S11.E03: Lonely in Flagstaff

[Sandy W]

6 minutes ago, DakotaJustice said:

I didn't watch but from what I've read here, it's clear she wanted Kody, and ONLY Kody, to help her so she could flirt with him privately. 

Meri: - oh hey Kody, love the way your butt moves when you walk up the stairs.  Kody: - silence

Meri: - should I put our king size bed on this wall or that wall?  Kody: - put YOUR bed wherever it suits you Meri.

[TurtlePower]

7 minutes ago, neh said:

Christine's daughters volunteered to help Meri but she never called them.

Can you imagine hauling that piano up those  stairs? The stairs would put the "pain" in piano!!!

I don’t know why anyone would WANT to help her. I certainly would not go out of my way to help someone who would not be satisfied with the amount/type of help/attention they are getting. Meri won’t be happy no matter what they do, so why bother? She was offered help and didn’t follow up. Instead, she complained. She always complains. And complains. And complains. 

A more thoughtful person would have saved her family the stress of those awful stairs, hired professionals and been done with it: “No way was I going have you guys trying to navigate those stairs.” But, no, because Meri’s a terrible person. 

[Jeanne222]

How many times did she help them?  Robyn brought help and one of two of the others hired it done.

Meri loves to complain and do nothing!

I think the biggest FU to Meri was when she visited and had to rent a room at the local hotel while having three sister wives and a husband with big houses!!!

[HighlandWarriorGrl]

17 hours ago, Joan of Argh said:

This!

I've been watching the older episodes a couple at a time (that's all I can handle) and you're absolutely right... Meri has been a petty, jealous, sarcastic, meddling witch since the beginning.

The episode when Robyn and Kootie were on their honeymoon Christine and Janelle were openly upset, jealous etc and so was Meri but she comforted herself watching how completely miserable the other 2 were..... I found her behaviour disturbing to watch... Lol and it all backfired on her.... She is not a pleasant person to be around, they all know it and avoid her like the plague.

Yes, yes, all true, but you must remember that we came in on the story AFTER at least two other women invaded Meri’s fairy tale.  You see, I maintain (and I feel it has been proven time and again on this show) that Meri was never meant for plyg life, even though she came from that background.  

We have no idea how the addition of two, then a third extra wife changed Meri’s disposition.  If I were to look at just myself, I would say that I am a fairly well adjusted woman who has been married to the same man my whole adult life and I hope that to my family, friends and acquaintances I have a reasonably pleasant personality and am happy most of the time.  HOWEVER, I can tell you that if my husband, after a couple years of marriage decided that I wasn’t enough for him and brought in additional women, I would probably be a Tasmanian devil who needed to be fed with a stick.  Truth be told, I would have left, but that is not the culture I was raised in.  Now, you may say that because Meri was raised in that culture, she knew what she was getting into.  On the surface I agree but, does anyone really know what it is like to be married and want your fairy tale until you actually get there?  Especially if you didn’t live with your boyfriend ahead of time?  Even if raised in the “faith,” that had to be jarring.  By then you have bought the farm and your plyg family expects you to stay put and be sweet.  Instead of leaving, she did what she was conditioned to do, but she obviously didn’t like it.  She took on the HBIC role to cope, IMHO.

I would watch the hell out of the show that showed the social experiment of undoing the plyg conditioning and determining if Meri’s personality is/was any different without its influence and baggage.  If Meri were to meet someone who wanted to love her 1:1 and she didn’t have to compete for love, affection and attention, would she be any different?  If her worth was judged on her wit, her intelligence and her true personality instead of her ability to produce children or be sweet while sharing a peen, would the stupid walls drop and would she be likable?  So basically like the catfish, but real this time.  Doesn’t have to be a filthy rich fantasy, just a basically decent guy that would let Meri see what monogamy is really like.  It would be an interesting paradigm shift for any of them, no?

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

So my take on this is she despises Janelle because she was originally married to her Meri's brother but  coveted Meris "man".  She probably hung out with them as she mentioned they were her "secret plyg friends" and then scooted on into their life. I could see where Meri thought this was a betrayal, not only to her brother but to maybe a friendship she had with Janelle, surface or not - Janelle broke girls code. 

The reason why she liked Robyn was because Meri got to pick her and she probably got a good ol'  :" you did good Meri" from Koda, probably the only positive thing he probably has said to her in a long time.   

[DakotaJustice]

3 hours ago, Sandy W said:

Meri: - oh hey Kody, love the way your butt moves when you walk up the stairs.  Kody: - silence

Meri: - should I put our king size bed on this wall or that wall?  Kody: - put YOUR bed wherever it suits you Meri.

