129 replies to this topic

[Kalbear]

Sorry for the lack of a clever title.

For starters, she's played by Ginnifer Goodwin. This is her HBO bio and her IMDB record

She, of course, has a fairly snarky blog.

And yes, she's totally hot. :)

[phantomframe]

Margene is so in over her head, it's sad. I sense that she's going to be one of the "funny" characters, which is fine, since Ginnifer Goodwin has decent comedic skills.

For someone who is a classically trained actor, she certainly rushes through her lines though. Sure, it might be a character trait she's working, but when you can't understand her most of the time, it's annoying.

That said, I still find Ginnifer Goodwin insanely appealing. She's lovely looking.

[Maxymama]

She is much better looking in person than any of the characters she plays. Which gives me hope that if I can get out of my 'mommy sweats' I could be just as cute, hot, and/or glamorous!

I do think Margene is overwhelmed, but in the way that most women with small children and a busy husband are overwhelmed. (I imagine Bill was around more before the 2nd store came close to opening.) I do feel bad for her and the kids, but not more bad than I feel for myself and my kids when my husband is gone on business trips.

Edited by Maxymama, Mar 14, 2006 @ 4:45 PM.

[dreamcoat11]

On the HBO website, it says that Margene is 21, which means that she had to have married into this arrangement when she was 18/19, since her oldest child is 1 and a half. That seems really, really skeevy to me, since Bill is old enough to be her father.

[Rockstar99435]

I do think Margene is overwhelmed, but in the way that most women with small children and a busy husband are overwhelmed.

ITA. Plus, maybe it's because I'm not a mom, but she seemed to make things worse for herself. She was already on the phone, while holding a screaming baby, with 3 other screaming kids running around. Was it absolutely necessary to also try and clean up the mess at that very moment? I kept thinking, "Put the towels down and clean up after you hang up the phone."

And I might have to put this in the unpopular opinion section, but I don't feel sorry for her. So she was only 18 when she got married. Big deal. At 18, she is a legal adult. She can vote, own property, go to jail, sign contracts, and/or get married to whomever she wants. Many 18 year olds make bad relationship decisions, including marriage to the wrong person, but we let them because they are adults and they are old enough to make their decisions about their own lives and then live with the conquences of those decisions.

[LiliaNic]

I think she's younger even than her age might suggestion, personality-wise. Listening to her talk to her mother, I got the impression that she's kind of on her own in terms of the whole plural-marriage thing. She had no idea what to expect when she married Bill, and he's still the only part that she's absolutely sure about. The other wives are much more together (at least in terms of being wives and mothers), and I think they find it difficult to understand exactly what she's going through, even though they made the effort. For all of Barb's talk about how wrong it is for young women to be taken advantage of and married by much older men, I think she's stopping herself from seeing the same situation taking place in her family; Margene might not be a minor, but since she is in no way mentally or emotionally prepared to be Bill's wife now, she really must not have been when she married him.

Edited by LiliaNic, Mar 14, 2006 @ 5:57 PM.

[Maxymama]

LiliaNic, I think that your post could be applied to most new, young mothers.

[Spadada]

There's something really dirty about her. She's got a level of comfort and playfullness with sex that is almost disturbing. It's like she's 16 and and this is all a fun game to play after school with her best guy friend. She jumps right from peeing in front of him, to "let's do it this way because my boobs are sore." Weird. I kinda like her.

[Karoline]

I love Ginnifer but I'm not sure how I feel about the character she's playing.

She seems very childish, maybe too childish for Bill. And unable to take care of things.

[teafan62]

I wonder if the point of "her boobs were sore" was to tell us that she's pregnant yet again???

Maybe she's a real fertile myrtle.

[dreamcoat11]

Teafan62, I thought her boobs were sore because she's still breastfeeding her youngest child.

ETA: Ameliabedelia (great name, btw) - I'm pretty sure her youngest is three months. That's what it says on the HBO website under her profile.

Edited by dreamcoat11, Mar 14, 2006 @ 9:33 PM.

[ameliabedilia]

How old are her boys supposed to be?

(I know the oldest is about 1 1/2, but I wasn't sure about the younger one...

assuming he was born about 10 months after the first he'd be somewhere younger than 8 months old...)

I don't remember seeing anything about this on the HBO website (unless I missed it).

[teafan62]

Wow, the younger one looks a lot bigger than 3 months.

Still, with breastfeeding and being as horny as she is, I think it's still possible that she's pregnant yet again!

I know a number of people with children less than a year apart.

It would give Margene a heck of a storyline...

[anythingbutorange]

Is it her or Nikki that is shown in the promos saying "I want to bring another life into this family"? I'm thinking it would be her - I'm not sure Nikki would want the hassle - she's more interested in catalogs than children - and Margene might think it would be a good way to get more of Bill's attention.....which is so sad....

[Roller Girl]

Is it a spoiler if it was shown during the "making of..." on HBO? Just in case, I'll tag it.

In the "making of..." that I saw on HBO, it shows a scene where Margene comes into a room that at least the other wives are in (I can't remember if they show Bill or not) and is holding a home pregnancy thingy and she says "I'm pregnant." but who knows what will come of that. She could have a miscarriage or it could be a false positive or anything.

Edited by Roller Girl, Mar 15, 2006 @ 12:50 PM.

