TheRealT

Yeah, MTV pretty much condones female-on-male domestic violence. This isn't even her first known attack on Chris; she allegedly (and I believe it) assaulted him and cut off his dreads years ago, before Lux was born. She alleges that Chris choked her (which I believe,but I think it's interesting that that's all she accused him of, given her history of perpetrating violence toward/accusations of violence against Chris resulting in restraining orders against him). IMO, it seems like Kail is the more violent/volatile one in their "relationship." I don't defend Chris or defend his (alleged) choking of Kail, but I could see a scenario where he got fed up with her repeatedly assaulting him and grabbed her around the neck defensively. IMO, if he was "forced to do that," that should have been the last straw in their "relationship" and he should have realized that it was best for him and his sons to stop fucking with her. But the dread-cutting incident should have been the last straw, or her (allegedly) falsely accusing him of DV, or whatever. They're both fucked up and probably get off on the violence/insanity on some level. I feel bad for their kids.

Yeah, why didn't Chris just tell her that Lux had asked to get his hair cut? He could have even led Lux to making it true, like going, "Do you want to get your hair cut like Daddy?" He could have filmed it and posted it on IG. That would have been hilarious.

Yeah, even though I thought Lux's hair looked bad and the whole gimmick of not cutting his hair was stupid, I can understand why Kail would be upset about Chris cutting his hair without consulting her. BUT, the issue is nowhere near serious enough to merit storming into his house and beating on him. Was Lux there while she was beating Chris? Best case scenario, she left Lux in the car with someone before she went back to beat Chris's ass. Even that is super low rent, to put it charitably. Especially since the first haircut (which precipitated the beating) was fairly minor, it's insane. I was wondering how she didn't notice that Lux's hair had been cut until after she left Chris's place and thinking maybe they put a hat on him or something, but I can see how it wasn't necessarily immediately obvious. But I get that it wasn't really about the aesthetics of Lux's hairstyle; it was about Kail wanting to be in control and Chris winding her up by taking (even such a small amount of) control away from her. Poor Lux and Creed (and the rest of Kail's kids, but at least the others have decent dads).

This article contains more details and some photos. Based on Kail's IG post, at first Chris just cut a few inches off (but she still called him a narcissist), but his hair looks significantly shorter (and better, IMO) in this picture, so I guess someone cut it again. I know Chris is scum, but I do kind of love how he fucks with Kail (though I know it's wrong). She thought she was so cute with the "I won't cut Lux's hair until he asks me to" thing and Chris just pissed all over that, which he knew would make her flip her shit.

As I understand it, when Nova was born Briana wouldn't put Devoin's name on the birth certificate, which meant that he wasn't Nova's legal father. I assume that Bri did that so he would have no claim for custody/visitation, but the downside is that he wouldn't have any legal obligation to financially support Nova either. But Bri wants a "hybrid" option where Devoin has no legal rights, but is morally obligated to provide financial, physical, and emotional support. I could buy an argument that the emotional/physical support is obligated if Devoin believes Nova is his daughter, but, honestly, I don't think he's really obligated to provide financial support since it was Briana's choice to invalidate him legally. If Nova were doing without basic needs, I could possibly view it differently, but she's not. Briana is playing a game where Devoin has no legal rights, but she wants to still hold him/his family responsible for acting as if he does. That's not really how it works. I'm not defending Devoin's mom's decision to sit in the car on Thanksgiving, but I also don't automatically accept Briana's narrative that she was an asshole for doing so. As I understand it, when Nova was born and Briana refused to let Devoin put his name on the birth certificate, his mom had issues with that and she and Briana exchanged harsh words. After that, Briana felt that she had no obligation to reach out to D's mom and that it was incumbent on D's mom to reach out to her "if she cared about her granddaughter." Briana, of course, had no obligation to offer an olive branch to her daughter's grandma/family because she was "doing so much" (with considerable assistance from her mom and sister). I get that it sucks to be a full-time parent when your child's other parent is doing little/nothing, but my sympathy is significantly reduced if you've intentionally cut your co-parent out of your child's life. When Nova was born, Devoin was willing to "step up" in terms of putting his name on the birth certificate and taking full legal responsibility. It was Briana's decision not to let him do that, for reasons that weren't really about Nova's well-being as much as about Briana/the Coven maintaining control over her. So, since then, they've had to live with the consequences of that decision. Briana is lucky that Devoin has given her any money. IMO, he would be 100% justified in putting money into an account for Nova when she grows up and/or a fund to help him get legal rights as her dad rather than giving it to Briana.