Damn, did this exchange actually occur?? I gotta watch it. 

[TurtlePower]

4 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

I didn't watch but from what I've read here, it's clear she wanted Kody, and ONLY Kody, to help her so she could flirt with him privately. 

Watching Meri try to interact with Kody was........awkward.  The vibe I got from Kody was, “Eeeew, no thanks.”

He’s SO over her I think the idea of “working things out” disgusts him. And Meri doesn’t see it. 

[DakotaJustice]

Just now, TurtlePower said:

Watching Meri try to interact with Kody was........awkward.  The vibe I got from Kody was, “Eeeew, no thanks.”

He’s SO over her I think the idea of “working things out” disgusts him. And Meri doesn’t see it. 

And of course one of the joys of polygamy is that Meri will never have sex again unless it's with machinery.

[Rabbit Hutch]

5 hours ago, Sandy W said:

Meri: - oh hey Kody, love the way your butt moves when you walk up the stairs.  Kody: - silence

Meri: - should I put our king size bed on this wall or that wall?  Kody: - put YOUR bed wherever it suits you Meri.

I am so embarrassed for Meri.  

Meri, if you read these threads please buy, rent, or borrow some dignity and courage and leave this circus.  Kody has no interest in reestablishing your relationship, whatsoever. He's turned you into a laughingstock.

[Kohola3]

8 minutes ago, Rabbit Hutch said:

He's turned you into a laughingstock.

Well, honestly, she's been complicit in her embarrassment from the get go.  And she's the one that went cat fishing and then denied it even though there was hard evidence seen by the whole world.  So any loss of dignity is due to her own actions as much as Kootie's.  She'd love to dump the blame elsewhere but the responsible party is looking back at her from her mirror.

[xwordfanatik]

Yes, dear Meri, many of us remember when you were going to travel to meet another catfished woman, and you told Robyn, "don't call me a victim."  Yet, that is what you have acted like from the beginning of the whole fiasco.  That HBIC title meant everything to you, or why wouldn't your "spiritual" union have been enough?  Two of your sister wives have never been HBIC.  The Dark Wife completely sucked you into her vortex.  

 

[Sandy W]

3 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

Damn, did this exchange actually occur?? I gotta watch it. 

Not actually, it was just my riff on the conversation that might have transpired had she been able to lure Kody into the lair to lend a hand.  I was just expanding on the self-flagellating flirting she was attempting while he was backing the truck up the driveway.  I literally cringed for her.

[Joan of Argh]

25 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

Yes, dear Meri, many of us remember when you were going to travel to meet another catfished woman, and you told Robyn, "don't call me a victim."  Yet, that is what you have acted like from the beginning of the whole fiasco.  That HBIC title meant everything to you, or why wouldn't your "spiritual" union have been enough?  Two of your sister wives have never been HBIC.  The Dark Wife completely sucked you into her vortex.  

 

This sooooo much!  👍❤️

I absolutely love it that Meri supposedly set Kody up with Robyn and she wound up being the one to pay the highest price.

Now Christine and Janelle seem to have good relationships with Robyn and much prefer her being HBIC and poor old Meri has her pug nose pushed against the window looking in while they all giggle, joke and enjoy each others company.

I've never seen Meri as upset as during the recent TH's on the couch with the others.... she really looked like she'd like to smash Janelle in the face as Janelle playfully flirted with Kody and he gobbled it up with a spoon, smiling from ear to ear!... meanwhile he ignored every attempt by Meri to flirt or compliment him.

I don't think her sister wives will lift a finger to bring Meri back into the fold... why would they want to knowing what a total bitch she is and how she lorded it over everyone when she was No. 1 wife.

She's making a total fool of herself and proving what downer she is to be around, no one wants that but they'll keep being sweet and telling her how much they want her in the fambly meanwhile they ignore her and she has to rent a hotel when she's in town.

Nobody likes her... I bet Maddie loves watching that old witch Meri get what's coming to her.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Joan of Argh
removed link

[ginger90]

Not that it matters, Meri had a post, I believe in her Instagram stories not too long ago. I may have posted it, I don’t recall. Basically it said the tabloids had the story wrong about her introducing Robyn to Kody. She said she didn’t.

[Sandy W]

4 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Not that it matters, Meri had a post, I believe in her Instagram stories not too long ago. I may have posted it, I don’t recall. Basically it said the tabloids had the story wrong about her introducing Robyn to Kody. She said she didn’t.

It should be easy enough to check.  If anyone still has a copy of their book, "Becoming Sister Wives" around, it seems to me that they covered the topic from the first breathless encounter right through the "chaste" courtship.

