S16.E11: One on One (Part 1)

[RubySoho]

On 1/31/2022 at 8:34 AM, Cetacean said:

I wonder if she will apologize to the aunt from whom she hid in a bathroom stall.  Her aunt bailed a long time ago and Christine was horrible to her.

Why does that even matter in this discussion? That was how many years ago? And it was most likely coached/egged on by the production crew. 

Also - considering the timeline of that plot line, Christine was still fighting for her space on That Lunatic’s planet.

Give her former brainwashed soul a break & applaud her for moving on & giving Truly a true idea of what female empowerment is. For whatever that means to them in their world. 

✌🏼❤️

[RubySoho]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:52 AM, NoWhammies said:

I agree Meri should move on, but I also think she has Robyn whispering, "Hang in...there's hope" in her ear on the regular. She is getting mixed signals from Kootie and his head only wife. 

Maybe Robyn pulled the whole “But look at the mountain!” schtick before Meri tried to use it to get Christine to stay. 
 

😂😂 j/k (but for rill, y’all…👀)

[LilyD]

10 hours ago, mscav said:

Christine most likely called him out on almost killing her daughter and napping at Robyn's while she took her to the ER. You know in that asshat's mind it was Christine's fault for expecting him to watch her to being with.

Am taking my reply to the Rewatch-thread...

[Cetacean]

9 hours ago, RubySoho said:

Why does that even matter in this discussion?

Because if Christine has truly seen the light, one of the things that will show she's strong and committed would be to acknowledge that leaving polygamy is not a heinous betrayal.  Making amends at throwing shade at her aunt for leaving would certainly go a long way in making me believe she's serious.  Which, even now, I doubt.

At least own up to the fact she was unnecessarily nasty to a relative.

[Sandy W]

1 hour ago, Cetacean said:

Because if Christine has truly seen the light, one of the things that will show she's strong and committed would be to acknowledge that leaving polygamy is not a heinous betrayal.  Making amends at throwing shade at her aunt for leaving would certainly go a long way in making me believe she's serious.  Which, even now, I doubt.

At least own up to the fact she was unnecessarily nasty to a relative.

Christine seemed to over-react to her Aunts' comments (didn't she get up and huff off the stage?).  

It could be that the Aunt scratched a nerve that Christine had been fighting to suppress, sometimes the truth hurts and the comments made were too close to reality.  Christine wasn't ready yet to examine her true feelings.

I see no harm in offering an apology and maybe even gratitude to her Aunt for digging up and exposing some ugly truths.

[ReadMeLattice]

On 2/1/2022 at 1:56 AM, TurtlePower said:

I think it’s forgotten that Mariah treated Meri so badly because Mariah knew the object of Meri’s affection was a catfish. When Meri was exposed and tried to shift blame, Mariah wasn’t going to go along with that because she knew that’s not how it happened. 

Yeah I will never understand why people can empathize with Meri for straying -- which I totally can as well -- but not with Mariah, who was:

-18 at the time

-raised as a polygamist 

-put on a national TV show about her parents' polygamous marriage

-dealing with her parents' divorce and struggling with her own sexuality as she entered college

-aware that her mom was being catfished, and warned her

-dragged to MEET the catfish in person behind her dad's back

-probably afraid the divorce and affair would leave her, not just Meri, even more alienated from her siblings and dad

-aware that her mom's sexts would probably be splashed all over the internet and talked about at her school where she was trying to enter young adulthood

Like, she's not perfect, she can be annoying, but I'd have been pretty displeased with my mom too. Especially at that age. They've clearly moved past it and that's great, but her being snotty about it at the time is not a shock to me or a sign that she's some truly awful person. I feel like the aftermath of the divorce is so focused on Meri that it's easy to forget that it probably affected Mariah too. Sure, it was a weird marriage to begin with, but it's the marriage Mariah's parents always had. And unlike the others, their marriage was the only thing really connecting Mariah to the rest of the family, as she didn't have full siblings. 

On 2/3/2022 at 3:04 AM, Sandy W said:

Christine seemed to over-react to her Aunts' comments (didn't she get up and huff off the stage?).  

It could be that the Aunt scratched a nerve that Christine had been fighting to suppress, sometimes the truth hurts and the comments made were too close to reality.  Christine wasn't ready yet to examine her true feelings.

