S12.E1: Since U Been Gone

[swankie]

Quote

On the cusp of turning 40, a newly-single Whitney finds herself stuck on the sidelines, watching as her friends celebrate life's milestones; Whitney must decide what she wants her next chapter to look like.

 

Original air date 2024.07.09

Edited July 10 by swankie

[Realitystarr]

I'm glad they are not focusing on the Alabamer  family.

Nice to see Todd looking healthy.

Hunter and Glenn look happier too compared to last season,nice to see they are adjusting from losing the mom.

The egging was clearly fake. I highly doubt with the cost of food that anyone is wasting money on throwing eggs and sending flowers and showing up while the house is full of  people filming plus wearing white.

Same for  Lenny's baby annoucement.  Whoever wrote this scene must not have any experience with having friends or acquantences because this is not how any of this works in real life. 

[swankie]

3 hours ago, Realitystarr said:

The egging was clearly fake. I highly doubt with the cost of food that anyone is wasting money on throwing eggs and sending flowers and showing up while the house is full of  people filming plus wearing white.

I agree.  The fact that Glenn and Hunter didn't jump up from the table right away proves it was staged to me.  This whole episode was nothing but a Whitney pity party.  It's like they're trying to make people feel sympathy for her in order to make her a more pleasant person.  It's so not working. She thinks people don't like her because she's fat but the real reason is her crappy personality.  

Has Todd always been so toothy? 😁

So does Lennie's girlfriend not have any friends or family?  You would think if she did they would be at the baby reveal party also and not just Whitney's friends who she's never met.   

Edited July 10 by swankie
Added more thoughts.

[BAForever]

Fake, faker and fakest- the egging, the baby reveal, and Le Blur. 

I do think Whit is sad that her friend group is finding happiness in their relationships and she isn't. 

Guess that's the plotline this season, Whitney trying to  get her groove back at 40. 

[parkinglola]

no sympathy.Self-inflicted.

Edited July 10 by parkinglola

[Pi237]

I did feel bad for her. It’s hard when your peer group are moving on and you feel left behind. She seemed humbled this episode. We’ll see how long that lasts.  Hopefully, she’ll engage in some introspection, and realize she tends to bulldoze over people in an effort to always be front and center. 
 

I didn’t understand why the baby reveal had to be a surprise. If it were more of a shower, they could’ve gotten gifts. It was awkward to be all ‘Yay! Here’s our baby!…..Ok, guess we’ll go home now….’ I’d have wanted to give them something. I also had a judgy moment of-that’s baby’s too tiny to be around all those virus and bacteria vessel-adults right now.  But good for Lenny. He was beaming with pride. 
 

Buddy’s got a type, eh? All his girlfriends, and now wife, look like a thinner Whitney. 

[Meow Mix]

I could maybe believe that the egging was a re-enactment of something that happened in the past.  I agree that it makes no sense for someone to vandalize someone's house when there's a bunch of people around who could come out and catch them.  And who wears white to do that? Also, why did Whitney need to have some sort of meeting in her bedroom to rehash the whole thing including showing the letter to everyone?  I'm sorry for her if something like that actually happened in the past, but she is not doing this show for the altruistic reasons she listed.  She is doing it for attention and to pay the bills.

As for the baby reveal, the producers must have been desperate for content.  What sane person asks his former girlfriend to throw a party so he can introduce his baby and his girlfriend to a bunch of people the new girlfriend doesn't know and probably isn't planning to hang out with in the future?  Plus they were messing with the timeline again.  Lennie said the baby was born in December and they were talking about going to a Thanksgiving celebration.  And Whitney made it a surprise to purposely have a fakeout of her being pregnant.

I wish she would stop with this Frenchman stuff.  Supposedly they broke up last season, but she spent six weeks in Paris begging him to take her back.  Does she want everyone to think she is a pathetic stalker?  I just don't understand why she didn't just drop the whole thing instead of making herself look so foolish.

Not sure what to think about Glenn moving or not to Alabama.  It sounds like he made an impulsive statement and then thought about it and realized how little sense a move would make.  

[Me from ME]

FAKE FAKE FAKE. How many years ago was the equally fake episode of discovering graffiti on the rented RV? The one where the spray paint just "happened" to match the graphics on the wrap without touching her face? What followed in both cases was a confab with her friends including Buddy and his gf acting all sympathetic to her freakin' pity party.

I think all the tears are designed to rehabilitate her image from the horrible person we have witnessed over the past few years. Oh, and give me a break. "The only reason she agreed to doing the show was to make other people happy?" How about having a substantial income stream including all the benefits without having to do a regular 9-5 job?

