Adiba

I don’t think it is officially ruled as a suicide if no body is found. As for “no evidence of foul play” — how can that be officially determined with no body? A case in the town nearby me had a young woman’s murder staged to look like a drug overdose. Her body, however, told investigators another story. She was murdered by her ex- girlfriend and said girlfriend’s husband. She was nobody and the police investigated. So, without Howard’s body, there can’t be a concrete determination of suicide—only an assumption.

Your Social security number is also used for healthcare, insurance, for work, etc. so having names match may make things less complicated in the long run, but it’s not absolutely necessary. It just depends how much it bothers Leon to see their legal name on paperwork if they want to change it. This may be my bias speaking (I don’t particularly care for their personality), but I can imagine Leon almost wishing that someone will mis-gender or mis-pronoun them. Then Leon can sanctimoniously “educate” the offender on proper trans language.

I wonder if they, A and L, are living with A's parents? At least on a temporary basis--or has anyone seen pics of their new place?

Actually, if Matt manages to sell the farm to strangers, there will be no pool parties or holidays in the big house, anyway. Matt has to build his new dream house for Caryn and that may take a while. Apparently neither of the twins could afford Matt’s asking price for the property, so it’s not as if either one bought new homes with more acreage merely out of spite.

Autocorrect, fixed it

I have no dog on this fight, Dibs. Just commenting on Jer’s social media post. My opinion is just that, an opinion. I don’t remember mentioning Zach. #notateamplayer

I am assuming that “transition” can mean coming out as trans and changing their name and pronouns, not necessarily having medical treatment nor looking like the opposite gender — but they do “appear” less feminine and appear as if they are binding when comparing old yoga pics? I mean that Leon is no longer known as she/her/Mariah/woman.

I hope that Leon finds happiness and peace in living their authentic life. I do question the timing—seems as if they and Audrey are merging into one person. You might say that Audrey coming out gave them the motivation to do so too, but I hope it’s not because they see Audrey’s happiness and think that’s their answer as well. I had been wondering if Leon was binding their breasts before they came out as trans, so this announcement was not a surprise to me. The weight gain could be a result of taking hormones (just speculating).

Ummm, how much did Jer and Auj just spend on their house? They can’t run down to a big box store and get a ride on mower? They don’t have a credit card? This seems like they’re looking for a freebie or at least some kind of a deal due to their “celebrity.”

Eh, if Amy did act smiley and happy, many would say what a fake phony she was. She can’t win either way with some people.

I watched the show for years, before the boys were with their respective spouses, and Matt always talked about his “legacy” and having the farm remain in the family. I never heard Matt say anything on the show at least, about what his expectations were regarding the price of the portion of the farm that he was willing to sell, nor an “apprenticeship” deal ( which would have been a disaster, anyway). Matt, if all people, because he is such a “savvy businessman,” should’ve known what Jeremy or Zach could realistically afford in the first place, before negotiations even took place. I have no idea what took place in private between the parties, nor do I think any of them are “perfect.” I don’t hate any of them, including Matt, but I certainly do not think he’s Mr. Wonderful. It ‘s easy for Matt to be happy— he’s got his way— he got Amy out and now his sons— the farm is all his (along with his mistress-turned-girlfriend)—so of course he’s not bitter. What I am saying is that from my perspective, it was Matt who set up unrealistic expectations to begin with, starting when the twins were young.

And Cha Cha has her own grandchild now, too. I don’t doubt she has affection for Matt’s grandchildren, but they’ll definitely take second place to her own when it comes down to it. I do think things will thaw a little over time between Zach and his father, though. It may never be exactly the same between them, but I believe a certain truce can be reached if neither party does anything to further damage the relationship. I don’t really blame Tori and Zach for wanting to create some distance and start their own holiday traditions after the hurt, anger and disappointment of the failed farm purchase. Enmeshment is not good. And if my father-in-law dangled the carrot of taking over the farm for years in front of my spouse and then pulled the rug out from under and basically called him (his son) a screw-up on TV, I’d be pretty frosty towards him, too. I might not be overtly rude, put I’d be painfully formal and polite.

I also think Robyn would have fit in with the FLDS. She seems to believe in the "reassignment" of a wife and children to a more "righteous" man. She had her kids calling Kody "Dad" right away (before they were adopted) and then there's the infamous re-done picture of Kody with her kids.

