Can anyone give reviews or transcripts of what was said in the three, prequel vignettes. I don't have HBO On Demand anymore and I'm dying to know. Thanks!

sorry, wrong thread.

they are on youtube.

There's only one on youtube. The rest have been made private or pulled. Hence the request here.

They were called "Post Partum: 5 years ago," "Meet the Babysitter: 3 years ago," and "Moving Day: 14 months ago."
They're all short, just a few minutes each.

The following is just from memory, so I may have left out some things, but it should give the primary focus, at least.

5 years ago is when Nicki was having her first child, Wayne, and is in the hospital. Barb is with her. The tone is serious, about family dynamics. Their conversation is about Nicki's fears of being turned into a "brood mare" since Barb can't have children, and Barb's reassuring her that that's not the case. Barb clearly loves the baby, yet is startled that he looks like Bill. I think this episode was intended to show us that neither Nicki nor Barb had quite imagined this reality of their marriage--I think both had expected Barb to die from the cancer and Nicki simply to take over as first wife. Now Barb is doing well and Nicki is having to accept her status as not-first-wife.

3 years ago is when Bill brought Margene home to be the babysitter. (Personally, I thought this was a brilliant vignette.) The tone is darkly funny. Nicki has made lunch. (Barb is probably at work.) Nicki sends Bill upstairs for something and then literally hisses at Margene, telling her "I know why you're here. Bill doesn't need a third wife now." (or words to that effect.) Margene says she just wants to be the babysitter. Nicki says with great contempt, "Who wants to just be the babysitter?!" Margene, with great innocence, "I do." It's a great scene because of course we know that Margene will end up as third wife, but apparently it is Nicki who figures this out before even Bill and Margene do.

14 months ago: Margene is pregnant for the 2nd time. The tone is family dynamic funny, lots of side action. All 3 women and all the kids are rushing around their one house as Bill comes home from work. There are various side bits--Margene breaks down and starts crying (probably hormonal, based on the direction), and Bill sends Nicki to take care of her just like she was one of the kids. Eventually, all 3 wives stand together and Margene tells Bill that they need 3 houses. Nicki and Barb are fully in agreement, but are annoyed because they were going to introduce the subject more gradually. But ultimately it ends with Bill standing in the kitchen facing 3 completely united wives. This is the classic sit com situation of the tired husband coming home from work wanting dinner and the wife wanting to talk about something important while all the while the kids run around being crazy in the background. But this time instead of it being one wife, it's three.

Thank you very much, marty! :)

I know Marg isn't the brightest star in the sky. But given Nicki's greeting of her, I can't believe she was suprised that she voted against her.

Keep an eye out for the features on the regular HBO channels, too, jhawksgirl. HBO usually squeezes them in somewhere - as filler after a movie, or a shorter episode.

The vignettes are also available on iTunes through the Big Love Podcast.

They are on the hbo website now

http://www.hbo.com/biglove/?ntrack_para1=feat_main_image

Thanks for the heads up! Looks like they've moved them off the front page onto the video page. They're listed under "Promos" as "Post Partum," "Meet the Babysitter," and "Moving Day."

These have been discussed here and there in episode threads, but I thought a centralized location might be good.

HBO has a series of flashback 'vignette' video clips available on their site:

http://www.hbo.com/biglove/video/index.html

I'm not sure how long they've been making them, when the three available so far were produced, or if they're going to continue.

So far they're very interesting and give more insight into the characters. For instance, in "Post Partum", Nicki is freaking out after the birth of her first child because she's afraid Bill and Barb are going to use her as a brood mare forever. Even though Barb tells her it's not the case, it seems to foreshadow Nicki's later secret use of birth control pills.

Great idea, kieyra!

I thought Post-Partum was the most interesting of the three. However, I didn't think Nicki was necessarily being sincere about her fear of becoming a brood mare--I thought her tears were spurred by something else. What, I'm not sure, but I think it might have been either (1) Nicki just being Nicki and wanting to be the center of attention again after Barb took the baby and was clearly enamored of it or (2) Nicki realizing the true implications of polygamy when Barb took Wayne (in other words, oh my God, someone else is just as much a mother to this baby as I am). Nicki is many things, but she's not stupid. And regardless of how she was raised at JC, she knows full well that Bill and Barb aren't the kind of people to turn her into a uterine clown car.

I also liked the Babysitter, where Margene comes to be Nicki and Bill's babysitter. I love how she was so overtly tarted out--big hair, low cut short dress, but she was still sweet as pie. It also does a good job highlighting how much Margie has really grown and matured as the series has progressed, while still maintaining the elements of youth and sexuality that benefit her relationships with Bill, Nicki, Barb, and even Ben.

Moving Day, or whatever it's called, was the most blah of the three, to me. I didn't find it all that revealing, and it just showed Bill in all his assy glory. The scenes with Margene crying and hugely pregnant were the highlight for me, but, then again, I have an inappropriate girl-crush on GG.

I hope HBO puts out more of these to clarify some of the things on the show, or perhaps to highlight characters we haven't seen much of. I'd like to see vignettes featuring the Embrys (I just love Don and want to see more of his wives and kids), or one about how Bill and Barb met, or ones that feature interactions between various kid/mother pairings. I'd love to watch a Teeny/Margie conversation, or Nicki and Sarah going toe to toe.

There was already a prequel thread so I've merged them together.

Thanks, TWoP Sun. Didn't notice before I posted!

For some reason my HBO on demand has no audio and I can't get the clips to show from the website. Seen all of them but the postpartum one. Darn

The prequels are included in the season 2 DVD set. I just got mine and since I don't get HBO, this is the first I've seen them.

I really loved Post Partum. I thought it showed a vulnerable side to Nicki and her fear of just ending up a breeding machine. It explains scenes in season 1 I didn't quite get at the time.

The Babysitter one was ok except I thought the Nicki character's dialogue was a little heavy-handed. My least favorite of the three.

The last one was hilarious expecially for Nicki's line about the vacuum cleaner. I love her fix-it gift.