laurakaye

I have never understood Kody's dislike of Christine (except for Nacho-Gate - whatever). She chased him - wouldn't this feed right into his massive ego? She's quite beautiful, light-hearted, seems to have a way with the children, she's plyg royalty, and most of all - SHE CHASED HIM. I don't get it.

I bolded this...because did Kody really fall in love with Meri? Or Janelle, or Christine? Or did he find three women that bought what he was selling? Excluding Robyn, of course. I think Kody feels like he landed the grand prize with that one.

As far as Kody's boys showing bullying tendencies, I am actually surprised the kids don't go off on each other more than we see. The middle boys are one of 17 children fighting for a shred of attention from their father. They were young when Robyn entered the hive and from that point on, Kody probably checked out on them, as he was very busy wooing his new sweetie. The two older boys, Logan and Hunter, not only had a little bit more of Kody's attention in the beginning, they also had Christine taking care of them and I think that's where they learned compassion and patience with the younger kids. I don't think Kody had anything to do with how Logan and Hunter turned out. I'm not sure Janelle had much to do with it, either. His kids are turning out to be good human beings despite Kody's best efforts to turn them into younger versions of himself (Sol being the exception, of course).

Zahdii - somehow, you managed to get right inside Kody's brain. Please don't stay too long, it could be very dangerous! As for dividing things among the children - personally, I would always make sure that my own children were properly taken care of before anyone else's. But the Browns tell us that they are all one big spiritual family. That the children have "four mothers." Meri divorced her husband for children that weren't technically even part of the spiritual family, but did it "for the kids." Then, Meri gets upset when she fears she's not getting as big a slice of the pie as the moms with more kids (see: wet bar meltdown). Meri tells us one thing, but acts another. Either you're all one big family and you divide the assets based on the children, or you demand an equal slice because the other kids don't matter as much as yours. Meri can't have it both ways.

Maybe Kody rinses his hair in almond milk to give it that special frizzy bounce. I don't know, I think this show is starting to steal some of my brain cells.

Regarding next week's show, did I hear right that it's the season finale? Based on all the stuff they plan to show, I am 99.9% certain that the catfish portion will not even be mentioned until the very last segment, and we will have to tune in next season for the rest of the scoop. What I want to know is - how much, if any, input do the Brown adults have in what TLC shows? Some of what we've seen has been downright negative. If I wanted to show my supposedly "happy" family and push how great my lifestyle is on the unenlightened public, there are lots of things I would want edited out of the show. Of course, there's always the strong possibility that in their addled minds, the things we see as negative, they see as a great spin job.

I don't know how to feel about Meri anymore. She fell in love with Kody knowing he was a polygamist. Wives were added. Meri could only given Kody one child, but she had the upper hand because she was the legal wife. When Robyn entered the picture (with Meri's approval, I seem to remember), things changed. My feeling is that Robyn and/or Kody probably dropped hints as subtle as anvils on Meri's head about what would happen if anything were to happen to Robyn, and then kids would leave the family, etc. So Meri divorces Kody "for the kids." It's clear she did not want to do this, but knew that she was backed into a corner by the rest of the family, and above all else, she needed to stay relevant to Kody, and by extension, Robyn. A very lonely and very likely depressed Meri entered into an online catfish scheme. Not only was she made a fool of, she now has to live with the fact that this makes Kody look bad (which he does perfectly well on his own, but as a wife, she needs all the approval she can get from that man). She also has to deal with the other wives using Meri's fall from grace as a way to elevate themselves in Kody's eyes - which, based on her statement at the end of yesterday's teaser when she said she had no one to talk to - I'd imagine that approaching another wife about her feelings about someone outside her marriage was something she simply could not do. So, to summarize: she made this bed with Kody willingly and with open eyes. She was mean to the other wives. She demanded things for herself and Mariah that rightfully should've gone to the wives with more children. She was more or less forced into a divorce, and she was catfished. Now she is broken. Do we feel sorry for her? This is what I struggle with. Is it karma? I don't know, but I do know that while I watch this show, seeing a broken-down woman who thought she might've found a smidgen of happiness and confidence with an online predator is just so very sad.

