IvySpice

No, there isn't free housing for 15-year-old moms in Nevada (or anywhere?) even if the hospital did a great job providing expert social workers, which most do not. If anything, they might have tried to put Brittany herself into foster care. Most of the time nothing happens to people who impregnate underage girls, and most of the time the system does little to help the victims.

Women can't be paid for relinquishing a child. In many states, they can be paid for surrogacy, but not if they're underage, and not if they're already pregnant. Adoptive parents can pay a birth mom's health and living expenses, which given Rachel's standard of living might be meaningful. Any such privately arranged adoption, though, would likely require Rachel to avoid alcohol, drugs, risky sex, etc., and I don't believe she could or would. I agree with others that Rachel is pretty happy about this pregnancy. There's nothing else of interest going on in her life, and it even gives her an excuse for why she'll never get a GED or a job. Those poor babies. I wonder if Stephanie had any abortions she regretted, or if she's just repeating the ethos she gathered in small-town Tennessee. Rachel 1000% regrets Hazelee, who failed in her job of getting at least one dad-candidate to stick around, so...there's that.

They had me fooled at the start of the episode. I thought she wanted to change. She lived with an employed family member in a normal middle-class house. She politely thanked all the people lifting her into and out of the transport. She even laughed at Dr. Now's joke about eating 3 years' worth of food. Well, what do I know.

Points to Mama Joyce for the preparation of what actually looked like yummy homemade lasagna. For the most part, the crap these folks eat does not appear to be worth the shoveling. But other than the family-of-twelve portion size, that looked good.

I’m with Brittany on this. She is describing her experience. She was underage. At least when it comes to the first child, she was pregnant as a result of being raped by a much older man. She wanted to keep the babies and could not because she was a homeless teenager (she was not in jail at age 15 when the first was born). She didn’t have any meaningful choice. Regardless, they are now lost to her. I’m all for holding her responsible for the decisions she’s making now, but jeez, a teen in the clutches of a predator is not responsible. I don’t see why that’s true. Mormons can be famewhores just like anybody else. They’re not Amish. Plus, a lot of them would be thrilled to evangelize on TV. If Lamar agreed to be baptized, what a coup for the neighbor lady — she got him to see the truth when his own wife failed! Everyone watching sees her lead him to the Gospel! That situation is catnip for the right Mormon.

If MTV doesn't give the Beavers their own show, they don't understand the business they are in. This family is a trash TV gold mine. Mama June was in on the joke from the beginning! But these Beavers are dead serious. This is a tragedy, not a comedy. Stephanie already knows that, and it's dawning on Mallorie and Rachel, too. MTV won't even have to think up a clever name for the series.

Right from the first scenes, Travis spoke like an educated person, lived in a decent (if crowded) apartment, and had two employed family members living with him. That's a recipe for success on this show. People with skills and support have much better odds.

Poor Ahvianna. The one person on the show we can be certain isn't acting. I've never seen an example that perfect in real life. She was so stunned that her exciting missionary opportunity didn't turn out like she planned.

I wonder what the story is with those family friends. Jake looked and sounded several steps higher on the socioeconomic scale than the Beavers. You'd be way ahead of the Beavers if you were employed working class, but he seemed middle class. That's a surprising friend for these folks. And how much of a loser is Rachel's dad that it's not worth it to see his daughter and granddaughter if there's a friend in the room? We've had some tension in my family that meant I could only see a baby family member for a limited time and in a public place. I'm still mad about those limits, but I WENT. You suck it up if you care at all about being a family. It's tough to watch Rachel confront the fact that her father doesn't care.

I try to wrap my mind around Rachel's perspective on life. In her position, I feel like I'd be so terrified of getting pregnant again. She is so trapped in the moment that she can't execute the most basic planning. Never mind the IUD; she can't even react to formula running low. What is it like to live that way? Her town has to be full of other teen moms. What if she made friends with them and didn't have to rely on her loser dudes and addict sister for company? I know, I know...solutions to problems, cause and effect, it's all beyond her.

Count me surprised that JT made any progress, much less 400 pounds worth of progress. Given that the lymphedema looks over 100 pounds, he's actually well on his way. That thing was like a ball and chain made of flesh. During the episode, we were comparing the lymphedema to this South Park scene:

Re Meri's elevator: in the image of the house on a real estate site, there appeared to be four floor buttons in a vertical row. Which would suggest that it does go down to the garage/basement, as you would expect of an elevator in that kind of house. It would be weird to install an elevator in a multi-floor house that didn't actually make it accessible to a disabled or elderly person.