I see no harm in offering an apology and maybe even gratitude to her Aunt for digging up and exposing some ugly truths.

That's what I think too. Christine was probably trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

She's also always struck me as an "all in or all out" type of person. If she's going to be married, she wants to have a real, affectionate marriage - not this grey area, kind-of thing that Janelle and Meri have with Kody. If she was going to be polygamous, she was going to be gung-ho about polygamy. If she's going to be divorced, she's going to be VERY divorced and clear about it. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by ReadMeLattice

[kicotan]

On 2/2/2022 at 9:05 AM, Cetacean said:

Because if Christine has truly seen the light, one of the things that will show she's strong and committed would be to acknowledge that leaving polygamy is not a heinous betrayal.  Making amends at throwing shade at her aunt for leaving would certainly go a long way in making me believe she's serious.  Which, even now, I doubt.

At least own up to the fact she was unnecessarily nasty to a relative.

Exactly.

 Plus, she’s never said she was washing her hands of polygamy or her sect of Mormonism.  She merely said she was leaving the marital union with Kody, which I take to also mean she’s leaving her sister wives that are still married to him as well.  She never said she wouldn’t hook up with another polygamous man or already established polygamous fambly.  I’m pretty sure if her needs for an affectionate, intimate relationship had been met-she’d have stayed put, so I don’t really have this admiration for her as someone who has finally seen the light that monogamy is the way to go…or respect for her, bless her heart, for finally breaking free from the brainwashing of her AUB roots.  No, her husband wasn’t cuddling her and giving her back rubs and whispering sweet nothings in her ear when it was her turn to share him with the rest of the harem.  THAT’s her only problem.  Women finding themselves in monogamous marriages where the lack of intimacy/lovemaking from the husband who is only theirs becomes the dividing line between staying married and getting a divorce is not uncommon in the least.

Edited February 4, 2022 by kicotan
Grammar

[StufftoSay]

On 2/1/2022 at 1:40 PM, TurtlePower said:

This is a fair assessment. And I wouldn’t have any issue with Meri if she’d stop lying and pretending she’s “strong, brave, boss up, etc”, because by this observation, she is a brainwashed, quivering pile of goo. It’s ok to feel scared, afraid of change and not have confidence—just be real about it. It’s relatable actually! But Meri takes it and instead of making herself relatable, she makes herself an airbrushed jerk. 

I see what Meri is doing—it’s what people with no actual confidence do when they feel marginalised—but it’s all fake. It’s what bullies do also, and she’s been known to be mean to her LLR customers. 

Meri isn’t going anywhere because she’s too afraid to. She covers by saying she still loves Kody—and I believe she does—but she cannot do what Christine did (yet). Meri then covers even more by “brave” this and “boss” that and filtered photos. It’s pathetic. 

Everyone has a breaking point, though—maybe Kody ignoring her long enough and saying they’re never, ever, ever getting back together—will be the catalyst. 

Now Taylor Swift’s song is in my head. 

 

Is she “lying” or does she desperately wish to see herself that way? Of course it seems untrue or, at best, wishful thinking, to us, but to me, lying involves knowing what you’re saying isn’t true and doing it anyway. It seems to me that for a woman brought up in that culture, living alone and earning money would feel brave and strong. 
 

I don’t think she’s the greatest person by any means, I just feel that being brought up in that world puts them all at a major disadvantage for emotional maturity — I have to give her a tiny bit of credit for even getting to a place where she recognises that independence is to be valued, even if she’s not truly living it herself.

[all4mom2]

On 2/1/2022 at 4:48 PM, MMEButterfly said:

...the whole one-on-one is a complete waste of time. 

And a three-parter is THREE wastes of time!

[LilyD]

12 hours ago, ReadMeLattice said:

Yeah I will never understand why people can empathize with Meri for straying -- which I totally can as well -- but not with Mariah, who was:

-18 at the time

-raised as a polygamist 

-put on a national TV show about her parents' polygamous marriage

-dealing with her parents' divorce and struggling with her own sexuality as she entered college

-aware that her mom was being catfished, and warned her

-dragged to MEET the catfish in person behind her dad's back

-probably afraid the divorce and affair would leave her, not just Meri, even more alienated from her siblings and dad

-aware that her mom's sexts would probably be splashed all over the internet and talked about at her school where she was trying to enter young adulthood

This! And you forgot one other very important thing:

-Meri forced her catfish adventure-secret on Mariah. This made Mariah complicit against her will, in her mother's betrayal of her father....No child wants to be forced in a situation where it knows that one parent is cheating* on the other!

