S15.E04: The Basement Wife

[Just Wondering]

28 minutes ago, deirdra said:

It is more than a hint.  Warren Jeffs' group and their Canadian Blackmore friends have been trafficking underage teen girls across the border to provide some new genetic material for decades.

100 % agreed. But Kody and crew reject the notion that they are anything like these other sects. I remember Christine not “knowing men could be such bastards”. The plyg lites either ignore the fact that all polygamy groups originate from the same fetid source or they just hope to trick the women into believing they gave full consent - even though there’s no way to give true consent when one is blind and deceived from the start. 

[HelloOutThere]

These ladies need some Botox in their lives! Their faces are giving away their true level of anger and negativity! These are no laugh lines. 

Are such procedures against the Brown Religion? 

I’m actually surprised Kody hasn’t had any cosmetic procedures. Yet!!

[Teafortwo]

Starting at 8 pm tonight, Eastern time, TLC is rerunning the first 4 episodes of this season with "bonus scenes." Even though that probably adds up to barely 1 minute of each episode, I thought y'all might want to know. 

[Sandy W]

1 hour ago, HelloOutThere said:

These ladies need some Botox in their lives! Their faces are giving away their true level of anger and negativity! These are no laugh lines. 

Are such procedures against the Brown Religion? 

I’m actually surprised Kody hasn’t had any cosmetic procedures. Yet!!

Cosmetic procedures should be far down the list of needs for this family.  Let us not forget that most recently, Janelle let a growth on her face progress to the point that she now has a permanently disfigured lip, Ysabel was subjected to hokus pokus treatments for her scoliosis before they finally yielded to modern medicine, Truely nearly died of kidney failure because Kody's course of treatment was to give her some LIV water, and as an infant, Maddie suffered through "failure to thrive" for SIX months, when they finally woke up and realized that she was still at her birth weight, and as an adolescent, in Kody's own words, Maddie nearly died from a ruptured appendix.  Those are just a few that they have openly owned up to in the course of the show.  I'm sure there are plenty of other horror stories that would come to light if ever an honest biography were written about them.

[Grifter Lives]

3 hours ago, HelloOutThere said:

These ladies need some Botox in their lives! Their faces are giving away their true level of anger and negativity! These are no laugh lines. 

Are such procedures against the Brown Religion? 

I’m actually surprised Kody hasn’t had any cosmetic procedures. Yet!!

Kody has hairplugs, doesn't he?  Priorities.  

1 hour ago, Sandy W said:

Cosmetic procedures should be far down the list of needs for this family.  Let us not forget that most recently, Janelle let a growth on her face progress to the point that she now has a permanently disfigured lip, Ysabel was subjected to hokus pokus treatments for her scoliosis before they finally yielded to modern medicine, Truely nearly died of kidney failure because Kody's course of treatment was to give her some LIV water, and as an infant, Maddie suffered through "failure to thrive" for SIX months, when they finally woke up and realized that she was still at her birth weight, and as an adolescent, in Kody's own words, Maddie nearly died from a ruptured appendix.  Those are just a few that they have openly owned up to in the course of the show.  I'm sure there are plenty of other horror stories that would come to light if ever an honest biography were written about them.

I agree, and I'll add the recovery from Day'un's ATV accident. 

But, Botox or other injectables are better investments than their magnetic eyelashes, home hair dyes, Robyn's manicures, Meri's orange tanning sessions, and the Brushes' and Mariah's tattoos.  If these grifters applied themselves, they could even get complimentary procedures in exchange for promotions - like Janelle and her personal trainer in the early seasons, and their tree commitment ceremony cake, and every daughter's wedding to date.  

[Twopper]

2 hours ago, Teafortwo said:

Starting at 8 pm tonight, Eastern time, TLC is rerunning the first 4 episodes of this season with "bonus scenes." Even though that probably adds up to barely 1 minute of each episode, I thought y'all might want to know. 

thanks.  I have it set to record.  I can watch all four in the morning in about 25 minutes, although I may sprain my finger with all the fast forwarding I will be doing.

[deirdra]

Kootie thought plastic surgery was frivolous when Day'un injured his eyelid in an ATV accident.  Emergency surgery probably could have saved the muscle/nerve function, so instead he has a permanently droopy lid. There was talk a few years back about Kootie having hair plugs.

6 minutes ago, Twopper said:

thanks.  I have it set to record.  I can watch all four in the morning in about 25 minutes, although I may sprain my finger with all the fast forwarding I will be doing.

I'm hoping the mark the new content like 90-Day Fiance so we can FF and only watch the 1-2 minutes.