Wow, baby Daveed looks SO MUCH like Sasha. He's like Ice Cube's kid who played his dad in the N.W.A. biopic and was indistinguishable from the real Ice Cube. Yet Sasha still DGAF when his own face is staring back at him from the baby carriage. Damn. Poor kid.

Malorie is going to go down in reality TV history. I’ve been a trash fan for decades — I’ve seen every episode of Intervention, My 600 Pound Life, 16 & Pregnant — and this storyline is special. There is going to be no redemption narrative that can save Emerson from knowing the truth. Poor, poor child.

I think I would feel better at least knowing my biological father met his legal, financial obligation to me vs. pretending I didn't exist at all. I don't have a lot of hope that Braeson will get to test my theory, though. He's going to have the same damn daddy issues as Brianna. How I wish these kids would pause for a second and think about whether they've got what the kids need before they decide to parent.

If only. That's a single-wide, and a sad one. A double-wide would be a hell of an upgrade for the 5 people who live there. I won't hold my breath till Braeson actually receives a dollar from his father. That family's poverty isn't going anywhere, either.

How good can the parties possibly be in Hooterville, Tennessee? Not that there would ever be a good reason to leave your kid, but Malorie talks about her social calendar like Mick Jagger is waiting for her at Studio 54. You know that she's just getting high/drunk on some other couch in some other sad trailer, so she might as well be with her kid. Emerson is WAY more interesting than any of the strung-out deadbeats Malorie brings by. I literally have not seen anything or anybody in their segments that holds a hint of appeal besides cuddling a baby and giving it a bottle. I would've thought that's the only damn reason to have or keep a baby -- there's nothing else going on.

What a shit show. By which I mean: Bill, this show was shit. There are always off weeks on live tv — lord knows I have them at MY job — but this was inexcusable. I don’t watch this show for “vaccine skeptics” and definitely not to see Trump apologists. They have their own damn channel where they can scream and throw monkey feces. I turn to HBO for funny political discussion, and the presence of an apologist makes that impossible.

I’m pretty haunted by baby Emerson watching and listening and turning her head to follow her family members as they scream at one another, slam doors, and storm out of the trailer. Zero adults in the room seemed concerned that Emerson should not be around that. I’m not sure whether it would have been more sad to see Emerson freak out and start crying when her mom abruptly bailed without even looking in Emerson’s direction, or whether it was more sad to see what really happened, which is that Emerson watched it like an interesting TV show, NOT like the only parent she knows vanished. Malorie’s lack of attachment clearly went both ways. A baby that age should cry when their primary caretaker leaves the house. I hope Emerson had a healthy attachment to some adult, but if she did, it wasn’t Malorie.

This ruined it for me. I couldn't believe that the show just forgot about Lori. We don't get to see ANYONE learn of her death -- even Eileen, who obviously would have been the first to hear because of the credit card? That means Mike's death was given more time/attention than Lori's, and that makes no sense given their relative centrality to the series.

They're in Madisonville, Tennessee.

Yeah, and who buys this story anyway? I don't believe she was taking the pill carefully every day. If I were a broke-ass teen mom with an infant and I didn't believe in abortion, I'd be using 5 methods of birth control, dating girls, or just specializing in oral technique. At a bare minimum, I'd have an IUD. But of course, this mindset is the reason I didn't become a broke-ass teen mom in the first place. I'm guessing that Malorie is already an addict -- maybe an alcoholic, maybe more. She's numb to everyone and everything except getting her fix. Notice that she doesn't have a hair of shyness about her actions in front of the camera. You have to be pretty far gone to abandon your kid on national TV. I will give Rachel's mom credit that there was plenty of food in the house/trailer. I'll take whatever hints of stability and normalcy I can get. But there can't be more than two tiny bedrooms in that single-wide. Who sleeps where? There's a brother, baby Emerson most nights, Rachel and her mom, and soon baby Hazelee...how does that work? PLEASE, Malorie, give Emerson to a family that wants her.

We don't, but even if he's working 80 hours a week at the vape shop, he isn't making enough to have cushion for two kids. He's got no business buying studio time. Sing into a karaoke app on your phone (or, actually, don't, because you have no talent).

Jessica is still a teenager herself. I don't know how that works when she's married to an adult. Diet Hailey sure was proud that she was TRYING to anger Classic Hailey and her mom. We're talking about your alleged former best friend and what, two weeks postpartum? That's who you want to anger? Caelan is going to lose me if he's spending money on that crappy ass music. I don't think people who aren't paying for their children's needs can afford hobbies.

You're killing me, Lexi. The economics of going back to school, etc. change radically with two babies vs. one. I didn't think Lexi had anything in common with Kayla, but I should have known better. When will I learn? They all have more kids, and they don't wait for a rational time to do it. Maybe those who stick to dating women or trans men will break the pattern.