It's one hell of a burden. I've been there myself. Keeping it a secret feels like a betrayal of one parent (in Mariah's case of Kody) but you won't expose the betrayal either because it may blow up your parents' relationship which is something every child will want to prevent at any cost. This was one of the few instances where I felt truly sorry for Mariah.

* Yes, an online affair with someone else is cheating in my book! 

[all4mom2]

"Christine leaving" is to secure another season.  Since they aren't legally married, they can't legally divorce, so no one can verify that she's really left him.  I remain dubious...

[Granny58]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:20 PM, truebluesmoky said:

Janelle had two working sons and a daughter with special needs kids

who has special needs?  

[TurtlePower]

6 hours ago, StufftoSay said:

Is she “lying” or does she desperately wish to see herself that way? Of course it seems untrue or, at best, wishful thinking, to us, but to me, lying involves knowing what you’re saying isn’t true and doing it anyway. It seems to me that for a woman brought up in that culture, living alone and earning money would feel brave and strong. 
 

I don’t think she’s the greatest person by any means, I just feel that being brought up in that world puts them all at a major disadvantage for emotional maturity — I have to give her a tiny bit of credit for even getting to a place where she recognises that independence is to be valued, even if she’s not truly living it herself.

I’d say she’s at least lying in part—she knows what she really looks like and filters the shit out of her photos. 

I suppose for the rest of it, maybe she thinks she’s strong but at the first sign of disagreement, her “walls” go up. I guess to Meri, having money means “strength”—she certainly can’t handle much else. 

[Gramto6]

34 minutes ago, Granny58 said:

who has special needs?  

Both of Maddie's children have special needs. Evi more serious than Axel, but both have problems.

[lilysmom]

19 hours ago, Granny58 said:

who has special needs?  

Maddie's daughter.

ETA: I didn't know about her son.

Edited February 5, 2022 by lilysmom

[SunnyBeBe]

I’m not a Meri fan and have posted a lot of critical comments about her. Granted, she’s never truly apologized or accepted responsibility fir the catfish thing, however, aren’t we as Christians supposed to forgive….. even those who don’t ask for forgiveness?  At the end of the 1 on 1 Kody said the catfish scandal wasn’t the reason he could no longer be with Meri in an actual marriage, but it was all the stuff that happened before then.  The catfish dill just woke him up.  Still, why can’t he forgive her?  Carrying that resentment isn’t healthy.  You can forgive and still stay apart.  I guess he wants to keep up that wall…lol.

[Art Of Noiz]

On 2/4/2022 at 10:19 AM, all4mom2 said:

And a three-parter is THREE wastes of time!

Yes to all the above. Unless parts 2 and 3 dig deeper, probe harder? This will be 120 minutes of actual footage, half of which is from previous seasons, episodes, scenes. 

 

I hope this interviewer gets after it. 

[all4mom2]

4 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I’m not a Meri fan and have posted a lot of critical comments about her. Granted, she’s never truly apologized or accepted responsibility fir the catfish thing, however, aren’t we as Christians supposed to forgive….. even those who don’t ask for forgiveness?  At the end of the 1 on 1 Kody said the catfish scandal wasn’t the reason he could no longer be with Meri in an actual marriage, but it was all the stuff that happened before then.  The catfish dill just woke him up.  Still, why can’t he forgive her?  Carrying that resentment isn’t healthy.  You can forgive and still stay apart.  I guess he wants to keep up that wall…lol.

Has he said he doesn't forgive her?  He maintains a friendship with her and is cordial to her when they interact; he just doesn't want to have a deeper relationship with her anymore because of all that's happened.  That's his choice, I suppose, since they're divorced anyway!  You can forgive but not forget...

On 2/4/2022 at 11:55 AM, Gramto6 said:

Both of Maddie's children have special needs. Evi more serious than Axel, but both have problems.