It's really disgusting. It's BEYOND GROSS that they are exploiting Aubree's issues with her paternal family to make money while, in their minds, maintaining their "perfect" De Boer image. It's also mind-blowing that they think they're coming off well. (Or they wouldn't put it on the show. Only Aubree's difficult/embarrassing/deeply personal issues can be used as fodder for the show. C & C's vulnerabilities must be protected!) Cole flat-out admitted that he doesn't want Aubree's bio dad to have any contact with her because it pisses Cole off (though Aubree wants to have contact with him). That's called being a Dick Stepdad, not "the greatest dad in the world." They must assume that Aubree will see all of this one day, right? Have they not considered the possibility that Aubree is/will be sympathetic to Adam? Particularly if they succeed in cutting him (even further) out of her life. I feel like they are kind of romanticizing and potentially "victimizing" Adam in Aubree's mind. At this point, it's obvious that she feels some connection to him, for whatever reason. Otherwise, she would have already caved to the pressure C & C have been putting on her for years to explicitly state that she never wants to see Adam (and maybe his family) again. I'm actually surprised that they haven't succeeded. It's not like Aubree once had a close relationship with Adam. He's probably more like a cousin who everyone talks about all the time, but she's only played video games with him at family gatherings a few times (that she remembers). Except he's her father, so I get how that would make him important to her on some level(s). So it's bizarre to me that C &C imagine that it's a given that when Aubree gets older she'll be totally on their side in the "De Boers vs. Linds Battle." In many cases, it's more common to rebel against the "safe, good" family and be curious about/idealize the "bad" family. In a few years when Aubree is a teenager (probably with her own car) and she and C & C are clashing over whatever, I wouldn't be surprised at all if she reached out to the Linds/Adam more and was more open to hearing their side of the story. And there's a lot of footage from MTV to back up a narrative that doesn't paint C & C as "perfect" (IMO). Not to mention all kinds of shit online. I can't imagine selling my child's privacy like that. It's disgusting.

Yeah, I believe Adam opted out of the show a few seasons ago? And I think MTV would be pretty interested in following him, but, apparently, he has some pride/decency/discretion. And I believe he also deserves credit for relinquishing his parental rights to Paislee so her stepdad could adopt her. It's arguable that he did it because he doesn't care and he didn't want to be on the hook for child support, but I think it's also possible that he realized that it was the right thing to do. He might have opted not to do the same for Aubree because she is more enmeshed with his parents (and him) and/or Aubree didn't want to be adopted by Cole (while Paislee was too young to even understand what was happening). Again, I'm not "defending" Adam at all, but his situation with Aubree is complicated and I don't think it's fair to paint it as a simple case of him being a totally and obviously uninterested sperm donor, while Chelsea and Cole are THE BEST PARENTS EVER.