[tomsmom]

That house of Meri’s is fucking ridiculous. Fuck this show.

[Just Wondering]

“I've never seen Meri as upset as during the recent TH's on the couch with the others.... she really looked like she'd like to smash Janelle in the face as Janelle playfully flirted with Kody.”

 

Exactly!!!!  She looked positively angry.

But I suspect that Meri and Kody’s divorce was a true split.  I think Meri responded to “Sam” because she was free to do as she pleased - as long as she was discreet.  I think TLC scavenges their plots from online forums and social media, so this show has basically become a weekly sitcom where Kody and Meri are doing what has to be done, like Lucy and Desi on the last years of I Love Lucy.  Only not as classic.  I think the somber new intro plays into this trickery.  And now they have Kody quoting his dissenters and pretending to want a big house so they can all live the Principle as it was intended.  TLC and the Brown LLC are officially throwing us bones. 

 

[Joan of Argh]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

Not that it matters, Meri had a post, I believe in her Instagram stories not too long ago. I may have posted it, I don’t recall. Basically it said the tabloids had the story wrong about her introducing Robyn to Kody. She said she didn’t.

I think she's nit picking....

they met Robyn together at a party and Meri and Robyn *clicked* so on the way home Meri pushed Kody and said maybe he should persue Robyn etc.

So I guess technically she didn't introduce Kody and Robyn because they met her together.... but she did put the bug in his ear to court Robyn.

 

 

[DakotaJustice]

2 hours ago, Sandy W said:

Not actually, it was just my riff on the conversation that might have transpired had she been able to lure Kody into the lair to lend a hand.  I was just expanding on the self-flagellating flirting she was attempting while he was backing the truck up the driveway.  I literally cringed for her.

You should be a scriptwriter for the show. 👌👍👌

[Sandy W]

17 minutes ago, DakotaJustice said:

You should be a scriptwriter for the show. 👌👍👌

Any one of us could write a more plausible script.  If we expected the viewers to believe that Meri and the gang were willing to tuck their tails between their legs and flee the first rental, we would have provided evidence.  The insinuation was strong that they were being once again persecuted for polygamy, yet we have only Meri's interpretation of the landlady's phone call. 

Did they show the neighbor refusing to shake their hand?  If that happened I missed it. 

The sound of sirens and the photo of a police car were cut and pasted straight from the flight from Lehi.  The film crew were present when the police allegedly arrived, if they stopped filming at police request, the audio could have been left on or any one of them could have turned on their phone to record without attracting attention. 

Too many holes in the saga to convince me that the whole scenario wasn't just a poorly written plot for storyline.

[Soaper410]

I'm not a doctor but Meri is clearly depressed. Having a bad marriage/non-existent romantic relationship with your spouse would do that normally but its been going on for years now.   Then you see that he's doing okay/good with 3 other women.  Kody will never forgive Meri for attempting to cheat on him.  His ego will never recover and with 3 other wives, he has that option.  

But in all fairness to the women, Meri is selfish and un-fun to be around.  She clearly has always played the victim.  Seasons 1-5:  I can't have but one baby.  Therefore, I deserve as much money and house as those who had more kids because I'm a victim. Seasons 6-10: I tried to cheat and failed.  Now people blame me for it.  So instead I buy a B&B that makes no sense and get mad when people don't realize I'm the victim. 

Janelle is busy not selling houses, sitting on her couch, walking once a week past the guardrail near her home , raising 3 kids and helping Madison. 

Christine has 4 kids at home. 

Robyn has 5 kids, two of them fairly little.  

Then there is Kody and his constant need for attention from non-Meri wives.  They don't have time to drive 30 minutes for Meri to list off all the ways she is treated unpoorly.  

 

 

[Absolom]

16 minutes ago, Soaper410 said:

Christine has 4 kids at home. 

I'm pretty sure she's down to 3 girls at home.

[Soaper410]

^^Oh didn't realize #3 was that old!

[DakotaJustice]

Mykelti and Aspyn both married. Paedon is in the military, the National Guard I think? 

Leaving three and I'm guessing the oldest will be leaving soon. 

[Irate Panda]

Oh course, Meri needs a BIG house.  She’s a boss lady that is living her why!  It is the house the Luluroe built or at least rented.

[Rabbit Hutch]

13 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Well, honestly, she's been complicit in her embarrassment from the get go.  And she's the one that went cat fishing and then denied it even though there was hard evidence seen by the whole world.  So any loss of dignity is due to her own actions as much as Kootie's.  She'd love to dump the blame elsewhere but the responsible party is looking back at her from her mirror.

