S19.E21: The Land of Milk and Honey?

[Mod-Tigerkatze]

Quote

With Christine's help, Janelle moves her life from Flagstaff to North Carolina and sees the land that she purchased sight unseen; Meri questions her entire relationship with Robyn; Kody prepares to baptize Aurora into a new church.

Air date: Apr 20, 2025

[xls]

8 hours ago, Mod-Tigerkatze said:

Kody prepares to baptize Aurora into a new church.

I just bet he will.

How is he fit to baptize anyone? 

[Absolom]

Much less that he's fit to "baptize Aurora into a new church."  He's dunking her in some water and saying words for a faith he isn't a member of, doesn't believe in, and doesn't practice.  That isn't a baptism where I go to church.  He's pretending.  

[xls]

6 hours ago, Absolom said:

Much less that he's fit to "baptize Aurora into a new church."  He's dunking her in some water and saying words for a faith he isn't a member of, doesn't believe in, and doesn't practice.  That isn't a baptism where I go to church.  He's pretending.  

In the sewer/ drainage ditch the call a 'pond'? 🤢

[surfgirl]

11 minutes ago, xls said:

In the sewer/ drainage ditch the call a 'pond'? 🤢

If you mean the ditch filled with water that he paraded around in with nothing but his underpants on, in front of his teenage children, then I think he would consider that a holy, consecrated body of water given his supreme highness has bathed within it.

[Elizzikra]

1 hour ago, surfgirl said:

If you mean the ditch filled with water that he paraded around in with nothing but his underpants on, in front of his teenage children, then I think he would consider that a holy, consecrated body of water given his supreme highness has bathed within it.

Does it count as a bath if you are dirtier coming out than you were going in?

[Gramto6]

Is Live Chat going to open?

[Gramto6]

Is anyone watching???

[General Days]

I am, Gram, but I'm a couple of minutes behind. I see the Live Chat didn't get unlocked. I just popped in hoping to say how much I enjoyed Jenn calling out Robyn. Repeatedly.

Edited Monday at 03:09 AM by General Days
typo

[mythoughtis]

Yes- but it’s all annoying except for Janelle.  Meri’s take on Robyn is interesting 

[Gramto6]

I threw up a little when Kody went on and on about his pects and abs!! Yuk!

Edited Monday at 02:39 AM by Gramto6

[xls]

🤣

 

Just now, Gramto6 said:

I threw up a little when Kody went on and on about his pects and abs!! Yuk!

I lost my text about that

'piece of meat' 

Dream on buster! 

[General Days]

5 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

I threw up a little when Kody went on and on about his pects and abs!! Yuk!

I think my brain likes me, because I know what segment you're talking about, but my mind absolutely did not take it in.

I am so, so tired of him.

[Gramto6]

You got the Fool part right, Kody!!

[LotusFlower]

12 minutes ago, General Days said:

I am Gram, but I'm a couple of minutes behind. I see the Live Chat didn't get unlocked. I just popped in hoping to say how much I enjoyed Jenn calling out Robyn. Repeatedly.

I was going to say the exact same thing.  I feel like Jenn is one of us!  Does she post here?!!  She talks like us. 😄

[mythoughtis]

1 minute ago, General Days said:

I think my brain likes me, because I know what segment you're talking about, but my mind absolutely did not take it in.

I am so, so tired of him.

I only half listen to him.  The soulmate segment was especially annoying. As was his continuing  to act as if he only has 5 children. 

[Mr. Miner]

Kody’s talking heads are like a knife to the kidneys!

[mythoughtis]

Robin’s going to challenge the girls’  ‘suitors’ - you mean like she challenged Tony???? 

[Gramto6]

Yawwwwnnnnn!  That was a lot of nothing!

[General Days]

I had to pause to empty the dishwasher, so I'm just on the "soulmate" segment.

I wonder if ANY OF THEM remember that Kody called Meri his "soulmate" in one of the first three episodes of the series. I think it was actually the first episode ever, but can't be sure without checking. 

[LotusFlower]

I couldn’t help but think of Kody and his FOMO when the gang was hanging out at Maddie and Caleb’s house, and then the property.  It was everything he wanted, and undoubtedly misses.  All his fault, though. 

[Denize]

The best idea would be to keep the timber farm as a timber farm and just build a house and a vegetable garden on a small part of it, for starters. After Coyote Pass I'm surprised they chose another property with no water or electricity. That is why they got it for "cheap".

Edited Monday at 03:58 AM by Denize

[General Days]

6 minutes ago, Denize said:

The best idea would be to keep the timber farm as a timber farm and just start build a house and a vegetable garden on a small part of it, for starters.