I think this is spot-on. Janelle's boys have shown time and time again that they are more than capable of stepping in as a person for the younger kids to look up to (remember when Logan took the whole brood of young kids to a craft store all by himself)? So when Kody steps in and wants to play "dad" for a few minutes, the boys probably feel pretty resentful, and rightfully so. Those kids are turning out pretty good, despite the lack of a real role model.

Wow, this episode was so incredibly awful, I practically watched it with my hands over my eyes. Kody. You're not a father. You should get on your knees every single morning and be thankful that none of your boys are turning out like you (except Sol). The grocery store and the stockpile of Fiji water...huh, I can pick up a 24-pack of bottled water at Sam's for about $5. Meri loading bottled water into her arms to the point she couldn't carry any more made me furious. This might be how the Kardashians shop for vacation food, but the Browns? Sickening. Even Logan pointed out that part of that mountain of food was probably going to get thrown away. But hey - it's not as if the Browns actually scrimped and saved for this vacation like most families have to do - TLC is footing the bill so might as well throw in some lobster and caviar too! I didn't know whether to laugh or throw my shoe through the television when Kody started telling the eskimo man that he has 4 wives, blah blah blah...Does literally EVERYONE he encounters have to sit through this crap?! SHUT UP KODY. Garrison is turning into a handsome, smart young man just like his older brothers. Good for him. Follow in their footsteps, Garrison. Best of luck. Christine is so over-the-top at this point, it's uncomfortable to watch. Did anyone catch Kody kind of leaning away from her on the couch when she was yammering hysterically about the gold? There's absolutely something not right there. Kody's story to Maddie and Caleb, using that ridiculous voice...I didn't even understand what he was talking about. What a jerk. WHY did they have to bring up the incredibly stupid and extremely tasteless "Angry Maddie" play? Maddie is happy now. What on earth would possess them to blather on and on, in boring detail, about the time in Maddie's life when she was miserable? I mean...???? GAH. Meri and next week's previews...wow. I am not sure if I feel sorry for her or not right now, but that woman is broken, and that's never nice to see when you sit down to be "entertained" on a Sunday night. And did she say, "I don't ever talk to anyone?" Um - how about those wonderful sister-wives that live a few feet from your McMansion? I thought that was part of the draw of the lifestyle, having sister-wives to bond with? Not so much in this crew, huh? I actually felt gross after watching this show. I'm sure next week will be 150 times worse.

I would be very afraid to confide in another wife about the hubby for fear that they would take that information straight back to the husband, and then he might skip Thursday night at my house or something. Although in this particular situation, I'd be more than happy to skip Kody leaving his stank behind in my bedroom. Plus - and I mean this honestly - is there truly not a huge "ICK" factor with these women, knowing that this man was just sleeping with another woman, and now here he is in your bed? What is the tenet of their religion that causes the wives to overlook this? How does polygamy address this, or does it nicely gloss over this detail? Especially when Robyn would show up with cold sores on her mouth...it's just so BLEHHHHKK.

Do they seriously get any traffic at MSWC anymore? I can see maybe getting a little bit from the hardcore fans when it first opened, but now? Maybe Robyn is making Meri stash all the overstock on her wetbar as punishment.

So this Sunday, we will be treated to 30 minutes of rehashed-Brown stuff from last week, two or three teasers about the catfish incident interspersed with 27 commercials, and at the very end, Kody's voice will intone "And next week, on a very special Sister Wives..." Whereupon Meri will say something like, "I just had all these fillings and I didn't know what to do with the fillings, so I did something truly awful..." CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC. TO BE CONTINUED. I can't wait to see if I'm right. To those of you who can no longer watch this show and look at yourselves in the mirror the next day...I understand. I am very close myself. But I have been watching this show since episode 1 and even though I do the walk of shame from my couch after every Sunday's episode, I simply cannot stop. I think what fascinates me the most now is watching the other wives on the couch when one wife is talking. Their facial expressions and body language tell the true story of what's going down in the cuddle-sac. What they say and how they act are just so completely at odds with each other, and yet - I really think they believe that they are continuing to fool their viewers with their vacuous "rainbows and unicorns" Tweets. It's just all so bizarre.