Agreed, Meri started it with the catfish shenanigans and she must accept her role in this fiasco, but Kody's "take no prisoners" attitude with her since that time has become so entrenched that it's embarrassing (on Meri's behalf) to watch it play out on national t.v. 

Why can't Meri see this, or even feel it, emanating from that man!?!  His body language alone screams "get away from me."  He's not in love with her; crikey, he doesn't even like her at the moment. 😞 Dr. Nancy should be fired, for there's no real improvement in their relationship. Although I wouldn't want her in my family I still think she deserves better than what he's dishing out. 😏

While I'm at a loss at her flirting with him like a oblivious schoolgirl, I'm also nonplussed at seeing a man of MATURE years with 4 wives treat them with such contempt on t.v., and currently it's Meri's turn. Arguements of whose to blame for this situation aside, the catfish incident happened years ago, and they were married for years before that. Moreover, he SOMEHOW got Meri (who framed and hung up her marriage certificate in her bedroom!) to divorce him so he could marry Robyn, the true love of his life. All things considered, Kody got ALL that he wanted, and a real man who understood this would show Meri a little more compassion and much more respect.

Many say it's about the money with Meri, and if Occam's Razor is put into play here, they're most likely correct.  The bananarama moment (among others) was a humiliating creation of her own choosing, but Meri could put a stop to this continuing humiliation by leaving Kody. If not for her sake, then for both the family and the audience's.

In finishing up this novella, between Kody's seething rage about being cuckolded by Meri's banana, the increasing scent of desperation coming from the wives as to where the money's going to come from to cut all those rent and mortgage checks, the grown kids that have chosen to be MIA from even cameo appearances on the show, and the obvious dislike amongst the wives for one another, the awkwardness level is approaching critical mass. I'm at the point of skipping the show altogether, and just snarking with everyone, here. Watching this show is too tiresome.  😒

[Sandy W]

10 minutes ago, Rabbit Hutch said:

Agreed, Meri started it with the catfish shenanigans and she must accept her role in this fiasco, but Kody's "take no prisoners" attitude with her since that time has become so entrenched that it's embarrassing (on Meri's behalf) to watch it play out on national t.v. 

Why can't Meri see this, or even feel it, emanating from that man!?!  His body language alone screams "get away from me."  He's not in love with her; crikey, he doesn't even like her at the moment. 😞 Dr. Nancy should be fired, for there's no real improvement in their relationship. Although I wouldn't want her in my family I still think she deserves better than what he's dishing out. 😏

While I'm at a loss at her flirting with him like a oblivious schoolgirl, I'm also nonplussed at seeing a man of MATURE years with 4 wives treat them with such contempt on t.v., and currently it's Meri's turn. Arguements of whose to blame for this situation aside, the catfish incident happened years ago, and they were married for years before that. Moreover, he SOMEHOW got Meri (who framed and hung up her marriage certificate in her bedroom!) to divorce him so he could marry Robyn, the true love of his life. All things considered, Kody got ALL that he wanted, and a real man who understood this would show Meri a little more compassion and much more respect.

Many say it's about the money with Meri, and if Occam's Razor is put into play here, they're most likely correct.  The bananarama moment (among others) was a humiliating creation of her own choosing, but Meri could put a stop to this continuing humiliation by leaving Kody. If not for her sake, then for both the family and the audience's.

In finishing up this novella, between Kody's seething rage about being cuckolded by Meri's banana, the increasing scent of desperation coming from the wives as to where the money's going to come from to cut all those rent and mortgage checks, the grown kids that have chosen to be MIA from even cameo appearances on the show, and the obvious dislike amongst the wives for one another, the awkwardness level is approaching critical mass. I'm at the point of skipping the show altogether, and just snarking with everyone, here. Watching this show is too tiresome.  😒

Dr. Nancy should have been long gone and a true professional brought in to make sense of the motivations behind their actions.  The (unprofessional) way I see it is that Kody had an idealistic view of how his polygamist life would play out.  The first wife would act as mentor and guide subsequent wives through the shoals without placing any stress upon him.

  Meri, acting out of jealousy and hurt pride that she wasn't enough for Kody to cast aside their original premise of a polygamist life, took her rage out on Janelle and Christine.  This added a layer of unrest to Kody's preconceived idea of the smooth sailing his life would be.

Robyn quickly assessed the situation when she came on the scene and divined that her role would be the compassionate, all knowing, mother-earth figure that would relieve pressure on Kody.  Kody gravitated to Robyn like a moth to a flame because this played into his fantasy of the first wife keeping the boat afloat without bothering him with the humdrum and the pettiness and bitchiness of everyday life.

