S18.E05: When the Going Gets Tough

[Scarlett45]

Quote

 The Browns discuss how things went over Christmas; Janelle confesses to Christine that she doesn't know if her marriage can be fixed; Robyn and Meri try to dissect what went wrong and reveal that Kody was not always equal with his time.

 

Air Date: September 17, 2023

[mythoughtis]

I think there was a lot said in this episode that needed to be said. However Kody and Robyn   will never understand their role in the breakdown, nor what they have done to 18 kids. 

[Teafortwo]

Goodness, so much was wrong with the Meri/Robyn discussion. Boo hoo, Robyn had one month where Kody wasn't around much. Meri had a decade or more of that.

It did seem that Robyn cried actual tears this time in her TH, though it was so ironic that she went on about wanting to know who "blew up my family." Mirror, mirror on the wall....

ETA It was not entirely her fault that Kody was with her more than the others - that's on him. But I do think she enabled a lot of his behavior.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Teafortwo

[65mickey]

Robyn going on dry eyed crying jag and saying that she doesn't care who got together with whom at Christmas and how many presents were given and something about how many fancy houses you rent. Of course she doesn' care about these things because her kids got a ton of presents, her kids had Kody all day on Christmas and her family is living in a huge fancy home that she and Kody bought with money given to them by Meri and Janelle. I wonder is she ever watches the show and feels like a dumb fool for some of the things that she says?   

[General Days]

Every week I go into this show thinking I can't possibly find Robyn and Kody more deplorable than the week before, and every week I am wrong.

[Cancun]

Enjoyed the straight talk tonight. I just wish they would say it all to each other instead of us.

Why would Meri continue to pay rent on a huge house in Flagstaff while living full time at the B&B? She said, “I’m not leaving Flagstaff” but also made it clear she is going to run both her businesses from Parawan. These  people are financial morons.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Cancun

[JayDub1987]

Fuck Kody 

Fuck Robyn 

 

Thats the synopsis for those of you who didn’t get to watch tonight. 

[Meowwww]

There’s ONE common denominator in all these wrecked marriages and relationships with the kids…guess who? The one who GAVE TOO MUCH.  Puke. 
 

And it’s always on the parent to reach out to the kid first.  A real parent would be the bigger person.  

[Art Of Noiz]

Ms.Lulu had a brilliant observation in the live thread. She compared Robyn to Marie Antoinette. I can't agree more. I just had to indulge myself with my amateur photoshop.

[TomGirl]

Robin:

”I don’t understand. (sniffle)

”I can’t understand.” (dabs eyes)

”I need to understand.” (sniffles and dabs eyes)

Week after week after week after week…

WHAT THE HELL DOESN’T SHE UNDERSTAND?  All of us who watch the show understand perfectly.  Somebody needs to send her a link to this site!

[goofygirl]

13 minutes ago, 65mickey said:

Robyn going on dry eyed crying jag and saying that she doesn't care who got together with whom at Christmas and how many presents were given and something about how many fancy houses you rent. Of course she doesn' care about these things because her kids got a ton of presents, her kids had Kody all day on Christmas and her family is living in a huge fancy home that she and Kody bought with money given to them by Meri and Janelle. I wonder is she ever watches the show and feels like a dumb fool for some of the things that she says?   

No way.  Sobbyn's a MORON.

[Adeejay]

I don’t know what to make of Robyn. She claims to be upset because "my family got blown to smithereens".  However, in a recent interview, she said that it would be disrespectful if Kody were to take another wife. That was quite a bombshell from someone who is all about being a polygamist and touting the sacred beauty of plural marriage.  Seems like the only thing she has accomplished lately is making Meri feel worse than she already does.  

[beckie]

3 minutes ago, TomGirl said:

Robin:

”I don’t understand. (sniffle)

”I can’t understand.” (dabs eyes)

”I need to understand.” (sniffles and dabs eyes)

Week after week after week after week…

WHAT THE HELL DOESN’T SHE UNDERSTAND?  All of us who watch the show understand perfectly.  Somebody needs to send her a link to this site!

Robyn doesn't understand because she doesn't want to understand.  Or take any form of responsibility.  (Her or Kody).

