[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

14 hours ago, Elizzikra said:

Janelle makes perfect sense to me. I think she loved Kody, was physically attracted to him and believed in plural marriage. Kody’s motives are more confusing to me but also less interesting because I dislike him so intensely. I think he liked Janelle, loved that she made so few demands on him and contributed financially to the family and gave him sons. I think his ego was fed by Janelle’s attraction to him and her belief in polygamy. 

This is why Kody's arguments with Janelle make no sense to anyone not named Kody.  I also think he loved the fact that Janelle put fewer demands on him but that's because she was off living her own life and doing her own thing, knowing full well she'd only have him around a couple of times a week, if that.  But now he has this huge problem with her doing her own thing without him.  I can see why she's so frustrated and angry - she did what she thought he wanted and needed from her for decades - he never said anything to indicate that he wanted anything else from her except a friend with benefits - and only now is he getting on her for living the life that worked for both of them until their sons grew up and decided that their dad was a moron.   

 

2 hours ago, Kellyee said:

I found it fascinating that Kody really seems to want Janelle back and has some kind of emotional connection to her (or seems to). I got the vibe that he genuinely misses her. I think at one point they had a real friendship and connection. 

I got that vibe as well, but I wonder how the Dark Queen fills about Kody actually having true fillings for another woman?  Maybe they have a dill where once every three months Kody goes over for a lil' Kody time with Janelle and while he's gone, Robyn can watch QVC and buy whatever she wants until he gets home?  That would be a win for all of them, because I have the filling that once Janelle is done with him, she'd prefer he just left and went back home.

[Season 25 Live Feeds Discussion]

14 hours ago, kellog010 said:

Cory told about America his convo: Basically, he asked Cameron about America, Cameron said that there is nothing there and Cory let him know he doesn't care and that he wants America and Cam to be close and trust each other so they can work together, and it doesn't bother Cory and he's cool. I think Cam in his mind interpreted that to mean he was cool to make moves. 

 

This is all so gross.

I follow the live feeds here - can I ask what America's response was?  Is Cory truly unaware of Cam's ick factor when it comes to America?  Because Cam saying there's "nothing there" followed by Cory saying "I don't care" suggests that even if there were something there, Cory would be willing to put America in uncomfortable situations with a creeper just to cement an alliance with him, and that makes me ragey.

It's giving Survivor 39 vibes.  I foolishly thought CBS would've learned something from that.

[Spoiler, Speculation and Social Media]

...or having to pick up his ratty hair plugs from the pillows or the shower drain.

[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

11 hours ago, Lurk said:

Perhaps he was still physical with Janelle as a way of making her feel secure in the fambly so she would continue to hand over all her money to him and Sobbyn? Like still helping and contributing to the fambly cause.

This would not surprise me at all, as well as Janelle doing her "oh rwarrrr!" thing when the man sported a ponytail.  He may have been using her physically for her money but also to retain at least one aspect of being an actual plyg man in his warped head.  Meanwhile, Janelle may have been using him equally in that way to get him to spend time at her house, since she likely knew that Kody had zero attraction to Christine and Meri in that way.  She may have thought, if this is all I have, I might as well use it.

I really need a tell-all book from Janelle because of all the relationships in this family, hers and Kody's remains the most mystifying to me.  

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

Why does Jill love historical sites so much, besides the universal fact of them being "neat?"  It's not like she's teaching the history to her kids - she's using these places for her kids' personal climbing gyms or graffiti canvases.  They don't mean anything to her except as a photo op.

Leave those places alone, Jill.

[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

15 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Oh Tony. I can see him tasting lots of flavors. He’s one of those way below average guys who thinks he is way above average, and no doubt chased girls. 

You know that saying that a girl marries a guy who reminds her of her dad?  Well...Tony IS Kody, except Tony has the hair that Kody would kill for and that makes me happy.

 

14 hours ago, MamaGee said:

I CANNOT wait for there to be 3 rings that fall off and the accompanying sound effects!

Christine's ring - drops and explodes in a hail of rainbow glitter upon hitting the ground with a loud KABLOOEY sound effect.

Janelle's falls off and slowly rolls into Prairie Plague Pond with a faint "blurp."

Meri's reluctantly, slowly lowers onto the ground but then rolls up Kody's pantleg, just in case he wants to give it back to Meri someday, 'cause you never know.

