ladle

If we can all agree on anything, it's that!

I will add, if Robyn truly is a manipulative, evil person and has planned this all out, I really, really hope that her crowning achievement will be leaving Kody and taking what's left of his money with her. I'd give her a little hat-tip for that.

I haven't seen Robyn do this -- I only remember her saying she wished she were "curvier" because "Kody likes curvy girls" (and something about the way she said "curvy girls" made me want to vomit, but that's neither here nor there...). But, like I said, I've missed some seasons, so if this is the case of course that's absolutely disgusting! It's a good point that one can be unintelligent and still manipulative... I don't know. I think she treats Kody exactly as he wants to be treated (which: ew) and it's mainly Kody I see choosing to spend time with her and her kids and then pitting the other wives against her (the way he's always pitted his wives against each other). She could choose to tell him to stop giving her preferential treatment but she's not going to do that because then she'll get less money, time, affection, parenting help, etc. and I think that Robyn is out for Robyn and makes decisions for Robyn. But to me that's slightly different from deliberately hatching a plan to come into this family and capsize it, gaining legal wife status and draining the finances. If that makes any sense? I do think that even if Robyn were all sweetness and light and good vibes and earnest intentions (which, she's obviously not - I really dislike her!), this family dynamic would still be fucked for a lot of reasons including Kody's blatant favoritism of her. I guess I just wonder how much of this is a Yoko Ono situation where it's easier to believe in this caricature of an evil, conniving woman who singlehandedly dissolved the group. (To be clear, I don't think anyone here is saying that -- but that's the discourse I see about her in the world and even within the Brown family). And maybe the shoe fits! Maybe she really is an evil conniver who had this all planned out "from day one"! But I can't say for sure.

I like your post too, because it offers me a different perspective! Ultimately, though, I still just don't see Robyn as this manipulative puppet master. Mainly because she does not seem very smart to me. But, hey, I could be completely wrong and she's actually an evil genius! Barring that, my sense of Robyn is more like she was a struggling single mom who saw a gravy train, grabbed hold, and then ruthlessly did whatever she could to hang on.

Thank you! This is very enlightening.

Kody to Truely: "Are you sure you're happy? Where's your smile?" OH MY LORD I HATE THIS HUMAN BEING SO MUCH.

I'm curious about this... Kody, yes, is obviously an asshole, just as surely as the sun sets in the west. But why do people hate Leon so much? I know when they were younger they were maybe a bit entitled (but that's not unusual with teens?) but I haven't seen them act in a really objectionable way on the show. That said, I didn't watch a couple of seasons and I don't follow them outside of the show, so... what am I missing??

As I catch up on this show now, I have a question about people's perceptions of Robyn that I hope y'all can answer for me. Why do people hate her so much? I want to be clear here: I do not like Robyn. Is she an opportunist? Yes. Did she exploit her position as favorite wife, other wives be damned? Seems like! Does she spend money in ridiculous ways? Uh huh. Are her eyebrows basically their own sentient entities at this point? Yes. Obviously. But I just don't see her as some Svengali puppetmaster who set out to seduce Kody and then pull all of his strings, decimating his family and rising as the only wife standing. For one thing, she just doesn't seem... that bright? Again, I completely get people not liking her, because I don't like her! But people's hatred of her seems to be on par with their hatred of Kody, which I really don't get, because I just hate Kody so. much. What am I missing here?

You know you've been watching too much of this show when someone at work asks your opinion of something and your first impulse is to reply, "I fill like it's a bunch of bull-crap."

OH MY GOD YOU WEREN'T WRONG!!!

I've heard "neurospicy" too. :) I want to be clear, though, that I'm absolutely not saying that Truely is neurodivergent -- I have no idea, I'm not a psychologist, and even if I were I would never try to "diagnose" a child from a TV show alone! I just meant that she reminds me so, so much of my own ND kid. Truely definitely seems like a quirky, weird, sweet, smart kid like mine, and she just has a special place in my heart for that.