I believe that Meri knows that she will never regain the position of power that she once reveled in but her ego is such that she hangs in there with the faint hope that Kody will someday declare that Meri was indeed his first and only TRUE love.  She will then announce, that's all I wanted to hear, I refuse to leave as the cast aside, downtrodden shrew but will leave believing that I forever own his heart.

[Roslyn]

1 hour ago, Sandy W said:

Dr. Nancy should have been long gone and a true professional brought in to make sense of the motivations behind their actions.  The (unprofessional) way I see it is that Kody had an idealistic view of how his polygamist life would play out.  The first wife would act as mentor and guide subsequent wives through the shoals without placing any stress upon him.

  Meri, acting out of jealousy and hurt pride that she wasn't enough for Kody to cast aside their original premise of a polygamist life, took her rage out on Janelle and Christine.  This added a layer of unrest to Kody's preconceived idea of the smooth sailing his life would be.

Robyn quickly assessed the situation when she came on the scene and divined that her role would be the compassionate, all knowing, mother-earth figure that would relieve pressure on Kody.  Kody gravitated to Robyn like a moth to a flame because this played into his fantasy of the first wife keeping the boat afloat without bothering him with the humdrum and the pettiness and bitchiness of everyday life.

I believe that Meri knows that she will never regain the position of power that she once reveled in but her ego is such that she hangs in there with the faint hope that Kody will someday declare that Meri was indeed his first and only TRUE love.  She will then announce, that's all I wanted to hear, I refuse to leave as the cast aside, downtrodden shrew but will leave believing that I forever own his heart.

A part of me hopes that when they are off camera in therapy they are real with each other.  I suspect maybe not...but I can hope.  Therapy can only work when the people involved can accept that they need to change how they react to others.  You can't change other people...you can only change yourself.  Both Kody and Meri are very self centered people, but sadly their religion backs up Kody's sense of self but Meri is on her own (literally) with feelings and emotions.  She is merely a cog in the system.  But Meri the person is a needy person.  She NEEDS Kody to fawn over her, to declare his love to her, to race across the burning bridge with his hair blowing in the wind, he MUST prove with actions every. single. day how he loves and adores her.  Living with a person like that is exhausting, and Kody even admitted on camera that he doesn't take any responsibility for their emotions...not his circus.  He is big picture man. 

Meri brought it up to Christine all those years ago (Christine "struggling" and Meri had just hurt her knee skiing) and she told Christine to suck it up, make life light and fun for Kody or he WILL be the "poo poo head".  He can only exist in a fun world. 🙄

Because of that the women don't blame that man for what he needs to take the blame on.  Their religion tells them it's their fault and their problem, so they blame themselves and each other and each other's kids etc etc.  HOW many stories are out there of the wives taking out their rage on other wives' children? Lots.

Robyn, Robyn, Robyn.  She fell into a 10 month courtship and it was perfect for her.  She had 10 months separate from the family, but close enough to study the family dynamic.  To learn how Kody interacts with the whole family and each wife individually.  And she had plenty of time to learn Kody's buttons.  How to make him happy, how to make herself look like she was the good and "spiritually good" wife.  Judging by the Honeymoon episode it was obvious that she fulfilled her role behind closed doors quite well.  The lust on his face was beyond obvious.

While Kody and Meri might actually be trying to come to a point of "not being assholes" to each other, I doubt they will ever return to anything beyond "she's the divorced first wife that you have a relationship with for the sake of the family" kind of thing.  Meri is too needy and too narcissistic to accept her role and then humble herself to change.

[Kellyee]

Quote

A part of me hopes that when they are off camera in therapy they are real with each other.  I suspect maybe not...but I can hope.

Based on what has been hinted at on the show and what we see in their Instragram photos, I have serious doubts about whether any of these people even speak to each other when the cameras aren't rolling. The houses in Flagstaff aren't that far apart, but the wives hint that they have barely seen each other in the 3 months since they moved, even though none of them know anyone else in town. So Christine would rather sit alone in her house than wander over to Janelle's for some tea. And since they don't seem to know much about each other's daily lives, I also suspect they aren't texting or calling much. 

I think the whole relationship is for the show. They are single mothers with a dude who shows up for food and sex and the occasional handyman assignment once or twice a week. They are what they have accused other polygamist families of being. A bunch of women sharing a guy who hate each other. 

 

 

 

 

[Roslyn]

1 minute ago, Kellyee said:

 A bunch of women sharing a guy who hate each other.

But are forced day in and day out to suck it up, pretend all is well, smile sweetly and slowly die inside. To please their God and their God-in-Training earthly Man.

