This thread is for talking about possible backstories of the characters and to predict why things things in the characters lives played out the way they did.

I did a search and I couldn't find a thread like this.

For example,
What really happened to aunt Margaret and Lois' father?
How did Joey manage to even get Drafted into the NFL? (Are we expected to believe he went to college?)
Why didn't Alby finish law school?
Why wasn't Nikki married off younger? or if she was where is her former husband?

Things like that. This thread is for listing and giving possible answers.

I'd like to know what might have happened to Lois' father's immediate family. As a polygamous prophet, he would have had quite a few wives and therefore many children. Lois and Uncle Eddie can't be the only ones...what happened to the rest of them?

Most of the backstory discussion occurs in the character's individual threads in the Big Families section of the forum. (This forum has three sections: Big Gabbery, which is mostly episode discussion; Big Families, which has individual character threads; and Off the Compound, which is for everything else.)

Albie, Joey, Nicki, and Lois all have threads there, so you might try asking your questions in those for the best response.

While this thread still exists --

Margaret drowned in a lake near her home some time after Bill was tossed from the compound. It was heavily implied that she drowned herself, likely to avoid a nasty marital pairing.

Joey went to (and played for) Weber State.

I'm new to the show this year. I watched a few eps of S1 to catch up but it's possible I missed some key info.

It bothers me that Bill & Nikki don't seem to talk about any other siblings. You would think each only has 1 brother. Has it ever been mentioned?

Do the Henrickson children practice any kind of religion? They seem live The Principle in name only.

What's with these Juniper Creek police? Why does a compound have a police department that the state of UT seems to acknowledge?

The implication is that Juniper Creek and the UEB are modeled after Short Creek and the UEP. Short Creek is now the border communities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hilldale, Utah. The struggle for control of the UEB that forced out Lois' father and ushered in Roman Grant, echoes the internal strife of the UEP that ended with the Jeffs father/son duo in control.

Both Colorado City and Hilldale have police, and the majority of the officers are acknowledged polygamists. They still are police though.

However, it does take suspension of disbelief to think that Sandy, Utah's police department would allow two unknown officers to serve a search warrant and grant such permission pretty much overnight by the show's timeline. Also - I'm pretty sure a judge has to sign off on a search warrant, and since there's been no indication that Juniper Creek has one of those I wonder who issued it. And if it was a Sandy, Utah judge that issued it, why in the world wouldn't it have been served by Sandy officers instead?

I'm not sure where else to ask this so....

Bill's new antagonists. The Greens I believe they are called (I find that storyline confusing). Are the two leaders of that group actually women in drag dressed as men? That is what they look like.

Thanks!

How'd the Greenes' helped Bill's grandfather?

Why was Nikki choosen to help nurse Barb?

Is Bill still taking Viagra and is Nicki on the pill? Is Margene really pregnant? Hard to believe because she never discusses it with the father of her child?

Here's something I'd like to know: what, exactly, is the business relationship between Bill and Don Embry? Is Don Bill's partner? Is he a minority shareholder in Henrickson's Home Plus? Or is he just an employee? It seems to me a rift is growing between Don (and his wife Peg) and Bill over the business decisions Bill has made this season, and I'd like to know if Don and Peg have any legal recourse against Bill if everything blows up - as it may well do.

I'd like to know how they explain the common back yard and pool to visitors?

The Greenes ran a compound down in Mexico for awhile. (In real life, that was true of several of the self-proclaimed mormon fundamentalist groups.) At one point Bill's grandfather was in danger of being arrested, probably for polygamy, probably as the leader of Juniper Creek. He took his family and fled to Mexico when Lois (Bill's mother) was just a child. They came back later.

It seems likely, although not 100% specified on the show, that when Orville's family fled to Mexico they stayed with the Greenes until they could come back. We know the Greenes said they "helped your grandfather in his time of trouble" and we know that Orville later brought the family back to Juniper Creek and that Orville was living there when he died. So the timing all seems right.



They have temporary fencing that they put up, as when Margene's mother came to visit. That divides the yard into three parts.

If they ever want to sell, they could put up permanent fencing along the same lines before doing so.



Don has been referred to as Bill's partner multiple times on the show, including, I think, when the insurance guy came by after the roof damage. Clearly Bill thinks he can make the decisions, though, so perhaps Don is a junior partner. We know that after Roman helped out the store when Barb was sick, Roman was to get 15% of the profits. One possibility would be that Roman got 15, Bill got 45, and Don got 40. Of course, there are many other possibilities--Bill could get 60, Don get 25, and Roman 15. I don't think we've been told specifics.

