HOLLYWOOD—On Sunday night “Big Love” was titled “Certain Poor Shepherds.” The series is winding down, but heating up for viewers. The Henricksons tried to put on a unified face during Christmas, but were tested amidst numbing revelations from Barb, Marge and Adaleen. The women in the polygamous lifestyle seem destined for either abuse or a major downfall.

Meanwhile, Lura (Anne Dudek) took drastic measures in response to Alby’s zealous efforts to “purify” the compound. In a very chilling scene Alby decided to punish his family by poisoning every dog in the compound, which sent Lura into a battered women’s shelter fearing Alby’s next step would be to take her children away from her and hand their custody over to one of her sister wives.

Lois (Grace Zabriskie) drifted towards the deep end, Bill tried to soften up a senator, Ben (Douglas Smith) bonded with Heather (Tina Majorino), and Cara Lynn looked for answers about her father. What she found was devastating to her, as Cara Lynn’s grandmother admitted to murdering her father.

The episode was written by Jami O’Brien and directed by David Petrarca. On this weekend’s episode titled “The Oath,” expect for Margene’s lies about her age to bring forth a plague of scandal to Bill and the family.

“Big Love” was nominated for an Emmy® and a Golden Globe in the category of best drama series. The show continued to inspire critical acclaim for its fourth season, which concluded in March 2010. The Wall Street Journal hailed the “spectacular performances,” while the Salt Lake Tribune called the show “one of the finest hours of drama on any network,” and Entertainment Weekly termed it “bracing” as they praised “the mighty performance of Bill Paxton.”

“Big Love” is produced by HBO Entertainment in association with Playtone and Anima Sola Productions; created by Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer. Executive producers: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, David Knoller, Bernadette Caulfield and Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer; supervising producer: Patricia Breen; producers: Seth Greenland and Peter Friedlander; co-producers: Dauri Chase, Don Bensko, Melanie Marnich and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; executive story editor: Julia Cho; story editor: Jami O’Brien; staff writer: Aaron Allen; casting: Junie Lowry Johnson, C.S.A., Libby Goldstein and Lisa Soltau.

Photograph is Courtesy: Isabella Vosmikova/HBO