[Pickleinthemiddle]

3 hours ago, Irate Panda said:

Oh course, Meri needs a BIG house.  She’s a boss lady that is living her why!  It is the house the Luluroe built or at least rented.

If she were smart she would be putting all that money back and having something when this show is over.  Instead of always having to have a house better than her sister wives.  I think it was very telling that Christine and Janelle have just regular homes and Robyn and Meri get 4 times the house they need.  

 

That first one Robyn had was large enough for everyone that moved to Flagstaff.  It was  7 bedroom house.

[DakotaJustice]

I'm personally of the opinion that the catfish is/was, ultimately, a red herring. Kody uses it as an excuse, but really, he's been done with Meri for some time BEFORE 2015. 

I still feel that Meri was perfectly okay with being a one-child mom. I'm sure it took time but by the time the first season was filmed, she seemed to accept and even to embrace her status. I think what got to her was the competition between her and Janelle/Christine. They popped out babies like popcorn, but Meri got more alone/away time with Kody. 

It sounds like it was about the time Robyn entered the picture where Kody and Meri started having real issues, but they were always there since Janelle joined them.  I think despite all of Meri's statements to the contrary, it was Robyn who excerbated the problems between the two of them. Meri likely took cold comfort in the belief that Robyn would be her ally against J&C. 

After Sol was born and Robyn made her (phony) offer to be a surrogate for Meri (what did that really mean? To have Meri's thousand-year eggs implanted in her uterus? Or just to get pregnant as usual but give the baby to Meri to raise?) that's when the shit really hit the proverbial fan. Mariah's tantrums about how she wanted a sibling (scuse me?? You already had 12!) didn't help matters. I believe at that point sexual relations between Meri and Kody probably were few and far between.  Meri was waffling between IVF and Robyn's proposal while Kody became more annoyed and impatient. I'm sure at that point he had lost most, if not all, of his desire for Meri.  If he can't or doesn't want to get it up, well then...you know the rest. 

I think they haven't had sex since well before Meri was induced to file for divorce. He might have dutifully spent the night at Meri's to maintain appearances, but she had a lot of empty bedrooms and most likely that's where he spent the night. Had they been regularly intimate, then perhaps she wouldn't have been susceptible to Overton's scam and might have even seen it for what it was. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by DakotaJustice

[Sandy W]

The opposite to love is not hate but indifference.  That's what I believe Kody feels for Meri.  No amount of "working on it" will rekindle love once it's gone, considering that Kody has no motivation to ignite any spark.  

The best they can hope for at this point is, if they spend time and space apart, they may be able to look back with nostalgic, mutual respect for what they once had. 

[Persnickety1]

Meri's new house with all of that rock looked like it would be as cold as her soul.  A big house, to be sure, but definitely not everyone's cup of tea.  I don't blame the others for not wanting to haul furniture up and down those stairs.  Suck it up, Meri, dip into your Luluroe funds, and pay professionals to move that heavy shit.  The others will deign to help your sour ass unpack.  Ugh.

I loved this episode just for the scenes of Meri looking more pissed off than a wet gerbil.  

I'm still waiting until we get a crossover with ID Discovery for when these women realize they don't need Kody and turn on him en masse.  Or at least hold him down and shave that ridiculous shit atop his head.  

[suomi]

IIIRC Kody and Meri first encountered Robyn when they were at someone's house and Robyn showed up there to pick up her kids from a play date. Meri noticed that sparks flew and quite soon afterward the Browns were at a dance/a party and Robyn was there also and that's when Meri started the ball rolling.

Edited January 18, 2020 by suomi

[Yeah No]

On 1/13/2020 at 6:03 PM, Joan of Argh said:

I totally agree, I didn't like anything about her house... The front door seemed to open right into the livingroom and the colors looked like the 80's or 90's all outdated and awful.

What I don't understand is why she would rent such a huge house with that terrible steep driveway, ugly ass water feature, cheap little elevator that looked very small and cramped, stairs everywhere... I hated it.

Didn't they say it was a "deal"?  Perhaps she could look the other way on a few outdated things because of that.  Also, I could have sworn I saw a wet bar flash by in one of the scenes.  Seriously!

[Yeah No]

On 1/14/2020 at 10:17 AM, Jeanne222 said:

Meri is never in a million years going to take that small apartment Kody has designated for her.  That should bring about some kind of a showdown!

Maybe that will be another "fake" story line - them fighting over the size of her apartment.  it will become the "wet bar" of this season.  I noticed that her and Robin's apartments are exact mirror images of each other except that Robin's bumps out to allow for two bedrooms, while Meri's does not.  It would be very easy to change the plan to include a bump out to allow Meri to have her two bedrooms, which would make her and Robin's apartments exact mirror images of each other.