[DanaMB]

22 minutes ago, Teafortwo said:

It was not entirely her fault that Kody was with her more than the others - that's on him. But I do think she enabled a lot of his behavior.

It was 100% calculating that she made sure he had an office at her house and space in the garage for him. She absolutely knew what she was doing. She’s such a snake. 

[BnJJ]

4 minutes ago, DanaMB said:

It was 100% calculating that she made sure he had an office at her house and space in the garage for him. She absolutely knew what she was doing. She’s such a snake. 

Exactly.  As if Meri didn't have the space for him to have an office.  Please.

[TomGirl]

It’s making me ridiculously happy to see Meri finally facing facts, accepting reality and taking steps to remove herself from that soul-sucking excuse for a “marriage.”

[RazzleberryPie]

Was the month Kody was mostly at Christine’s right after Truley was born and a woman with a newborn def needs extra help? Or when Truley almost died from kidney failure and she needed extra help? 
 

I will also say it again and again. As long as Roby refused to allow Christine or Meri help with childcare - I say those two because we saw them volunteer - she has zero reason to say no body tried to help her or accept her. 
 

Also the dumbest move they made was to have separate houses where they could hide from and compete with each other. 

[General Days]

23 minutes ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Was the month Kody was mostly at Christine’s right after Truley was born and a woman with a newborn def needs extra help? Or when Truley almost died from kidney failure and she needed extra help? 

Someone here (or maybe in the live watch thread) suggested that Kody spent that month with Christine to butter her up about moving to Flagstaff. I think that theory has legs.

I doubt it was after Truely was born, because he and Robyn had their wedding to plan and honeymoon.

It could have been after Truely's kidney failure though, but that almost seems like too much of a grownup moment for Kody's social experiment (on his own wife).

[eskimo]

I found a clip of Robyn trying to deduce 'where it all went wrong'. 

Edited September 18, 2023 by eskimo

[ezzy4]

My thoughts about the show:

1) GWAD...I HATE Kody

2) GWAD ... I HATE Robyn

3) GWAD ... I HATE  Kody & Robyn

[Dobian]

This whole season is talking head segments or two of them chatting in a kitchen or around a bonfire about how bad and broken the family is.  Nothing actually happens on this show anymore.

[Adeejay]

1 hour ago, General Days said:

Someone here (or maybe in the live watch thread) suggested that Kody spent that month with Christine to butter her up about moving to Flagstaff. I think that theory has legs.

I made that comment in the live chat. Christine should have known or suspected that something was up. Kody used the OG wives for personal and financial gain and Robyn was complicit. He led Meri to believe that moving to Flagstaff would be a new beginning for them. Armed with the proceeds from the sale of her Vegas home, he purchased a mansion for Robyn and wanted her gone. Glad Christine had the good sense to not give him a dime.

[Elodia]

On 9/18/2023 at 5:08 AM, mythoughtis said:

Kody and Robyn   will never understand their role in the breakdown, nor what they have done to 18 kids. 

I think they know exactly what they're doing. They just don't give  a flying f.ck.       (I originally wrote "they don't care". But that didn't quite fit.) 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Elodia
Typo

[SDVegas]

Doesn’t Kody even miss Savannah? Want to talk to her or see her? I mean, does he have any feelings for her at all?

[mythoughtis]

4 hours ago, SDVegas said:

Doesn’t Kody even miss Savannah? Want to talk to her or see her? I mean, does he have any feelings for her at all?

No.  At one time he cared about Logan( his substitute), Hunter,( his wrestling protege)and Maddie.   Once they graduated high school, he quit caring about the first two.  Somewhere along the way, he quit caring about Maddie. He transferred his fatherly affections to Aurora and Ari.  I really do think it’s only those two of the five at Robyn’s house that he cares about. 

[MsMalin]

It seems with all of these reality shows that they start making .money and the original premise of the show is ruined. They all used to live in the same house and we saw the real plural marriage. Then they got the big bucks and got separate huge houses etc. This is not the plural marriage the show started with.

[JayDub1987]

5 hours ago, SDVegas said:

Doesn’t Kody even miss Savannah? Want to talk to her or see her? I mean, does he have any feelings for her at all?

