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Big Love: Season 5
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Mar 12, 2006
  • Season #: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 5
Big Love Image
Metascore
85 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 26 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: The final season of the HBO drama, finds Bill and his family under attack from both sides after revealing their lifestyle.
  • Genre(s): Drama

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    Feb 3, 2011
    100
    In early episodes, Big Love quickly reclaims its astonishing ability to balance the insightful and the absurd, hilarity and heartbreak and the personal with the political. The hours race by and already the final season seems far too short.
  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    Feb 3, 2011
    100
    One welcome aspect of all this is that some of the plot threads which became so distracting last season, threatening to tip Big Love into crazy-flatulent "L.A. Law" territory, seem to be gone. There is more than enough left, along with consistently brilliant acting all over, to keep the show as mesmerizing as it ever was.
  3. Hitfix
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    Feb 3, 2011
    50
    Season five is a definite improvement on season four, but only to a point. There aren't as many different stories rattling around, but the show's still so crowded that it has to bounce from scene to scene, subplot to subplot, so quickly that very little gets a chance to breathe.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. antonini
    9
    I was more comfortable when they were all sneaking around, avoiding the limelight. This season is a little tough to watch because Bill in a real sense endangers his whole family with his "mission" without giving full weight to the impact on the three wives. So, I guess, the believablilty factor has dropped for me, making it more difficult to like. First we have gay marriage, now the implication is plural marriage for America.… Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. JennetP
    5
    I must respectfully disagree with critics who find this season a return to form. To me, it continues--even accelerates--the decline that began with the death of Roman (Harry Dean Stanton). I don't know whether it was Roman the character or Stanton the actor who inspired the writers for the first three seasons, but, once he was gone, the show seemed to lose its way, clutching at topical storylines, some truly preposterous, and putting the characters through ridiculous changes. The exception was the flirtation between the youngest wife and the oldest son, much closer to her age than her husband, which was spot on and handled well. Season five finds the family, improbably, dealing with the aftermath of a monumentally ill-timed "coming out," and everyone seems to be handling the stress by indulging in selfish acting out and equally narcissistic blather. I'll admit, I channel-surfed out of there when Barb and her mother started berating each other over old grievances during a public forum, something neither character would ever, ever do. And all of this is too bad, because one of the show's earlier strengths was the delicate balance between the "big love" of its title and the petty disputes and rivalries that perturb it.… Expand
    • 2 of 3 users said yes
  3. Noahcs
    0
    This show should have ended after season two. For there to be a fifth season, makes me sick. They have dried up all the good story lines and the plot twists continue to go downhill. Thankfully, this is the last season.… Expand
    • 0 of 4 users said yes

See all 7 User Reviews

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