[Yeah No]

On 1/14/2020 at 6:51 PM, Twopper said:

They should have built this house in LV instead of the 4 houses on the cul-de-sac, because that is when they had 11million children living at home.  By the time this house could be built, they will be down to the 5 adults, Truly, and the last two that belong to Robin.  

I do wonder if they have been taking script writing and acting lessons online over the hiatus between this season and the last.   Kody is so over the top with his dream house; it needs a small bedroom/office in the "peen" section for him so he can isolate himself if he has flu.  

At the rate they're going, by the time this house is ever built Kody will have the 11 million bedrooms upstairs to himself should he come down with the flu or need to man cave himself.

[Irate Panda]

Im sorry but I don’t feel sorry for Meri one bit.  She tried to cheat and failed despite multiple warnings. Worse yet she is just a miserable person to be around even before  the Catfish.  This doesn’t make Kody good, the two can be independent of each other.  The truth is she is probably the wife in the best position to just leave this horrible situation as she describes it. She has 2 streams of income besides the show and could probably talk TLC into at least one season of a spin off, MERI: BOSS LADY, LARGE AND IN CHARGE.  I would say Mariah might feel some kind of way , but she knows which  side her avocado toast is buttered on.  
 

Meri is grumpy on the show, she’s grumpy according to this board, when her customers ask her something.  What I really want to know is when the show money dries up if Kody will be more generous with his HARmones if Meri’s businesses are still pulling in money?  I don’t believe his ego will ever get over her “cheating”, but those flexible curlers and mousse don’t pay for themselves.  
 

[Joan of Argh]

What I find interesting this season is how they seem to have dropped the whole "we all love each other blah, blah" and they're being downright dismissive of Meri and her bitching.

Robyn admitted that yes she knew Meri was in a hotel down the street and never contacted her.

In the season where Meri was trying to sell them on the idea of the B&B.... the wives all ganged up on Kootie (even Janelle) during the table meeting and defended Meri.... but this season they've been defending Kootie and basically ignoring Meri and her whining.

JMO but I think the dynamics have changed and Meri is being frozen out.... I hope it's the catalyst for an explosion!  🤩

 

[Pickleinthemiddle]

8 hours ago, suomi said:

IIIRC Kody and Meri first encountered Robyn when they were at someone's house and Robyn showed up there to pick up her kids from a play date. Meri noticed that sparks flew and quite soon afterward the Browns were at a dance/a party and Robyn was there also and that's when Meri started the ball rolling.

It was pretty much implied that Robyn knew they were trying to get the show and knew people that could put her in Kody's path.  She made a point to be where Kody was.

[Jeanne222]

If Meri was to leave...holding my breath...She could maybe get a full time 9-5 job somewhere with health insurance and benefits!

I realize she's under educated and no experience other than bitching on tv and selling clothing out of her closet but many people work every day to support themselves and their families!

Just a thought!

Just like the saying why buy the cow when the milk is free!  Why work when reality tv pays for your life style!

[Rabbit Hutch]

On 1/17/2020 at 7:31 PM, ginger90 said:

Not that it matters, Meri had a post, I believe in her Instagram stories not too long ago. I may have posted it, I don’t recall. Basically it said the tabloids had the story wrong about her introducing Robyn to Kody. She said she didn’t.

I thought I heard the Queen of Darkness herself state that she first saw Kootie at church, liked what she saw, and then made a concerted effort to walk past him a couple of times in order to get King Polygamy's attention?  I might be misremembering this, so someone help me out if they can.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Rabbit Hutch
Typo

[Rabbit Hutch]

22 hours ago, Sandy W said:

Dr. Nancy should have been long gone and a true professional brought in to make sense of the motivations behind their actions.  The (unprofessional) way I see it is that Kody had an idealistic view of how his polygamist life would play out.  The first wife would act as mentor and guide subsequent wives through the shoals without placing any stress upon him.

  Meri, acting out of jealousy and hurt pride that she wasn't enough for Kody to cast aside their original premise of a polygamist life, took her rage out on Janelle and Christine.  This added a layer of unrest to Kody's preconceived idea of the smooth sailing his life would be.

Robyn quickly assessed the situation when she came on the scene and divined that her role would be the compassionate, all knowing, mother-earth figure that would relieve pressure on Kody.  Kody gravitated to Robyn like a moth to a flame because this played into his fantasy of the first wife keeping the boat afloat without bothering him with the humdrum and the pettiness and bitchiness of everyday life.