Ask yourself a question: who is her mother? If the answer isn't Robyn, the answer to your questions is "no." Kody doesn't give a flying fuck about anything that didn't come out of Robyn's golden snatch. 

[SemiCharmedLife]

9 hours ago, BnJJ said:

Exactly.  As if Meri didn't have the space for him to have an office.  Please.

And his office would have access to a nearby wet bar! 😂

[Shelbie]

9 hours ago, TomGirl said:

Robin:

”I don’t understand. (sniffle)

”I can’t understand.” (dabs eyes)

”I need to understand.” (sniffles and dabs eyes)

Week after week after week after week…

WHAT THE HELL DOESN’T SHE UNDERSTAND?  All of us who watch the show understand perfectly.  Somebody needs to send her a link to this site!

Robyn doesn’t have to understand anything.
On every level she is furious that her status of being the favourite wife means nothing to the original wives and they have walked away from her and Kody.

No more jealousy or money will be coming from them to fund her life and she is stuck with the delusional ranting idiot named Kody.

[suzeecat]

9 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Was the month Kody was mostly at Christine’s right after Truley was born and a woman with a newborn def needs extra help? Or when Truley almost died from kidney failure and she needed extra help?

Kody said something unintelligible in a subsequent talking head about "sending a message to the other wives" about something.  My guess is that he and Robyn had a falling out and he was punishing her. 

[Sandy W]

33 minutes ago, MsMalin said:

It seems with all of these reality shows that they start making .money and the original premise of the show is ruined. They all used to live in the same house and we saw the real plural marriage. Then they got the big bucks and got separate huge houses etc. This is not the plural marriage the show started with.

I wonder how different their lives would have been had they stayed in Lehi.  They could have taken the windfall show money to remedy the mold issue and add a new wing for Christine. 

Robyn would then be relegated to status of Basement Wife, still a huge step up from her single wide trailer.

[Granny58]

6 hours ago, Adeejay said:

He led Meri to believe that moving to Flagstaff would be a new beginning for them.

He also led Meri to believe that a legal divorce would change NOTHING, it was all for the children.  

6 hours ago, Elodia said:

I think they know exactly what they're doing. The just don't give  a flying f.ck.       (I originally wrote "they don't care". But that didn't quite fit.) 

yeah, this is all attempted damage control now. 

7 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

I wonder how different their lives would have been had they stayed in Lehi.  They could have taken the windfall show money to remedy the mold issue and add a new wing for Christine. 

Robyn would then be relegated to status of Basement Wife, still a huge step up from her single wide trailer.

I dunno.  I loved my single wide.  Better than being stuck in the basement.  

[MamaGee]

Less than 10 minutes in and I am already screaming at the TV what a f***** Kodouche is. What a worthless piece of crap. And horrible father. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Sheesh, Kodufus openly confessed to some nasty manipulative behavior regarding Christine.  Ugh. 

[Pixilicious]

8 hours ago, SDVegas said:

Doesn’t Kody even miss Savannah? Want to talk to her or see her? I mean, does he have any feelings for her at all?

He's mad at janelle and he knows the best way to punish her is through her kids...he doesn't even care that he's hurting Savannah as long as it hurts Janelle too...he's truly a cruel and despicable man-child...i couldn't despise him more...well, until next week when he runs his mouth some more 

[Orcinus orca]

So old news:

• Janelle and Kootie are not communicating, Janelle doesn't think she can go on like this.
• Kootie favors Sobbyn's children and blows off all of the others from other mothers.  He deliberately shunned Savannah, probably due to the fact that she's Janelle's daughter.
• Sobbyn continues to bleat about not having a clue about what's happening to the fambly and how it's ruined her whole life.  Wahhhhhhh MEMEMEMEMEME.
• Saint Kootie has done his utmost to lead the flock in the right direction toward salvation via authoritarianism and hasn't a clue about why everyone is picking on him but it's not fair, wahhhhhhh.  MEMEMEMEME.
• Meri knows Kootie can't stand her but just won't throw in the towel.
• Christine is happy as a lark that she flew the coop.
• Mykelti is not to be trusted.