Agreed, Denize. I kept thinking the same thing. "Janelle, you've got an actual income with the timber. Carve out a few acres for your flower farm dream, while actually earning money with the other 150 acres" (or however much it was). 

[MsMalin]

Good Lord, I see Kody is still delusional. But I think Janelle is too buying that land sight unseen and all the work that has to be pit into it before she makes a dime.

Edited Monday at 11:25 AM by MsMalin

[Jeanne222]

Well that was boring as ....!  

My only exciting moment was waiting for a big snake to jump out and bite one of them in their fields of dreams.

Kody is pathetic trying to be a father figure to those two older daughters of Robins.  They only want to become tv stars and rake in the bucks every week!  Not happening.  They might be nice girls but neither are the type to do that.

Robin has to continue restraining younger daughter from finger combing Robin's

Hair.  She seems a bit old for that behavior.

[65mickey]

Janelle bought the land sight unseen and that she invested all of her reserves in the property.   She says there is no infrastructure, no water no power no sewage but they are staking out her house? How is this happening?

[laurakaye]

So - we're back?  Yay?   

I am personally embarrassed at how much I was looking forward to this show coming back when there's really nothing new to parse out.

I think my favorite moment was when Meri told us that somewhere there exists a man who ordered some pieces from My Sister Wives' Closet and never received them, so he wants his money back...when did he order this stuff, 2017?  MSWC has been defunct for years so I find it hilarious that Meri, in her long-obsolete role as customer service rep, still has to dill with this nonsense because clearly Robyn has dumped the problem on Meri's lap.  And then there's Robyn, in her black-print polyester blouse circa Kohl's 1992, explaining that while MSWC is not currently operational (LOL), sometimes it "glitches" and comes back online and people can sneak orders in....huh?  Why not remove it altogether?  You have no sister wives, therefore no closets, and no products, so it sure seems like getting rid of it would be a simple solution, no?

Speaking of simple solutions, Janelle has moved to NC and purchased 165 acres of land sight unseen, and in her words - "this better work, because I have nothing else to fall back on!" Upon visiting the land, she seemed rather surprised that it was....land.  With lots of trees and wildlife and snakes and bears...you know, like land tends to have.  Maybe I am too careful with my money but sinking everything I own into a giant plot of rugged wilderness in order to build a business I can only fathom in my "dreams" seems a tad risky.

Christine and David are in love, by the way.  And yet - Christine cannot stop talking about Kody.  To David.  I'm sure he enjoys that.

Kody baptizing Aurora was all about Kody.  So kind of him to tell Aurora that while he did baptize her, it's not what he would have wanted for her but it's okay, it's what she wanted.  And could that "celebration" dinner have been any more awkward?  The entire thing was so cringe, I think I pulled a muscle.  Aurora and Brianna are wayyyy too interested in what their parents want for them, to the point where I don't think either one of those girls sneezes without asking permission first.  And Kody telling us that sometimes his kids stop in their tracks and just gaze with adoration at the shining example of true love between he and Robyn was extremely weird.

But not as weird as Kody telling us about his buns of steel.  And he wasn't joking.  He was sittin' there (on his steel buns) actually telling us that his ass muscles are solid.  What in the hell?  What are we watching anymore?

Color me underwhelmed.

 

 

[Harvey]

Question: I don't watch this show but watched some clips today and read a bit about the characters. At this point, the people starring in this are obviously rich because they have been starring in this show for 19 seasons so they received a lot of money.

But before that, how did they sustain themselves? From what I understand, even before the show began, Kody and his 3 original wives lived together, and the wives were stay at home wives raising the 13 kids.

What I don't understand is, how did they have enough money for everyone on Kody's singular salary? Is he super rich? Or did he get some sort of assistance? When I saw the house they lived in in episode 1, I was shocked. It is quite large and just that must be worth a fortune, but even a property like that has significant upkeep expenses. Does anyone know the answer?

[Elizzikra]

38 minutes ago, Harvey said:

Question: I don't watch this show but watched some clips today and read a bit about the characters. At this point, the people starring in this are obviously rich because they have been starring in this show for 19 seasons so they received a lot of money.

But before that, how did they sustain themselves? From what I understand, even before the show began, Kody and his 3 original wives lived together, and the wives were stay at home wives raising the 13 kids.

What I don't understand is, how did they have enough money for everyone on Kody's singular salary? Is he super rich? Or did he get some sort of assistance? When I saw the house they lived in in episode 1, I was shocked. It is quite large and just that must be worth a fortune, but even a property like that has significant upkeep expenses. Does anyone know the answer?