Edited March 13, 2021 by deirdra

[HelloOutThere]

35 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Cosmetic procedures should be far down the list of needs for this family.  Let us not forget that most recently, Janelle let a growth on her face progress to the point that she now has a permanently disfigured lip, Ysabel was subjected to hokus pokus treatments for her scoliosis before they finally yielded to modern medicine, Truely nearly died of kidney failure because Kody's course of treatment was to give her some LIV water, and as an infant, Maddie suffered through "failure to thrive" for SIX months, when they finally woke up and realized that she was still at her birth weight, and as an adolescent, in Kody's own words, Maddie nearly died from a ruptured appendix.  Those are just a few that they have openly owned up to in the course of the show.  I'm sure there are plenty of other horror stories that would come to light if ever an honest biography were written about them.

Wooo - signed sealed and DELIVERED!! Great post!! 🙌

But I could still envision the Browns as being so clueless as to prioritize cosmetic procedures over everything you just listed. And I feel like it can all get comp’d if they do it on the show. They might as well at this point. They should do a whole “What Not To Wear” glow-up story arc with them. Beats watching a dance party starring Kody or a live water birth!

And yes, come to thingk of it Kody has probably spent tens if not more than 100 thousand on his hair. 

[HelloOutThere]

5 minutes ago, Grifter Lives said:

Kody has hairplugs, doesn't he?  Priorities.
 

But, Botox or other injectables are better investments than their magnetic eyelashes, home hair dyes, Robyn's manicures, Meri's orange tanning sessions, and the Brushes' and Mariah's tattoos.  If these grifters applied themselves, they could even get complimentary procedures in exchange for promotions - like Janelle and her personal trainer in the early seasons, and their tree commitment ceremony cake, and every daughter's wedding to date.  

More deliverance! 🙌🙌

This is exactly what I was trying to convey. They seem to care about their looks (esp Meri) but are all so horribly misguided. They’d get a lot more bang for their buck out of Botox. Plus they’d look better on TV. 

I’ll admit I live in LA and do get Botox (and I’m male!) so my perception may be skewed. It’s just uncommon to see this level of misguided frump from people regularly on TV. I suppose it’s kind of refreshing in a way. 🤔

[itsadryheat]

Watching reruns. New drinking game: Take a drink every time Kody says "I".

[smarty]

9 minutes ago, itsadryheat said:

Watching reruns. New drinking game: Take a drink every time Kody says "I".

There is a couple extra talking heads that weren't there initially, and it seems like all of them show Kody being even more rude about his wives.

[Sandy W]

10 minutes ago, itsadryheat said:

Watching reruns. New drinking game: Take a drink every time Kody says "I".

Or Robyn says "I was jest settin' here thinkin'", and when either Christine or Robyn speak of it, pluralmarriage becomes one word.

[Chicklet]

Robyn needs an academy award for the fake crying.

[deirdra]

The extra content has a yellow box saying "bonus scene" in the top left corner, so you can easily FF to it.  Though they are repetitive, so they don't really say much that you haven't heard on other episodes.

Edited March 14, 2021 by deirdra

[lamadeleine]

37 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Or Robyn says "I was jest settin' here thinkin'", and when either Christine or Robyn speak of it, pluralmarriage becomes one word.

Or if Meri says, "My walls are up" OR "I'm just going to take it all in".

 

[Meowwww]

Dying at Kody’s wetbar comment on the bonus scenes!!

[Twopper]

20 hours ago, Twopper said:

Kody's car was a little 2-seater.

If that is the car he had in later episodes, then I was mistaken about its being a 2-seater.   There are 2 seats in back as well.  Janelle was standing next to it so maybe she blocked out the back seat by her wide girth?  or maybe I don't notice details as well as some other snark watchers.

Or maybe he had a different car in later episodes.   I wondered if he rented one of these sporty cars just for filming.  With their tight budgets in season one, they should all have been driving beaters.

[Cetacean]

4 minutes ago, Twopper said:

With their tight budgets in season one, they should all have been driving beaters.

I think the wives were, at least initially.  Didn't we see scenes of junkers outside the LV houses?  And traveling was always an opportunity for at least one flat tire.  Only Kootie seemed to have a spiffy vehicle.

[smarty]

10 hours ago, Meowwww said:

Dying at Kody’s wetbar comment on the bonus scenes!!

That was the first time Kody made me laugh WITH him instead of at him this season -- "Can I just say wet bar" HAHAHA,  For reference for those that didn't see it, in the extra footage on More to Love it was the scene where Kody Robyn and Meri were at the Coyote Pass lot and were sitting at the picnic table discussing how Meri did or did not say she wanted the tree lot.  In the talking head Kody goes off on how he's just done with Meri changing her mind about trees or no trees or now she doesn't even know what lot she'd pick if she picked first. 