 

 

2 hours ago, Kellyee said:

Christine shouldn't be confiding in her adult kids about intimacy issues in her marriage of any kind. I always had a feeling that Christine parentified her kids

Meri did the same thing to Leon, and Janelle did it to Logan.  It's definitely a plyg thing.  When a wife doesn't have enough time with her husband, she turns to her kids to help her with the demands of childcare, housework, etc.  But I agree, Christine needs to lay off the ice cream sampling talk with her adult children and sons-in-law.  Some things don't need to be parsed out whilst painting Valentine's tree portraits, as one does.

I sure would like to see Robyn and Kody have to sell their mansion and take Janelle's casita blueprints to build a little shack for themselves on Coyote Pass.  Then they can both sit there in their Costco folding chairs, watching the sun set over the trees, wondering why none of Kody's kids are stopping over to frolic in the plague pond and gather adoringly at his knee.

[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

40 minutes ago, SongbirdHollow said:

I didn’t get Jenn’s joke about murder for hire until half an hour later. Yes, she was hired to murder bugs.  

And I didn't get it until I just read your post.  Oh, that wacky Meri and JustJenn.  What crazy stories will they think of next to keep us all LOL-ing?

3 minutes ago, islandgal140 said:

I thought the most interesting lil nugget dropped this episode was Kody mentioning that the current Robyn mansion was one that they planned to raise the tenderettes in for the next 15 years. In other words, he has no plans to pay off, build on or move to Coyote Pass for the forseeable future.  

I did some quick math when he said that - in 15 years Airabellibloa will be 21 years old.  Hahahaha, as if she's moving out at 21.  41, maybe.  And hopefully still swinging from the chandeliers and keeping Kody up all night.

Heck, Aurora, Brianna and Sol will probably still be there, too  (I have modest hopes that Day'un will someday live in peace and quiet somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no forwarding address).

 

[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

9 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Or no heat in his body. By the time it reached his gut, it would be body temperature...unless be happens to be cold blooded like a reptile...

Honestly, he should just order a glass of lemonade and ask the waiter to microwave it until it boils.  It would save the lives of thousands of lemons.

Also, when Janelle informed Kody that he hadn't spoken to Savanah in six weeks, he sat there and mumbled "everyone....." and then abruptly trailed off.  It's like the Robyn-controlled portion of his brain misfired.  As someone above astutely pointed out, it's clear that he never gave Savanah a second thought, otherwise he and Robyn would've rehearsed his excuses and he wouldn't have sat there trying to remember which one was Savanah.

[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

34 minutes ago, EarlGreyTea said:

I get irrationally angry whenever Meri’s friend shows up. I am sure she’s a very nice lady and a supportive friend, but Christ, she grated onscreen. 

Anyone else disgusted by Kody eating and those two curls falling over his face? 

Janelle looked beautiful this episode. We can all agree that much of their connection was an intensely physical one, right? In so many words, that’s what I thought was implied. 

Yes to all of this.

JustJenn has that same smugness that Meri has - that of two 13-year old girls whispering to each other and giggling, and when people ask what's funny they both squeal, "it's an inside joke!!!"  Their Fridays With Friends are nothing more than that as well (at least for the 45-60 seconds I am able to watch before I get bored).  It was JustWeird for Jenn to play-act her deadpan "murder for hire" stuff during her first talking head on the show - it didn't land, except for Meri cackling in the background.

Kody's stupid curls were looking about as springy as we've ever seen them.  He probably still smelled like Toni Home Perm fumes.

As for the physical part of Kody and Janelle's relationship, she has said things in the past that indicate they had it going on, but I used to wonder if it greatly decreased or disappeared once Robyn came into the picture like it probably did with Christine and Meri.  Hearing Janelle talk, maybe not? - but that kind of makes it even weirder to me that he was sleeping with just Janelle and Robyn, excluding the other two.  And if Janelle was living mostly independently, then it wasn't like Kody was going over there to placate her with some Kody lovin'.  I've always been weirdly interested in their dynamic, but now I kind of don't want to know, lol.

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

Perhaps David's citation will help to keep the Rods away from other various national monuments, parks, forts, etc.  Because what else are they supposed to do when visiting those places - actually learn something?  That's for heathens. 

I'm still salty that they didn't get fined for climbing the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine (that we know of, anyway).

[S18.E06: The Understatement of the Year]

8 hours ago, mbaywife123 said:

If Jenn provided “pest control” in LV why did she not trap and exclude Kody from Meris household?