Picture him on stage, in a loincloth, behind the bars of a jail cell, singing "Close Every Door." I mean, SERIOUSLY. Abi had better start shaking things up again and soon, because I am starting to like her. She's perfectly acceptable when she isn't going around telling everyone that they are dead to her. I find myself hoping Savage sticks around for awhile even though he drives me nuts. I have enjoyed watching him go from supreme power player (in his own mind) to telling the others that they can use him however they want as long as they keep him around. I found Ciera's tribal speech rather annoying, but it could be a factor of her age. She's young and sees herself as a badass, and she's not afraid to let everyone know. I'm curious to see what she does now without Kaos. Still miss Varner............

I can't help but look back towards the beginning of this show, when Kody and Meri went out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary, and Meri asked Kody how he would feel if she took another husband. His response, which I remember as clear as day because it made me furious, was "the thought of you with another man sickens me." Well, Kody - it's a good thing you've got your pretty new wifey to take your mind off of what Meri did to you and your humongous ego, yes? Ironic.

I suppose they will put their typical hard Brown spin on it. I almost don't want to watch it and see what happens (but I will). At this point, although I think Meri made her own bed with a ragingly narcissistic polygamist girly-man, as a fellow human being it's getting more and more difficult to sit on my couch with my glass of wine and my monogamist husband in the other room, and watch what she is going through. I am, however, extremely curious as to how the other wives will react. If they actually feel any sort of empathy for Meri, they'd be acknowledging that living a plural life with the Kodester isn't all the sunshine and rainbows they've been proclaiming it to be. If they come across as "she deserved it for looking outside the marriage," then that will confirm my suspicions that the other wives are not-so-secretly thrilled at Meri's fall from grace, as it elevates them in Kody's beady little eyes.

Can Joe sing? Because he needs to go on stage ASAP and play Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." See ya later, Kaos Kass. Her gameplay never made sense to me. Announcing that you are there to create chaos in a game that requires varying amounts of trust is pretty stupid. Chaos with a plan in mind is one thing. Chaos just to live up to the image in your own head is ridiculous. When Savage temporarily blinded me with his smile after dropping some F-bombs, I chuckled - not because it was funny, but because it scared me. Go away, Savage, and whisper melodramatically to your hot model wife. I have no idea how this would happen, but I really want Joe, Spencer and Jeremy to somehow team up and quietly run this game all the way to the end. I am enjoying the ride this season. I can't begin to make sense of the alliances, former alliances, broken but mended alliances, etc. That's okay, though. I love all the strategy talk and being surprised at tribal.

I go back and forth on the issue of how the Browns view themselves and their viewers. Some of the things we've seen lately are almost too bizarre to be true. But I get a very strong sense of high-and-mighty from all of the Brown adults - as in, if you, the viewer, don't understand some of the things we do, it's because you aren't persecuted 24/7 like we are! You don't know what it's like! So you will never understand what we go through every day! We believe in living this lifestyle! I just can't get behind the theory that these people trot out ridiculous and jaw-dropping storylines just to keep the money rolling in. I think they believe everything they do is somehow going to cause the viewers to say, "Oh, NOW I get it! Polygamy rocks!" And I'm sure they do have a smattering of viewers who buy everything the Browns try to sell (and probably a few that want to be Wifey #5). I'd imagine that the snark-viewers greatly outnumber the other viewers by this point, however.

I hadn't thought of it that way. It really does up the entire "ICK" factor much higher than I originally thought. Between the horrifying pencil portrait and Robyn's kids giving Meri something pretty to wear around her neck as a daily reminder that she is no longer useful...I mean, you cannot write stuff this awful and demoralizing. And yet - there it is, bursting into our living rooms every Sunday night. Just - wow.

