Magoo

I may have lost track of them thar courtin' rules, but isn't touching a no-no until engagement? These two are all over each other in a squeezy, side-huggy kind of way. So, if the no-touch rule still holds, does this mean they've actually gone through the courting stage and are already engaged? (if I'm wrong about the rules, then nevermind...)

Rewatching. Wow did I forget a shit-ton of plot!

There are other things that go on, but I have to be completely honest - I watched it almost a week ago (I know, I was holding out on you guys - I'm so sorry!) and there may have been wine consumed while watching, so other than the main plot points, I'm a little hazy on the rest of the details. I can say they don't touch on the failed Toronto trip and I was surprised there weren't any repercussions or professional blowback for Fred - not yet anyway. As far as Eden goes, not much with her I can remember, but the way Nick treats her like an annoying little sister makes me laugh - his brush-offs are so obvious and, perhaps unintentionally, funny. Also, no labor/birth this episode.

The rape would seem to be the horrendous thing.

(reply-to Umbelina) Right, right - that's all true. There had to have been a lot of people involved for that little rendezvous, so it could have been anyone who blew the whistle. I wonder if the Commander will get any blowback for setting it up. It seems like Nick is alive in the final episode (didn't the actor say he and June have a sweet moment in the finale?) - so what will June do - abandon a wounded and bleeding Nick to make a run for it at eleventy-billion weeks pregnant? Will she stay until help arrives and be returned to the Waterford house (my bet). How is Fred going to explain any of this to Serena? She's going to go off the rails when she finds out June saw Hannah. I don't know how much more I can see June go through. And after the rape in this episode, nothing, nothing will redeem either Fred or Serena to me, ever.

I saw Episode 10, and the description of the rape is accurate (it's revolting, absolutely revolting) and 100% spurred on by Serena as (my opinion) punishment for false labor and, as someone mentioned above, completely humiliating her in front of the other Wives by disrupting her long-awaited labor ceremony. June took some small delight in that disruption - you can tell by the smug smirk she throws Serena while she's caressing her still-pregnant belly in Serena's marital bed, but unless I missed something, I didn't get the feeling she was faking the labor - it seemed like a legitimate case of Braxton-Hicks. It's estimated by someone (I can't remember...Lydia, I think?) she has about 2 weeks more to go before real labor. More episode details: Fred arranges for June to see Hannah. Nick drives her to an abandoned "meet" house where she reunites with Hannah (who has a new name now, but I can't remember what it is) and her Martha and a guard or two. Truly heartbreaking as Hannah has only a vague memory of June - mostly about June getting hit on the back of the head, and did she try to find her, and questions any child would ask, but at first she seems not to recognize her and hides behind her Martha's skirts. The last scene was one of the guards getting an alert on walkie and abruptly whisking Hannah and her Martha away while minutes later 2 other guards unexpectedly drive up to the house - Nick goes out to see what they are doing there and there is an altercation. Nick is shot and the guards drive off in their SUV, but also take Nick's SUV, so June (who runs out when they leave) is now stranded in an abandoned house, in the snow, with a seemingly dead Nick at her feet and no one left to help or...conversely...hinder her. The question I had was whether the Commander had set it up for Nick to get murdered - how were the new guards alerted to this secret meet-and-greet, and who tipped off Hannah's guards? Hopefully answers in Episode 11.

Agreed - was thinking this same thing last week when they were tubing and thought it was hilarious to try to violently shake the rider off with sharp turns, etc. We used to tube behind a speedboat back in the day, and not only does it hurt to get tossed off, it can also be dangerous depending on the rate of speed the boat is going, especially if there is more than one person riding. That water can feel like cement. It's always bothered me how mean-spirited their so-called pranks are - meant to hurt, humiliate and shame. Is this their way of releasing some of their pent-up anger and frustration with the shackled lives they're forced to lead? Gross.

Joy: “Austin and I got married a few months ago - it feels like it was just yesterday and now we’re up on joe and kendra’s wedding and we’re expecting our first baby - Its crazy how fast time flies.” Me: OH MY F-ING GOD it’s been THREE MONTHS. I haven’t even made a hair appointment for new highlights in that time - what is WRONG with you people?!?

