maxmama

I so agree. Gabe really struggled with moving from Vegas, as most teens would. Janelle resisted moving for a while because of what her kids would go through but eventually got onboard, and moved anyway. I can imagine he feels like he is not a priority in his father’s life, and neither is Janelle. If Kody wanted to see any of his kids, he would have moved heaven and earth to figure it out, including outdoor visits. It’s all on Kody.

Exactly.

Once again the younger Brown kids asked the right questions and made the more insightful comments, particularly Christine’s three daughters upon hearing of mom’s desire to pick up AGAIN and move back to Utah. Christine appeared to really be flummoxed by their position. The rationality and common sense should just for once, come from the adults, not the kids. Luckily those kids have watched this assortment of “parents”, shall we say, and have concluded there must be a better way. Kody’s reference to each wife’s kids as “their kids”, meaning the mom’s kids, annoys me to no end. Robyn’s cutesiness in trying to pre-empt some stupid thing Kody is pontificating about, assuming the viewers will be shocked and astonished to hear it. Also annoying. Meri, however, is starting to grow on me a little bit. She doesn’t really give a rat’s ass anymore, and I love it. Of course she played a part in her own downfall in the family, but Kody has treated her badly all on his own and of course cannot see it. Ever-practical and rational Janelle wins the night.

The producers must have put out a casting call to find the most awful, inconsiderate, creepy men they could get. (Except Zied, I think he legitimately seems bewildered by most of this and Rebecca is a mystery to him and besides I like him a lot.) That being said, these women are a little off too. I am loathe to admit, but I felt pangs of sympathy for Natalie. Her pain seems real. I hope she realizes one day that she is so much better off without him; Mike is certainly no prize. Same for Amira. I get underlying anger issues with Andrew and and Brandon. Andrew’s sudden turn on Amira was alarming and I was relieved she didn’t get on the plane. I loved Natalie, when Mike asked for the ring back, just said no. Nope. Not gonna happen. And although she graciously and warmly hugged Uncle Beau good-bye, she said “no. I’m not going to keep in touch with you”. She did everything to Mike but flip him off, and he would have deserved that too. Not one of these men, except as I previously mentioned, possibly Zied, is worth what these women are putting themselves through to marry any one of these guys. In the midst of an historic pandemic, these women (except for Yara, who wants to avoid a large shindig like the plague, no pun intended), cannot grasp that a big flashy wedding is not gonna happen. I get the younger women may want a fancier ceremony, but thrice-wed and divorced Rebecca? Put on your best jeans and t-shirt and head to the courthouse and keep moving. Same for Julia, pouting and screaming about the “dream wedding”. I was really team Betty tonight, she was the most rational voice I heard.

While there has been plenty of advice to Natalie to “get over it” and “move past it”, most especially from Mike, I would submit that the same thing goes for him. He is unable to get over the fact she threw the ring back at him, which I have no doubt cut him deeply. It is possible, I think, that Natalie regrets that, and realizes this may have been a fatal mistake in their relationship, but now you can’t unring the bell. So he goes ahead and brings her over here and then proceeds to act like she is dirt on his shoe. (But I am sure he has not refused to have sex with her though). Through his contempt and hostility I would say he has paid her back, and his constant shrugging and “I don’t know” in response to every question makes me crazy right along with Natalie. Either get over it and move on to build a relationship, or don’t. Or to Mike in terms he would understand, fish or cut bait. Either both of them put the past in the past and decide to move forward, or don’t, but the cat and mouse game is a little sickening to watch, and I hope he gets his anger under control instead of disguising it with booze, because he is just as unpleasant drunk as sober. Don’t get me wrong, Natalie has her issues, too, but Mike’s contemptuous nasty treatment of her at this point is a bridge too far for me.

These people. Yara and her endless complaining. I don’t know how she could ever stay with any guy, she would complain them to death. Jovi is no prize, but he always has a bewildered look on his face; has no idea what to do to make her happy, and I don’t know either. I hope she can at least crack a smile at the baby. Watching Mike and Natalie is pure depression. He is enjoying her confusion and, dare I say, heartache? She realizes she blew it when she threw the ring back at him, but he does not appear willing or able to move past that. At this point, I am annoyed with him that he has made me feel sorry for Natalie. It is starting to dawn on her there is no hope here, and unless he has a total and complete personality transplant, it’s over. She may be nutty but that doesn’t mean she has to be demeaned and demoralized by Mike. Pack up and head home, my dear, leave him to his beer and self-pity. I FF through Ryan and Stephanie, they are ridiculous and Stephanie is not grounded in reality on a reality show. I am becoming besotted with Zied. Another guy trying to figure out what the hell is going on around him, but always unfailingly polite and cordial. Poor guy looks confused and trying not to say the wrong thing. I liked his sister too, she has a wicked side-eye.

