This seems to be the principle, if I may borrow one of Bill Henrickson’s favorite terms, that’s driving this season’s Big Love. The show is hitting on the big themes—sin, evil, redemption—as it confronts the complexities inherent in the labyrinthine web of relationships in the extended Henrickson clan.

After watching last week’s show, I was struck by just how much that single episode tried to take on but assumed it was almost a freak of nature designed to set out multiple plot lines to be dealt with as the season progresses. That it did and then some. Watching Sunday’s episode, however, I also accepted that Big Love has moved away from its previous seasons' more conventional structure—which was grounded in reality-based storylines—and into something far denser and literary. All sorts of underlying issues, not unlike Roman, have been exhumed and are now openly on display.

For all of the characters’ expressed faith, by this point in the season, the Ten Commandments have been pretty much trashed. We’ve seen all sorts of coveting, stealing, false idols, false witness, adultery, and so on. Because of the particulars of the Henrickson situation, the characters have managed to commit an assortment of violations that, while not explicitly spelled out, were nevertheless clearly implied in the original ten. But it seems as though they could use a few individual admonitions and sub-clauses to return them to the path of righteousness.