Yeah. Far be it from me to "defend" Adam since I have hated him since Aubree was an infant and he literally put her down on the floor every time she was handed to him. I think Adam has practically no redeeming qualities. His only "redeeming qualities" that I could name are that he seems to care about his family, including Aubree, on some level and he had the self-awareness and decency to get a vasectomy (I think). I think he's a really fucked up person who's dealing with some significant mental health issues, not the least of which are drug addiction and (apparently) serious problems with impulse control (to say the least). With all of that said, I don't think he's quite as bad as David Eason (an unrepentant socio/psychopath, IMO). But that's a very, very low bar. I'm not 100% convinced that Adam killed any animal(s) based on the report I read on here somewhere, while I'm sure DE killed the family pet (because he admitted it). None of that is meant to indicate that I like Adam or think he's a good guy or anything like that. At all. I think that Chelsea is (understandably) aggrieved toward him to some extent because she wants "payback" for how he treated her like shit and broke her heart for years. Which, yes, was shitty of him, but it's on her that she was so fucked up that she was hung up on him for years. I feel like she doesn't own any of that. She chooses to frame their relationship as her being "good" and "right," while Adam was a horrible dick. There's certainly truth to the part about Adam being a dick, but she made a lot of mistakes herself and contributed significantly to their overall fucked up dynamic. But I feel like she feels like she was "saved" by Cole and she's been whitewashed into this awesome, together mom (which she isn't). As far as Chelsea having legitimate grievances against the Linds (apart from Adam), I agree that Grandma Donna, et al have "made some mistakes" (like Chelsea), but I feel like if Chelsea feels like they are "dangerous" or "toxic" or whatever, she shouldn't send Aubree over there for the weekend every month. If Chelsea feels like they are basically ok, but they don't always see eye to eye, she needs to grow the fuck up and improve her communication/boundary setting with them. She holds all the power/cards. I don't think GD is a saint or whatever, but I haven't seen evidence on the show (and I doubt Chelsea would hide it to protect GD) that GD has done anything particularly egregious lately (she did let Adam come over while Aubree was there years ago). Everyone is annoying. Everyone "makes mistakes." Again, to me, GD is either ok/safe or she's not. If she isn't safe, Chelsea shouldn't send Aubree to her house. If she is, Chelsea should try to work with her for Aubree's sake.

The funny/sad thing is that Chelsea and Cole's worst nightmare would be for Adam to get his shit together to the extent that he could get unsupervised visits with Aubree. That would drive them NUTS.

Wasn't Lux conceived around the end of October/beginning of November? So she was possibly already pregnant when she filmed the scenes saying she had finally accepted that Chris was a shit dad (though maybe she didn't realize it yet)? Even if she couldn't resist him sexually, since he has proven to be a shit dad and has supposedly done all these horrible things to her, why didn't she at least use birth control when she slept with him? Was she raw dogging with Javi as well? I wouldn't be surprised if the reason she didn't use BC with Chris was because she wanted to get pregnant by him again. She likes to think that she's special and that his other hos are jealous because she has his baby/ies (part of why she was so distraught when she thought he might have gotten someone else pregnant). I guess she thought having two of his babies would make her twice as special. (If she keeps going, maybe by the time she gets up to 6 or 8 babies he'll admit that he's "dating" her!) It's really sad.

And the thing is, it seems like Adam is doing better by Aubree lately (at the time this was filmed). Yes, he obviously still sucks as a father and his involvement in Aubree's life up to this point has been deplorable. But, apparently, he was visiting Aubree at school regularly and behaving appropriately and being nice. He expressed interest in going to the father-daughter dance and he sent her a nice text. Obviously, it's not "good enough" and Cole is obviously still a much, much better dad, but Adam is fucked up and maybe that's all he's capable of. It's better than he was doing before and Aubree seemed to be responding to it positively. It also bugs me that Chelsea and Cole don't express their reservations (to put it kindly) about Aubree getting closer to Adam in terms of concerns about Aubree's physical or emotional safety. It's always about how it pisses them the fuck off that he hasn't done shit for 10 years and he refused to submit to the rules at the visitation center and now he's just showing up for lunch (because it's easy for him!) and sending her a text (all of which he's allowed to do). They want to see Adam punished for being an asshole, which is understandable, but not fair to Aubree.

Wasn't this filmed around the time she got pregnant with Creed (and had a RO against Chris)? So while she was filming scenes claiming she had learned her lesson about Chris not stepping up as a dad, she was sleeping with him (and pulling dramatic stunts like getting a RO against him)? OK. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the whole thing with her "looking for a house in Dover" was another dramatic stunt to make Chris worry that he'd be sorry if he didn't start stepping up (as a dad and a "boyfriend"). She still didn't/doesn't get that Chris doesn't care where she lives.