No one has ever really been able to untangle their finances, including those associated with the show. Before the show, Kody worked as did Janelle. I believe Meri also worked at least part time and there are rumors that Christine did though that wasn’t mentioned on the show really. They struggled financially because they had so many kids plus four adults to support (five when Robyn came along - Robyn has never worked as far as we know). There was speculation that some of the wives had some sort of assistance at various points in time and I believe we know that none of the kids had health insurance when they were minors (hopefully as adults they do). 

While the show paid them something, I don’t think it was the big financial windfall that some think it is. They live an expensive lifestyle as well. Kody and Robyn have always had a large and expensive house. When they lived in LV, each of the wives had a nice, newly built house. I suspect they made the minimum down payment and had a large mortgage. Those houses sat empty for about a year before any of them sold, when the family moved to Flagstaff. I think their finances are really a house of cards, with some sketchy borrowing practices and a couple of bankruptcies among the adults. 

[AZChristian]

Most of the wives have also claimed bankruptcy after running up large credit card bills.  Robyn had a large bill from Victoria's Secret because they were the ONLY place she could find pants long enough.  (Sure, Jan.)

Online sleuths have discovered that they have carried little to no car insurance in the past on their plethora of cars.  Janelle even tried to stiff the city of Las Vegas and not pay for trash pickup service, opting to put her trash in everyone else's barrels.  City of LV said she couldn't do that.  The trash fee had to be paid for each property.

Sleuths also discovered (as @Elizzikra alluded to above) that the LV houses were built with relatively small down payments, and a large balloon payment due several years later. 

The large house the three OG wives shared with their kids was made possible when Janelle either cashed out her retirement or got an inheritance (can't remember which) and contributed the money to the communal pot.  If I remember correctly, Janelle and Christine also qualified for food stamps because they had 6 kids each and no husband.

Like many polygamists, the Brown knew how to "bleed the beast" (i.e., take advantage of every opportunity to use government funds to finance their large families).

[Harvey]

58 minutes ago, Elizzikra said:

No one has ever really been able to untangle their finances, including those associated with the show. Before the show, Kody worked as did Janelle. I believe Meri also worked at least part time and there are rumors that Christine did though that wasn’t mentioned on the show really. They struggled financially because they had so many kids plus four adults to support (five when Robyn came along - Robyn has never worked as far as we know). There was speculation that some of the wives had some sort of assistance at various points in time and I believe we know that none of the kids had health insurance when they were minors (hopefully as adults they do). 

While the show paid them something, I don’t think it was the big financial windfall that some think it is. They live an expensive lifestyle as well. Kody and Robyn have always had a large and expensive house. When they lived in LV, each of the wives had a nice, newly built house. I suspect they made the minimum down payment and had a large mortgage. Those houses sat empty for about a year before any of them sold, when the family moved to Flagstaff. I think their finances are really a house of cards, with some sketchy borrowing practices and a couple of bankruptcies among the adults. 

 

43 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Most of the wives have also claimed bankruptcy after running up large credit card bills.  Robyn had a large bill from Victoria's Secret because they were the ONLY place she could find pants long enough.  (Sure, Jan.)

Online sleuths have discovered that they have carried little to no car insurance in the past on their plethora of cars.  Janelle even tried to stiff the city of Las Vegas and not pay for trash pickup service, opting to put her trash in everyone else's barrels.  City of LV said she couldn't do that.  The trash fee had to be paid for each property.

Sleuths also discovered (as @Elizzikra alluded to above) that the LV houses were built with relatively small down payments, and a large balloon payment due several years later. 

The large house the three OG wives shared with their kids was made possible when Janelle either cashed out her retirement or got an inheritance (can't remember which) and contributed the money to the communal pot.  If I remember correctly, Janelle and Christine also qualified for food stamps because they had 6 kids each and no husband.

Like many polygamists, the Brown knew how to "bleed the beast" (i.e., take advantage of every opportunity to use government funds to finance their large families).

Very fascinating answers, thank you! I did some reading in the meantime, and it looks like the dad is a gun salesman but he doesn't really bring that up because it is a touchy subject for many, but there is footage of him selling guns at gun expos even back in 2022. 

The family receives 10% of the production budget per episode, so 25 000 - 40 000 dollars per episode. That would be a lot but not when it has to go in so many directions. 

From the articles I read it seems that the father is not so responsible with money, his estimated net worth is 800 000 but he takes out a lot of loans. Very interesting stuff.

[Absolom]

18 minutes ago, Harvey said:

The family receives 10% of the production budget per episode, so 25 000 - 40 000 dollars per episode. That would be a lot but not when it has to go in so many directions. 

