kassa

On her podcast she's mentioned being in a Christian (though nondenominational) church, and having left a cult.

I hope they film Kody giving Sol and Ari HIS lost cookie speech.

The Wallis Simpson phenomenon - once a man gives up everything for you, you can never, ever leave. I think Christine had adult children (biological and otherwise) who explicitly called out the family dynamics until she saw/acknowledged/disavowed them herself. No way those siblings would let Ysabel's surgery debacle go unchallenged. Meri just doesn't have the same kind of family support system. I suspect they got her into therapy, too. She handled Kody in those break up conversations like a pro - she picked up those skills from professional guidance. I cut her some slack there. She's obviously being grilled to categorically state that she would or wouldn't ever live polygamy again, and the answer she gave basically said in a perfect world she believes in it, but she doesn't trust it to work out after what they've been through. So, she's not done with it because it's wrong, she's done with it because it's hard, and too painful when it fails. I'd expect a similar answer from somebody bitter about a failed monogamous marriage saying if they had guarantees of fidelity they'd do it again, otherwise no (knowing there's no such thing).

But not toothless? It appears to be a trend, since they even did it at an engagement party on Sister Wives! I hear rumors that they might be shooting in Rhode Island now. The SMEG stuff is not just cool - the enamel is really stunningly beautiful. Saw it at a home show once and it wasn't just the option of pastels/style that grabbed me - it just looks luscious! I don't feel bad for Boz - she lucked out that in her first season she gets tons of airtime just by being an ear for Dorit without accidentally falling into a feud with other castmates (yet). She gets to seem reasonable and kind while slowly building relationships with the others without having to force a storyline by picking a fight with them just to earn a return invitation.

The only person who came out well in this was the son who didn't participate. Good move, kid.

Didn't like the fashion makeovers -- you can embrace body positivity without purposely enhancing features generally considered unattractive. I think Meghan is very well dressed in general -- she's embraced her smaller size and picks cheerful and flowy and flattering outfits. She clearly takes care and is good at it after decades of not being able to/feeling defeated trying to find good clothes. Might be fun to let HER style her friends. I wonder if Meghan's greatly improved attitude/demeanor is partly based on their getting their own place instead of rooming with others? Independence may agree with her. Scott is... a lot of work. He needs to get out on his own and grow up a bit. For somebody who thinks Vanessa is gloating about her success and offering too much advice, Ashely has a lot of advice for the newbies in the support group about how they can be successful as if she didn't screech to a halt in her journey. It's one thing to offer "I know that feeling, you're not alone, I struggle with that, too" or even "trust me, I tried that and it didn't work out so well for me" and another to say "you have to do x, y and z if you want to be successful [like me]." New blonde lady is depressed and needs professional counseling more than a lay support group. Her reaction seems like it could be a common one and she shouldn't be white knuckling it. I thought a big component of bariatric centers was emotional/mental health care as well.

I've been partial to Todd most of the time up to now because I suspect a lot of his behavior is based on a mutual agreement before filming started that SHE would be different and not one of THOSE housewives, and he'd join her but peace out the moment any nonsense started up, because he's a serious person with a serious job and he'll take enough flak for being associated with it in the first place. Pretty much every "disapproving" speech he's given has had big overtones of "this is precisely what we agreed we wouldn't take part in." I have viewed it in that spirit and was surprised that so many people found it oppressive. If he is fine with her flamboyant dress, home decor, dog pack, poses alongside her for her instagram in matching pajamas, took the sex chat at dinner without flinching I don't see him as paternalistic and condescending as others do. Of course I'm open to changing my mind, but his behavior isn't that far off from what mine would be if I saw my partner shrieking on national television, and I don't consider myself an abusive control freak.

What was missing here that Dr. Now has explained multiple times, is that as long as there's fat, there are a lot of blood vessels that need to be tied off, and if you miss one it's dangerous. My cardiologist told me there are 5 miles of blood vessels in every pound of fat, which is what makes your heart work so much harder when you're heavy and raises your blood pressure. I had a thought about her behavior. Yes, Tammy can be infuriatingly childish when it comes to her behavior. But she's pretty sharp and I have no doubt she actually understands and retains information given. I suspect she knew all along that surgery was not in the cards for her any time soon, but it's show-driven and she felt humiliated to "perform" disappointment, let alone expose her body for the doctor to analyze in front of the audience. So to me, the shutdown was for being dragged to the appointment to demonstrate that she hasn't reached her goal yet, something she well knows but is being pressured to pretend she DOESN'T know. Amy? I can totally believe she thinks she's ready. Brittany is NOT happy about any of this, and the camera folks are capturing every hostile expression. She has had such a benign resting face ever since this show began that I think things are really bad. (And I suspect a lot of it has to do with them buying that house a YEAR ago and him doing nothing with it even as their kid and grandchild moved into their home, until his sister needed a place, and then suddenly he's all fire motivated to fix it up for HER.)

It will be interesting to see how things play out - I'm sure they watch the show, so no matter how they've been siloed away from their siblings they will have seen Gabe and others speak fondly of them.