While I have missed a few seasons episodes here and there, I have watched this show for a long time. However, now there is a relentless stream of Whitney self-analyzing herself, her life, everything about her, her, and her. I should think she would have been bored by herself by now. I am amazed that for all of her complaining about what is wrong in her life, she makes zero effort to change anything. Nobody has stopped her from losing weight, she just hasn’t done it, even knowing the health risks she faces. Which is fine, but for the love of God, stop complaining about it and how it is ruining your life and demanding that everyone you know be supportive and sympathetic. She’s probably right, she won’t have the life she wants at her current weight. It’s just reality. Looking for “likes” to her social media comment by an ex-fiance was just sad. Points to her, though, for being gracious on the facetime call and asking about the baby and mom. Time to move on now, Whit.

Mike does not even make an effort to conceal his disdain for Natalie. When she asked him to pray with her, he was incredibly hostile and condescending. Let her go back home, Mike, it’s obvious you don’t want to marry her so stop stringing her along. His open hostility to her is cringy. I am on team Zied. Poor guy leaves his comfy home to fly around the world and land in a barren empty apartment without even a scone or donut in sight to eat or a sofa to eat it on, and a fiance who seems befuddled by how to manage her life and can only keep repeating “ex from Morocco”, and be interrogated and insulted by her family and friends while she stand there acting like a helpless butterfly. Go back home too, Zied, this woman is not gonna work out for you. Brandon? Hopeless. His non-reaction to his parent’s histrionics in the restaurant is very telling. Good for not reacting, but bad for continuing to negotiate with them instead of being a grown up and take care of yourself. Also cringy. I had second-hand embarassment for Stephanie, asking Ryan for sex, knowing he has been having it with other girls, but she is apparently willing to overlook it if he just bangs on our for bonding. He couldn’t care less. Hazel and Tarik? Fast forward. Andrew and Amira? Run, girl, run. He’s a loser.

I like Julia, but I really cannot stand to watch Brandon. He is intimidated by his parents, which of course is what they want, and their relentless scolding and harping as if they are scolding five-year olds has worn my last nerve. Yeah, their house, their rules, I get it, but Brandon should be able to at least afford a semi-shabby studio where he and Julia could live. And mama’s insinuations about sex and clouding up the hot tub give me the creeps. As I’ve said before, Mike needs a woman who is not needy and insecure like Natalie, and doesn’t need him to validate her existence. The guy just wants to come home, have a beer and a burger and relax. He is never going to re-invent himself enough for Natalie. I just don’t see them together at all.

Mike strikes me as the kind of guy who needs a low-maintenance woman, not a constantly needy one who needs constant help and validation. Natalie is just not that girl. Neither one of them are bad people, just not good together. He seems pretty worn out on her already. Same thing with Jovi; he’s the same type of guy just in New Orleans. You can’t live out in the wood (Natalie) or have a guy be gone for weeks at a time for work and not be able to sustain yourself without your boyfriend around all the time. Stephanie is in a state of delusion if she thinks Ryan has any passing interest in her. He could not have been more clear. I am shocked they are engaged. That phone call should have been the break-up call (or was it). I think Zied conducted himself well despite Rebecca’s daughter and boyfriend, who gives me a creepy vibe. Rebecca should have given Zied a little space after stepping off the plane, but I’m afraid daughter and boyfriend are going to be calling the shots.

This is the most joyless set of couples ever. I sense not a shred of undying love between any of them, with the possible exception of needy Rebecca and Stephanie, who are clinging to these men like life boats on the Titanic. In fact, there is open hostility with some of them: Mike and Natalie, Jovi and Yara. The only fun couple are Betty and Ron, Brandon’s parents, she even laughlingly admitted her main fear of Brandon and Julia sharing a room was so “we don’t have to hear anything”, implying they are not morally opposed to them having sex, they just don’t want the “trauma” of hearing their son whooping it up on the other side of the wall. I predict none of them will follow through with a marriage, and I sincerely hope they do not.

