YMMV / Big Love

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Bill is unexpectedly killed in the last episode by a neighbor. After being in an argument with Barb all season about his firmly held belief that only the man of the family can hold priesthood, his final words are asking her to give him a blessing.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Very closely tied to the viewer's personal beliefs. A Mainstream Mormon, Fundamentalist Mormon, non-Mormon Christian, and atheist, when watching this show, would each see a VASTLY different ensemble of characters.
  • Closely related: It's not clear to what extent Alby, and to a lesser extent Roman, actually believe their own divine revelations, and to what extent they simply see their religion as a means of taking power.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Nicki has become a lot of viewers' favorite character. This is to the point where some people say that she's the only reason why they continue to watch the show.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Bill's sudden death at the end of the series is a lot harder to watch since the death of Bill Paxton on February 26, 2017.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Roman Grant crosses it with his accidental murder of Kathy.
  • Alby gets it when he kills all the dogs in the compound.
• The Scrappy:
  • Bill, due to being a patriarchal male chauvinist, obviously gets this from a lot of fans.
  • Ana gets it even worse for fitting the definition of The Scrappy better: she is abruptly brought in as Bill's fourth wife halfway through Season 2. Their relationship progresses very quickly, she plays a significant role in much of Seasons 3 and 4, and then she's written out with no explanation in Season 5 and never appears again.
• Seasonal Rot: By general consensus, season 4.
• Strangled by the Red String: Sarah and Scott, who get married only a few episodes after she broke up with him for the explicit reason that she DIDN'T love him.
• Tearjerker:
  • Sara'hs Convenient Miscarriage. Made all the better by everyone's completely appropriate reactions—when Nikki finds her doubled over in pain and asks what's wrong, she doesn't lie, but instead immediately tells her what's wrong. Nikki doesn't badger or lecture her, but reaches out to comfort her, then gently, but firmly pushes her to tell her parents, who also refrain from lecturing her and instead instantly embrace her.
  • Bill's death. Aside from coming out of nowhere, the final moments of the three women hovering over him, and him asking Barb for a blessing, are wrenching.
  • The final scene of the three wives embracing, with a ghostly Bill watching.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Joey and Wanda, two important characters for the whole rest of the four seasons, are not seen in Season 5, and are not even mentioned.
• Writer Cop Out: In the finale Bill dies, thus avoiding a humiliating fate of being sent to prison, watching his family struggle to make ends meet without him and potentially losing Barb due to his disrespecting her need to hold a priesthood. His death turned him into a martyr for the family, provides money through life insurance, and gives him an opportunity to win Barb back at the last second by making her head of the church. Redemption Equals Death equals a cop out. It was all too clean for a messy season.