TheRealT

Briana is a moron, but I think even she understands that quitting MTV isn't a realistic option. If she were ever serious about doing so, I'm positive that her mom and sister would put the kibosh on the idea with the quickness. Briana is very, very stupid and she thinks it makes her look good to be "tough," so she tries to "talk a tough game," but... she's really, really stupid and super weak.

It seems obvious to me that she's doing the pictures to get Chris' attention. It seems that a strong sexual attraction is the main feature of their relationship (at least from his perspective), so she's trying to play on that to lure him back in. Presumably, he was the one she was using the sex swing with, so she's hoping he'll remember that and be tempted to come by for another ride. It's really sad. It seems like Kail hoped to win him over by being his favorite sex partner and when that didn't work, she tried to "cement their bond" by having his babies. Now that that has failed (twice), she wants him to "see what he's missing" with her big ass and the sex swing. Meanwhile, he's fucking some other broad(s) and laughing at her. Pathetic.

Kail really doesn't get that she's the reason so many people have been in and out of her kids' lives. She's had a revolving door of friends who practically or literally lived at her house, taking care of her kids, whom she's subsequently cut out of her and the kids' lives. Her sister posted on SM that she had a serious injury from the dog bite, her mom had died shortly before, and she was generally having a rough time. I doubt that Kail even asked her how she was doing. Kail admitted that she hadn't talked to her since her mom's funeral. How is it "trying to build a relationship" with your sister if you don't even text her "Hey, how are you and the baby doing?" after her mother dies? Kail thinks a "good relationship" is the other party kissing her ass all the time. A thousand times this. I can't believe they made the riveting story of Aubree getting a cell phone into a two-episode arc. Chelsea's segments have devolved to "Look how cute my babies are!," "Should we get Aubree a cell phone?," and "Grandma Joan is scary!" I get what you mean. It seems that Devoin's mom got angry at Brianna/the Coven (you know they got involved) because they wouldn't let Devoin sign the birth certificate. But they still expected/hoped that Devoin's mom would buy things for Nova and come over to visit? That seems unrealistic. Obviously, if Devoin weren't so fucked up, he could have taken legal measures to get his name on Nova's birth certificate and get visitation/custody. But I feel like Brianna has taken advantage of his limitations in that regard, while simultaneously putting all the blame on him and his family for them not being more involved in Nova's life. She's way too petty and immature to have reached out to Devoin's parents to invite them to Nova's previous birthday parties, for example. If she really wanted Nova to have a relationship with them, she could have done things like that (and then been gracious if they showed up, rather than staring daggers at them from across the room and bitching about all they haven't done for Nova). But she's not really capable of that. And, legally, Devoin has no claim on or responsibility for Nova (unless they've changed that since she was born). So it would be very easy for him to have nothing to do with her. He sticks around because he truly cares about her.

I knew she had a RO against Chris when Creed was conceived, but I wasn't sure what her specific allegations against him were. Based on her past behavior, I don't automatically assume that Kail's accusations of abuse (physical or otherwise) against her sex partners are true. I do find it odd that Chris did some terrible thing to her (she talks about as if there was some catalytic event) that drove her into therapy, yet she's continued her "relationship" with him pretty much since then. It's not unusual for DV victims to stay in relationships with their abusers, but Kail going to therapy regularly and getting a lot out of it isn't consistent with continuing the relationship, seemingly without making any significant changes. Using the drug analogy, it's like, "I've been in rehab for almost a year and it's going great and I'm finally facing things and doing the work. Yes, I've continued using this whole time, but still..." The other thing I thought was weird was when she was talking about considering an abortion and said that she had told Chris and his family that she was thinking about it, not to give them any say in her decision, but just to let them know. That sounds like drama and manipulation to get attention from Chris. Why would you tell your <<whatever he is to her's>> family that you were pregnant by him (while having a RO against him) and you were thinking about getting an abortion? Why would you talk to them at all, except maybe about Lux? To me it's obvious that the "abortion" was a big drama she produced to get Chris' attention: Kail's text: I wanted to tell you in person, but since you're ignoring me, I'm just letting you know that I'm pregnant. Chris' reply (a week later): Who's the daddy? Kail's 74 reply texts: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!! <Hulk Rage!> How could you do this to me?!?!?!? Chris: LOL! You need to calm down! Kail: Well, since you don't care, maybe I'll get an abortion! Chris: Do what you want. Kail: Well if you don't care, maybe your mom will! Or your aunt! Or your cousin! Chris: [stupid, nonsensical emojis]

