Mothra

When I had young kids, and we had to move for my husband's job, the number one concern, even before quality of public schools, was finding a neighborhood (preferably with sidewalks) where a lot of little kids lived. Noah and RuHain's kids will grow up like their father did, strange and with a mysterious accent; I guess they were all home-schooled (?) and all the next generation will be, too. For a certain kind of kid (I was one) who loves to read and play by themselves, maybe this is the perfect childhood. But these children (and their parents) will never have a chance to learn that there is another way of life, one they might be more comfortable in. And, as you point out, they'll even be cut off from their aunts, uncles and (saddest of all) cousins. I think Rain's collapse was grief over her father's death that she had not experienced or expressed yet. It's scary that it was so sudden, appearing over the course of only a few days, and going straight to hallucinations. I do think it was real, just bizarre. Gabe's wife is there; she's just embarrassed to be seen with him.

And what is that nasty perm mourning? Daylight Savings Time? My heart is breaking for both of the girls. First Bird with her impossible gynecological situation--will you want a baby some time in the future? Or don't you want to risk ovarian cancer? Too much for a young woman who has no real support to help her decide. Ami is pretty useless in every situation, but you'd think her own cancer history would make her at least a little more sensitive to what Bird's going through. And poor, poor Rain--did she have a complete emotional breakdown? Even wack-a-doo Bird was looking askance when Rain starting telling her she'd been talking to "Da" and he had told her she and Bird were supposed to stay together or some shit. BTW, "Da" is old-fashioned Irish for father; maybe the Browns used to be the O'Browns. I'm surprised by how disinterested Noah is in other people, even his own little son when he was obviously ill. Maybe he has not been made aware (in the stuff we've been shown) of Rain's precarious mental state.

Justine is so pretty. Those sling things she totes her remarkable breasts around in do her body no justice except to make sure she gets stared at. Are they what they look like, scarves wrapped around her body with holsters? And when she puts on ready-to-wear, it's worse because imo she doesn't trust her own beauty--but I guess she's really dressing to please her man.

He's really pathetic, isn't he? (Either he's lying about his income or he has no idea of how to spend money.) And at least the closed caption this time read "yin" instead of "ying." Dumbass. Mark doesn't really seem to understand about sex and pregnancy, does he? Plus, he has a feral face. The one I'm interested in is Justine's Michael. Aside from his career plan to become a famous rapper (another dumbass) simply because he said he was so happy he felt like Captain Planet--an absolutely dreadful cartoon show all about ecology--and then proceeded to chant the CP invocation: Fire! Water! Air! Whatever the fuck else! I'm afraid I'm Michael's bitch, no matter how much of a shit he turns out to be.

Merry had a kind of crush on Sol--remember when she asked if he could come with her on a road trip, and when she was told he couldn't and another kid was suggested, she was not interested? Sol is the only one I ever noticed she gave a shit about.

Oh. I see.

Me. And sometimes I wipe my nose on my shirt tail. Depends on what's handy.

Merry never did acknowledge that she was to blame. All she wanted was to be the victim of catfishing--and then so what? If "Sam" had been genuine, it's pretty clear she would've left Kotex for him--as who wouldn't?--and only Kotex and Leon have been willing to believe and to point out that it wasn't the catfishing that was wrong; it was betrayal of her husband and her entire family, and that betrayal was all on her. I can't recall Merry even apologizing to her husband that she did him wrong--and no wonder he wants nothing to do with her. Who wants to be married to someone who doesn't want to be married to him?

I agree with you, but I'm not so sure Rubbing would be such a committed cult member if she did not hold the position of Queen Bee. It's easy to be all rah-rah when you're the head cheerleader and dating the quarterback. The clarinet player who doesn't have a boyfriend might not have so much team spirit.

I think Kotex and Rubbing are concerned that Christine's leaving will invalidate their TLC meal ticket. As somebody here said, now the show is about a married couple and the husband's baby mamas, not about polygamy and how weird/fun/wonderful for all concerned it is. Potential loss of income is something, maybe the only thing, that would send the two of them into a blind fury. IMO. Christine and Janelle were the only two other wives that maybe the audience could be made to believe were in a real marriage with Kotex, until Christine started telling everybody they didn't do sex any more. Kotex himself blew the sex myth when he let us all know he despised Merry. I think we all are suspicious about what goes on with Janelle. So, we're left with a show about a man in a monogamous marriage who has financial obligations (or not) to two other women. If the monogamous wife were charming or even likable, or if there were truly concerns about their religious beliefs, maybe something could be made of it, but now imo anybody who isn't hate-watching has rocks in the head.

I agree with you wholeheartedly--nobody should talk smack to their kids about the other parent, and nobody should put any of the weight of the divorce issues on the kids' shoulders. We don't really know what Christine said to any of the kids (except to Truely), but I suspect she did lean on the older girls more than she should. It's wrong, but it's certainly understandable. Does she have any adult other than Janelle to talk to about grown-up matters? Ideally, Janelle would have been enough of a confidante, but we don't know how available she was or how willing she was to hear Kotex bad-mouthed. Kotex certainly believed Christine was spreading crap about him to the children. Whatever she was saying to whom can't be as vile as the things he says about her to the tv audience.

I feel certain that this confrontation patio party was demanded by TLC--why otherwise would Christine subject herself to it? And I think that its being fake (in terms of the set up) is a large part of Christine's being able to control her temper. Like you, I sure wouldn't have sat there and taken it. Until it dawned on me that we were being manipulated, I was so proud of Christine's even temper, but remember in other settings when Kotex infuriated her and said things that weren't true? She steamed off--she wasn't going to listen to that crap, and I think if this had been a true confrontation, she wouldn't have sat still and kept quiet as much as she did. I think Kotex's and Rubbing's reactions were genuine, and I wish we could somehow see them when they watch this episode. They both are harpies, Rubbing petty and mean, Kotex demonstrating concern only for how he is being treated.