Then Kody in his talking head looks straight at the camera and says "Can I just say wet bar?" 

[Irate Panda]

50 minutes ago, Twopper said:

If that is the car he had in later episodes, then I was mistaken about its being a 2-seater.   There are 2 seats in back as well.  Janelle was standing next to it so maybe she blocked out the back seat by her wide girth?  or maybe I don't notice details as well as some other snark watchers.

Or maybe he had a different car in later episodes.   I wondered if he rented one of these sporty cars just for filming.  With their tight budgets in season one, they should all have been driving beaters.

 

43 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

I think the wives were, at least initially.  Didn't we see scenes of junkers outside the LV houses?  And traveling was always an opportunity for at least one flat tire.  Only Kootie seemed to have a spiffy vehicle.

In the beginning didn’t Kody’s car come from his employer because he was such a great sales person or did I make that up?  I mean he could have made it up, but did he actually say that or am I misremembering?

[Cetacean]

2 minutes ago, Irate Panda said:

In the beginning didn’t Kody’s car come from his employer because he was such a great sales person or did I make that up?  I mean he could have made it up, but did he actually say that or am I misremembering?

I recall that as well. Some sort of prize for selling or something like that.

[Sandy W]

Just now, Cetacean said:

I recall that as well. Some sort of prize for selling or something like that.

He did claim that it was an award from his employer, I think he worked for a sign company at the time, and as Kody has told us he is a "Closer", just to be sure we all knew he was a hotshot salesperson.

In the early days, before we were all Jackwagons, he was sensitive to criticism and felt he must justify himself driving a 2 seater sports car at that time, while the mothers of his multi children drove beaters.  The convertible sports car was much more impressive to zoom up to where he was courting Robyn with his golden locks flying in the wind and his heart pounding.  In the meantime, Christine sat at home heavy with pregnancy, and he had to be summoned from Robyn's little love shack to attend the birth.

[DakotaJustice]

42 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

I recall that as well. Some sort of prize for selling or something like that.

That wasn't the Lexus. It was the ugly red car that was a "prize" from LIV (the green goo MLM) and they got it in Vegas. 

Janelle said they bought the Lexus used because Kody needed a nice car for his sales job with YESCO which is where he was working at the time the first season was filmed. YESCO is an actual legitimate company, not an MLM. I personally think they let him go not because he was a Plyg (I don't think he's ever kept it a secret, really) but because of his behavior on the show. 

And don't forget that Kody also had a Harley. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by DakotaJustice

[itsadryheat]

2 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

YESCO

"YESCO designs and builds custom signs, digital LED boards, gaming displays, outdoor billboards, spectacular skyline signs and interior displays."

[deirdra]

Kootie also had a couple of dozen fancy watches. Apparently being a hot salesman/closer required him to spend more on his own car/clothes/hairplugs/watches than he spent on the rest of the fambly combined.  Personally I don't buy things from salesmen or hire realtors/lawyers/whatever who drive cars or wear stuff that is extravagantly expensive.  It just screams that they charge their customers/clients too much.

Edited March 14, 2021 by deirdra

[Meowwww]

9 hours ago, smarty2020 said:

That was the first time Kody made me laugh WITH him instead of at him this season -- "Can I just say wet bar" HAHAHA,  For reference for those that didn't see it, in the extra footage on More to Love it was the scene where Kody Robyn and Meri were at the Coyote Pass lot and were sitting at the picnic table discussing how Meri did or did not say she wanted the tree lot.  In the talking head Kody goes off on how he's just done with Meri changing her mind about trees or no trees or now she doesn't even know what lot she'd pick if she picked first. 

Then Kody in his talking head looks straight at the camera and says "Can I just say wet bar?" 

Then he said “she’s gonna wetbar the sh*t out of this situation.”  🤣🤣

[Normades]

16 hours ago, Meowwww said:

Then he said “she’s gonna wetbar the sh*t out of this situation.”  🤣🤣

I couldn't help but notice that in the video about their "shared" home in Lehi, Meri's apartment is the only one that has a wood burning stove.  Apparently, she always has to have the extras. 

[LilWharveyGal]

3 hours ago, Normades said:

I couldn't help but notice that in the video about their "shared" home in Lehi, Meri's apartment is the only one that has a wood burning stove.  Apparently, she always has to have the extras. 

Well yeah, it would be shameful to deprive the horde of phantom children she didn't have.

[Teafortwo]

19 hours ago, Meowwww said:

Then he said “she’s gonna wetbar the sh*t out of this situation.”  🤣🤣

Okay, so after I posted about the bonus scenes episodes airing on Saturday, I completely forgot to watch them! I had something at the back of my mind about what I'd planned to do, but I couldn't quite think of it and I got into reading the Sunday paper (online). Please let me know if there were any other gems in the bonus scenes, thank you! Because even though my "free trial" of Discovery+ expired before I remembered to cancel it, and I got charged $4.99 for a month, Discovery+ is NOT running those "more to love" bonus scenes episodes.

