Reunion
Big Love (LWM) | Season 2 | Episode 3

Reunion

TV-MA | 52 MIN

Written by Dustin Lance Black
Directed by Alan Poul

Under the eye of a watchful guard, Bill meets with Joey in jail, asking his brother why he would wrongfully confess to poisoning Alby. Explaining Roman's attempt to strong-arm him into casting his UEB vote behind an upcoming business venture, Joey's answer is simple: "Wanda can't be in here. She couldn't make it."

Bill finds the perfect opportunity to meet Roman face to face by attending a Grant family reunion with Nicki, but his welcome on the compound leaves a bit to be desired. While Nicki catches up with her many relations, Bill exchanges barbs with Adaleen. Paying a visit to Lois's house Bill has a reunion of his own when he runs into his uncle Eddie, who lets the secret about Lois's Laundromat slip. Irritated at being lied to - but glad to be free of the venture - Bill cautions his uncle: "Dig your own grave."

At Bill's houses, Barb is shocked to visit Margene and find a shirtless Ben, who says he prefers sleeping on Margene's couch to dealing with Teenie's interruptions. Barb sends him home, mentioning that his grandmother and Aunt Cindy have sent him birthday cards. Later that day, Barb uses an iron to steam open the card from her estranged sister and finds a note of disapproval about the family's lifestyle. As she mulls the message over with Peg and a few friends, a squeal from the backyard draws her attention. Ben has pushed Margene into the pool, and now the two of them wrestle underwater. Barb leaves her friends to put an end to the horseplay.

Bill, taking Joey's seat on the UEB, votes against Roman's proposal to invest in video poker machines, effectively holding the motion hostage until Roman erases Joey's legal trouble. But Roman has another problem he's not so aware of; it seems Rhonda's lost her enthusiasm for being "sealed" to the prophet -and taken too much of an interest in a young man on the compound. Her mother, Lydia, has come from Mexico to straighten the girl out and warns her: "You'd better still be intact."

Barb's relationship with her sister, on the other hand, couldn't be further from intact - especially in light of the birthday message. Barb reaches out to Cindy with a call, but her niece, Kim Lee, answers the phone and tells Barb her mother is unavailable. Blurting out a message about "making things better" - and expecting Kim Lee to relay it - Barb is stunned when the girl says, "Ok," and hangs up. Turning around, she notices Margene, who smiles uncomfortably. Later, Margene manages to get Cindy on the phone in an attempt to mend the situation, but when she launches an emotional appeal, the response is withering. "Grow up," Cindy says, "and never, ever call my house again."

Ben's having his own family problems, which he doesn't exactly realize until his friend Jason points it out. While getting a Straight Edge tattoo on his back, he explains to Ben that their fathers lead unrighteous lives and that he and Ben "are still screwed up by it." Jason urges his friend to stop having sex with Brynn and pledge Straight Edge, suggesting he come to a concert the next day to meet "a second family."

As the extensive Grant family eats a picnic dinner at the reunion - and Rhonda's mother hounds her to sit next to the prophet - Bill reiterates his demand to Roman, who in turn beckons to Alby. "You must clear Joey Henrickson of any liability by morning," the prophet tells his son. But, Alby won't capitulate, instead condemning his father for being so callous, which earns him a slap from Adaleen. As Alby leaves, Rhonda finds her seat at Roman's side.

That night Ben - who's playing a board game with Brynn, Sarah and the boys - pauses to open his birthday cards. Barb watches for a reaction as he reads Cindy's, then asks what she wrote. "Nothing," Ben replies, "No money." Brynn decides to leave, and Ben walks her out. Later, as Sarah carries a basket of laundry next door, she spots the two of them having sex in the back yard. Shocked, she rushes back into her house, scrambling to corral Barb, who says she's on her way to end Ben's late night at Margene's. "I'll go get him," Sarah sputters. The next day, when Barb finds Ben bare-chested in Margene's house for a second time, she confronts her sister wife, labeling Margene's relationship with Ben "inappropriate." Margene finds herself fighting back tears. "No - You're wrong. And you're gross," she shouts before slinging her patio door shut and locking it behind her.

At the compound, as Nicki and the rest of the Grants prepare for their enormous family photo, Alby warns Nicki that he told the state police about Bill and Roman's plan to cover up the attempt on his life. The police are on the way, he says, adding that Roman was the one who exposed Barb at the Governor's Mansion. Aghast, Nicki leaves to demand the truth of her father and finds it in his silence. When she tells Bill about the police - withholding Roman's betrayal - the two flee the compound, passing a cruiser on their way home.

Sarah tells Ben that she saw him with Brynn the night before, and he asks if she thinks he's going to hell. "I don't think so," she says. "But I'm not Mom and Dad. Just be careful." As soon as she leaves his room, he calls Jason and arranges to go with him to the Straight Edge gathering. Later that night, Margene picks him up after he and Jason get in a fight with the volatile group. When she tells Barb about the brawl, Margene explains Ben is having trouble fitting in and that his close relationship with a third mother may be a good thing. "Most kids would have hidden it from their moms," she says. "He called me." Barb, without a reply, seems to agree. "He has to sleep in his own bed," she tells Margene. "From now on."

When Bills pulls into his driveway, he sends Nicki inside and calls Don to suggest canceling the third Henrickson Home Plus opening to invest the money in Roman's failed video-poker deal - a business where no one cares about polygamy. Don agrees to consider it, and Bill heads inside to his family. When he's gone, the hatch on his Denali springs open and Rhonda jumps out. When she rings the doorbell, Barb answers, and Rhonda jumps into her arms.

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