New news:

• Well, none. Except that Christine has decided to try her acting chops and chew the scenary in her TH.  Don't quit your day job, Christine.

Bottom line: a waste of an hour unless you like to see 500 commercials and repeat clips of traffic in Flagstaff.

[Roslyn]

Quote

Robyn is still favored, but there is nobody to lord it over--she doesn't get that adrenaline rush of feeling superior and she doesn't get to spend resources that are earned and needed by the other families.

Bringing a quote from the Live chat from @Ms.Lulu and adding on... Also. With no other wives left, Robyn no longer can be a victim of those horrid women and their offspring, so Kody won't be able to be her knight in shining armor.

As for my measly input...

They are out of carrots, they are out of sticks. They have no more cute kids, big parties, RV trips and the joy of raw sewage on Kody's shoes and leather coat. These people are hanging on by a thread and now just rehashing ancient history to keep the drama mill going. Last week was way too much of Kody bitching and moaning. This week is Robyn trying her best to get tears to flow while taking her turn to bitch and moan. I hope she invested in hand tied pearls because I'm sure she has broken many a pearl necklace by overclutching.

However. We did learn that Kody has been a cruel bastard from the beginning and more than likely his reluctance and "thousand yard stare" when marrying Christine was because he really brought her in to stick it to Meri.

[bichonblitz]

12 hours ago, TomGirl said:

It’s making me ridiculously happy to see Meri finally facing facts, accepting reality and taking steps to remove herself from that soul-sucking excuse for a “marriage.”

Agree but why is Meri always so concerned about what Robyn's reactions will be? Why does she care so much? She's so careful about what she says to Robyn as if she's scared of her. Ohhhhhh, Robyn will be so upset when I tell her I'm moving my business to Parawan! Again, why does she care?  I hope it's all for TV and not how she really feels. Just once I would love for Meri to tell Robyn the truth about her role in blowing the family to "smithereens". 

[bichonblitz]

Janelle's apartment is awful. Tiny and cluttered. Bean bag chairs are not what she needs in that place. She gets some money from the show. Surely she can do better. Sell the damn RV instead of putting it in storage. I'm not sure I follow her train of thought.

As far as finances go, Christine is much better at it. She got all the profits from the house and in return signed over her portion of Coyote Pass to Kody knowing he will probably default on the payments eventually and none of them will have ANYTHING. Janelle still living in dream land thinking she was actually going to be able to build a small house. Oh, Janelle. My heart hurts for her bad judgement. 

[OlderThanDirt]

It feels like Meri has observed that Christine is still being included in filming and the money distribution, so Meri is figuring out that she doesn't need to stay in Flagstaff as Robyn's handmaiden and synchophant.(sp?, but you know what I mean). They can still get paid.

[EtheltoTillie]

You know what is so weird, they always film Meri and Robyn talking outside the house in the cold.  Why is that?  Meri not allowed inside?  I know it was two years ago.  Is it a Covid precaution? 

[Gramto6]

3 hours ago, Sandy W said:

I wonder how different their lives would have been had they stayed in Lehi.  They could have taken the windfall show money to remedy the mold issue and add a new wing for Christine. 

Robyn would then be relegated to status of Basement Wife, still a huge step up from her single wide trailer.

If they all truly wanted to maintain a cohesive family unit and bring Robyn into the fold, IMO staying in Lehi would have been the best thing for this family. They could have used the show money to repair/add on to the house to give each wife her own quarters. I think maybe then they even would have grown to bring Robyn into the fambly. (If that had been what Robyn really wanted.)

Unfortunately I think from the beginning, the Lehi house was not going to ever be what Robyn wanted from her union with the fambly. I think her goals, in the back of her mind, were always to be the Queen Bee and have the best of everything and the most of Kody's time. I have no proof but I'd bet she was whispering in Kody's ear about getting out of Lehi/Utah (just not the glitzy place to live that she wanted). I think she set her plans in motion early on. Ultimately they blew up in her face, no wives to lord over, no $$ to appropriate from them and the "prize man?" all to herself.  And she "Just doesn't understand...". Too bad, so sad...NOT!