Partnerships can be complex when it comes to dissolution. Most common for an independent retail operation would be if Don had the right to sell his share, but Bill had first option on it, and Don could only sell to someone that Bill approved if Bill didn't want to buy it himself. That's pretty straightforward, but can lead to a lot of drama if the partner who's staying doesn't have enough money to buy the other guy out, but won't approve any substitutes. We'll see.

It's not at all clear how they're organising the purchase of Weber Gaming, either, since Eddie was also offered a share. That may be just an entirely separate ownership structure from HHP.

Bill seems pretty sophisticated about business arrangements (he had no difficulty sorting through the UEP papers), as is Roman (who is an accountant by profession).

As far as I know, Hollis Green is a man. As for his "brother," Selma, I took the character to be an effeminate man, but he/she is actually played by a woman - Sandy Martin, whom you might know as the grandmother on Napoleon Dynamite.
I find this ambiguity to be an interesting touch that adds to their overall weirdness.
I, too, would like to know what's up with them.

My other questions are:

1. Where the hell are the rest of Roman's sons? There must be many more and even many older than Alby. The rest of the Hummer goons don't seem to be Roman's kids. I understand some of them might have been kicked off the compound like Bill was, but surely Roman would want at least a few around - at least one to serve as a successor. As little respect as he has for Alby, I can't believe he's the favorite.

2. Where the hell is the rest of Bill's family? As Meghan Jill said, he should have a bunch of extended family running around.

I can think of a couple possible answers. One is that it's not realistic for the show to identify and develop that many characters so they have chosen not to address it.

The other is that the compound is really a "small pond" that is basically Roman's (i.e. the big fish) personal domain. The only people living there are his flunkies and hangers-on (and women who, of course, don't have many options). Roman and Bill do have lots of other relations, but most people choose to leave the compound and live in either the real world or start their own mini-compounds elsewhere. I would think life on the compound isn't that great if you're not the prophet. Any man with any ambition would probably have to leave to make his own way.
Maybe Alby is the only one around because he's weak (and warped) and can only wield power because of his connection to Roman.
Think about it. What other men do we know who live there - very elderly ones and Joey, who it's no secret is living there because he can't make it in the real world.
Just a theory.

We know that almost all the people from UEP council live there, and we know that the UEP controls a very large amount of money, and we know that being on the Council is a fairly small and exclusive group, as Alby does not himself have a seat.

Roman's family was in the Family Reunion photo that was taken when Bill and Nicki went to visit (the visit where Rhonda stowed away). I don't remember the details, but weren't there other men in that picture?

Plus there are the men who are the Juniper Creek police and security force--they're not elderly.

Finally, at the large meeting where Alby accused Wanda and at the funeral of Frank's wife there were people of all ages, including a number of men we've only seen in other group settings, but who clearly belong to the creek.

I agree that neither the H's nor the Grants seem to have enough relatives.

Juniper Creek is large enough to have its own clinic and its own police force. It seems pretty clearly modeled on the Short Creek real life area. But they are def. a few dozen sons short of what would be realistic. Warren Jeffs, for example, had brothers, nephews, and sons all working with him.

I think the paucity of identified male relatives (we don't, for example, know if any of the Juniper Creek police are Roman's sons) is just a dramatic convenience to keep the show focused on a few characters.

Yes! Where the hell are Frank's other children?????!!!

I'm sure that's why the creators said they could have 20 seasons of material. If they keep each season timeline as like 3 months and Bill and Nicki's siblings keep popping up there are endless possibilities.

It would be nice if they referenced them though. Like they did in Reunion. Nicki said one of her bros was stuck in Wyoming and two others were in exile.

But as for Franks kids. I'm sure the others hate him just as much as Bill/Joey do. So they won't want to be around. And I'm sure when Bill/Joey/Margaret were little Lois kept them away from their brothers and sisters. Since she seems to do her own thing I'm sure she kept HER children away from their half siblings.

And knowing Bill he doesn't even think twice about them.

Sadly, after watching a video on the HBO site it seems the PTB don't want to do flashbacks. So that limits some of the backstory possibilities. Thought they (PTB) did say they might might want to do more little scenes like they did at the begining of this season.

It's also easy for them to add backstory through Margene's official blog. They've already done a couple of "Nicki told me..." tidbits.

Another question : What happened to Alby's fat wife from season 1 who screamed when he house was invaded.

Another Alby question: Is he still Bi-curious? The way he kissed his wife tonight looked pretty intense.

The ep thread decided he is just turned on by men AND sheer evilness.

I was wondering about the fat wife myself.

I wonder how Nicki's gun is doing as well.

Who is Margaret? Do Bill and Joey have a sister born to Lois? Where is she?