There were so many unintentionally hilarious moments in this episode. Jenelle saying "Yay!" about Christine's house, and Kody replying, bewildered, "What do you mean 'yay'??" Just his delivery of that line had me howling. Then Robyn implicating Jenelle in the discussion of who was in a happy marriage in Vegas -- quick cut to Jenelle in a TH saying "I want no part of this conversation." LOL. And then the previews where Kody is stomping and bloviating like a character in a Tennessee Williams play. 10/10 would watch again.

Omg, Meri "Banana Fellatio" Brown talking about how angry she is that Christine is opting out of the family...Flames, on the sides of my face... Robyn is ridiculous, obviously, but I will begrudgingly say that she made a couple of good points in this episode. Kody didn't fight for his relationship with Christine, and he's not putting any effort into the ones he has left. He ignores Meri completely, isn't staying at Jenelle's, and it sounds like he's a sullen mess at Robyn's. He needs to stop walking around angry and start taking some accountability (ha!).

It includes people on the spectrum but also people who have ADHD, social learning disorder, and other types of conditions where their mental functioning works a bit differently.

I'm coming into this season over a year later, but: evergreen.

Christine has never been my favorite person, but I have to say she's been handling Kody masterfully in their one-on-one conversations. It feels like she's had a lot of therapy and/or has read up on the technique of gray rocking.

I have to say, in the midst of this trainwreck of a show, I have such a soft spot in my heart for little Truely, who reminds me so much of my own neurodivergent kid who's around the same age (I'm not suggesting that Truely is ND! Just that she reminds me of my kid who is) and who has such a sweet and sensitive heart. I know people are focusing on the fact that Kody was never around anyway, so this won't be a huge change for Truely, but she's also being taken from an extended family structure that she's known for her whole life. Don't get me wrong: Christine was 110% right to make this decision, and she should have done it yeeeeears ago, but... yeah, just a twinge in my heart for Truely.

I hate him so much already, I don't know how it could get worse - but I believe you! At this point, I'm watching for the amazing schadenfreude of seeing all the [non-Robyn] wives scurry away like rats from a sinking ship.

Yes! Catching up on the show now, and as of Season 17, Kody is saying that his relationship was Meri isn't a husband/wife relationship and that it isn't fulfilling for Meri. He doesn't seem to care to do anything about that, and isn't even pretending that he was still going over to her house. Arguably, he's been nudging Christine out for years as well. He he hasn't even tried to hide his disdain for Christine or the fact that he doesn't love her and isn't attracted to her. For. Years. In the episode where Christine tells him she's leaving and he asks her not to, she literally says "Do you love me?" and he can't even answer in the affirmative. What on earth does he expect!? This passive aggressive, selfish manchild makes me SO angry.

He does this thing where it's everybody else's fault but his that he doesn't have a relationship with his [non-Robyn] kids. I screamed at the screen so many times this episode.

Drink every time Kody gets one of his kid's ages wrong!

Update: I started with season 17, and this is GOOD STUFF. It’s truly (truely?) a level of wish-fulfillment for viewers that I never thought I’d see. That said, I have a crucial question: when did Robyn start adopting the aesthetic of a cartoon villain?

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. I'm just catching up on this season now, so I realize I'm very late to the party, but holy shit, this episode was riveting. Someone needs to turn that scene between Christine and Kody into a one-act play. I don't even particularly like Christine, and I hate that there are children involved in this but... MAN. So much wish-fulfillment for the viewers on this one.

Crucial question: I finally have some time to catch up on this shitshow over the holidays but I'm a few seasons behind. Where do I need to start? I was just going to dive into the current season, but the episode descriptions for Season 17 make it seem pretty juicy...

My armchair-psychologist take on this is that the Richards sisters had a pretty messed up childhood, and Kim responded by turning to alcohol, while Kathy responded by marrying rich and lording her power over others. (FWIW, I do not think Kathy is a nice person.) I would guess that, for a long time, Kyle's solid marriage and the energy she threw into raising her girls, as well as her self-perceived role as Kim's "caretaker," helped her to keep her shit together. But now, Kyle's marriage is on the rocks, her youngest is almost out of the house, and her best friend just died by suicide. I think she is legitimately spiraling. I really don't think this is an act for the show. And, yes, I know Kyle can be an asshole. I've been calling Kyle an asshole since she stole Brandi's crutches! But I still feel compassion for what she's going through. It's still very hard to watch.