From next week's preview, it looks as if another significant other has been cast for this season. GAH.

Why do I watch it - I probably won't.

[parkinglola]

Walk away,save yourself.

[princelina]

15 hours ago, swankie said:

So does Lennie's girlfriend not have any friends or family?  You would think if she did they would be at the baby reveal party also and not just Whitney's friends who she's never met.   

I think she does - that's who she's been hanging out with all the time she never bothered to meet Whitney! But a few TLC bucks for Genevieve's college fund for a few minutes of "show content" sounds like a good deal to her, I am sure.  What I wondered is, now that Lennie is "not working for" Whitney anymore, will he be barely seen on the show?  In other news, ladies of NC, soon you can receive a massage from Lennie!!! 😂

1 hour ago, Meow Mix said:

I wish she would stop with this Frenchman stuff.  Supposedly they broke up last season, but she spent six weeks in Paris begging him to take her back.  Does she want everyone to think she is a pathetic stalker?  I just don't understand why she didn't just drop the whole thing instead of making herself look so foolish.

When did they even break up?  Last year Lennie was a major character on the show, and that was because they had ended the previous season with him sharing uncomfortable-looking pecks with Whit and we were supposed to believe that THAT was a thing.  Then last season she was pestering the new fam and local restaurant owner to fix her up.  And now we're supposed to believe she's been "in love" and carrying on with Fake Frenchman all this time?  

And yes, the fake harassment - I've got to get me one of those doorbell cams that not only shows my doorstep, but then follows perpetrators around to the side of the house in case they get up to mischief! 🤣

[DanaMB]

17 hours ago, Realitystarr said:

 

Same for  Lenny's baby annoucement.  Whoever wrote this scene must not have any experience with having friends or acquantences because this is not how any of this works in real life. 

I think it shows these people are not really her friends. Not close friends anyway. Paid acquaintances. 
 

Also, my instincts scream fake or re-enactment with the egging, flowers, card. However, I have no doubt it is based on something from real life. I have no doubt of the vitriol she receives for being fat and/or for her abrasive personality. People are horrible. We may keep it to this board, but I’m sure she’s flooded with all sorts of nasty messages on her socials or DMs. 

Edited July 10 by DanaMB

[lightninggirl]

3 hours ago, Me from ME said:

I think all the tears are designed to rehabilitate her image from the horrible person we have witnessed over the past few years. Oh, and give me a break. "The only reason she agreed to doing the show was to make other people happy?" How about having a substantial income stream including all the benefits without having to do a regular 9-5 job?

I'm pretty sure that was Todd in a mask with the eggs and the card/flowers at the front door. 😂 There was a little hop and a skip at the end of the egg throw there. I died at the line in the card "I only like Todd because he hates you" took me out. 😂😂

Sure, Whitney, keep the newborn baby and postpartum mom out on the doorstep in the cold. PS the gf looks AWESOME for having a new baby - good for her! Not sure if I'd want my brand-new baby around a bunch of strangers with all of these viruses running rampant. 😳🦠

Also, it's 2024 (or 2023 in this case), and Lenny is claiming that he kept everything quiet because they weren't married and he didn't want to be judged? Uh, then why not marry her? Or don't stick your unwrapped howdy doody into someone you're not interested in marrying?

I'm just glad that Todd is living in the upper loft/attic because his snark and sass might be the only things that get me through this dang season.

[Irate Panda]

I thought the last time we saw Lenny, he was rolling around with Whitney on vacation.  I love how Whitney’s “love interests” keep getting other women pregnant 🙄 
 

The egg incident seems like another made up event because there is nothing going on that is interesting.  I guess they’re saving another trip to the car wash for sweeps.

[princelina]

1 hour ago, Irate Panda said:

I thought the last time we saw Lenny, he was rolling around with Whitney on vacation.  I love how Whitney’s “love interests” keep getting other women pregnant 🙄 

Haha but that was 2 seasons ago!  Last season everyone kept questioning Lennie's intentions towards Whitney while he kept bleating, "I have a girlfriend! I swear!"  That's why the return of her previous fake boyfriend makes no sense in the timeline!  She loved him like no other (not even her "ex-fiance") 😂

Edited July 11 by princelina

[Pi237]

I love her Poodle. 
 

That’s all. 🤣

[Yeah No]

So much of this show is fake it's hard to find anything real in it anymore. The egging was obviously staged and we've seen similar before in earlier seasons. I agree with the above that this episode was designed to get sympathy out of the audience.  She and the show must know they've got more haters now, but their way of trying to get us to feel bad for her is so obviously fake it's only going to make us roll our eyes even more.