However, if Matt is regularly spending time in Arizona, he’s not seeing them every single day at the farm, anyway. Zach didn’t move hours away nor did he move to another country. It’s probably a healthy thing that there’s some separation between the parties if there was tension and bad feelings. I personally feel it’s much ado about nothing.

So Matt’s parents now live in Arizona? I am assuming then that Matt has his condo down there also because he mentions seeing his parents more often. So there really should be no problem that Zach moved an hour away from Matt’s farm if Matt isn’t always at the farm anyway.

How one chooses to spend their money is, of course, their own business. I will agree that there are more things deemed necessary today than when my husband and I started out. We both did have student loans (both undergrad and grad school) to pay, though. We did not have new cars (I drove a hand-me-down beater station wagon gifted by my mil for the first year of my marriage), no cell phones, internet, etc. So yes, the cost of living was less— but probably every generation preceding the next one can say that.

The thing is, even though cutting out extras may not pay off a student loan quicker (or any other big bill), those extras do add up yearly. It’s an individual choice I guess which extras really matter to you as far as enjoyment of life. My pet peeve when it comes to buying groceries is when the discount only applies if one buys 2 or more of an item. If it’s perishable, I might wind up throwing it out anyway. Also, prepackaged spinach and vegetable that are not the size that I want, too much or too little— and the store does not a loose option to bag yourself.

I will give Matt some credit for some of his big ideas that were successful. However, not all the credit goes exclusively to Matt, imo. The kids (and Amy) were definitely used to create content for the show, too. The kids in particular had no choice about what parts of their childhood were filmed for $$. Zach was filmed in pain and vomiting when he had to have shunt surgery on his brain, for example. Jacob was whacked by the trebuchet. These were main features in episodes. These things meant viewers=ratings=$$.

I don’t think Zach and Tori will “keep the grandchildren away from the grandparents” permanently—I think they’re disappointed and angry and not reacting in a very mature way about the farm—but they’ll likely loosen up in time. I actually think it’s healthy that they moved. There were too many expectations and emotions on both sides. Zach and Tori would have become further involved with Matt if they bought the farm. That, imo, would have only lead to more issues down the line. They didn’t move across the country or to another country—a 45 minute/ 1 hour drive is not that bad. I moved an hour and a half away from my parents right before our first child was born and our kids definitely saw their grandparents a lot growing up (and not just holidays, either). Now, with technology, Zach and Tori can do virtual visits as well.

Right, that’s sort of what I meant by my post. By “plot purpose” I was including how Howard’s murder also will affect Kim and Jimmy regarding their marriage. That, for me, is the main reason I’m watching the show now. I know what happens to the characters in BB. And, unless “Gene” has some sort of redemption arc, I really don’t care. I also would hope that the writers at least give us some semblance or hint of an investigation into Howard’s murder/ disappearance— it doesn’t have to dovetail into anything about the Gus/Lalo situation for it to make sense to me, as a viewer. I hope I’m not being too pedantic here. I just would feel extremely annoyed if the show completely glosses over the murder with no one poking around.

I agree that if they just hand-wave away Howard’s murder, it will be a disappointment to me as a viewer; the writers had no real reason to kill off Howard if they are going to do so. Saul and Kim are already scared out of their minds by the appearance of Lalo. They know he is a murderer. Lalo doesn’t have to shoot Howard to show them he means business. So, imo, the writers should have some plot purpose for Howard to be murdered by Lalo in Kim and Jimmy’s home. At least I hope they do. We’ll see.

No idea what Lalo would think or do, he is unpredictable. But I thought Saul wasn’t supposed to even know Mike, as far as Lalo knows? That’s why I wondered. I can’t see Lalo just letting things hang— he shot Howard because he wanted no witnesses.So I guess we’ll see what the writers have in store for us .

Season 3 Episode 10 shows Chuck kicking the “Lantern” The next season deals with the aftermath

Jimmy may also be angry at Kim for not telling him about Lalo because she did not give him the opportunity to protect himself. He may not have opened the door so easily nor left it unlocked once Howard entered the apartment. I can’t see Lalo just leaving Kim and Jimmy to clean up the mess without any sort of insurance that things will be taken care of properly. What explanation will they give Lalo about Mike if they call him?

You just gave me an “aha” moment. What you have written makes perfect sense to me as to why Jimmy hates Howard so much. More than anything else that Howard did, more than the fact that Howard was a privileged jerk — your take is onto something, imo.