Hey Sobbin! Karma's a biatch ain't it???  

[NoWhammies]

20 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

You know what is so weird, they always film Meri and Robyn talking outside the house in the cold.  Why is that?  Meri not allowed inside?  I know it was two years ago.  Is it a Covid precaution? 

It seems to be they only do professional filming outside with Kody, Robyn, and Spawn. Others, they film inside just fine. So my guess is that those are the unvaccinated, and the crew chooses not to film inside with them for safety. 

[Shelbie]

That is a really interesting idea that I have never even considered. To build on it I wonder if the crew is not fond of Robyn and enjoy watching her be cold and uncomfortable outside.

[Granny58]

13 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

f they all truly wanted to maintain a cohesive family unit and bring Robyn into the fold, IMO staying in Lehi would have been the best thing for this family

don't you remember?  They were on the run from the law!!!

[DanaMB]

4 hours ago, Sandy W said:

I wonder how different their lives would have been had they stayed in Lehi.  They could have taken the windfall show money to remedy the mold issue and add a new wing for Christine. 

I’m glad for the kids’ sake they got out. 

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

36 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

If they all truly wanted to maintain a cohesive family unit and bring Robyn into the fold, IMO staying in Lehi would have been the best thing for this family. They could have used the show money to repair/add on to the house to give each wife her own quarters. I think maybe then they even would have grown to bring Robyn into the fambly. (If that had been what Robyn really wanted.)

Unfortunately I think from the beginning, the Lehi house was not going to ever be what Robyn wanted from her union with the fambly. I think her goals, in the back of her mind, were always to be the Queen Bee and have the best of everything and the most of Kody's time. I have no proof but I'd bet she was whispering in Kody's ear about getting out of Lehi/Utah (just not the glitzy place to live that she wanted). I think she set her plans in motion early on. Ultimately they blew up in her face, no wives to lord over, no $$ to appropriate from them and the "prize man?" all to herself.  And she "Just doesn't understand...". Too bad, so sad...NOT!

Hey Sobbin! Karma's a biatch ain't it???  

I think it was Robyn was clearly jealous that she still was in a rennal in Lehi and not in the house with the others, even though she wasn't married to douche yet and she couldn't stand that even though the fambily money was paying for said rennal

[altopower]

So much nothing! But in an odd way, I'm kind of enjoying how Janelle and Meri got to their "no way Jose" severing of the marital relationships with Kody (and therefore Robyn). When we saw them at the end of last season telling us they were out of there, I did kind of wonder what happened. Not a lot, mind you, because I don't care about these people. But after years of watching the train wreck and wondering why they were all there with the Kodster, there's some satisfaction in seeing how they finally got to the place where leaving was finally the right solution.

I'm guessing that Kody really did lose interest in all the kids as they became adults and moved on with their lives. Just the younger ones still held out hope for visits with their dad. They all bonded closer with their mom's other kids because they were together and doing fun stuff while Dad was somewhere else. Frequently.

But it always comes back to Robyn, and she arrived at the time the family went public and then did that lame-o Escape to Vegas, which led immediately to separate houses and lives. Kody has had eyes only for Robyn since then. I agree with others that the move was probably spurred on by Robyn's wants. He didn't care about anyone else at that point.

Missed y'all last night on the live chat - we had no internet in our entire building of 82 units. Lots of unhappy people, including me. Glad to be back :)

[absolutelyido]

10 hours ago, SDVegas said:

Doesn’t Kody even miss Savannah? Want to talk to her or see her? I mean, does he have any feelings for her at all?

I'd bet Kody never even thought of getting a Christmas present for Savannah until the producers reminded him that he didn't for his couch interview. Then he's like, 'Oh yeah, I'm totally going to do that'.

[AZChristian]

29 minutes ago, altopower said:

I agree with others that the move was probably spurred on by Robyn's wants.

Christine's daughter, Gwen, has said online that the entire family had to pack up and move to Las Vegas because Dayton wanted to go to NAU . . . and the mama bear wasn't going to let him go off on his own.  So all of the other kids had to sacrifice their plans and reorganize their lives to start fresh in Las Vegas.