Yeah. And the weird thing is, in the last episode in The Ongoing Saga of Aubree Getting a Phone, Chelsea, unprompted by Aubree from what we saw, said, "Do you want to put (Adam's) number in your phone?" and when Aubree said yes Chelsea said that was fine. Now, this episode, she's livid that the Linds put his number in Aubree's phone and goes along with it when Aubree says she didn't want Adam to have her number. I feel like Chelsea asks Aubree the same questions about Adam/the Linds over and over until she gets the answer that she wants, then she's like, "Ok, great! Whatever you want, Aubs! You don't have to deal with the Linds if you don't want to!" It's a fucked up head trip on Aubree. It's beyond obvious that Chelsea and Cole don't like her being close to Adam and his family in any way. I'm sure they have explicitly discussed/probably talked to a lawyer about the possibility of terminating Adam's parental rights and having Cole adopt Aubree, but they want it to seem like it's Aubree's idea. They have probably told Aubree that, if she wants, that's a possible option. But, apparently, she hasn't said that she wants that (or we'd certainly have seen it on the show). The poor kid has probably been holding out for years while her parents subtly and not-so-subtly pressure her to do it. It's really gross of C & C on a couple of levels. One, it's disgusting to manipulate your kid into severing ties with her family. Two, it's gross, that they, a blended family, are so hung up on conventional notions of what counts as "real" family (apparently). Aubree has obviously totally embraced Cole as her dad, but, as is her right as a human being, she still feels a connection to Adam and his family. Why is that a problem? Chelsea pushed for Aubree to add Cole's last name to hers and Aubree agreed. When Aubree said she wanted Adam to go to the stupid fucking father-daughter dance, Chelsea kept harping on it until Aubree "changed her mind." I'm sure Aubree spends holidays with Cole's family and she does all kinds of father-daughter things with Cole, while she only has lunch with Adam at school once a week. Why isn't that enough? Why are C & C so threatened and infuriated by her paltry relationship with Adam? As long as Aubree is safe, they should be happy that she's able to build a relationship with Adam if that's what she wants (which, apparently, she does). I feel like Chelsea (more so) and Cole feel like their family will only be "perfect" when Adam and the Linds are out of the picture (which is gross and unfair to Aubree).

Yeah, imagine Kail showing up in your life as your long lost niece/sister/etc. She's very messy, to say the least. If you were "close," you'd have to put up with her calling you in hysterics about all kinds of stupid shit; you'd have to pretend to think her "relationship" with Chris made sense (alternating with commiserating with her about what an asshole he is). If you tried to have a relationship, but maintain some healthy distance, she'd think you weren't doing enough for her and quite possibly trash you on TV/SM. Remember when her sister went with her to NY? Mikaila was probably thinking/hoping it would be a fun free trip. Kail obsessed over Chris the whole time, going on an on about how she didn't know whether he was coming to her show (or whatever), then when he showed up at the last minute, she ditched her sister for him and, I think, had her sister meet her in a hotel conference room or something the next day and was like, "Well, it was nice seeing you. Have a nice trip back to TX." And before that she filmed a scene with her sister (who was pregnant), questioning whether her relationship was stable. I doubt that she knew or cared anything about her sister's partner or their relationship, but she wanted a scene making her look like a caring older sister. Though, obviously, it's an absurd joke to think of Kail being someone to give relationship advice.

Yeah, I don't get it. I guess Chelsea thinks her kids are cute, so that's an automatically appealing marketing message? Cute toddlers don't inspire me to buy home furnishings, but maybe that's just me. There isn't even an implicit message that cute furnishings will lead to having cute babies. And I think most "normal" people who have young kids have a "Saturday" (in the sense of relaxed, not fancy or formal) vibe in terms of their home goods. I can't see super "basic" housewives/young moms who admire Chelsea feeling like they need to find a home goods brand that's relaxed and casual enough for them. Generally, I don't get Chelsea as a "marketing sensation" because it seems like her brand is "super basic," something that might do well at Target or Walmart, but the products she's endorsed seem more expensive and geared toward more of a "wine mom" market of more educated, affluent moms than a "super basic Target mom" market of women who have more in common with her. Chelsea might have a similar level of money to the former group, but she has little else in common with them. Maybe I just don't get it, but I don't see the type of woman who would be a huge Chelsea fan (in terms of age, income level, life experience, culture, etc.) as someone who would need/could afford expensive baby bags and ugly jean jackets. I feel like her brand should be "Basic Chelsea," t-shirts with dumb mom-themed slogans that sell at Target for $9.99, toddler toys/t-shirts with dumb kid-themed slogans on them, and maybe some baby soap/shampoo/etc. marked up a dollar from the generic brand.