You guys - I have a confession, and I'm relieved to see I'm not alone. I...I really like Joe and Kendra as a couple. She's so guileless and sweet, and he is just adorable with his romantic surprises. They're so clearly smitten with each other, but not in the overly horny way the Duggar girls seemed to be. They're more, I don't know...innocent maybe? In last night's episode, Austin couldn't wait to smugly pass along his sum total of 3 months carnal knowledge and wisdom, but Joe didn't appear to want any part of it. I really liked that he said he and Kendra would learn together. I have no idea what he does for a job, but of all the Duggar boys, he seems like the best emotional catch.

There's a photo in this link - Jinger and Jeremy are onstage, heads bowed and praying, where she is the spitting image of Jessa. I've never thought Jinger looked much like her siblings at all, but wow, that photo caught me off guard. Agree also that someone has taken her under their style wing - her clothes, her hair, her makeup (especially here) - all look fantastic. It's so great that she's been open to suggestions and coaching rather than hanging on to her old life by refusing to change her look (ahem...Michelle). I wonder what the Duggar clan thinks when they see her - surely they must realize she outclasses them in every possible way. Jessa must be fuming.

These poor kids - so many of them have terribly painful and inflamed looking acne. A few of them quite young, too - with angry, red spots (I couldn't tell if they were young J'Duggars, or M'Duggars - I can't tell the littles apart). I'm sure it's much to do with their terrible diets/hygiene/filthy mattresses and pillows, but I also know it can just sometimes...be that way, and there's not a lot to do about it without expensive Dermo intervention, which I'm sure Ma and Pa aren't about to spring for. No snark here, just legit sympathy.

It's photos like these that made me side-eye Austin when he made such a point of telling Joy how good she smelled on their wedding day. Seems clear they sure as shit don't clean house regularly, but do they shower? Do they wash their clothes regularly? I really, truly, honestly think the answer is "not very often." Their hair never really looks dirty, but an abundance of hair and dry shampoo can hide a multitude of greasy sins, and to avoid the avalanche of laundry, they wear, re-wear and re-re-re-re-re-wear clothes over and over between washings. I feel like the whole family must smell like sweat, sleep, mustiness, dirty floor and Aqua Net.

So stealing this for a meeting I have in an hour with the Big Boss. "Magoo, please justify these event details." "Boss, because Jesus and shut up." Love!

I'm always surprised by how much slang and pop culture references they use. Where do they learn it and know how to use it in the correct context if they aren't steeped in it every day? Confuses me.

My friend is married to a former "elite athlete" who almost made it to the olympics. Even at that level, they are coddled and babied and taken care of to the degree they don't know how to do anything for themselves - at least while they are on their way up, and until they are no longer relevant to the sport. This is when it gets interesting. Real life hits, the agents and coaches no longer return the calls, the team of people who made all of the living and travel arrangements vanish and they are left to fend for themselves. No more crowds, no more adoring cheers, no more coddling. It's a giant adjustment that many never truly make. So many of them live in the past and can't move beyond their glory days. My friend's husband has a lot of former teammates who ended up with major drug and alcohol problems, sometimes to the point of death in the most extreme cases, because they had lost their "value," and couldn't adapt to a normal life. In Jeremy's case, he found a way to replace what he had as a professional athlete. He is the so-called head of his church, people look up to him and think he's a star. He married a Duggar girl who not only does the chores of everyday living, but also comes with an enormous team of TLC marketing and publicity who make all of the bigger and more glamorous arrangements. He gets to travel very nicely and with no responsibility to places he never would be able to if not for that PR machine. And most of all, he gets to be on TV and is now more recognizable and famous than he ever dreamed. This guy lives off adoration and recognition because it's all he's known. From small town soccer star to professional soccer player (albeit small-time) to now TV celebrity. He played his cards right and it's worked out for him quite well so far. Once this particular gravy train ends is when we will see what he is truly made of, I guess.

Henry is a chunky little cutie pie. Those gurgling sounds slay me.

