100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #95
95. Nicolette "Nicki" Grant, as seen on Big Love, portrayed by Chloe Sevigny
It is amazing how many times in my life I have been asked how many mothers I have. The moment anyone hears Mormon, their mind frequently goes to "polygamist," and, where I once got super offended, now I just roll my eyes and explain the difference between LDS and FDLS. That being said, I'm fascinated by polygamy. The structure of it, how it works, people who choose it, I can't get enough. Thus, when Big Love came on, I had to tune in. As expected, I love it; all of the characters are fascinating in their own ways, but the one I love the most is Nicki.
Unlike first wife Barb and third wife Margene, Nicki is the only one of Bill Henrickson's wives who grew up in polygamy; what's more, she grew up in Juniper Creek on a compound of FDLS where her father Roman is the "prophet." Nicki grew up with a certain amount of cache and, with a father who is the very definition of manipulative, she learned at an early age how to play people to get what she wants. When we first meet Nicki, she is certainly the most unlikable of the wives. Despite her adherence to certain FDLS principles, like modest clothing and keeping her hair long, Nicki is incredibly materialistic and manages to get herself into $50,000 worth of credit card debt she hides from the family. She is also secretly taking birth control for much of the series, already having two young sons and not wanting any more. Nicki resents being the second wife and being unable to control the family, but she also deeply loves and respects Barb, who has been more of a mother to her than her own mother Adalene. It is Nicki who is able to understand the complex politics of Juniper Creek better than the others, and, when her closeted brother Albie assumes the role of prophet, it is Nicki who frequently keeps him in line. It is not until the fourth season we learn that Nicki was married off at 14 to a cruel man and the only way she was allowed to escape the marriage was to leave her daughter Cara Lynn behind. With her father's death and Bill "outting" them as polygamists, Nicki finally begins to break away from the compound, assuming custody of Cara Lynn, cutting her hair, and venturing out more into the "real" world.
What I love about Nicki is the inherent contradictions about her. She has been taught to be self-sacrificing and non-materialistic but grew up in the biggest house in Juniper Creek and loves to indulge in the earthly pleasures denied to her as a child. She loves her sister wives but resents the attention Bill pays them as well as the easy way they seem to have with people. She loves Bill but also resents that she lives in a subculture where the man controls everything. But most of all, Nicki believes in her father, Juniper Creek, and FDLS even after being essentially sold to her first husband, her innocence stolen from her, her education effectively over at 8th grade. There is a frequent undertone between Nicki and her brother Albie which hints that, if Nicki had been born a boy, it would have been she who became their father's right hand, and we see the deft intelligence in Nicki, which she frequently uses for bad rather than good. But what I love most about Nicki is, for all of her strength and ability to survive, she is incredibly fragile. We see this in the first season when she panics that the family is going to be split up when Barb is outted during the Mother of the Year competition; we see it when she desperately tries to hide her first marriage from the family so they don't know what was done to her. Nicki is one of the most flawed characters I've ever come across, and it is her flaws which make her fascinating.
And I wish more people recognized how kick-ass that is.
It is amazing how many times in my life I have been asked how many mothers I have. The moment anyone hears Mormon, their mind frequently goes to "polygamist," and, where I once got super offended, now I just roll my eyes and explain the difference between LDS and FDLS. That being said, I'm fascinated by polygamy. The structure of it, how it works, people who choose it, I can't get enough. Thus, when Big Love came on, I had to tune in. As expected, I love it; all of the characters are fascinating in their own ways, but the one I love the most is Nicki.
Unlike first wife Barb and third wife Margene, Nicki is the only one of Bill Henrickson's wives who grew up in polygamy; what's more, she grew up in Juniper Creek on a compound of FDLS where her father Roman is the "prophet." Nicki grew up with a certain amount of cache and, with a father who is the very definition of manipulative, she learned at an early age how to play people to get what she wants. When we first meet Nicki, she is certainly the most unlikable of the wives. Despite her adherence to certain FDLS principles, like modest clothing and keeping her hair long, Nicki is incredibly materialistic and manages to get herself into $50,000 worth of credit card debt she hides from the family. She is also secretly taking birth control for much of the series, already having two young sons and not wanting any more. Nicki resents being the second wife and being unable to control the family, but she also deeply loves and respects Barb, who has been more of a mother to her than her own mother Adalene. It is Nicki who is able to understand the complex politics of Juniper Creek better than the others, and, when her closeted brother Albie assumes the role of prophet, it is Nicki who frequently keeps him in line. It is not until the fourth season we learn that Nicki was married off at 14 to a cruel man and the only way she was allowed to escape the marriage was to leave her daughter Cara Lynn behind. With her father's death and Bill "outting" them as polygamists, Nicki finally begins to break away from the compound, assuming custody of Cara Lynn, cutting her hair, and venturing out more into the "real" world.
What I love about Nicki is the inherent contradictions about her. She has been taught to be self-sacrificing and non-materialistic but grew up in the biggest house in Juniper Creek and loves to indulge in the earthly pleasures denied to her as a child. She loves her sister wives but resents the attention Bill pays them as well as the easy way they seem to have with people. She loves Bill but also resents that she lives in a subculture where the man controls everything. But most of all, Nicki believes in her father, Juniper Creek, and FDLS even after being essentially sold to her first husband, her innocence stolen from her, her education effectively over at 8th grade. There is a frequent undertone between Nicki and her brother Albie which hints that, if Nicki had been born a boy, it would have been she who became their father's right hand, and we see the deft intelligence in Nicki, which she frequently uses for bad rather than good. But what I love most about Nicki is, for all of her strength and ability to survive, she is incredibly fragile. We see this in the first season when she panics that the family is going to be split up when Barb is outted during the Mother of the Year competition; we see it when she desperately tries to hide her first marriage from the family so they don't know what was done to her. Nicki is one of the most flawed characters I've ever come across, and it is her flaws which make her fascinating.
And I wish more people recognized how kick-ass that is.