26m
In Season Two, Bill—who owns two hardware superstores—is facing a myriad of personal and professional crises brought on by the exposure of First Wife Barb as a polygamist during a high-profile ceremony in Season One. Bill’s other wives, Nicki and Margene, pick up the slack as Barb languishes in a melancholy funk, leaving Bill to assess the damage the scandal has caused—and to track down the villain responsible for them being outed.
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Season 32009
8.02K108h 58m
In Season three, Bill Henrickson, who last season bought a gaming-machine business to supplement his Home Plus superstores, is looking to diversify even further in the face of a flat do-it-yourself market and a crackdown on polygamists around the country. It's not a polygamist-friendly world out there and that's why Bill wants to protect his growing family by diversifying his businesses, building goodwill in his neighborhood, and adding a new wife who can deliver him more children.
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Season 42010
7.82K98h 36m
In Season Four, as a new maelstrom of personal issues swirl around him, Bill launches yet another business venture: a Mormon-friendly casino he planned in Season Three with Native American partners. At the same time, Bill eschews a chance to seize the prophet mantle at Juniper Creek in favor of an even more high-profile calling: running for State Senate in Utah!
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Season 52011
7.82K109h 48m
As season five begins, the Henrickson family encounters a wave of hostility from neighbors, Home Plus employees, casino partners, students at their kids' schools, even fellow polygamists hoping to keep their personal lives private. Meanwhile, at Juniper Creek, Alby Grant returns from a self-imposed exile with a new mindset...and revenge on his mind. Can the Henricksons stand up to this flood of ill-will?
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
Bill Paxton Bill Henrickson
Jeanne Tripplehorn Barb Henrickson
Chloë Sevigny Nicolette Grant
Ginnifer Goodwin Margene Heffman
Douglas Smith Ben Henrickson
Grace Zabriskie Lois Henrickson
Keegan Holst Wayne Henrickson
Matt Ross Alby Grant
Garrett Fraye Raymond Henrickson
Joel McKinnon Miller Don Embry
Crew
Mark V. Olsen
Will Scheffer
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