purpleflowers

For a second I sympathized with Mariah on the deck at the mountain resort because it must be awkward to have your mother discuss personal things with you on film; but then I remembered Mariah agreed to have the cameras on her and yet has such a sour attitude! I am thrilled for her that she can finally be herself and find true peace but her attitude is reprehensible and she still has an air of entitlement IMO. She could be doing better things with her time? Then don't agree to be filmed! Yes Meri messed up big time and the situation will not get fully resolved until Meri comes clean about what really happened with the CF (it bugs the crap out of me too that she keeps lying about the nature of it) but that conversation was painful to watch not just because of Meri's cringeworthy communication but because Mariah was behaving as if she was the parent and Meri was the child or something. I agree with a previous poster who said Meri should not grovel and beg. It was obvious Meri wasn't saying the right things in this coming out situation, but her awkwardness was probably compounded by not being able to even talk to her daughter with even slight openness on Mariah's part. I don't think Meri had to apologize for her reaction to the coming out; Mariah didn't seem bothered by it and that was just Meri's honest and calm initial reaction. She was just digging a hole for herself but I think she was desperate for some response. I know Meri has to apologize and come clean but Mariah should also think that she has probably been unpleasant to be around all these years due to not being true to herself and everyone around her understands. Can she maybe have a little sympathy considering Meri has also had to force herself into a lifestyle that she's not meant for? Granted Meri now should take the initiative to change her own life and not blame the rest of the world. Argh. It's hard to take anyone's side in this.

Sorry, posted in wrong thread!

Definitely thought the therapy session between Kody and Meri was interesting. I noticed in a talking head Kody claimed that the idea of pursuing in vitro fertilization with Meri was "foreign" to him! But he is the one who suggested it to her before the Robyn offer in the first or second season when the two of them went to Mexico! He is such a liar. Also, although many of us already suspected the perks of polygamy/one happy family theme was a sham for a while, it is still deceitful of them the way they portrayed themselves as soul mates with a solid relationship for a good part of the series run, and we now find out they have been in marital discord for about 12 years!! It looks like things are good for Janelle and him maybe because she has few expectations of him. If he is actually expected to be a fully participating partner, he is not interested. It seems the bloom is off the rose for Robyn even. Maybe things are okay with Christine for the time being as the balance has shifted and she may be a safe place for him to go right now. I thought the coming out scene of Mariah was authentic but I'm sure they suspected. Not sure why Christine's mom was involved. If the problems between Kody and Meri were the elephant in the room earlier, now it's definitely the true nature of Meri's catfish encounter. No matter how many details she is now sharing about it, it seems so disingenuous when she refuses to acknowledge the romantic nature of her feelings for and interactions with the "Sam" persona. Just friends, my foot!

I agree with whoever said they are getting a phony vibe from Christine! It is so unconvincing and fake sounding when she acts like "BFF's" with Robyn! I do think Christine is naturally funny and upbeat but sometimes her enthusiasm looks so fake as if she is overcompensating for something. I can just picture her going off camera afterwards and majorly rolling eyes and changing the tone of her voice.

Hi all! Have gone back to lurking here for quite some time and finally decided to chime in again on this episode which was unintentionally hilarious! I agree 100% with everyone about Janelle's terrible wedding speech. I understand she is pragmatic but couldn't she be a little more positive on such an ocassion?? It was innapropriate not to mention very impersonal and uninspired. Also thought Kodys comments about Maddies dress were a bit creepy but I don't think he meant it in that way. He just has a lot of foot in mouth moments. I am sure Maddie suggested Kody officiate the wedding at the urging of producers. She was so focused and in charge with the wedding planning and knows how her family embarrasses; I don't think she would come up with that kind of thing on her own. I wish there was some more time spent on the siblings and bridesmaids and their thoughts on Everything. Had to fast forward through a lot of Kody rambling. Maddie looked pretty and I like her long hair. I like the theory that Maddie and Caleb were already married prior to this filming. I got that feeling too. Having just had my first baby myself, just based on my experience, I gotta say Maddie definitely looks more like five months along in that magazine article photo! And if she is feeling tons of kicking? And the baby's not due till May? Yeah, I don't buy it. Anyhow, I wish her a smooth pregnancy and delivery. Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone :-)

I think that is Mindy, that niece or cousin of Robyn who stays with her sometimes.