Was Jenn's little "murder for hire" shtick supposed to be funny?  I mean, funny to anyone else besides Jenn and Meri?  

Also, did I hear Kody right - did he actually say out loud that Janelle only wants him around because he's "hot?"  And that he has great pecs and washboard abs or something (that might've been the part where I was guffawing too loud to hear)?  I was waiting for him to kind of chuckle or shrug but no, this grown man was sittin' there with a fresh perm and a perfect ringlet dangling over one eye telling all of us that his bod is rockin'.  Never mind that nonsense about him not speaking to his sons, forgetting his daughter at Christmas or abandoning most of his wives - he's hot, y'all.  He can't help it.  I am just shocked that he didn't show up to the back room of the restaurant rocking a sexy ponytail so Janelle would forget about everything, sweep the half-squeezed lemons off the table, and take him right there.  Delusional doesn't even begin to describer this lunatic.

[Trace and Lydia: Can She Become a Citizen Now?]

15 minutes ago, Heathen said:

My snark mind was thinking earlier that Carlin must be beside herself at all the attention Lydia and Ferret are getting, and maybe she'd try to deport herself (somewhere) so she could get some, too. 

She's probably Googling "countries that have Starbucks" right now.

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

So the girls can't kiss or front-hug their future husbands until marriage but they get to kiss a broom for Mahmo's camera.  There's something dark here but I don't want to parse it out too much.

[S25.E22: Double Eviction #1]

10 hours ago, mertensia said:

Julie: Blah blah zombies.

Cameron internally : Sounds super lame to me.

I liked the reaction from the audience - a few awkward chuckles along the lines of, "WTF - did she just say zombie??"  Even Cam was like, "okaaaaaay....whut?"

I wonder if Julie ever looks at herself in the mirror and questions the life choices that have brought the former serious news anchor into a reality where she has to tell a grown man that he's going to turn into a zombie.

Just label this season the "Stupidverse" and be done with it.  If the comps are supposed to align with the various 'verses, it's lost on me.

[S18.E05: When the Going Gets Tough]

1 hour ago, Kellyee said:

If Kody had an "office" at Robyn's house, he could still have a laptop and work from the other homes.

I think "office" translated into "mancave."  I think Robyn set him up with his own little hidey-hole where he could squirrel away from all those other pesky wives and their time-sucking kids.  She probably made sure he had plenty of fresh celery, LIV water, a mirror, and in return, when he awoke from his nappy, he would stay for some of Robyn's home cookin'.

[S25.E21: Power of Veto #7]

I hated seeing Blue all curled up, head down and crying in the DR over how Jared treats her.  That's hard to watch and call it "entertainment," but I feel like we get a version of this same dynamic every season.  I would love to see Jared go out on a Blue HOH - or any HOH, I don't care.

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

20 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Its a Fundy thing. Fundy parents don't want their kids to align with each other, they want them to align with the parents. Its another way of ensuring obedience and keeping the numbers in their favor.

Like what is unfolding in Jill Dillard's thread - imagine if the kids grew up liking each other. JB&M would be very lonely.

So a Fundy's legacy is a quiverfull of siblings that don't like or trust each other.  How sweet.

It's mind-blowing what these parents will do in the name of producing a bunch of blind followers.  What does Gothard have to say about what happens when the parents are gone?

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

26 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Jill is also the one who encourages her brood to tape "kick me" signs to the backs of their siblings and document the ensuing wackiness.

I don't think Jill has any problem pitting her kids against one another in a way that she thinks is funny teasing, but it's actually cruel.  Those kids have enough of a burden to carry just living in that house and trying to sufficiently please Mahmo on a daily basis.

[S18.E05: When the Going Gets Tough]

Another stupid point made by Robyn that I forgot about - what is her dill with confronting Meri about what the family was like before she came along in a pathetically transparent attempt to lay the blame for the divide on anyone but herself?  That conversation was so cringe...Robyn was all, "what donn I know?  'Cause I wuzzent herr in the beginning.  What am I missin'?"  But wait, Dark Queen!  I thought you had been there from Day One!  You have a creepy pencil sketch to prove it!  What's going on?