Margaret is Bill/Joey's sister born to Lois. She "died" in lake meed. But I'm sure there is more to it then that. We didn't learn any more yet but she is either not dead (my crazy soap opera theory) or died under shady dealings.

She's definitely dead, because her death is what caused Lois to take the extreme step of cutting her hair short. (Her father had once told her that shearing hair was a sign of mourning in ancient times.) This made Lois a social outcast among the Creekers, and was probably an act of defiance on some level. The intimation is that Margaret probably committed suicide, perhaps after abuse. Lois told part of the story to Sarah to S1 when she was asked why her hair was different from the other Juniper Creek women.

The impression I got was that she (Margaret) killed herself.

Way to dash my crazy plot hole dreams marty.

I also really think she killed herself.

Thanks. I remember now.

This was particularly amusing to me – my daughter just started SUU, where they tell “dumb” Weber state graduate jokes. (How do you get the Weber state graduate off your porch? – Pay for the pizza.)

I'm a lot more curious about Barb's family-of-origin backstory than that of the Creekers.

Why wasn't Nancy helping Barb when she had cancer? Why didn't the obviously well-off and socially-prominent Dutton clan step in to loan Bill money, or send Nancy or Cindy, or pay for a nurse, when Barb was recovering?

If Barb's family had acted in a manner which seems to be consistent with what we've seen and heard of them so far, then a whole lot of the Henricksons' current problems would be non-existent. No need for Roman to send Nicki in as nurse/spy, no need for Bill to go to Roman when he needed money, no need for him to turn back to the Compound at all.

Of course, I realize that if this was the case, there would be no show. But I think, having introduced these members of Barb's extended family and portrayed them the way they've chosen, the writers should definitely address this -- where was Mom when Barb was sick? Why didn't the Duttons help Bill and Barb financially, instead of apparently leaving them with no better option than going to Roman to ask for assistance?

I'd also like to know where the heck Barb's family was when she was sick. They obviously had the means to help. Why would Bill be FORCED to take his family to the compound b/c of money if Nancy hast he means to marry a man with a giant estate?

My speculation, based on Bill's behavior, is that maybe Barb's family looked down on him for being from Juniper Creek and having strong polygamous roots. So much that he refused going to them for help and instead went back to JC out of pride.

...how do people really SOUND in Utah? That ATF agent's BAH-ston accent was utterly horrible. I'm from Massachusetts and I was wicked pissed that she couldn't have "tuhned it up a nawtch". Is there a UTAH accent that the writers are unaware of using? Comments from all Utah-area posters, please!

Watch the movie Napoleon Dynamite...all the characters from that movie are from Utah or Idaho. They share the same accent.

The northern Utah (urban) accent is pretty slight. And the rural accent, like Hoffman said, is pretty well represented in Napoleon Dynamite. I, personally, think the accent or lack thereof is pretty believable. I do wish the dialect were slightly more accurate, though. It's nothing huge, but I've seen some threads here where posters laugh at the "Mormon" swear words, but we haven't heard a single "flip" or "fetch" yet. Of course, part of that dialect is mainstream LDS as well, and there are cases where they're close enough that I'm never quite sure if they're attempting to differentiate between the "Church of Dad" and the mainstream LDS community or if they're just not quite right. ("Testimony for" still weirds me out every time I hear it.)

That said, what I'd like to know is why in the world was Sarah going to Relief Society? Was saying she went to RS a way for the PTB to reassure us that she was 18? As far as I know, the norm is for girls in high school to continue attending their Young Women's (in her case Laurels) classes until after graduation. Wouldn't it make sense for her to just attend the Laurel class with Heather?

Sara could be a novelty/project/example so that the relief society members can all feel good and superior about helping her. Icky to some, but not unheard of or even all that unusual. A good example of how not to raise their own daughters. Remember the prig [sic] that asked Uncle Bill if his apostasy brought him joy? I think that the message was that the girl had not come up with that on her own.


For what it is worth – I live ~20 miles south of Sandy (Orem) and find the acents accurate. (My observation/opinion)
I grew up in central Maine and find the ATF agent’s accent very, very (two verys) inaccurate. (Again, my observation/opinion) If the actress is reading - <sorry>
Regarding the <mormon> swearing: Oh my heck!

I JUST started watching this show and caught up on season1. Can someone explain to me why Alby picked up Santos at the convenience store just to pretend to flake out later?

Alby is a repressed homosexual. He was kind of walking the line between giving into and fighting off his sexual urges. He picked up Santos at the convenience store because his urges were doing the walking ... only when they got to the hotel did Alby take a look around, have a moment of clarity as to what he was doing there, and accordingly, he snapped and had his little mental fit there.

I think that's what you're asking, right?