I think the stuff they put in that egger's "note" about Todd was the realest thing in this episode. She must read this board because we've said that many times about Todd. It was her way of calling out those people she knows have her number and a way to make them feel guilty and bad for how mean they've been to her. She's trying to shame us. It's not working, Whitney, we see through you. We're smarter than you think we are.

At the end of last season when Glenn said he was going to move to Alabama I said I thought that it was yet another fake-out and it was just done to create a "cliff hanger" for the next season, and now I believe that even more because of the way Glenn so quickly backpedaled on it.

Another eye-roller was her dragging up the Frenchman again. Yet another blatant and obvious ploy to elicit sympathy from us. Now she is not only pushing 40 and single but also rejected with a broken heart.  She'll use every cheap trick in the book and lay it on real thick, then make really sober, "mature" faces for the camera to reel us in.  Give us a break, LOL.

I would like to think that some of her new "humble" attitude is not just an act but that's hard to do. She's trying so hard to convince us that she is not the self-centered, obnoxious twit we've seen her to be for years now that I am very skeptical about it all. It would be nice to think she is finally gaining some maturity and self knowledge but there is so much obvious fakery going on here that I can't completely buy it. And her acting like she's Mother Theresa for "giving up" her life in the service of others by having a TV show was a bridge too far.  Seriously, she expects us to buy that?  Unbelievable. The ironic thing is that her life is sad from many angles. But making herself look like some kind of selfless, noble servant is obviously a smokescreen to try to prevent us from seeing how self-serving the truth really is. And that kind of prevents people from feeling that sorry for her.

Oh, and to whoever liked that this episode didn't include the Alabama family, that's going to be short lived per the previews.

[Me from ME]

Well said Yeah No.

There was one more point that I noticed during the first episode which I haven't seen mentioned.  Namely that not only was she  deliberately implying to her friends that she might be pregnant but she was rubbing her abdomen while teasing it. Have we EVER seen her do that in the past? Maybe she has rested her hands on that area while sitting but she was actively rubbing it.

OK, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't doing it consciously but it was downright weird and misleading to her "friends".

[Irate Panda]

7 hours ago, princelina said:

Haha but that was 2 seasons ago!  Last season everyone kept questioning Lennie's intentions towards Whitney while he kept bleating, "I have a girlfriend! I swear!"  That's why the return of her previous fake boyfriend makes no sense in the timeline!  She loved him like no other (not even her "ex-fiance") 😂

Oh OK,  I didn’t really watch last season :)

[LeesburgLee]

On 7/10/2024 at 3:50 PM, Me from ME said:

Oh, and give me a break. "The only reason she agreed to doing the show was to make other people happy?" How about having a substantial income stream including all the benefits without having to do a regular 9-5 job?

 

On 7/11/2024 at 12:25 AM, Yeah No said:

And her acting like she's Mother Theresa for "giving up" her life in the service of others by having a TV show was a bridge too far.  Seriously, she expects us to buy that?  Unbelievable.

Gotta admit, when Whit said that about doing the show to help others, I actually laughed out loud. The Queen of Altruism, yup.

[SunnyBeBe]

Based on my vast experience of watching reality tv shows, all realty shows contain substantial amounts of staged, contrived, re-enacted content.  Even the cast are considered cast members as in a production.  So, I’m not disappointed yet.  I get it.  
I’m looking forward to this season and hope the entire family is showcased again.  

[Quof]

On 7/10/2024 at 4:50 PM, Me from ME said:

"The only reason she agreed to doing the show was to make other people happy?"

Well, along with 90 Day Fiance and My 600 Lb Life, this show does make me feel good about my own life.  Comparatively speaking, my life is a shining beacon of good decision making.  

[BAForever]

2 hours ago, Quof said:

 Comparatively speaking, my life is a shining beacon of good decision making.  

Me too @Quof! Watching Whit make a fool of herself is a cheap guilty pleasure- so in a way,  she's right. And even though I love the 600 pound life train wrecks (Dolly, Asatani brothers, Penny), I love the successes too, so I'm not a shallow person all of the time.

[Pi237]

9 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I’m looking forward to this season and hope the entire family is showcased again.  

As long as it’s not all Whitney in stupid competitions with her niece. That got old before it even began. Glad Todd’s back. He can be such a bitch, but he makes me laugh. 