Axel's are behavioral, I believe.

Edited February 5, 2022 by all4mom2

[ginger90]

11 minutes ago, all4mom2 said:

 

Axel's are behavioral, I believe.

It’s actually Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).

[all4mom2]

2 hours ago, ginger90 said:

It’s actually Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).

I stand corrected, but thought I remembered something about him being hyper or hard to handle.

[deirdra]

4 minutes ago, all4mom2 said:

I stand corrected, but thought I remembered something about him being hyper or hard to handle.

That too, but often it seemed to be related to junk food, like 3-4 candy bars for dinner or a bottle of chocolate sauce, part of which was consumed and the rest smeared over his face, clothes, floor & sofa while having a temper tantrum.

[ginger90]

16 minutes ago, all4mom2 said:

I stand corrected, but thought I remembered something about him being hyper or hard to handle.

His difficulty with speech could certainly be a contributing factor, using behavior to communicate.

[all4mom2]

So...behavioral issues.  Poor Maddie!  Sounds like she should have gone to law school or whatever she was planning instead.  Those horrible birthing experiences, now all these problems with the kids.  Isn't her husband a pr- jerk, too?

[ginger90]

Maybe this would be better in Maddie’s thread. 😁

[Sandy W]

48 minutes ago, all4mom2 said:

 Isn't her husband a pr- jerk, too?

He seems to be a pretty good guy.  Not to my taste physically but Maddie seems happy with him.  I think he served an apprenticeship and has a good job in the trades, they recently bought a very nice home.  It seems to me that Maddie rules the roost and if that works for them, all well and good.

[all4mom2]

I thought I heard him nagging her about having a third child when she didn't want to, but I could be wrong.

[LilyD]

THIS was Meri’s first rental in Flagstaff? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!! I

I never realized it was this big….And she was all alone.. Ok, I hate to admit it,  but she has now officially pushed Robyn off her big throne of entitlement in her ‘I need a big house mansion”  Ridiculous doesn’t even begin to cover it. Does anyone know how much such a rental would cost per month?

[deirdra]

24 minutes ago, LilyD said:

THIS was Meri’s first rental in Flagstaff? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!!

This was her 3rd one, pre-Covid, I think. First was blue & she didn't last a week. Second had a 2-car garage with driveway straight from the road to the garage.  However, somewhere it was mentioned that this one has been sold, and it is not the 4th house we saw when Kody dropped by during Covid to see Mariah, who had already left.

[Pickleinthemiddle]

5 hours ago, LilyD said:

THIS was Meri’s first rental in Flagstaff? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!! I

I never realized it was this big….And she was all alone.. Ok, I hate to admit it,  but she has now officially pushed Robyn off her big throne of entitlement in her ‘I need a big house mansion”  Ridiculous doesn’t even begin to cover it. Does anyone know how much such a rental would cost per month?

I want to say it was in the $3,700-5,000 range.  Even the modest first rental Janelle had was almost $3,000 a month.  Flagstaff is a very, very high cost of living area.  

[xwordfanatik]

6 hours ago, Pickleinthemiddle said:

I want to say it was in the $3,700-5,000 range.  Even the modest first rental Janelle had was almost $3,000 a month.  Flagstaff is a very, very high cost of living area.  

And wasn't that just brilliant of Kootie and RobChyn to choose a MORE expensive area than LV?  Dunderheads.

[kassa]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:04 PM, Sandy W said:

Christine seemed to over-react to her Aunts' comments (didn't she get up and huff off the stage?).  

It could be that the Aunt scratched a nerve that Christine had been fighting to suppress, sometimes the truth hurts and the comments made were too close to reality.  Christine wasn't ready yet to examine her true feelings.

I see no harm in offering an apology and maybe even gratitude to her Aunt for digging up and exposing some ugly truths.

That's what I think. I know personally when something really angers me and I settle down afterward, I need to examine whether I'm reacting to some inner recognition that what was suggested is what I really need to do/change/work on. Life got a lot easier once I figured that out - it's a good shortcut to seeing reason that you've been refusing to see on your own.