I believe that Meri knows that she will never regain the position of power that she once reveled in but her ego is such that she hangs in there with the faint hope that Kody will someday declare that Meri was indeed his first and only TRUE love.  She will then announce, that's all I wanted to hear, I refuse to leave as the cast aside, downtrodden shrew but will leave believing that I forever own his heart.

Good points, Sandy.  Robyn viewed as the archetypal Earth Mother is rich!  If I (again) remember correctly she was the one that the other sister wives described as having "emotional intelligence". That would fit right in with your description above.  

[Irate Panda]

2 hours ago, Rabbit Hutch said:

I thought I heard the Queen of Darkness herself state that she first saw Kootie at church, liked what she saw, and then made a concerted effort to walk past him a couple of times in order to get King Polygamy's attention?  I might be misremembering this, so someone help me out if they can.

I also think  I read it was Robyn’s mom who told Robyn to get her “scent” out there.  I don’t know who caught a whiff first Kody or Meri.   Possibly Robyn with TLC’s money.
 

 I actually don’t hate Robyn as much as most people on the board.  Even slug Janelle I could live with....I would just wander off when she started talking about digestion problems.   Can somebody explain what Kody’s initial attraction to Meri was?  Her face to me has always been harsh to look at, she didn’t seem particularly nice.  Was it because she put Kody on a pedestal?  Was her family somebody in the plyg community like Christine’s?  Young Kody seemed good looking enough and charismatic enough to get somewhat reasonably good looking and nice as a first wife.  He may have been a jackass then, but jackasses get goodlooking nice wives all the time.  Did she just treat him as Lord Kootie and that was the attraction? Did they explain it in her book?

 I know it’s subjective but I though Meri was unattractive facially even back then.  Janelle I get....I actually thought she was better looking than Meri despite 80s glasses, plus I’m  sure the Kodester got an ego boost “stealing” his brother’s-in-law wife.  Christine was plyg royalty despite the nachos, and a Robyn was 10 years younger with extra long VS jeans.  I will say Meri has good organizational skills maybe that’s needed with plyg families and mlm schemes.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Irate Panda

[xwordfanatik]

51 minutes ago, Irate Panda said:

I also think  I read it was Robyn’s mom who told Robyn to get her “scent” out there.  I don’t know who caught a whiff first Kody or Meri.   Possibly Robyn with TLC’s money.
 

 I actually don’t hate Robyn as much as most people on the board.  Even slug Janelle I could live with....I would just wander off when she started talking about digestion problems.   Can somebody explain what Kody’s initial attraction to Meri was?  Her face to me has always been harsh to look at, she didn’t seem particularly nice.  Was it because she put Kody on a pedestal?  Was her family somebody in the plug community like Christine’s?  Young Kody seemed good looking enough and charismatic enough to get somewhat reasonably good looking and nice as a first wife.  He may have been a jackass then, but jackasses get goodlooking nice wives all the time.  Did she just treat him as Lord Kootie and that was the attraction.  Did they explain it in her book?

 I know it’s subjective but I though Meri was unattractive facially even back then.  Janelle I get....I actually thought she was better looking than Meri despite 80s glasses, plus I’m  sure the Kodester got an ego boost “stealing” his brother’s-in-law wife.  Christine was plyg royalty despite the nachos, and a Robyn was 10 years younger with extra long VS jeans.  I will say Meri has good organizational skills maybe that’s needed with plyg families and mlm schemes.

That "scent" reference always makes me ill.  I find it rilly distasteful for some reason.

[Kohola3]

2 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

That "scent" reference always makes me ill.

Well, Kootie is no better than a mangy hound dog.

[Irate Panda]

7 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

That "scent" reference always makes me ill.  I find it rilly distasteful for some reason.

Yeah when I heard it, I was like what’s the dill? That’s a really tacky thing for a mother to say. It’s skeevy.

[AZChristian]

 

2 hours ago, xwordfanatik said:

That "scent" reference always makes me ill.  I find it rilly distasteful for some reason.

Remember when they first bought the land for the LV cult-de-sac?  Kody had to make a big deal out of running all around the perimeter to get his smell (or was it "stink" that he said?) on the place.

Their preoccupation with sharing body odor is . . . shall we say . . . odd.

[Kbo]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

 

Remember when they first bought the land for the LV cult-de-sac?  Kody had to make a big deal out of running all around the perimeter to get his smell (or was it "stink" that he said?) on the place.

Their preoccupation with sharing body odor is . . . shall we say . . . odd.

Who could forget Kody running across the property like an Irish Setter in an Alpo commercial?  Someone here made that comparison and I laughed so hard I never forgot it 😂