Kail did an interview on ET. Biggest points I remember off the top of my head: She's not speaking to Chris currently. He has only spent a few hours with Creed. She considered aborting Creed and went to an abortion clinic to get an ultrasound, which made her realize she didn't want to abort. (I have a lot of questions about that story...) She's going to do a podcast with Vee. Apparently, she and Jo are getting along now. She strongly implied that she was a victim of domestic violence last October, which drove her to get into therapy, which she's finding very beneficial. I can only assume that the perpetrator of any DV she suffered at that time must have been Chris. October was around the time Creed was conceived. Is she going to claim that he raped her? She says that she's not quite ready to reveal the terrible thing that happened to her, but she will be soon.

ITA. Also, I think it's refreshing how he's playing kind of organically, while pretty much everyone else has a very inorganic game based on pre-game alliances and strategies, gaining SM followers, looking "cool" on TV, sticking with the Committee, being desperate to win, etc., etc.

I noticed Kail's hesitation after he asked her if Suzi was sober and thought the same thing. OBVIOUSLY, Kail has a lot of anger and resentment toward Suzi, much of which is probably justified. HOWEVER, it's also true that Kail doesn't really have ethics, especially around lying/misrepresenting/shading the truth. I think she's fine with outright lying if it suits her purposes, but, beyond that, I think she feels morally vindicated in some weird way if she can "justify" her dishonesty or other shady behavior because the people she's lying on have done something wrong (in her estimation). In this specific instance, I don't think she thought Suzi was drunk during the call (and she didn't sound drunk to me either), but when that guy asked her, she thought, "Well, I can't say for sure whether she was drunk or not and it will work better for me if I say she was drunk..." She feels "justified" because she could tell true stories about times that she thought Suzi was sober, but it turned out she was drinking, etc. Kail very much uses Suzi's alcoholism as a cudgel to beat her with and she obviously has a lot of residual anger about Suzi's alcoholism during her childhood. That's understandable, but Kail seems to have ZERO self-awareness about, well, anything. She thinks that calling Suzi out for her past, present, or future alcoholism effectively shuts down any conversation about who's "right," so she uses that. Kail is going to have a VERY HARD TIME when her kids are older and better able to call her out on HER shit. Thus far, she's cruised on their youth/naivete and her ability to subtly (or maybe not so subtly off-camera) manipulate them into being "on her side." (Because everything is Kail vs. the World, with Kail as the scrappy victim.)

I forgot to rag on Kail. WTF is going on with Isaac (allegedly) not wanting to stay at Jo's house? I feel like quite a bit has been left out of that story. Last episode, it was Isaac saying he wanted to stay with Kail for a couple extra days because it was boring at Jo's house because Jo was always working. That seemed like a 10-y-o being whiny, not that serious. Now Kail is saying that Isaac doesn't want to go to Jo's at all unless Jo's family is visiting. Jiggawhat?! Why would that not greatly concern Kail? (Well, I know why, but my point is that she sucks.) Jo and Isaac have always been close and Jo is a loving father. Kail claims to be super family-oriented and want her kids to be close to their families because of the horrors she suffered as a child without a close-knit family, but she's totally cool with Isaac just deciding to drop Jo (and Vee and Vivi)? What?!?! Isaac is seeing a counselor (which I think is good), but Kail didn't think it was important to talk to him/her, or even to Jo, when Isaac (allegedly) told her he's no longer interested in having a relationship with his dad (essentially)? And it's important to note that Jo doesn't have "visitation" with Isaac. They have 50/50 custody, so Isaac lives half the time with Jo and half the time with Kail. So it's fair to think that Jo should carve out time to spend with Isaac and do "special" or "fun" things sometimes, but Isaac's time at his house is mostly "normal" life with Isaac going to school, Jo going to work, etc. Kail doesn't have a real job, so "working" isn't the same for her and can consist of things like going on vacation to Hawaii. I think Jo should take Isaac to his games/activities (but I'm super open to hearing his side of the story with that stuff), but, otherwise, it's really shitty of Kail to be like, "I think Isaac is old enough to decide whether to more or less cut his dad out of his life without any serious exploration of why he wants to do that or effort to heal the rift between them." That's not in ISAAC'S best interest. But Kail is super selfish and has always worried about her kids "choosing their dads over her." I 1000% believe that Kail has, at least subconsciously, encouraged Isaac to reconsider his relationship with his dad, WHICH IS ALL KINDS OF FUCKED UP ON SO MANY LEVELS. Even if you give Kail complete benefit of the doubt about Jo being lame about taking Isaac to his activities and being boring and working too much, that absolutely doesn't merit Isaac basically cutting him out of his life. At all. Long-term (and even short-term), that is very, very likely to be negative FOR ISAAC. I hate Kail.