Wow, that therapy session was interesting. I really thought the catfishing coverage would be just a few minutes of fluff, but it went a bit deeper than I suspected. It appears Meri is still pretty traumatized from the whole incident and at the time this episode was filmed, was still pretty fearful of what the catfisher could do to her or the family. I agree that Meri is the victim and the catfisher is despicable for what they did; but I also agree with others who say Meri is not coming clean that yes, she DID have an affair, if only an emotional affair. I also found it odd that she said when she realized it was all fake, she didn't cut it off immediately but was asking to meet "Sam" in person if he really was real. Is that because she was in fear of the person and didn't want to upset them by cutting off all communication? Or was she still holding onto the hope that the guy might be real and she could pursue something with "him"? I don't think it's just a matter of Meri falling for Overton's act and manipulation as Janelle put it; Meri admitted last season that she knew from the very beginning the whole thing seemed fishy but she was desperately lonely and wanted the companionship and laughter that came from this relationship and convinced herself it was okay. That's very sad. Robyn can be annoying, but I did like the point she made about being lonely for female companionship even though her house is more full than Meri's. It's hard to say if Meri was really being left out by everyone or if she was isolating herself on purpose. I thought they were all okay with having their own homes side by side, but Meri seems very lost with it. I don't know if the problem is really polygamy for her or her relationship with Kody. I might be alone and this, but I am kind of getting the sense from a few of last season's episodes and this one that Janelle is trying to convince herself than she is okay with Maddie's plans in life. I remember Janelle saying when Maddie was starting out in college that she gets a little concerned because Maddie has the tendency to have her goals and plans sidetracked when a guy comes along. I hate to be negative--and I am happy for Maddie if she's happy--but it kind of seems like what Janelle predicted sort of happened. In any case, I wish her well.

Robyn had her baby on Sunday night http://www.people.com/article/sister-wives-star-robyn-brown-welcomes-baby-girl

It's amazing watching those earlier episodes! (Thanks to the one who posted the link!) It literally is like a different show, almost a different family. Janelle legitimately said "we have a fabulous relationship" in regards to the wives.

New season is filming. Robyn and Meri at Meri's house. Robyn: Mer, I'm so glad we are gettin' a chance to reconnect now that this catfish thing is behind you. I'm glad I begged you to tell me the truth about it, thank God I'm such a good sister wife!! Meri: yup...right. I just fill so grateful for the fam'ly. So what do you wanna do. Robyn: let's go to your craft room, I need the space for my latest project; I'm plastering pictures of my face all over the old Brown family albums. It's rill special cuz we shoulda all been together from day one!! Meri: that's not creepy at all. (Calls Aspyn later) Hey honey, Robyn's doing another "special" craft and I need you to give a Big wow reaction on camera for the reveal because Logan did it last time. You can have your own TLC cut too! Aspyn: oh jeez.

Considering the personality traits of Janelle and her tendency to apparently block out emotions I can kind of see why Janelle and Robyn seem to still thrive in polygamy and Christine and Meri are floundering. It would seem you either have to be detached from the situation or the one in power/in the most favour with the husband to be happy in it. Or you have to have a husband who gives absolute fair and equitable treatment to all wives(though to be honest even then it could be depressing). Though you can forget about that last one with Kody.

I'm pretty sure the tag lines for the wives were pretty close to this: Meri: I believe in living this life, it just makes each of us better. Christine: I wanted the whole family, I didn't just want the man. Janelle: I like sister wives, I wouldn't want anything else. Robyn: it's like destiny, like we shoulda' all been together from day one.

I also missed the Tell All and was very sad at first because the previews made it look so juicy! But after reading the entire thread here I am all caught up and realize I did not miss anything of substance. Love all the comments here, so many great observations and I had to laugh out loud at some!! It is obvious that Kody is failing in his relationships with Christine and Meri and how these folks think we will buy their whole facade after Meri herself admitted she was so desperately lonely that she decided to pursue an online affair with someone she knew was sketchy is beyond me. I'm very disappointed in the dishonesty. I guess anything to keep the gravy train going huh. I did catch a clip of Tamron asking them about jealousy being highlighted more this season and Kody had his usual clueless expression on. For goodness sake, Meri talked about leaving and Christine discussed not being able to see a silver lining. Forget jealousy Tamron, these people are miserable! The only thing they have going for them is great kids. Kody obviously turns a blind eye to most of it and likes it that way. I'm honestly relieved to hear Mariah is not so gung-ho about plural marriage. By the way, did she come right out and say she isn't going to choose polygamy?

To me the saddest thing Meri said was that she knew there was something fishy going on within the first week of talking to "Sam" but she did it anyway. She must have been so incredibly lonely and this is the most real I have ever seen this show. Whatever unfaithfulness Meri may have shown, I can only feel so, so bad for her. She just seemed so sad. I don't know if she would have been less lonely if they were all still living under the same roof. It's hard to say. I also noticed, as others did, that Kody said absolutely nothing at that dinner. Quite pathetic. It seems obvious to me that his relationship with Meri is not the same anymore, and I find it very odd that in the TH he already jumps to "it sounds like she doesn't want to be married to me anymore". I don't think the other wives or Kody knew about the catfishing at the time of the Alaska dinner discussion because Janelle was just talking about making sure Meri would be home for Thanksgiving; that made it seem like she really didn't know; otherwise she probably wouldn't make a statement like that. I did think what Christine was saying about Meri was very sensible. Otherwise I found Christine entertaining but a little more zany than usual. It kind of stuck out. She also seemed kind of drowsy.

I don't think it was ever confirmed that Maddie dropped out of college.