Watching the older girls, especially Jessa, jump in to tell indecisive Joy what she wants, what she's "really" saying, and generally not letting her decide, it's easy to see how Joy's personality was likely formed. In the chaos of that family, she was stuck in the middle of a pack of boys who were raised from birth being told they are better than girls/women, so as their only girl playmate her voice was overshadowed every day. At the same time, she was at the bottom of the rung of the older girls who were actually doing the heavy lifting of childcare and were forced to act as authority/mother figures who told her what, where, when and how. She seems to be an inherent people pleaser, so rather than fight those unfightable dynamics she learned to just...well...never have an opinion that would be challenged. By saying "I don't know, I don't care," everyone above and around her just made the decisions for her. In a messed up family like theirs, this was probably her way of coping. She drove me crazy last night with her constant indecisiveness, but I felt sorry for her. She might come into her own with Austin, but he already seems really happy she's so agreeable. She'll never challenge his headship the way Jill and Jess (rightly) challenge theirs. Breaks my heart this underdeveloped girl-child is already pregnant and expected to Adult, when she's never been allowed to decide who the hell she is. In another family, she may have been the same, but if she'd had the chance to go to college, meet new people, live with roommates and friends and have normal experiences outside her family, she probably would have found self confidence. Tragic that this will never happen for her.

Is that a leg holster? Is she packin'? Also, in the family dinner photo - who is that goateed gent? I honest-to-God can't tell those boys apart or remember who is who.

As much as Jessa complained about having two kids, I really enjoyed watching their family interaction. That they are dividing and conquering the childcare, at least in the evenings, was nice to see. Jessa seems to understand that Ben is a very good father and fairly progressive in that world. Watching him wrestle and rough-house with Spurge was adorable - Ben is such a natural with kids. You could tell they were both loving it, and Jessa was getting such a kick out of watching it all happen. She seems so much more happily married now than she did a year or so ago. Seeing Ben as a competent father and partner is doing wonders for her respect for him, I think. I'm still shocked that those two are coming out miles ahead of the rest of them in the parenting game. I'm definitely in the minority and will likely come to regret this, but Austin doesn't bother me at all. When Joy corrected him about the timeline, I thought he looked more like "oh SHIT...shiiiiiiiit...she's right!" And you could see the wheels turning as he mentally recalculated what could get done in that time. They are two kids playing house, but they seem to really enjoy each other. Maybe I'm seeing something that's not there, but Joy seems just as wound up and horndoggy as Jinger was - she's just less verbal about it. I admit it - I'm enjoying this season with all the new babies, courtships, etc. While some storylines are more annoying than others, it's such a refreshing change from watching the Duggar girls pack for yet another vacation, or being told how many diapers, paper plates, pickles etc., they will consume in a lifetime.

I'm guessing this is a little more like how it went down...

The days of the "way, way back." We used to beg our dad to take corners really fast so we'd slide around. And he did. And the old "sit in mom's lap in the front seat," or stand up in the back seat using the top of the front seats for balance because you didn't want to sit on the hump. Seatbelt? Pfffft. Good lord, it really is a miracle we survived. Know better, do better.

If there is a women's shelter nearby, you might try them. The one I've worked with LOVES to get books, DVDs, etc.

That announcement video made me so uncomfortable. This poor child can barely string a sentence together, and has likely not had an original thought, like, ever, but is now going to be responsible for raising a human? Of all the Duggar pregnancy announcements, this is the one that has made me feel a little sick.

Derick looks like he's playing tiddlywinks with his nipples. I feel defrauded.

So true, and I'm so happy she doesn't look guilty about it. Jeremy has a lot of really messed up ideas that get no pass from me, but he does seem to want Jinger to spread her wings and become, if not educated, at least an independent person who can function in society. Hopefully he'll succeed in breaking Jinger out of the family mindset, not by badmouthing her family and telling her how weird and wrong they are, but by building her self-confidence in positive ways. But man, no matter how much I loved someone it would be exhausting to start from Jinger's level of dysfunctional thought. It's so ingrained that apparently even cooking a simple meal requires the equivalent of a standing ovation to show her she's capable. I think the first three husbands (too soon to tell about Austin) have been truly shocked by how emotionally damaged and fragile their wives are. The girls were raised in that batshit crazy family, but none of the husbands were raised anywhere close to that level of patriarchal fundamentalism. It was probably easy to overlook during the laughable courting phase, but now? Not so much. At least so far, Ben and Derick seem like good parenting partners - they both seem equally invested in raising their kids. On the other hand, my condolences to the unfortunates who marry those indoctrinated, lazy as shit Duggar boys. Forget partnership, they'll expect their wives and daughters to do everything, because that's what's been modeled to them their entire lives. Their don't-lift-a-goddamn finger lifestyle won't change, other than the "bonus" of receiving joyful availability at the drop of a horny Duggar hat. Yeeesh.