Kudos to Ethan for standing up to his parents, and standing up for his wife. I haven’t watched this show from the beginning so I have no idea why Kim and Barry are so against Olivia, but it doesn’t look like they have tried too much with her. Always putting up walls to “protect” the other kids, which so far has proven to be a futile effort with the older kids. Ethan was strong and confident and delivered a long-overdue slapdown to his smug arrogant parents and their behavior. They are weird people. Then the food-fight at the end. I am all for having some messy fun, but it almost seemed like an ambush: get dressed up and expecting a little formal dinner, then smack your son in the face with a pie at the dinner table. Which leads me to believe that Kim may be a little disturbed. Seemed like weird timing to me, but Barry continuing to sit there eating was kind of funny. Otherwise, he gives off a very strange affect with that perpetual grinning expression.

This show has really grown on me. I love the relationship between the three docs, but serious and professional when they have to be.

I hold Kody responsible for everything: uprooting his family over and over, the kid’s adjustment problems, his wive’s adjustment problems, not to mention the avalanche of financial problems. I am feeling like Robyn: whiplash from all the changes Kody pings around like a pinball machine. And the wives have become accustomed to living in their own McMansions and having all that autonomy, how he is going to get them all in smaller apartments in his new estate, we’ll have to see. Who in their right mind picks up and moves hours away, leaving four homes behind, sets themselves up in four huge houses somewhere else, and then seems shocked and perplexed about the money problems? Our Kody, that’s who. What a genius. I can’t blame any of those women for wanting to drop-kick him to eternity. Meri, to her credit, restrained herself at the Christmas Eve celebration; she looked incredulous. Robyn and Christine are up to their eyeballs with Kody’s never-ending “plans”, and Janelle, with not much else to do, is up for it. He’s on a perpetual power-trip and they ( and the kids) are the pawns.

I want Tori's friend Courtney to be her new therapist. She tells her straight up what she needs to do, unlike Wexler.

I feel ill. This episode disgusted me. Aside from my initial disgust at bringing home a baby pig, like it was her security baby doll, Tori needs hospitalization. Not for sinusitis (yeah, right), but a psychiatric facility. She functions like a five year old, but she knows how to be vindictive though. Yes, Tori, Dean does not hear you anymore, your "feelings" have been discussed to death and frankly nobody cares anymore, not even your friends. Dean is the only one who is making any sense to me. He is even more rational than Wexler, who must be getting paid to just pat Tori's hand and validate the pity party. The children appear well cared for and nurtured by Dean. I don't doubt Tori loves her kids, but she is too full of herself to take care of them. She walks around the house with a perpetual sour look on her face, annoyed by Dean, by the kids, etc. It appears Tori's reason for living is to punish Dean for his infidelity, and making him the scapegoat for her lifetime of emotional issues. Yeah, we got it, he was wrong. He has his own flawed thinking, but seriously, enough is enough. I wish Dean all the luck if he decides to escape this mess and find happiness elsewhere, being mentally flogged for eternity for cheating on an overgrown five year old is no life.

If there is no daily drama in her life, Tori will manufacture something and then get sick over it. Being sick over everything is then her escape. Her self pity is her sickness. I actually feel sympathy for Dean, the guy can't breathe right according to Tori ever since HE. CHEATED. ON. HER. I almost can't blame him for it, she is unbelievable. I get the devastation, really I do, but at some point, if you decide to stay with the guy and work on your marriage, then you have to get on with it. I actually enjoy the scenes with Dean and his kids, at least he tries to have a little fun with them and genuinely seems to enjoy them as the little people they are. Tori is so busy looking for something Dean is doing wrong she doesn't seem to enjoy her kids,,or anything else for that matter. I sure hope her "friends" are getting some reimbursement for listening to her relentless moaning and groaning, I can't imagine anybody doing it for free.

I get that Amy is not a gourmet cook, but it was kind of nice to see her do something she enjoyed. She was friendly with customers and asked Matt to be there too. He looked a little uninterested, but that's Matt, but he showed up anyway so I gotta give him props for that. I also thought the Jeremy marriage proposal was sweet, he put a lot of thought into it and it seemed to mean a lot to him to do it that way. I wouldn't have minded that proposal! I wish them well.

Hilarious, Lablover! Not sure how I would react if I ran across Tamra, she scares me.

Met Lizzie tonite at the market as we were both at the self checkers. I had to ask if it was her, she was very gracious, and I must say she is gorgeous in person. No makeup and straight hair, just wearing some stretchy yoga pants or something and a tank top, fabulous figure, actually better than how they have her done up on the show.

Really well acted episode, Alicia really portrayed herself as a grieving widow, and she is already pulling away from Peter. Just the beginning of the end for those two. Looking forward to when Kalinda and Alicia finally see each other again.