[Bryguy]

In the "making of..." that I saw on HBO, it shows a scene where Margene comes into a room that at least the other wives are in (I can't remember if they show Bill or not) and is holding a home pregnancy thingy and she says "I'm pregnant." but who knows what will come of that. She could have a miscarriage or it could be a false positive or anything.

Thanks Rollergirl both for your extra care with the spoiler tags and for letting me know I wasn't the only one to see that scene. I thought it was in the episode itself. I was gonna post about it here, but no one else seemed to have noticed it and I thought maybe I imagined it.
So maybe a big change in the wifely dynamics?

Edited by Bryguy, Mar 16, 2006 @ 2:42 AM.

[Roller Girl]

You're welcome. I was sort of wondering why I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere else. Not even in the spoiler thread. lol

I watched the pilot again last night. Man, I really really like this show. And, I really think I like Margene a lot too.

[Bryguy]

I think Margene (and maybe the oldest daughter Sarah) will act like the Audience as the ones least "into" the polygamy. Margene seems the most clueless and uncomfortable of the wives about sharing a husband. While Sarah in the Restaurant seemed ashamed, not just secretive, about the family.
So My bet...we will see a lot of Sarah and Margene together dissing on the rest of the family.

[jackiecarr]

I love Ginnifer but I'm not sure how I feel about the character she's playing.

She seems very childish, maybe too childish for Bill. And unable to take care of things.

In the "Intro to Big Love" that HBO had running before the premiere, it said that Margene is only 5 years older than Sarah, so she and Barb have more of a mother/daughter relationship than equal sisterwives. Margene's HBO bio says that her dad left when she was 3, and we can tell from the phone conversation that her relationship with her mom isn't too good, so she's really getting the best of both worlds here- a surrogate mother in Barb and a husband/ surrogate father in Bill. It's a bit icky, but I get how she fits into the family. There's no way I could see a single Bill married to Margene for long, she's just way too immature. This way he gets the "hot 21 yr. old" as far as sex and energy level, but her emotional needs (dealing with two babies) can also be met by the other wives.

Edited by jackiecarr, Mar 16, 2006 @ 5:53 PM.

[havemycake]

I just feel for Margene. I see her as more of a daughter to Barb than a sister wife. And I really felt sorry for her at the end when she felt like such a fuck up.

[Scrapper]

Yes it seems Barb is like her mom and Nikki is like the older sister who takes advantage of the younger one.

[ksquared]

I just watched The Making of... and I swear that I saw a scene where Bill and Barb's oldest son is hugging Margene in his bedroom (her bedroom?) and then it switched to a scene where he's praying. I didn't catch all of it because there was some family drama going on... Did anyone else see that? I can totally see Margene and the oldest son getting together at some point.

[Scrapper]

Yes I think poor little Benny got a bit of wood from this third mommy.

[teafan62]

Yeah, but gee, it wouldn't even be incest because there are no legal family ties.

[Nell Huxleigh]

I think she's totally annoying and dumb as bricks. I know I should feel bad for her because Nikki completely bulldozes her, but she acts more like she's fourteen than twenty-one and she's passive-aggressive and clingy and she should know better than to do some of the things she does. Like straddle her sister-wife's son in her ass-robe.

[Csondra]

I really feel for Margene. I think she kinda stumbled into her current life as an escape from her craptastic past. She saw Bill and the two wives and all their lovely children and thought that it would be one great big familial love-fest. And? Not so much. I think she's really sincere when she talks about how much she loves their family and about liking to share Bill- but I think the family she sees doing all these things with is an ideal and NOT the family she actually ended up in. I mean, how heartbroken does she look everytime anything goes even remotely wrong? It's so sad.

Also? She's super hot.

[GovMarley]

I know a number of people with children less than a year apart.

It would give Margene a heck of a storyline...

Right here. Mine are 13 1/2 months apart (accidents happen) and let me tell you, if she has another right now she will be even more overwhelmed. Having two that close together is worse than twins from a time standpoint.
Margene and the oldest boy (his name escapes me)? Either something has happened there or something will. They're practically the same age.

[puckish]

Bill will eventually need to catch on and do something about it, but I think he loves preserving the family fantasy even more than Margene does.

Yeah, fat chance. He hardly has time for any of the kids.

And I hate the way he marginalizes Margene.

I know a number of people with children less than a year apart.

Right here. Mine are 13 1/2 months apart (accidents happen) and let me tell you, if she has another right now she will be even more overwhelmed. Having two that close together is worse than twins from a time standpoint.

I can attest to that. My oldest two are eleven months, four days apart. (And I was breastfeeding my oldest, too!) I was twenty-seven when I had my second, and I was plenty overwhelmed even with a little more emotional maturity than Marge has. And that thing about it being worse than twins? Totally true. Fortunately, now that they're entering tweenhood, it's a lot easier (especially considering I have a toddler now - they're a big help with her). I think there are both advantages and disadvantages to having them close together - it's overwhelming, but you don't have the really hard jealousy issues to deal with like you do with kids spaced differently. My brother and I were four-and-a-half years old and only developed a healthy, friendly relationship when we were adults, because I was a jealous child. My oldest child didn't know enough to be jealous of his little sister, because they were so close in age. And the overwhelmed feeling - which you get even with just one when they're very young - fades pretty much simultaneously when they're so close together. In other words, once they're school-aged, the overwhelmedness dies down, whereas if you space them further apart, you don't get a break from the overwhelmingness for five, six, seven, or more years as each child enters a new and challenging stage. Does that make sense?