chloe sevigny This past season of Big Love made a lot of loyal fans scratch their heads (me included) because it seemed to be tackling so much. Bill’s politics, Bill’s church, the casino, Bill’s lovechild, Bill coming out as a polygamist,  Bill ostracizing his children… and those are only the Bill things. What the show did well was give a lot to each of the main characters. But perhaps too much, too fast.

But you hardly ever hear someone that’s involved with a show as an actor speak ill of it (at least not until it’s over). I specify that I don’t hear actors say bad things, because I have heard writers/producers talk ill of things they didn’t like. I think it’s easier for them to criticize themselves without feeling like they’re betraying anyone else.

Well, Chloe Sevigny has come out criticizing Big Love‘s most recent season. While she mentions she’s probably going to get in trouble for what she says, I don’t think she will. She was very careful to say she did not like the storylines, but did still like her character and the writing. Which is very fair. A good writer can write a crappy episode, or plot out a bad story arc (see: Angel season 4). I think it’s commendable that Sevigny spoke openly about this, and her honesty about disliking the season but still pulling for the show with genuine interest in participating (though I doubt she could exit from her role if she wanted to, depending on contracts) might actually make fans who were thinking about leaving the show, come back for the next season. So this is actually kind of a genius move.

Sean O’Neal interviewed Sevigny for The Onion A.V. Club and that’s where she said,”It was awful this season, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not allowed to say that! [Gasps.] It was very telenovela. I feel like it kind of got away from itself. The whole political campaign seemed to me very farfetched. I mean, I love the show, I love my character, I love the writing, but I felt like they were really pushing it this last season.” She went on to cite one of the problems being they only got nine episodes for their entire season. “I think that they had more story than episodes. I think that’s what happened.”

She even outed the other females on the show. “Me and the girls [Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin] definitely were not very happy with where it was going—or more kind of, “We really hope it’s going to work. It seems like they’re really pushing it.” I think next season, they’re going to go back to more just the family. I think that the stuff with Ben and Lois and that stuff was really great in Mexico, but… [Laughs.]”

We can only hope we all like Big Love season five more than the last.

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