Yeah, I really don't get it. At all. I guess "home goods" are things like throw pillows and candles, maybe dishes or sheets or something? Why would a 10-year-old girl be a good "influencer" for that stuff? "Aubree Says" implies to me that we should care what Aubree says and buy the products because Aubree endorses them. If that's not the point, what is? And what does "Where it's always basically Saturday" mean? That the products have a relaxed vibe? Do people really want it to always be Saturday? Especially in the context of having a child "spokesperson," that seems weird to me. Who wants to teach kids that, ideally, it would always be Saturday and there'd be no need to go to school/work? I can even understand a marketing message of "this product makes every day like Xmas/your birthday/etc.," but I don't see Saturday that way. To me, Saturday, conceptually, is about a day off from work/school. If every day were Saturday, there'd be no work or school. Is that really what people want? To just hang out on the couch with cool pillows all day, every day?

I think Aubree doesn't necessarily realize that putting all of her personal business on MTV is optional. For literally her entire life, it has just been the reality, something she had no choice in or decision to make about. I think it's disgusting that Chelsea has chosen to protect herself and Cole by hiding whatever their personal dramas are (and I'm not speculating that they have some kind of deep, dark secrets, but everyone has "personal issues" that go beyond "OMG, Grandma Donna is dropping off treats at our house!"), while putting Aubree's childhood dramas figuring out her relationships with her family on blast. It's beyond shitty and I think Chelsea and Cole are horrible for doing it.

I feel like, if that is the case, Chelsea should address the issue(s) explicitly with GD and Aubree, separately and/or together. If GD is a toxic manipulator who Chelsea thinks will do "bad" things to Aubree, she should monitor/limit GD's contact with Aubree. If Chelsea thinks GD is well intentioned and it's just a matter of her being on a different page than Chelsea/Aubree, Chelsea should talk to her, explaining what Chelsea wants and why and laying out clear rules/boundaries that she wants GD to respect. If she did all of that and GD still sent "manipulative" or whatever texts, Chelsea would be justified in limiting GD's contact with Aubree. IMO, if the issue is just Aubree not wanting to directly tell GD that she doesn't want to come over this weekend (or whatever), it would be better parenting if Chelsea was like, "I think GD understands that sometimes you want to do other things rather than staying with them. You can just tell her and plan something else you'll do together in the future." If Aubree did that and GD berated her for being cruel and ungrateful, Chelsea could deal with that accordingly. But I don't think we've seen any evidence that GD is crazy, abusive, or unreasonable. In the previous episode where Aubree said she didn't want to go to the Linds' for the weekend, GD immediately responded that that was fine, though she did come by to drop off some treats she had gotten from work for Aubree. Maybe she did that for "ulterior motives" like wanting a little face time with Aubree to ascertain whether things were ok (HOW WEIRD AND SCARY!!!), or maybe she genuinely thought they'd enjoy the treats. Either way, it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. If the De Boers had been home and GD had hung out for 30-60 minutes chatting and eating the pastries, I don't see why that would have been a problem or a huge offense/inconvenience to Chelsea and Cole. And even if C & C loathe GD and it makes their skin crawl to be in her presence, since they're SUCH AMAZING PARENTS they could suck it up and tolerate her for Aubree's sake once in a while.

I saw a Grace Report video earlier that purported that Kail and Javi had hooked up and I was confused because I don't remember that from the show, but I believe that it happened. Obviously, Kail is trash, but Javi is trash too. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for being young, manipulated by Kail, hung up on his first love, etc., but-- trash is trash. Good for Lauren if she's truly done with him.