All of this. It's particularly horrible how they violate the kids' privacy. The oldest kids are 10 now. I'm sure they have peers who watch the show and/or read about it online. Yet their moms (and MTV) constantly use sensitive details of their lives (especially at their age) for storylines. They get a lot of credit for being "normal," but I hate Chelsea and Cole. I feel like Chelsea kept asking Aubree about inviting Adam to the dance until Aubree said no because she finally realized that was the only way to get Chelsea to STFU about it. Chelsea and Cole have an onion skin thin veneer of "We're totally fine with whatever you want with regard to your dad and his family!" but it's pretty clear that they want Aubree to distance from the Linds and fully embrace being a De Boer the way Chelsea has. And the thing is, I think Aubree pretty much has done that, but she's (understandably) still interested in connecting with her biodad and his family. Chelsea keeps claiming that she gets it and everything is Aubree's decision, but it's pretty obvious from her and Cole's demeanor, comments, and actions what they'd prefer. With the stupid fucking father-daughter dance, it's clear that it's REALLY, REALLY important to Chelsea and she LOVES how Cole has gone every year, so I think she was bummed when Aubree said she wanted to invite Adam. So Chelsea made a HUGE deal of it (while saying it was totally fine), asking Aubree whether she was sure over and over. Adam is a total douche, so I'm not even defending him, but, apparently he has been visiting Aubree at school at least semi-regularly and he said he wanted to go to the stupid fucking dance (probably because he was tired of looking bad for missing it every year and maybe because he wanted to make it awkward for Cole or make Cole miss it). It's understandable that Aubree would feel more comfortable with him now and appreciate that he wanted to go (since her mom has made such a HUGE deal of it for YEARS) and maybe she thought it would be fun to hang out with him in that setting since she only sees him for lunch at school. Chelsea is so image-conscious and Cole-centric that she probably only thought about how Adam would ruin the incredibly cute segment she had planned for the show. Jollibee is the shiznit. I think it's actually whatever the opposite of a public service announcement is for MTV to showcase Brianna and her mom's incredibly ridiculous attitude toward safe sex. I'm sure some young people watch this. What if they get the idea that their views make any sense at all? They're presented as nice, reasonable people. Roxanne was acting like Bri and Luis were in a committed relationship and he cheated on her and brought home an STI. She went on and on and on without even so much as a, "You were responsible too, but..." Nope, it's 100% Luis' responsibility to make sure he doesn't have an STI before having unprotected sex with Bri. Bri shouldn't even have to think about it. She should be free to stalk him at a club, get shitfaced, go home with him for unprotected sex, then have a nice round of sober unprotected sex without considering any potential health consequences. If a single mother of two young kids can't do that, are we even still living in America?! It's assholes like Luis who ruin the fun for everyone!

ITA and I've said so before (no snark).

And re: Suzi's alleged letters and cards- I think the truth is probably somewhere between Suzi's and Kail's accounts. Suzi probably did send some cards/letters (which Kail ignored), but not for every birthday or whatever she's claiming. Kail probably feels justified in denying that Suzi ever sent anything because Suzi is saying she sent cards for all the boys' birthdays (or whatever) and Kail knows she only sent a card for Isaac's birthday 2 years ago (or whatever). Suzi knows/believes that she sent at least 2 birthday cards for the boys and at least 2 letters (or a letter and a postcard) to Kail, so she feels justified in asserting that she's reached out multiple times/"regularly" since Kail is denying that Suzi ever sent anything. They're both liars and assholes, so finding some kind of "loophole" suffices to make them feel like they're in the right.

