General Days

I think Kody did love Meri, but that's beside the point, because Kody's love is really about Kody, not about the other person. So, to your question: why did Robyn keep trying to get Meri to stay? People's motives are often not clear cut, even to themselves. Look at how many different reasons Christine has given us for her split from Kody. I don't think any of Christine's reasons are lies, yet none of them alone (the lack of intimacy, his absence during Covid, his neglect during Ysabel's surgery, his favoritism, not wanting to be a bad example for her kids, etc.) is the one reason. The reason is a mishmash of everything (plus probably things we'll never know). I think the same thing is true for Robyn, where Meri is concerned. There are a whole mishmash of reasons. Even if these people are no longer living by the strictest AUB mandates, some of them (Robyn, Janelle, and probably Meri) still believe some of the polygamist Mormon worldview about the afterlife, and what it is that gets someone into celestial heaven. Robyn wants her husband to be a man with at least three wives, who passes whatever muster to get into celestial heaven and call her through the veil, where they can rule a planet with their kids and yada yada yada. I think "sit on a porch with my sister wives, and our kids, and grandkids" is her non-religious code for her religious motivation. She wants Kody to be exalted in the afterlife, because it will (in her worldview) benefit her and her kids. More practically speaking, I do think Robyn wants the TV show to continue. This is as much money as she's ever seen in her life. She's smart enough to know that the audience can hardly stand her and Kody. If the Sister Wives mothership ends, nobody will be clamoring for a Robyn spin off. And too, Meri has been Robyn's useful dupe and scapegoat, for a lot of years. Robyn can make herself look like a benevolent woman to Kody and to her kids, by occasionally tossing Meri the spare crumb of faked up support. It's good for Robyn to have "the Meri" -- not in a barn-dominium, but maybe in a near-but-not-too-near studio apartment, so Robyn can get credit for a sympathy friendship. Also, Meri is really the only Brown adult (not counting Kody, because no one ever accused him of being an adult) who consistently liked Robyn and who did usually try to support Robyn. Robyn doesn't seem to have any real concern for Meri, but she does like what Meri does for her. If Robyn really and truly wanted Kody to reunite with Meri though, or honestly, with any of the other wives, she would have shut him off (not just sexually, but also emotionally), until he fixed his marriages with them, or made a real and true effort to do so.

When Janelle told him they were renting an Air BnB for Christmas, I remember Kody saying he didn't want to get together on neutral territory, or whatever, but rather in his home. I don't recall him saying "it's my home not theirs," but I do tune out Kody a lot, so my head doesn't explode. Edited to add: Oh wait, is this when he wanted Janelle to kick Garrison and Gabriel out of her old house in Flagstaff (the rented ranch-style house)?

Here's a bit more with Janelle and Christine, from ET

Christine and Janelle talk to Access Hollywood about season 18, Christine's marriage, and more. (I haven't watched the whole thing yet.) Janelle looks great, btw.

I do think a health condition (physical or mental) is part of the reason at least. Gwendlyn, who does not waste any love on Robyn, has said that her home was always clean. However, both Gwen and Mykelti have acknowledged or at least allowed that Kody and Robyn have a shopping problem. Just looking at the amount of Kody's crap that Christine had to box up, when she decided to put Kody out of her house was stunning -- particularly considering he had 2-to-3 other wives' houses, where he could stow his shit. That's what Gwendlyn has said (the neat part) and she and Mykelti both think Robyn AND KODY having a shopping problem. I feel a little bad for Robyn (I mean not deeply, because she is awful), but as a culture, we still hold women more responsible for the state of the house than we do men. That's not fair. It's effing Kody's effing house, too. I think Kody was a packrat-to-hoarder, even before he met Robyn. Now whether Robyn is lazy, or has an illness, does not excuse Kody from not cleaning up and tidying their shit. Also, I'm fairly certain the "art" is Kody's. (Mykelti mentioned that he sees it as an investment). And also, Kody did, once upon a time, appreciate that Meri's house was quiet, tidy, and orderly. He's said it on the show, so he knows what clean is. He's even thrown some shade at Christine, in the past, for the state of her domicile, so he's capable and responsible -- CULPABLE, one might say -- for the state of Robyn's McMansion) I think she does, but I think Kody is the main culprit. (I'm sorry. I feel like I am too repetitive in this post, but let's blame effing Kody, too. He's not a child, even if he acts like one. And he's not a marriage and parenting newbie. He's not a newbie to setting up and settling into a home. He's not a newbie at running his mouth when he dislikes aspects of his homelife. Whatever problems Robyn may or may not have, Kody is a grownass adult who could fix this, should he choose.)

What I'm hoping is that to avoid a deep investigation into their finances, and how Kody used the money in the old LLC (not DABSARK, but the old Kody Brown Family Entertainment LLC that included Meri, Janelle, and Christine) to buy the McMansion, Kody and Robyn will basically fold. One thing I think is curious, is that Christine signed her parcel over to Kody and Robyn, in exchange for getting Kody's name off the Flagstaff house. It's even been said on the show that the proceeds from Meri and Janelle's Vegas sales helped finance the purchase of Robyn and Christine's AZ houses.

That makes sense. That sister lives in New Jersey, right?

This episode was the season 18 finale. There's a FOUR-part tell-all on the way. We're gonna need a bigger boat ... full of wine.

Dear Lord, please let this be the last time we hear, "I wanted to sit on a porch with my sister wives, and our kids, and our grandkids, and it's all about me and blah blah blah blah," forevermore.

Goodnight, Twopper. Goodnight Twoppers, and Primetimers everywhere.

"I'm willing to fake being in love with Meri." Aren't you the big man, you festering anal fissure.

"Oh the act is easy." Meri, if you smashed him across the head with firewood, in front of my face, I would give you an alibi, under oath, in a court of law.

FOUR PART TELL NOTHING? NOTE to EVERYONE WHO WAS WONDERING: TLC just teased the next four episodes of the season as the four-part Tell All.

I'm not blaming this on Robyn. She's a snake, but this isn't her doing. This is Kody. Don't give him the out.

Nobody likes to shoulder blame, but Kody nearly goes into anaphylaxis at the mere mention. "Why can't we get on the page where it's your fault, instead of my fault, Meri?" Fuck off all the way to the sun, then burn up in the sun, then let the sun consume even your ashes.

Spit it the fuck out, Meri

Well, that property went to Kody and Robyn, even though Janelle and Meri are the people who paid for the downpayment, so I hate to say it, but Kody is kind of right.

I do think the middle kids (the pixie girls, and more) also thought of each other as siblings. They weren't as close as they eldest group, but they loved each other.

Yes, @altopower. That was one of Janelle's jobs.

I hate Kody so much, I feel like I need to confess that hatred.

Meri, Robyn doesn't care. Robyn is really good at faking that she cares so that you'll believe her.

For the record, in the 1st installment of the season 16 Tell All, Meri said she and Kody hadn't been intimate for 10 years.

Meri, you only feel like you were emotionally abandoned by Kody, well before the catfishing, because you were emotionally abandoned by Kody, well before the catfishing.

I wish I knew whether or not this is the season finale.

My brain has turned to mush. Which episode was that?