A study in contrast and contradiction

ANOTHER loving husband might notice his wife is upset and ask what’s wrong. In “Big Love,” Bill Henrickson asks Nicki, one of his three wives, “Do you want me to lay a blessing on you?”

The new HBO series takes viewers into its own world, a world where men may murder and steal, women may backstab and lie, but no one would think of using alcohol, tobacco or language stronger than “Oh, fudge.”

Shot in the California towns of Santa Clarita and Fillmore, the show mines the culture and vernacular of Utah and Arizona’s Mormon country in language, dress and cuisine as well as behavior. To the characters -- who come from mainstream Mormonism or fundamentalist offshoots -- polygamy is known as “The Principle” or “plural marriage.”

When Bill goes hunting, he asks his Heavenly Father to bless his rifle -- and the deer about to be shot.

When he doesn’t know what to do, he fasts and prays for a “personal revelation.” In another case, however, a friend is counseled to “use his own agency.” When the women get steamed, they say “Oh, my heck!”

Besides reading up on Mormon history, creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer visited Mormon country, crashing Friday night basketball games to see how teens act, dress and wear their hair. “They still use what’s called the ‘Mormon Claw,’ ” Olsen said. “One of the characters wears it -- pouffed-up bangs that sweep down the face.”

Nicki’s look could almost be a story line in itself, said Chloe Sevigny who plays the second wife. She shops at the Gap, but also wears the long single braid and the prairie clothes of the compound. “We called it ‘compound chic,’ ” Sevigny said. “The other wives were concerned she sticks out like a sore thumb and would flag to the neighbors, ‘We’re living a polygamist lifestyle.’ Of course, that makes me even more proud, and not wanting to change the way I look even more.”

-- Lynn Smith