I was trying to believe that and held off commenting for an episode or two, but I finally gave up. Chelsea and Cole really don't seem to understand how obvious it is that they would love it if Aubree cut Adam and the Linds out of her life. Or how obvious it is that Aubree doesn't want to do that. If Chelsea were respecting Aubree's conflicted feelings around her relationships with her paternal family, it wouldn't be a storyline on the show at all. Chelsea obviously understands what's happening when she records scenes for the show with Aubree saying she doen't want to go to the Linds or give Grandma Donna her number. When she tells Aubree that she'll tell Evil Grandma Donna the truth and "be the bad guy," she knows that she's lying to Aubree and that Grandma Donna will find out when it airs to hundreds of thousands of people on MTV, which is much more hurtful than 1) her not finding out at all or 2) Chelsea telling her and having a conversation with her about the issue. I don't even really feel like it's an "issue." I feel like Aubree is a tween who's grown up on a reality TV show and whose mom is a huge drama queen, which has earned her a great living throughout Aubree's life. Even apart from that, it's normal for kids her age to be transitioning from adoring parental figures to finding them "annoying" (or whatever). Since Chelsea hasn't highlighted any legitimate complaints about GD and has, in fact, painted her as "weird" and "scary" for trying to talk to Chelsea about Aubree and dropping off treats at their house, I kind of assume that GD is just a loving (if "annoying") grandma who just wants to maintain a relationship with her drug addict, deadbeat dad son's child. If Adam were an upstanding citizen and good dad, GD wouldn't feel so insecure about her connection to Aubree and wouldn't have to go to lengths like getting visitation put into a court agreement or kissing Chelsea's ass for years to maintain it. I feel like, if Chelsea thinks GD and the Linds are "bad people" or bad for Aubree or whatever, she shouldn't send Aubree over to spend the weekend with them. If she thinks they're "good people," but she just doesn't like them or they annoy her or whatever, she should be an adult and respect her daughter's relationship with her family. It's unfair to Aubree for her to pick a couple of items from Column A and couple from Column B. ITA. Before the TM money kicked in, Kail was doing pretty well, working and going to school to be a dental hygienist. If she had stayed on that track, she could have built a stable life for herself. Even her opportunistic marriage to Javi was a good economic/social move for her. Absent the MTV money, she would/could have used him for at least a few more years, accruing money (that he worked for) and maybe continuing her education and/or working as a dental hygienist. She would have had to tamp down on the crazy behavior in order to keep a job and/or her relationship with Javi or other partners who would support her financially and otherwise. Having the ability to give everyone in her life the finger whenever she wants (because of the MTV money) hasn't served her well in terms of personal growth.

I totally get what you're saying and agree. My only point was that the implication of Kail's snotty comment about Suzi, "Yes, I knew because I keep in touch with my family, <<strongly implied>> unlike Suzi" was weird, considering that Kail talks about her extended family as if they're not in her life. I don't believe there's any "right" way to have relationships with biological relatives and I think everyone should do what's right for them. However, I do think it's unfair to paint bio relatives as assholes, especially on TV, if they haven't done anything to merit that. Based on how Kail talks about her bio relatives broadly, I wouldn't expect her to say that she "keeps in touch with them." I also speculate that Kail hasn't done well with developing relationships with bio relatives she didn't grow up with as an adult. That process is challenging for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. I wouldn't/don't have a problem with her being like, "I don't want to put the energy into developing relationships with [whatever] bio relative(s) [for whatever reason(s)]," but she always frames it as her relatives not having done enough for her (as she did with her sister, totally unfairly IMO). At the same time, she has said many times that it's important to her for her kids to have relationships with some of her bio relatives. The problem is, that would take some work and she doesn't seem interested in doing it, which is fine if she owns that choice, but I feel like she puts all of the onus on her relatives. With all of that said, I 100% get that Kail is literally incapable of getting most of that. Hopefully, she's working on all of that in therapy.

I get what you're saying and generally agree, but, as I think was demonstrated, Nova was at least a little weirded out by spending the night with her family whom she hardly knew. I assume they probably tried to say, "Ok, it's time for bed, Nova..." at an appropriate hour, but when she didn't go to sleep, what were they supposed to do? I'm sure it was weird for all of them. They tried to be loving and supportive (and, presumably, Devoin's sister had to go to school the next day too and mom maybe had to go to work), so they stayed up with her, probably continually trying to encourage her to go to sleep. When she asked for food at midnight, they gave it to her. I blame Briana for being a stupid, limited mom who didn't realize that the plan was unrealistic and suggest/insist on something more realistic. I think Devoin's mom (and Devoin) really care about Nova and want to build better relationships/spend more time with her, but, understandably, that will take some time. Briana isn't intelligent enough to have a meaningful discussion with them about how that might work, so they all have to stumble through it. I think it will be fine in the end in terms of Nova knowing/believing that her paternal family cares about her and being able to build relationships with them.