The scenes between Meri and Janelle reminded me of a talking head when the divorce happened (Meri turning over "legal wife" status to Robyn). Janelle pointedly said at the time that no matter their fundamental differences, she had no expectation that Meri would have ever been anything but fair should Kody have died and she had to divide everything up (the implication being that this confidence did not extend to Robyn.) So whatever grievances and resentments there were between them, she respected Meri's fundamental honesty and, well, fidelity. So I didn't see these scenes as Janelle being manipulative, but respectfully giving the heads up (and of course also feeling for any chance of collaboration on the topic). She may not want to have anything to do with Meri but feel some lingering sense of fairness towards her. And Meri seems to have been under the impression that Janelle was minding the finances, something she personally trusted Janelle with, so that was a vital piece of information to have imparted. As for the kids and David, with age they'll realize the extent to which their mother has been alone for 10-15 yrs as opposed to just being a few months out from a "divorce." Yes, wanting to marry after 2 mos is fast, but barring complete fiscal irresponsibility or safety issues, the stakes are not as high at 50 as they are at 20. Doesn't seem likely that this guy is going to drain her bank account and run for the hills. She's unlikely to become pregnant. If she gets the high of playing Cinderella for a couple of years and then comes down to earth and realizes it's not a lifetime match she can make other choices and still be a relatively young woman.

Love that Kody has painted himself into a corner of NEEDING these women to spend time with him (on camera) to maintain his lifestyle, while they've all moved on. In his mind, the "aren't we working on the relationship?" script is all he needs to keep Janelle filming with him three hours a year while otherwise ignoring her and their children entirely, but it only works if she doesn't say "nah, what would I want that for?" Deviation from his script is treason. Now he has to stress how good he is with Meri now, looks great for their future! (And even she isn't going to run over and hang out at their place to film when she hasn't otherwise gotten an invitation in two years. )

I find it hard to believe that she REALLY thought she was near skin removal. I know Dr. Now is really up front with his patients about the weight they need to reach before they even discuss it. I don't believe Dr. Proctor would not have explicitly stated that the skin surgery was for the last 40 lbs or so above the target weight. I know in Amy's case it's just childish wishful thinking that she can have surgery, but given Tammy's actual active, ongoing success, planning how the next year or so would unfold would be the primary topic at any appointment, with concrete goals and timelines for completion of various stages.

I like the new people, and I'm on Vanessa's side of this rift, but damn she doesn't make it easy sometimes with going off the rails the way she does. That said, she was pretty f'ing vulnerable not only directly to her friends but on national television, and their reaction was cruel. Even if you no longer want to be her friend, in the moment you could comfort her and just say you'd grown apart, no hard feelings, you're sorry she was hurt even though it wasn't your intention. Sheesh. Yes, I'm sure in her enthusiasm she may have overadvised... but there's no way that overadvice would scald so bad unless you were already feeling guilty and jealous, which they clearly are. Megan, go ahead and ask Dr. Proctor for that "touch up" revision surgery, see how that goes. Just have him open you up every other year so you don't have to change anything else about your life.

You can go with "God love him" - means basically the same thing. The only reason Kody is engaging with Meri is to film something other than Robyn pleading with him to do something to stem the tide of public disapproval. I have no doubt attempts were made to film with Janelle and even Christine (Janelle has mentioned that he is in contact and that she is the one telling him "nah, I'm good.") Of course he knows there's no hope with Christine, but would absolutely think she "owed" him another sit down for the sake of the show. Meanwhile, she's got 20 other people to film with, thankyouverymuch. Oddly, Meri holds some pretty big cards now where Robyn and Kody are concerned. She was always a toy they could pull out from the back of the closet when it suited them, and was grateful to be included. Now (in show time) the only people they interact with who have spoken in complete sentences on the show for the past however many years are Tony, Mykelti, and whichever gunbuddy Kody spills his guts to next. I'm glad the younger kids are only minimally on the show compared to years ago, but aside from some sulky couch appearances by the older girls, the Robyn/Kody family doesn't even film with each other! The crew seems to have been banned from shooting in their home... but don't they ever LEAVE it?

I believe Janelle that this is not the guy they married, because he's not even the guy we watched the first several seasons. These women were not cowed by him - they openly mocked him sitting beside them on the sofa, and he BASKED in it. Aside from falling in love with Robyn (he really does glow when he speaks of her, which is pretty impressive after 10 years, and i don't think it's acting), he clearly fell into some kind of toxic manosphere and entered into a midlife crisis of victimization and anger. She wants to buy some land with Maddie and Caleb, have a hobby farm because there's no way they'd actually have a REAL farm, live the rural lifestyle, grow some stuff. This Kody isn't the guy she was married to for most of the last 30 years. She has no interest in dating whatsoever unless the perfect guy falls in her lap. The thought of dating apps horrifies her, and she learned to enjoy being alone when she realized she basically WAS alone within her marriage and now she can enjoy it full time instead of having her pleasant alone-ness interrupted by intermittent Kody appearances.