Edited July 12 by Pi237

[ReclinerTurnip]

There was one part of this episode where I got the feeling that Todd was not invited to the surprise baby welcoming party.  He is in the background and it looks like he comes down stairs or around a corner and his face is a little surprised like "what the heck is going on?"  But then later he is in the middle of the one couch and doing games or whatever.  I wonder if they were originally going to spin a storyline that Whitney didn't invite Todd to the party when he lives in the attic.  And then decided not to do that.  It's like something they leave in a movie by accident because the "take" for another character was the best one and hope people don't notice the background person. Or I could just be making this all up of course as I am unwilling to suffer through the episode a second time to confirm...

[Fostersmom]

Buddy’s wife seems to have Whitney pegged. She had a look on her face at the baby surprise that screamed she was way over Whitney and her crap. 

[auntjess]

Why didn't she just do a baby shower?  There should have been gifts for the baby.

[LuvMyShows]

On 7/10/2024 at 2:42 PM, Meow Mix said:

...but she is not doing this show for the altruistic reasons she listed.  She is doing it for attention and to pay the bills.

I actually believe that when she first started, and the show really was about showing what a self-professed "fat girl" can do, that she had some altruistic reasons. But pretty quickly, I think that morphed into a focus on 'me' and 'my'.

[LuvMyShows]

6 hours ago, ReclinerTurnip said:

There was one part of this episode where I got the feeling that Todd was not invited to the surprise baby welcoming party.  He is in the background and it looks like he comes down stairs or around a corner and his face is a little surprised like "what the heck is going on?"  But then later he is in the middle of the one couch and doing games or whatever.  I wonder if they were originally going to spin a storyline that Whitney didn't invite Todd to the party when he lives in the attic.  And then decided not to do that.  It's like something they leave in a movie by accident because the "take" for another character was the best one and hope people don't notice the background person. Or I could just be making this all up of course as I am unwilling to suffer through the episode a second time to confirm...

Well, I took one for the team and went back to check it out. (It's at 34:20 for anyone who wants to see it.) A door opens in the background and he walks in (it looked like it could have been the door to the attic area), and he definitely has a look of consternation, a look that easily could have been quite displeased and concerned as to what all these people are doing here. 

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

Well, I took one for the team and went back to check it out. (It's at 34:20 for anyone who wants to see it.) A door opens in the background and he walks in (it looked like it could have been the door to the attic area), and he definitely has a look of consternation, a look that easily could have been quite displeased and concerned as to what all these people are doing here. 

LOL, I went an looked at it (I somehow never deleted it off my DVR) and with commercials it was at 48:38. I saw Todd's expression but he often looks like that so it's hard to tell with him. Maybe he was just confused that no one called him down when they arrived, but that would have interrupted the flow of filming so it would have been hard to do.

[SunnyBeBe]

I suspect the cast considers themselves fortunate to be on a regular tv show, have a little extra income and a fair amount of celebrity for their little town.  

[JeanJean]

Just interjecting: What's up with TLC's "Jewish Boy marries Catholic girl!!" show? Is this the 1950s?

 

Edited July 17 by JeanJean

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, JeanJean said:

Just interjecting: What's up with TLC's "Jewish Boy marries Catholic girl!!" show? Is this the 1950s?

LOL, that was exactly my reaction! So ridiculous....🙄

[Pi237]

Extra Fabulous was just Whitney out to dinner with Jess and her husband, talking about how sad and broke hearted she is about the Frenchman. She asked their waiter if he had any single friends. Then, she talked about the hate she got for showing her Moms funeral on tv. That it was her Dad's idea and her Mom would've loved it. Jess has been trying for a baby for a year. They both squealed about Her husband getting his sperm tested. (Its the best the doctor has ever seen)  And then more about Whit's frozen eggs & time running out to have a baby. 

[LeesburgLee]

3 hours ago, Pi237 said:

Jess has been trying for a baby for a year. They both squealed about Her husband getting his sperm tested. (Its the best the doctor has ever seen)  And then more about Whit's frozen eggs & time running out to have a baby. 

Since the theme of this season seems to be Whit's dealing with turning 40, maybe she should put the tweener screaming and squealing at anything sexual behind her. That screech actually made my cat jump.

[monagatuna]

On 7/17/2024 at 12:00 PM, LeesburgLee said:

Since the theme of this season seems to be Whit's dealing with turning 40, maybe she should put the tweener screaming and squealing at anything sexual behind her. That screech actually made my cat jump.

I didn't watch this, but it also seems a bit--unnecessary. If all they're doing is "trying for a baby," Whitney is just squealing over them raw dogging it. No one needs to know that much about you guys, Jess and Isaiah, as much as we think you're adorable. Squeal when there's an actual baby to squeal over.