Good catch. This is so weird. Why did Suzi ask whether Kail knew her grandmother had died if they had seen each other at the funeral? Even if they didn't directly spot each other (which seems unlikely; how big was this funeral?), I can't imagine that relatives wouldn't have told both of them that the other was there. I can only assume that they mutually arranged the phone call MTV recorded, but they were sloppy with setting up their backstory. Does Suzi get paid for "appearing" in a phone call? Even if she's still mad, I could see Kail agreeing to a set-up phone call to give herself a storyline that didn't involve her pathetic "relationship" with Chris. Bonus points because, in Kail's mind, her story with Suzi presents her as a blameless victim who's totally justified in being the asshole she is to everyone, all the time.

This was shocking to me, though I've seen Roxanne and Brittany treat Brianna like a developmentally disabled child for years. Does Roxanne really think that the way to keep Brianna safe from contracting a (potentially deadly) STI is to shame every man in the world from having unprotected sex with her? OBVIOUSLY, Brianna can't be expected to exercise any kind of responsibility around drunken (or sober) hook ups. That's RIDICULOUS! OBVIOUSLY, Luis (someone Roxanne doesn't really know who's only shown himself to be irresponsible and self-involved) should step up to take responsibility for Bri's reproductive health. It will be so hard for Roxanne to hold back from laying into him about that (though she was able to be civil after he abandoned her baby granddaughter). If she starts now, maybe Roxanne can launch a successful campaign to convince all boys under 10 to never have unprotected sex with her granddaughters. That makes so much more sense than teaching the girls to exercise basic precautions, particularly when having sex with strangers or guys they know are sleeping with other people. Thank doG that they have Nanny Roxy to teach them how to take care of themselves shame the rest of the world into behaving in ways that will protect them. I caught that too. I'm not saying Suzi isn't an asshole, but I'm confused about Kail's narrative around their relationship. As I vaguely recall, Kail cut off communication with Suzi at some point. Maybe it was justified (I don't remember the details), but I feel like it wasn't a situation where Suzi ghosted Kail without explanation. Also, I seem to remember Kail claiming that she had no idea what Suzi's number was at some point, but in this episode it seemed that Kail still had Suzi's number in her phone (I guess she could have known who was calling from caller ID). On top of that, I also question whether Kail received Suzi's (alleged) letters/cards. Letters and cards don't make everything ok, but if Kail is pushing a narrative that Suzi just disappeared and never contacted her or the kids, that's a relevant point. Kail has stated publicly that she wants to have nothing to do with Suzi and that she doesn't want her younger kids to meet Suzi. Not apologizing for Suzi, but if her daughter made it known that she was unwelcome in her and her grandkids' lives, what is Suzi supposed to do? Even in this instance, when she called, Kail cussed her out (with ZERO consideration for the fact that Suzi's mom just died) and basically told her to go fuck herself before hanging up on her. Then Kail said that if Suzi continued to call, she'd be open to talking with her. What?!?!? If I were Suzi, I wouldn't take that call as an invitation to keep working on rebuilding a relationship. Kail feels entitled to having everyone kiss her ass all the time because she operates under the assumption that she has had it harder than everyone and everyone owes her something. But, in reality, she's an asshole.

She says that she calls all her kids by their first and middle names. I remember someone questioned her about it on IG and she wrote a snotty response that they all go by either name and it's not a problem. I guess with Creed she decided to make his more used name his middle name (I assume to be "interesting"). I've heard of people naming their kid "John Jacob" (or whatever) with the intention of calling him Jacob because there's another John in the family or ending up using the middle name because they end up liking it/thinking it suits the kid better. It just seems stupid to me to name your kid Romello Creed, then call him Creed from the beginning, get blankets with that name on it, etc. I feel like Kail thinks it will be cute to keep explaining that Creed's name is really Romello.

I believe it's actually Romello Creed, but Kail thinks it's interesting to call her kids by their middle names.