(I did already cancel the monthly subscription, but I still have it for the next 4 weeks)

[deirdra]

14 minutes ago, Teafortwo said:

Okay, so after I posted about the bonus scenes episodes airing on Saturday, I completely forgot to watch them! I had something at the back of my mind about what I'd planned to do, but I couldn't quite think of it and I got into reading the Sunday paper (online). Please let me know if there were any other gems in the bonus scenes, thank you!

There was only ~1 minute of "bonus" material in each episode and most of it was the same old stuff we'd heard before. Kootie's  “she’s gonna wetbar the sh*t out of this situation” was the only real gem.

[Sandy W]

57 minutes ago, deirdra said:

There was only ~1 minute of "bonus" material in each episode and most of it was the same old stuff we'd heard before. Kootie's  “she’s gonna wetbar the sh*t out of this situation” was the only real gem.

Wasn't there also aside Janelle made to Christine about the 2 of them having difficulties sharing  kitchen in Lehi?  As I had understood from the book, it was Janelle and Meri that had differences about kitchen order, but maybe Janelle didn't have the guts to say it directly to Meri.

[UsernameFatigue]

I have just gotten around to watching this episode, because this show - which never was "must see tv" -  is now "watch only when I am bored" tv.  Regarding where Kody showered when they all lived in the same house - if Kody never showered at Christine's, the reason seems rather clear to me. Kody would shower at Janelle's or Meri's because their houses were empty. They were both off at work, and Christine was looking after the kids including Janelle's. Kody did however have breakfast at Christine's because who else was going to make him breakfast? Simple - you just have to think - WWKD? 

[Teafortwo]

27 minutes ago, UsernameFatigue said:

Kody did however have breakfast at Christine's because who else was going to make him breakfast? Simple - you just have to think - WWKD? 

In the first season, Kody said to Robyn "Christine knows how to make eggs the way I like them" and told her to ask Christine to show her how to make them. 😞

[Grifter Lives]

I may post this in general show discussion, too, because the Plyg Palace on Prairie Dog Plague Flats will hang over all future seasons, either as a non-plot, Kody's justification to exile Christine, or the basis of Christine's hollow protests.  And, Janelle's tears about quarantining away from Kody in the Polygamists in a Pandemic episode may be a flashback in every episode this season.

Christine's sentence to literal "Basement Wife" was for about 6 years.  For the majority of their sister-wifehood, Meri, Janelle and Christine have lived in their own homes.  Las Vegas was not the first time they lived apart, and it's nothing new in Flagstaff. 

Janelle left the fambly after she had Gabe in 2001, due to some colossal blowout between her and Meri.  She moved back to her mother's and stayed away for two years.  Then, Kody proposed that they all move to Utah, where he had found a new job and a huge house built for a polygamous family.  Janelle stayed behind in her own house for another year before she finally moved in with the entire family.  Savannah was born in December 2004. 

Christine spiritually married Kody in 1994.  Until they moved to Utah, Christine also lived in her separate house.  Janelle bought the Lehi house in 2006.  They show debuted in 2010, and they fled to Las Vegas in 2011.  They could have lived in another polygamous house between 2004 and 2006, or they could have rented the Lehi house before Janelle bought it.  But, at best, they lived in the same house as one family in spurts.   Moreover, after Meri was catfished in 2015 or 2016, she probably sealed the title Basement Wife for time and eternity.

[laurakaye]

 

On 3/11/2021 at 12:46 PM, kassa said:

Throw in menopause and the resultant drop in fucks given, and that's a recipe for personal growth.

I adored this entire post but especially this line.  The "drop," when it comes, is glorious.  I myself am enjoying it immensely.  And I agree that Christine may now have a much clearer ability to look back on her sham of a marriage and understands that it will NEVER be what she wanted it to be.  The Kody she chased until he caught her was never a real person.  He just wanted to seem legit in plyg circles, so he married Christine to have his magical third wife and to give himself some street cred with her background.  I truly think he only ever tolerated her, but never loved her.

 

16 hours ago, Teafortwo said:

In the first season, Kody said to Robyn "Christine knows how to make eggs the way I like them" and told her to ask Christine to show her how to make them. 😞

What a Neanderthal.  He couldn't just learn to make them himself the way he "likes them," he had to make side-piece #3 show Future Legal Wife how to cook for him.  Stuff like this just makes me double-down on my belief that Kody used polygamy to make himself the center of his own universe, and the faith part of it was just for show.