Isn't this somewhat typical in polygamist families? There are usually lots of children from several wives. The wives themselves can be sealed and unsealed (yuck) to other celestial husbands. In some sects, the girls are married off very young and the boys are sent away for a couple of years. I know the treatment of the Brown children is not that extreme, but it's pretty clear that the Kody Krew revolves solely around Kody, and everyone else's feelings tend to take a big back seat to whatever he wants to do. I am reminded of their "flight" to Las Vegas, and I seem to remember during one couch session, Christine saying something to the effect that Kody always wanted to move to Las Vegas. So in my mind, the whole "we gotta go NOW!!" was complete BS, spun by Kody as persecution, but in reality it was what he wanted all along. He can and has pulled a lot of suspect crap in the name of polygamy.

I Googled "sociopath" and this is what came up first. There are more traits than this, I only copied a few. Seriously, does this sound like anyone we see on a weekly basis flipping his hair around a certain Las Vegas cuddle-sac? Profile of the Sociopath Glibness and Superficial Charm. Manipulative and Cunning. They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. Grandiose Sense of Self. Pathological Lying. Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt. Shallow Emotions. Incapacity for Love And this one jumped out at me: Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature Rage alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others. It's actually kind of chilling.

Something I've always noticed regarding Christine but never asked about...in the opening segment, where Christine says her line "I wanted the family, I didn't just want the man," I have always found her delivery of this line to be very strange. You can barely hear her say the word "man," and I've always thought she says this in a dismissive way - as in, the man really doesn't mean all that much to me. However, as we tune in each week to watch Christine grovel around the cuddle-sac for the tiniest of Kody Krumbs, we know the opposite to be true. It's as if she doesn't WANT to want the man, but she does. She really, really does.

This wins everything.^ If the adoption wasn't a true "adoption" in the sense that us silly monogamists understand it to be, then why the crap did the entire Brownie troop have to parade into court in their Sunday best and wait for the judge to say or do anything? I'm struggling with understanding this (although I should probably stop, because I know better). Are the kids actually, formally adopted now, or was it just some bizarre fake thing to go along with Robyn's Kody Brown fan-fiction that she creates in her head and then forces upon everyone else? And LOLZ at the cake guys hand-delivering the cupcake tree themselves to the Brown compound like they were dropping off some masterpiece in bakery design. Can anyone screencap Logan's reaction to the pencil drawing of Kody and his new spirit kids?

I have to wonder if, after last night's episode aired, Robyn gleefully checked in with social media expecting all us jaded viewers to praise her for that oh-so clever and beautifully rendered portrait of her darling, selfless husband and his three new spirit children...only to find quite the opposite. And on another note, I find the use of the words "sealing" and "unsealing" very...unsettling.

Regarding Ysabel, I too was watching her during the unveiling. She was looking hard at Robyn (who, per usual, couldn't speak through her constipated tears). At first, I thought - poor Ysabel, she doesn't really know how to react to Robyn's sobbing. But then I thought - no, they've all got to be pretty used to Robyn's theatrics by now. That's when it hit me that Ysabel was upset by the portrait (and not just because it's so horrifying). I have no idea what was going on in Ysabel's head, but she seemed to be really stunned. At the end of the scene she seemed to be wiping tears from her cheek. I cannot imagine what Robyn's sociopathic shenanigans are doing to the younger Brown children.

Oh my goodness, I just looked at a close-up of the portrait and I totally thought I was looking at a fake that someone else made for laughs...I did not notice Dayton giving the "thumbs-up" nor did I really take a close look at Kody...he's wearing glasses and looks like he's about 75 years old (with the weird lines on his forehead)...and the children are just short of those paintings from the 70's of children with really big eyes that used to creep me out when I was a kid...now I am LOL-ing for real! At first I thought the picture was just in really bad taste, but upon closer inspection, it's just one big bowl of WRONG.