It was Kotex who is making it all about the children. Christine has been expressing concern about Truely all along; I guess she thinks (correctly) that the other older kids have been aware of her unhappiness or are at least comfortable with the idea that a wife might leave her husband. The only younger children beside Truely are Rubbing's kids, and I think it's a fair bet that they're been kept up to date with Christine's perfidy since day one. As I see it, Christine's only concern about Truely was the fact that Kotex ignores her, and that's likely to be more pronounced when they move away and he makes absolutely no effort to be in her life.

I've been sitting here agreeing with every one of the posts so far and didn't feel like there was anything to add, but I do not believe that this was a Come-to-Jesus moment for Merry. She's known for a long time that she and Kotex are kaput; her pretense that she's just waiting for him to come 'round is to protect her pride and to provide an excuse for her to be on tv, making easy money. Plus it's free publicity for her tights business. I'm interested to see what happens if they ever do build on Plague Prairie--as if--but if they ever, ever do, will Merry get a house?

I am too. Plus kadooz to Emily for shutting down the "little business they were starting up." She's crafty and not a fool. But not a good person, either. Her looks are very different from the appearance of the other ladies who woo inmates. Have we seen any of her dating site photos? Is this going to be another case of fat a little bit?

Me too. I keep closed captions on for this show (for obvious reasons) but for some reasons it's hard for me to follow what she's saying without the words. Consquently she bores me. Plus she appears or is pretending to be pretty stupid. She's been told her boyfriend was never in the hospital, that he's fine, yet she's still futzing around trying to find out how severe his stroke was. We have mind-melded. I thought the shot of her belly was production's nasty way of telling us she is pregnant, but apparently not. That's the damnedest wedding dress I've ever seen in my life. Maybe I'm just old, but imo when your belly sticks out like that, you don't want your dress skin-tight over it. And now I know who Emily is (slept through her last week). Has her job as researcher been explained? Isn't she some kind of private eye or something? Doesn't she know that Power of Attorney carries the legal obligation to use the funds for the beneficiary's, well, benefit, and people go to jail for misusing funds the way she's doing? It's called being a fiduciary, isn't it? When my mother went crazy and I had her poa, I was scrupulous about how her money was spent and kept receipts out the wazoo. When she died, it was all handed over to the lawyer. And how is her boyfriend going to terminate Emily's poa? Can he? Emily's not half as smart as she thinks she is, and I look forward or at least hope for her undoing.

The Browns' finances are a puzzle within an enigma within a Tilt-A-Whirl where somebody has thrown up.

Maybe, looking at Kotex's hair, she figures she's making herself more attractive to him. It's clear she's been using his hair products.

All this is true, and infuriating. What really chaps my ass, though (and this is an indication of how petty I am), is with all the griping Kotex is doing about where he's going to put his shit, Merry is sitting there with a god-knows-how-many-bedroom house and never is to be disturbed by having her tights supplies moved to the same room so the family won't have to listen to Kotex whine. And if the criteria for spending the night at a wife's house *don't* include having sex with her (he was pissed off at being kicked out of Christine's bed, where we know there was no grousing in the goodie) why can't he sleep (and keep his hair products) at Merry's house, too? For christ's sake, he's got three remaining wives, two with enormous mansions, and one of those mansions is nothing but a tights warehouse. Shouldn't the Patriarch put his little workboot down and insist he get to use some of that space? But no! Merry needs air! To breathe! To go on the computer without witnesses and try to hook up! I like Christine and Janelle, but the rest of them--bah. And I include their children. I'm sure they're just fine, and the real victims here, blah blah blah, but they all look alike to me, those little blond children of the corn.

You're right. Religion seems to have pretty much disappeared from their lives, from what we're seeing.

They mommas with a huge assist from Christine, who provided free childcare for most of them.

Never mind. Mscav cleared it up for me posts before this: She paid him back when her house in Vegas sold and the home was refinanced in her name only. Kody was removed from the deed. I am assuming there was no written agreement about her repaying the (what now appears to have been a) loan for her down payment. To be fair, if Christine alone is going to benefit from the sale of her house (which she ought to, since she's been paying the mortgage), she does owe the family the down payment money. It's common for someone who's buying a house to borrow money for the down payment from the bank providing the mortgage (I think it's called a bridge loan) pending the sale of the former house (the one in Vegas). The bridge loan would be, I think, a lien against the house in AZ, which would have to be cleared before the sale could go through--IF this had been done through a bank. So morally imo Christine should repay that down payment money off the top of whatever she sells the house for.

Nope. I'm sure I was in the arms of Morpheus. Thanks, though. You wouldn't think these prison romance shows would be sleep-inducing, but I'm finding them so. Maybe it's that I've been watching them too long, and I know what's going to happen, and it's all bad.

It takes me a while to reliably affix names to each pairing on this show, but "Emily" is just not in the brain hopper at all. I must've slept through her--hey, it happens--which is a big disappointment because everyone says she is so awful. I'll be swigging Coke next time.

I am taking a moment of my personal, valuable time to pay tribute to Sincer-A. I bet her real name is SincerAY, with the final e accented aigue. Maybe it's Sinceree. I used to know how to make diacritical marks but with creeping senility my skills are slipping away. I bet it was the sophistication of that accent that drew Richie Rich to Sinceray. He's clearly a man who values class. I'm wishing the young couple all the joys of fresh new love.