When Kail was recounting her conversation with Suzi about her grandmother's death, she said Suzi had asked her whether she knew that her grandma had died and Kail was like, "Yes, I knew because I keep in touch with my family..." Which contradicts her narrative of having no family. Was she in touch with her grandmother (who apparently had Alzheimer's)? Was she in touch with Suzi's siblings and their kids? Apparently, Suzi is from somewhere in PA. Not sure how far it is from where Kail/Jo grew up or from where Kail lives now, but it's certainly within driving distance of both places. Did Kail ever take her kid(s) there to meet their great-grandmother/great-uncles and aunt/cousins/etc.? Are all of those people "bad" like Suzi? If not, why does Kail not have a relationship with any of them? And, the thing is, I'd be fine with it if Kail said that she didn't grow up around those people and she wasn't interested in relationships with them now. But she seems to claim the opposite, that she does have some kind of relationships with them (more than Suzi at least!). But it doesn't seem like she's made much/any effort to develop those relationships, so much so that she frequently makes comments about "having no family." She doesn't say, "My uncles on my mom's side are cool and I've visited with them and my grandma a few times, but I wouldn't say we're super close..." She could work on building relationships with them if she hasn't spent much time with them, but they've been cool to her. But she chooses not to, which is fine, but it's unfair to paint them as assholes who have somehow abandoned her if that's not the case. I think a big part of the problem is that Kail doesn't understand that it's ok/normal to have relationships with relatives without seeing them all the time or being super close to/involved with them. She doesn't have a baseline of a relatively "normal" family with multiple people she's close to/enmeshed with, even if those relationships are difficult/dysfunctional, then wider circles of family whom she might see monthly, yearly, every 3-5 years, whatever. To her, the yearly or 3-5 year people are assholes who don't really care about her and have let her down horribly. Even if they've (in their minds) gone out of their way to show her that they care about her and keep the door open to a relationship. Even if the real issue is their beef(s) with Suzi (which Kail, of all people, should understand), not with Kail. I think that, because of that framing in her mind, when Kail has contact with her relatives during her adult life, when they might be perceiving her as rich, famous, successful, and not necessarily invested in them (which makes them feel insecure/hesitant to take too much of a lead in "forcing a relationship"), she's perceiving it the opposite way. She sees them as being secure (basically) in ways that she's not and sees herself as the one who's vulnerable and taking big risks. They invite her to some family occasion or call/text her thinking, "Ok, we've made the overture. If she's interested in getting closer, she'll reciprocate..." But Kail is thinking, "OK, that's nice that they called/invited me to this event, but now, if they really care, they'll follow up by calling/texting me regularly, sending cards and gifts for my kids' birthdays, etc., etc." They're like, "I'm working two jobs and struggling to keep up with my rent/mortgage. She is rich (to me) and getting paid 6 or 7 figures to be melodramatic on TV. I did send Lincoln a birthday card, but I got nothing from her when it was my kid's birthday. And she never thanked me for Lincoln's card." Kail is older than her sister, "rich and famous," and her sister's mother died, but Kail still thought the "ball was in her sister's court" in terms of working to maintain the relationship. She literally couldn't understand why it might have been important for HER to take even the small initiative of sending her sister a text after she "tried to be supportive" when her sister's mom died. What person who is even like a coworker, not a "loving sister trying to build a relationship for both of you and your kids," can't even be assed to text someone, "Hey, thinking of you. Here if you need to talk." after attending/expressing condolences for someone's mom's funeral. It's mind-blowing. Yet, Kail did that, then bitched about how her sister was the asshole. And THEN, after trashing her sis on TV for being an asshole for not going somewhere to meet Kail and her kids (where it was convenient for Kail (OF COURSE)) when her sis had a serious injury, Kail cancels the trip because her kid has the flu. Which is legit, but shows what a hypocritical bitch she is. She could have left Lincoln with Javi if she wanted to. If she was so loving and concerned and wanted her kids to meet their baby cousin so badly (and it's not like she has a real job she'd have to get back to on time), why didn't she offer to go to Mikaila's house to see them, bring food and gifts even, while she was in Dallas, rather than asking the injured, caring-for-an-infant Mikaila to travel to Sterling's house (for Kail's convenience). Kail has plenty of money to stay in Dallas for an extra day (if that's what it took), rent a car or even hire a driver, buy whatever food/supplies Mikaila needed, etc. THAT would have been a "bonding experience." But Kail's idea of a "bonding experience" is other people going to great lengths to please and convenience her.