On 2/3/2022 at 11:04 PM, ReadMeLattice said:

Like, she's not perfect, she can be annoying, but I'd have been pretty displeased with my mom too. Especially at that age. They've clearly moved past it and that's great, but her being snotty about it at the time is not a shock to me or a sign that she's some truly awful person.

I definitely felt for Mariah in that situation, because their on screen discussions (confrontations) made clear that not only was Meri refusing to grovel for the camera (something I actually respected her for), Mariah's anger was clearly based on the fact that Meri wouldn't admit anything OFF camera, either. And as somebody who was actually THERE when it all was going down, and saw it for what it was, that was maddening to her that Meri couldn't offer so much as "I was desperately unhappy and behaved terribly and I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." I think had that conversation happened off camera, relations would have been tense but not a tug of war over accountability.

On 2/6/2022 at 11:23 PM, LilyD said:

THIS was Meri’s first rental in Flagstaff? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!! I

 

Didn't she originally want an apartment/condo over a store downtown and that got vetoed? I actually laugh when people talk about Robin's "mansion" which looks pretty basic. It may be enormous, but there's nothing "mansion"-y about it, just a lot of gigantic rooms. Meri's house with the indoor waterfall came closer :)

 

[TurtlePower]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:23 PM, LilyD said:

THIS was Meri’s first rental in Flagstaff? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!! I

I never realized it was this big….And she was all alone.. Ok, I hate to admit it,  but she has now officially pushed Robyn off her big throne of entitlement in her ‘I need a big house mansion”  Ridiculous doesn’t even begin to cover it. Does anyone know how much such a rental would cost per month?

Doesn’t exactly go with Meri’s lastest post about living “humbly”. 

 

[LilyD]

So true! There's nothing humble about such a house and especially not when you're living there all alone! I bet this thing could house the entire Brown fambly!

Oh, I just had a quick peek at rentals in Flagstaff... The houses in the $5000 range are "fairly humble" compared to this monstrous mansion. I bet it was more towards 7k... and that just for 1 person..... Why??? 

[Roslyn]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:23 PM, LilyD said:

THIS was Meri’s first rental in Flagstaff? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!! I

I never realized it was this big….And she was all alone.. Ok, I hate to admit it,  but she has now officially pushed Robyn off her big throne of entitlement in her ‘I need a big house mansion”  Ridiculous doesn’t even begin to cover it. Does anyone know how much such a rental would cost per month?

This was Meri's second rental in Flagstaff. The first (as was mentioned) was where they moved her in, but the neighbors weren't happy about polygamists tons of cars, trucks and film crews and Meri agreed with the owner to terminate the lease contract. She then loaded everything back up, got lots and lots of drama for the teevee show and she went back to Vegas. She then moved into this house with the elevator and indoor waterfall and complained that no one loved her enough wanted to move her tons and tons of priceless heirlooms up all those stairs or help her put her king sized bed together. Oddly enough, her bedroom in this house had a mini fridge and a wet bar...

She was in this house for a year and at the same time that Robyn and Kody were fighting with their trusty real estate agent, God, for a rental...Meri was also on notice that her house (this one) was being sold and she had to move. Then she moved into the house we see now on the show that has a big driveway, all those pesky trees and a detached garage as well as an attached garage.

Oddly enough she mentioned that while living in this house is where she realized she is desperate for sunlight, because in this house (surrounded by trees 🤷‍♀️) she discovered that it is just too dark for her to be happy. When she is talking about how dark it was living in this house, the producers insert this photo of her house bathed in sunlight...🌞

[LilyD]

Oh poor Meri... I totally feel for her! imagine the horror of living in such wealth and have a few trees that bother you. What a nightmare! I'd file a complaint with the landlord. All those rooms and balconies and not a single sunlit room.....

[Chalby]

On 1/30/2022 at 8:10 PM, Starlight22 said:

So in their religion, the man is not allowed to spiritually divorce a wife? Is that Kodys excuse for keeping Christine and Meri in limbo? Little confused by what he was saying about a double standard in that context. 

 

I thought the whole point of plural marriage was to produce as many offspring as possible. I think Kody dismissed Meri as soon as it was clear there weren't any more kids coming. The same goes for janelle and christine. Heck, id stick around just to stay employed and to irritate kody. The women could keep their homes, earn $, and not have to interact with the idiot.