Tonight’s episode was a doozy for sure! One thing is for sure, Bill needed this episode to save his character. It’s almost like the writers have been reading our complaints about what a douche bag Bill has been and gave his character a complete 180. Spoiler Alert ahead.

So Ben and Bill’s parents have been kidnapped by the evil inbred-looking Greens. Joey and Bill are on their way to Mexico with Jodean and Bill has kept this all from Barb which is probably for the better considering that while he is gone, she has to run all three of his jobs and deal with a bomb at the casino laid by crazy religious people mad about polygamy. Barb is left alone with Tommy to figure this out as Bill is being secretive. She is also discovering that Marilyn IS a two-timing evil lobbyist and she and Tommy have been duped. She finds out that she is working with the other side and somehow, I knew it was too good to be true. So I’m sure that Marilyn will come back to bite them in the butt and hurt the casino somehow. I’m not sure what she is capable of. Barb is just so busy with all of Bill’s jobs and helping here and there, I imagine she might have a breakdown soon. I know I would in her place.

Nikki is trying to get pregnant to prove her love to Bill and has discovered she is drying up. At the same time, her mother comes over and calls her “Sister” instead of daughter (now that she is married to JJ) and announces she is pregnant! Not only does this sound crazy and piss off Nikki, but Adaleen seems totally brainwashed. She is just in this utopian coma walking around all proud of her new life with JJ. I think something might develop with this. She was completely frightened and upset to be sealed with JJ and then before it happened and now she is just fine with it and seems happy. Maybe JJ actually is brainwashing her, ha! More likely, he is drugging her food so she will be complacent. Back at the compound, Wanda finds out that JJ got Adaleen preggers and she just freaks out and I’m trying to piece together what has happened and why this would upset her so. I can only think of a couple of things. JJ discovered the truth about Joey killing Roman and blackmailed him into something. We don’t really know what, but we know that he wanted Joey to “help” Bill with the campaign and I assumed that he just wanted Joey in place for a sabotage later on Bill. But maybe there was something more he asked of Joey, or Wanda. Seeing that he brought his son, the doctor to the compound, maybe he harvested eggs from Wanda to implant into Adaleen later. I know, that sounds completely crazy, but I can’t think of why else Wanda would freak out. There was also the freaky reunion last week with Wanda’s creepy parents for the sealing of JJ and Adaleen and it was obvious that Wanda’s daddy was too touchy-feely back in the day, but I can’t really piece that into any of this.

Also, Nikki agreed to see the doctor that Adaleen went to, JJ’s son about her absence of pregnancy. He agreed to start giving her hormones and I just thought, well this will be fun. Nikki on hormones is going to be twice as fun as regular Nikki! Watch out for some freak outs with her coming up.

Margie is plotting and, I believe, planning her escape route. She has come up with a brilliant plan to keep Ana and her Russian boyfriend in the country and keep the baby near the family. She decides to marry Ana’s boyfriend so he has citizenship. She claims this is so he doesn’t get deported and Ana can be near, and to avoid the possible blackmail from Goran, the boyfriend, about outing the family. I think she only wanted to marry him because it would give her an out if Bill is elected and comes out of the poly-closet. She could say that she was having an affair with Bill, but never knew he was a polygamist and is now happily married to Goran, the hunk he is. She is also clinging to her job too. She has a great office and individuality at work, and when Barb comes in to apologize and make up for everything lately, she brings up adding to the new house plans an office for Margie to work from home. Margie laughs it off a bit and says that this isn’t a home job anymore, but inside I think she was probably screaming, “I don’t want to work from home, I’m not just a babysitter anymore!” I still stand by my thought, that she will leave the family and probably by the end of the season. I’m not saying she won’t come back, but she is independent and also stated tonight that when she and Bill got together she didn’t know what she was doing. She is starting to grow up and finally make her own decisions and polygamy was not her decision in the beginning.

Back to Bill and his humble restarting in Mexico. He sneaks in and this whole time he had been saying screw Mom and Dad, they’re crazy (which they definitely are) I’m just going in for Ben. He busts down the door, just when Lois was making peace with everyone and Frank was preparing for death, and saves the day! Frank is hurt and can’t walk on his own and Lois says, “leave him…for now.” HA! Just as she sat there and got all sweet with everyone, she shows her true self again, I love her and her crazy face. Well, Bill wasn’t about to leave his Dad in the hands of the Greens and he and Ben start carrying him out. All is good, and before they get out of the compound, Joey comes in with a big gun and yelling and screaming. The Greens were who killed his proposed second wife, Kathy. He is out for vengeance and no one can stop him, but of course Bill tries. The two get cornered in a OK corral type gun fight, just like he said they weren’t there to do. Bill does the most unexpected thing and surrenders himself to the Greens so he can save Ben and the rest of his family. Just when you are ready for guns to start firing at Bill at the word of Hollis, crazy Lois comes from behind with a frickin’ machete no less, and chops Hollis’ arm clean off. The bit of blood that splattered on her face was so American Psycho, the compound version. I was so excited and shocked to see this happen. I knew some blood had to be shed this episode, but I thought that it would be Joey. Selma makes the decision to let them go so she can try to save his arm. I just know he will be back next season with a crazy looking inbred robot arm out for vengeance.

So, Bill brings home Ben safe and sound and he eventually told Barb, on the way home. They all came running out when he got home and hugged their return. The way this was shot gave a feeling of everything being alright. At least for this moment, the family was alright. I really do hope to see a change in Bill from now on. The Bill in this episode, even though he was frantic, was the Bill that I love. He was fighting for what was right, the life of his son. He was no longer selfish and douche baggy. Now next week, when he finds out about Margie and her little marriage, he may start back up. But at least for one week, we can cherish Bill as a good man.

I give Blood Atonement 5 “will Hollis come back with a cyborg arm?”out of 5.

by Angela Davis