I was wondering why they did it on a school night too, but then I thought it was probably because of the MTV shooting schedule. Which is, of course, horrible, but not surprising. If MTV wanted to film a "Nova spends time with Devoin's mom" segment on a weekday, Briana should have arranged for them to take Nova skating after school, like they did, then take her home. But Briana is dumb. I feel bad for Grandma Donna. It must be very hurtful to be portrayed as unwanted, buttinsky, pain in the ass on TV so Chelsea can have a storyline without revealing any of her real drama. Why does Chelsea never ask Aubree why she doesn't want to see/talk to/give her phone number to Grandma Donna? In this episode Aubree was fine with spending the night at the Linds', but she didn't want Grandma Donna to have her phone number? It seemed like she was just being dramatic. What would Chelsea say if Aubree said she didn't want Randy to have her number? If there is a legit reason, they should discuss it. If not, Aubree should learn that part of the etiquette of having one's own phone is giving the number to close relatives at whose home you spend the night monthly. Even if they annoy you sometimes. Even if you want to be a "grown up" drama queen who makes a big deal out of who can and can't have her number. (Wonder where she could have gotten that from?) I also thought it was very petty of Chelsea and Cole to trash Adam again, some more, for only wanting to see/communicate Aubree on his own terms. Yes, we get it. Adam is a piece of shit and a shit father (and Cole is the awesomest Daddy in the world). We. Get. It. Aubree gets it. Grandma Donna gets it. Let Aubree eat lunch with him once a week for 30 minutes and maybe exchange a few texts. You don't have to freak out over it every fucking second. You don't have to say over and over, on national TV, how much it pisses you off that he's not more inconvenienced in order to have any contact with Aubree. I don't understand how they think they get any credit for "taking the high road," "staying neutral," and "letting Aubree make up her own mind" when they constantly trash Adam and the Linds on the show. It doesn't matter whether they do it in front of Aubree in real life (which they probably do, at least to some extent. I've seen them strongly indicate their disdain for the Linds in front of Aubree many times on the show.) What are the odds that Aubree's peers don't hear their parents talking about the show, or even watch the show themselves? Some of them probably watch the show with their parents. If they weren't on the show, Chelsea would totally do that. I honestly dislike Kail and find her repulsive too. She's very nasty and reactive when people make her angry (which happens all the time). Her immediate instinct is to go for the jugular, without any thought about potential consequences. That's why she does crazy stuff like filing false police reports. Even if the story about Javi in the Wawa parking lot is true, why put that out there? As a reaction to Javi not wanting to drive to meet her somewhere? What better thing did she have to do? (Probably go somewhere to get Chris for a ride on the sex swing.) Isaac's peers are old enough to watch/read about the show. Talking shit about Javi on the show makes her co-parenting relationship with him more difficult and possibly causes strife and tension in his home, where Lincoln lives half the time (it was, in fact, her express intention to cause strife and tension in their home). She's just so fucking messy. I was dying at Lux's Hulk doll. Where did he get it? Like, is the Hulk even popular recently?

Is the PFA still in effect? Regardless, this is all a huge clusterfuck. Imagine being/having a baby with this situation with his parents. Tragic. Kail just bugs the fuck out of me because she considers having a BA (from a bottom-tier school) as "proof that she's 'successful' and a 'good mom," though it's so obvious that she's neither of those things.