Review of "BIG LOVE"

Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space: I recorded last night's controversial Home Box Office episode of "BIG LOVE", and just finished watching it. I admit my curiosity was aroused by all the publicized fuss. Since the show is only an hour long, and there are numerous separate story plots occurring throughout, I had my doubts that there would really even be anything shown about the temple, unless it was maybe a second or two of seeing folks dressed in white. Well, I was wrong. I'm not a fan of "BIG LOVE", having only seen parts of it on a couple of previous episodes quite a while back. To me, the series seemed a bit ridiculous. Anyway, last night's episode definitely showed that which should not have been shown. Furthermore, contrary to the statements made by HBO executives, the depicted temple scenes had nothing at all to do with the show, and could have been omitted entirely. To make it worse, they showed the individuals conspiring to deceive temple officials, with lies and fraud, in order to enter the temple unworthily. You really had to wonder, "If these folks think the Church is wrong (regarding plural marriage), then why were they so anxious to enter a temple they obviously don't really believe in, and why would they lie about it?" There was a Church court, with an excommunication, all done with appropriately emotional background music intended to make The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints appear especially cruel and vindictive. Other facets of the program evoked memories of Mark Hofmann's forged "White Salamander" letter, with its accompanying bombings in Salt Lake City. Members of the polygamous family were cheating on each other, a little girl was kidnapped, and there was discussion of at least one murder by a family member. Yes, all this stuff really puts our Church in a positive light, huh? Still, I maintain that any publicity is good publicity, for if approached correctly, it might yet lead to unexpected member missionary opportunities. Thank you. John Robert Mallernee, KB3KWS Official Bard of Clan Henderson Armed Forces Retirement Home Washington, D.C. 20011-8400 NOTE: "My unpopular and controversial personal opinions are independent of my Scottish clan."