@Scarlett45 No, I didn't think you were defending Kail. I was just further expounding on how I thought her "damage" did/didn't/should/whatever play into her actions and our commentary about them. I pretty much totally agree with you (as usual). To be clear, I do think Suzi is an asshole. The way she treated the Riveras was horrible. But, in all fairness, I think she was being horrible to them on behalf of Kail (and Issac). I think that's just how Suzi rolls (as does Kail). I think if Suzi had managed to snag a middle-upper income bf/husband, she would still be a user and an asshole, but she'd be operating in that arena rather than in the bottom-feeding arena of dating/depending on guys who work in (possibly very low-level) blue collar jobs. If, for example, Kail were planning her wedding to some rich guy and his parents agreed to help fund the wedding, Suzi would TOTALLY be like, "Oh we have to get [this or that expensive thing] (just as she did with buying supplies for Issac's impending birth). Generally, that is considered "classier" and morally superior to dating some construction worker who lets your daughter and grandson move into his 2BR apartment, but really it's the same. I have no idea what Suzi's bf from whom Kail stole the TV does for a living, but my point is that when one can push a narrative of "My husband, the dentist, is such an amazing man and he's welcomed my daughter and grandson into our home..." [not mentioning how my daughter stole his TV because he doesn't really care and that's embarrassing...], it sounds way better (but, IMO, doesn't make Suzi a better or worse person). Look at how Kail has acted, just around money (when she makes more than all of her baby daddies). She's an asshole. If she were a multimillionaire hosting a major network talk show (LOL!) and Jo or Javi were struggling not to lose his house for whatever reason, she would TOTALLY still demand whatever money she could get from him and be like, "I have to do what's right for my child. He's entitled to [whatever] from his dad and it's not my problem if he wasted money on whatever and can't meet his legal obligations..." I hate Kail.

That's an interesting theory. It does seem like Kail was used to playing on her whiteness in her relationships with POCs to some extent. Jo doesn't seem like a "snow queen" to me, but Javi TOTALLY does. So I could see her feeling some type of way that Chris was more into his Black/Brown gf than her even though, presumably, that woman wasn't on TV, wasn't a NYT best-selling author, and didn't have a pool. So, from a crazy perspective, I could see her getting carried away with trying to "win" him and getting pregnant in hopes of reeling him in. BUT, when that didn't work, it should have been a huge wake up call. I agree that Kail is very damaged by her upbringing, but lots of people are (not to be insensitive) and she's had lots and lots of opportunities that many "damaged" people don't get. I'm not just talking about the MTV money (though that's huge). She had emotional and material support from the Riveras when she was a pregnant/parenting teen and she shit on them. I feel like Janet truly embraced her as a daughter and wanted to support her emotionally and have a close relationship. If Kail hadn't been such an asshole, I don't doubt that Janet would still be a "mom" to her even if she and Jo weren't together anymore. Jo and Vee have been AMAZING toward her and; again, if Kail weren't such an asshole; she could probably be in a situation where she was welcome at Rivera family cookouts or whatever with all of her kids by various new baby daddies. Same with Javi's family. She doesn't have that because she shat on it and threw it away. I'm no Suzi defender, but I seriously question whether Kail is really a better mom than her. Kail has the advantages of plenty of money and two very kind, supportive baby daddies. I'm sure Suzi would have done better if she didn't have to work or maintain relationships with a string of boyfriends to survive and/or if Kail had had a great dad who took care of her half the time, freeing Suzi up to do whatever she needed to do to get her shit more together. As I understand it, Kail's complaints about Suzi are that Suzi is an alcoholic (which isn't good, but doesn't necessarily make Suzi a "bad person") and that Suzi prioritized her bfs over Kail (also not good, but subjective, and Kail hasn't (to my knowledge) given details about how Suzi's prioritizing her bfs was specifically abusive or damaging to Kail). To me, alcoholism is a disease (like Kail's bipolar disorder and/or whatever other mental illnesses she has). I don't think being bipolar (or whatever) is morally superior to being an alcoholic and, in some cases, parental alcoholism is less damaging to kids than parental bipolar disorder (or whatever). Suzi can be held responsible for not doing enough to get help for her alcoholism, but Kail can also be held responsible for not doing enough to get help for her mental illness(es) (though she has far more available resources than Suzi). Kail seems to prioritize her "relationship" with Chris in ways that are bad for her kids (and he's not providing them with a place to live or money like Suzi's bfs did). She definitely prioritizes her need to be in control; to ignore how her actions affect others (including her kids); to act out in ways that satisfy her immediate emotional needs, but are clearly not good for her kids' well-being; etc.; etc. For every story she has about how Suzi "prioritized her bfs over Kail," her kids will have at least one about how Kail falsely accused their dads of physical abuse, Kail having an emotional breakdown in front of them over some bullshit, Kail not speaking to their dads over some bullshit, Kail acting like an asshole at their sporting events over some bullshit, Kail physically abusing their dads/them/someone else in front of them, Kail subjecting them to endless humiliation and violations of their privacy on MTV and in tabloids, etc., etc., etc.