Robyn is completely insufferable.  Her going to Meri to ask "whasss wrong with our fambly?" is such a passive-aggressive slap in the face to the one wife that Kody doesn't seem to care about in any sense of the word, but Meri's the only one left for Robyn to try and keep on her side as the "innocent" wife, the one who had NOTHING to do with Christine and Janelle bailing on poor Kody.  Robyn has been playing Meri as hard as she's been playing Kody, but I loved hearing Meri say with a sigh, "I don't know, Robyn."  In other words - shut up, go back to my former husband and your mansion, and buy some more questionable artwork for the 5 inches of bare wall space in the bathroom, you psycho.

Robyn's as transparent as a piece of tape, but it seems to be these last few episodes (early 2022?  who knows) that everyone is finally willing to admit that they've seen through her for years and are ready to leave because of it.

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

2 hours ago, ginger90 said:

This is from a group picture. It’s from one of the days of the college’s tent revival meeting.

Guess if anyone else is doing this in the picture.

That's super funny when you're in second grade.

I realize he's been brought up to be socially stunted and awkward, but perhaps noting that no one else is giving bunny ears might be a cue that it's not appropriate in every situation.

As always, excellent parenting, Jill. 

[Meri Brown and her Wet Bar of Tears]

Great insight, @General Days.  My impression was always that Meri wanted the wet bar for entertaining the family, which was an eye-roller, since no one usually stepped foot in Meri's house unless they absolutely had to.  I forgot that she hosted the MLM parties, which is where "Sam" first met her, if I'm not mistaken.

I guess in a family of shillers, someone has to have a large and clean space for snagging in more down-liners.  It would also explain why we never saw her actually doing anything with the wet bar, since no one could talk about their MLMs on tv.

[S18.E05: When the Going Gets Tough]

I will always remember Meri blubbering about NEEDING! THAT! WETBAR! which for architectural reasons that escape me meant that a 5th (?) bedroom would also need to go into her house, and her mumbling that it would be her hobby room or some such nonsense.  I recall also her wanting to be last when it came to going to the real estate office and choosing her flooring, cabinets, etc.  I wonder if that's because she figured Kody would be so worn down by then, he'd agree to her selecting the cabinets made of pure gold and the marble flooring hand-delivered piece by piece from an abandoned castle in France or whatever the hell she chose.  I just recall her being extremely whiny and pouty about the entire process until she got exactly what she wanted.  That might have been savvy future planning on her part, or - more likely - she knew she'd get her way if she pushed Kody hard enough.  In any event, it was gross behavior on her part from start to finish.

[S03.E02: Ghost in the Machine]

12 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

Laura  is still annoying. Cory is still an A class asshole. Stella still can’t act. Bradley is still sanctimonious.  Alex is still a self important egomaniac.  I still actively hate the primary and secondary characters. But I am still watching because I still love Jon Hamm.

I actively binged season two over a weekend (I had lost interest early on) when I found out that Jon Hamm was going to be back on my tv.  And I'm glad to know I am not the only one who finds the Stella character odd...it's like the actress is angrily reading her lines from a cue card (ironic).

But now, I do need to find out what the heck is going on between Bradley and Cory, who is indeed an asshole but I love how Billy Crudup chews the scenery with such glee.

[Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)]

Jill posted a picture of a cartoon from one of her children's history books.  I'm pretty sure the man in the cartoon is Ronald Reagan.  So, she's using a history book from the early 80's for homeschool purposes?  Nice flex, Jill.

[S18.E05: When the Going Gets Tough]

THE STORY OF A MONTH

 

Meri: I have a secret.  I tracked Kody's time with me for 20 years and found out he was with me way less than he should've been.

Robyn: I have a secret too!  I tracked Kody's whereabouts using my phone tracker app that I made him install for a MONTH!  And he was with me WAY LESS than everyone! *giggle* It's so harrrrrrrrrrrd, isn't it?  Like, OMG!!

Christine: Yeah, there was a period of time where Kody spent a whole month with me.  When he wasn't playing on his phone or napping in the closet, he was telling me that if I agreed to move to Flagstaff, he'd finally learn the names of all of our kids.

Kody: I spent a month with Christine to get her to finally STFU about how I was never there.  A whole month.  That's, like, a lot of days in a row.  Then I peaced out and she went right back to her female emotional whining so I never went back.  I can't win with these women.

Janelle: A month?  I would've lost my damn mind.

 

Honestly, I just about fell off the couch when Kody told us that he'd spent a whole month with Christine to get her to just shut up about how she never saw him.  Like, what was that supposed to accomplish?  If he really did that, then it only made his eventual absence that much worse for Christine, which - hold on, I think I get it now, that's what he wanted in the first place.  Never mind.