I really don't get why she keeps having kids with him. Apart from the two she already has, I would assume that she was/is envisioning him as the father of the 5th child she says she wants already. Why?!?!?! I could understand if she was willing/wanted to be a single parent and, for some inexplicable reason, chose him as her sperm donor. But she was crying a couple of years ago about all of her mom friends are married and she doesn't understand why he won't commit to her and if he didn't commit within a year she was done. It doesn't seem like he's even pretended to want to be in a committed relationship with her, ever. I think the best it gets is him texting her, "I love you, Ms. Lowry." (after doing some fucked up thing) or risking arrest to come by to fuck her in her kitchen. She also talks about wanting a big time career in entertainment or journalism or whatever. Even if, in the abstract, she'd like to have more kids, shouldn't a NYT best-selling author and college graduate take the well-being of her existing kids/herself, her career plans and prospects, etc., etc. into account before wantonly procreating? She's not even 30 yet. She could take a few years to figure out why she's addicted to a guy who treats her like shit, get into a healthier relationship, build a career, THEN have another baby. I get that she's hooked on Chris, for whatever reason, and the heart wants what it wants, but it doesn't seem like she realizes that that's unhealthy for her and her kids. I am sympathetic toward people who have emotional/mental health problems, but it's like she's a heroin addict who doesn't realize that that's problematic for her and her children and has no interest in getting clean. That's worse than an addict who's trying to get clean, but keeps relapsing anyway. Kail is basically like, "I ODed again and ended up in the emergency room, but once I'm healed from childbirth I'm excited to shoot up again! It may sound crazy, but I love it!" All while trying to present as a smart, sensible, mom. Just, WTF?

Remember when she killed that baby pig when she was in a manic spiral and impulsively bought it? And then made it all about herself and how she was in a manic spiral, so she shouldn't be blamed for killing the pig (and probably traumatizing the kids).

Tori is still whining about Dean's infidelity and now she's got the kids in on it (which was inevitable). Is it really a thing to "forgive" your partner for (allegedly one-time) infidelity, go through a huge process which includes therapy, humiliating him on TV, and whining endlessly to anyone who will listen for months and months, but then you get to keep talking about it, even doing media interviews, forever? And the thing is, you'd think Tori would be more understanding about (allegedly one-time) infidelity since she cheated on her husband with Dean, having sex with him the day they met, and left her husband for him. Like, how can someone who does that have the attitude that infidelity, no matter how (allegedly) meaningless and short-term, is THE WORST THING EVER? I'm not even defending Dean because I can't stand him either, but her complete lack of self-awareness, coupled with her complete self-absorption, is stunning.

I think Amber is lying about being abused by "all of her exes," but I do believe that OriginalRecipe!Matt physically abused her (as she did to him). Personally, I don't know of anyone she's dated besides Gary, OriginalRecipe!Matt, nuMatt, and Belgian!Matt. I imagine that there are others who were between seasons or whatever. It wouldn't surprise me if one or more of those guys physically abused her, but I don't believe that Gary or nuMatt did. They may have done something like push her away while she was beating them and Amber (because she's a liar seeking justification for her unjustifiable actions) uses that to claim that the abuse was mutual. That's probably what she tells her brother/other enablers when she can no longer outright deny that she's physically abused her partners. Over time, those lies become her truth ("Yeah, MTV showed me slapping Gary while he was holding Leah, but they didn't show how, before that, he grabbed my arm really hard [because I was reaching for a weapon to hit him with]! You can't see it now, but I had a huge bruise!") Since Amber is delusional, she eventually comes to truly believe the stories she makes up. She seems to really believe the completely fabricated story that she's always been a good mom to Leah (and James). I don't believe anything she says. There's probably a kernel of truth to the bit about her being choked out and spat on, but I agree that it was probably part of consensual sex and Amber is blowing it up because she's a liar. She and OR!Matt seemed to have a dynamic where they got off on/didn't mind hitting each other in anger, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was a sexual turn-on for them as well. And they both seemed to enjoy a relationship dynamic of doing unforgivable (to healthy people) things to each other, but continuing in the relationship. I think that was a big part of why Amber tolerated him lying about how many kids he had, stealing her money, etc., etc. She enjoyed how he enabled her and she enjoyed being in a relationship where she could do horrible things without fearing that her partner would leave her or having to feel bad (a far lesser consideration, I think, but still relevant).

I kind of assumed that Chris was back in the picture because he wanted to get his last name on the new spawn. He got pretty salty about Kail changing Lux's last name from his to hers. Once the new kid is officially branded with his name (which I can TOTALLY see Kail doing), he'll be free to bounce and he'll know to show up for the court hearing this time. He probably likes having kids into whose lives he can bounce whenever it's convenient for him and who are supported by a mom who can afford McMansions with pools, private school, frequent vacations, etc. He's probably as dumb as Kail in terms of understanding that her high-end lifestyle won't last and will be SHOCKED when one day, maybe when he's just gotten a steady job and settled down with someone, Kail demands child support because she's off the MTV teat and his kids are costing her more than ever.

Honestly, I'm just laughing at them because they're such famewhores and they filmed footage of themselves in hopes of getting it picked up by MTV; then MTV did pick it up (which I'm sure led to them dreaming/hoping it would be wildly successful and result in them getting their own show, future Challenge appearances, whatever); then right before it was going to air, BOOM!, "Fuck you both! Rug yanked!" I'm sure they're crushed. I don't even particularly hate or dislike them any more than I generally disdain everyone involved with this train wreck, but... I just don't care and I think it's kind of funny. Cory, in particular, seems like such an immense famewhore and I like seeing his famewhoring dreams crushed (after he invested to the level of having a second baby with someone who's now a famewhoring liability). Taylor seems less objectionable, but... I still don't care.

Why do Cate and Ty act like it's OBVIOUS that Cate can't have a kid after the age of 30? Why is that some kind of magical cut-off for them? Neither of them is intent on, for example, finding a way to support themselves and their kids without MTV before they turn 30. What are the big post-30 life plans they have that they can't let a baby interfere with? I honestly don't get it. I could understand people not wanting to have a baby after a certain age because they don't want to be raising children into their golden years, but if Cate had a baby at, say, 31 (or even <<shudder>> 35), that child wouldn't be significantly younger than her previous child and the child would be off to college or whatever (LOL) before Cate reached retirement age (from her non-existent job). Personally, I don't think they should have any more children, ever, but it would probably be good for both of them to work on themselves as people and parents before procreating again if they insist upon doing so.

It's absolutely disgusting how everyone in Amber's life (including MTV) supports her narrative of how she was somehow the victim in all of her relationships in which she physically abused her partner/children. Gary, Kristina, and Shawn seem to accept that nuMatt was somehow the bad guy in their relationship and that it's somehow unfair to Amber that she was held accountable for her violent behavior and will now suffer serious consequences if she can't refrain from beating on someone. MTV reinforces that narrative. Amber was convicted of abusing Gary (and baby Leah) and ended up going to prison for it because she couldn't stay off of drugs. She's been a deadbeat mom since then (in terms of money as well as spending time with Leah) and has been in one fucked up relationship after another (always physically abusing her partner, and her baby son as well). Imagine if the sexes were reversed and a woman in Gary's position was like, "My abusive ex's 2nd baby mama is such a jerk for calling the cops on him just because he beat her and chased her and their baby with a machete. Now he's in big trouble and if he beats someone else up he'll go to jail! I hope his new gf isn't a jerk like that and is with him for the right reasons!" It's sick. I know he and Kristina mean well and want to do what they think is best for Leah, but their enabling of Amber isn't healthy for anyone. What are they teaching Leah about-- well, everything? Gary is a DV survivor who basically condones DV/makes excuses for his abuser when she reoffends. Amber pretends like all of her "past" issues are fixed and she's perfectly healthy and functioning, when, in reality, she's a fucking lunatic who was arrested for crazy, violent behavior (which she more or less denies, though there's irrefutable evidence) less than a year ago. Gary goes along with the idea that all of that was somehow nuMatt's fault, though everyone (including Leah, I'm sure) knows that Amber is a violent asshole. And I feel like Gary is so dumb that if Leah is in an abusive relationship 5 or 6 years from now, he'll be COMPLETELY SHOCKED and have NO IDEA why she would think that was ok. Sigh.