That's just a guesstimate.  TLC is acknowledged to be one of the lower paying networks.  For initial shows they pay extremely cheaply and then only slowly increase the payment.  Plus what TLC paid in the past had to be spread over four family groups. Now things are hopefully done equitably with each of the original adults getting their own payment instead of one payment to them as one entity or family group as has been TLC's practice.

[Natalie68]

6 hours ago, 65mickey said:

Janelle bought the land sight unseen and that she invested all of her reserves in the property.   She says there is no infrastructure, no water no power no sewage but they are staking out her house? How is this happening?

I WANT to think Janelle isn't an idiot but here we are.  

[luvmylabs]

Is it just me or do all the wives, except Robin, seem so very happy since all the separations and divorces?  They are almost glowing, especially Christine and Janelle.

[javajeanelaine]

It is not just you!

[surfgirl]

On 4/20/2025 at 8:00 PM, mythoughtis said:

Robin’s going to challenge the girls’  ‘suitors’ - you mean like she challenged Tony???? 

I imagine her standing in the doorway yammering on about how there shall be no tasting of the cookies, and the poor dude will be like, 'WTF is she talking about, we're going out for pizza?!?'

[SemiCharmedLife]

Wow, this is a different Robyn than she's been allowing us to see in the past.  No tears, not as much victimhood, though she is still weaving a tall tale about how the family fell apart.  I thought it was interesting how she said polygamous families should not keep scorecards-  she got the lions share of everything, leaving the rest with the scraps.  

I'm really happy for the OG wives...they have unloaded the excess baggage (buns of steel must weigh a lot!) and are ready to live.

[RoxiP]

I'm glad Robyn got the message about the eyebrows though!

[laurakaye]

The scene with the New Happy Brown Family at lunch was so beyond strange, can anyone else parse out what we were watching?  

First of all, I think Daddy Kody went shopping with Aurora/Brianna and helped pick out their celebration dresses since both girls appeared to be cosplaying as Jane Austen if she wore Laura Ashley circa early 80's.  Where do these people buy their clothes?

And what was with the Kody/Aurora exchange about Aurora feeling like she was "lighter" after her baptism, while Kody told her she'd never feel that way again and she was all..."well, maybe when I get married?"  And Kody was all, "Um...you think so?"  Huh?  What was that?  Were they speaking in code?  Brianna jumped in to say something but it was so garbled and weird, I literally watched it twice and still didn't clock what she was saying.  From the few crumbs I've gathered, it seems like Kody isn't looking forward to bringing in any sons-in-law for Robyn to look at - he called these prospective and so far mythical boys "handsome devils."  Again, I ask - huh?

And after talk turns bizarrely to "soulmates," we get Robyn sittin' there saying, "I called Kody my soulmate but I shouldnta done that, 'cause it's okay if if he calls me his soulmate, but....no, wait - he shouldn't call me that but I can call HIM that...yeah, 'cause there are other people involved so....it's not good if I say it but not him, or - no, I can't say it but he can?  Yeah, that's it.  I think?"

These people have been on tv forever, yet put them on camera without any buffers like the other wives and they act like they have never met, let alone had a cogent conversation with each other.

Edited Tuesday at 02:37 PM by laurakaye

[ginger90]

13 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

And after talk turns bizarrely to "soulmates," we get Robyn sittin' there saying, "I called Kody my soulmate but I shouldnta done that, 'cause it's okay if if he calls me his soulmate, but....no, wait - he shouldn't call me that but I can call HIM that...yeah, 'cause there are other people involved so....it's not good if I say it but not him, or - no, I can't say it but he can?  Yeah, that's it.  I think?"

This is Robyn’s rehearsing backfiring.

[laurakaye]

2 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

This is Robyn’s rehearsing backfiring.

Brilliant.  I love this. 

What I also love is that, now that the OG 3 have peaced out (against Robyn's Vision Board wishes), she gets to be the sole target of Kody's uncomfortably blinding adoration of her.  She can't farm him out to another house anymore, nor can she guide his rage in another direction.  I will always believe that Robyn only wanted Kody when she could be the winner of the hawt man that the other women still pined for.  Now that they've left, she might be sending signs that he's not really the prize she wants anymore - hence, he keeps asking her if he's "enough" for her.  The fact that he even has to ask that tells me that he knows he's not.  But they are going to keep playing pretend soulmates for the cameras because they are both so deep into their lies and revisionist histories that they probably don't even know what's real or not anymore. 

[heatherchandler]

On 4/20/2025 at 10:50 PM, Denize said:

The best idea would be to keep the timber farm as a timber farm and just build a house and a vegetable garden on a small part of it, for starters. After Coyote Pass I'm surprised they chose another property with no water or electricity. That is why they got it for "cheap".

Right, why not keep it as a timber farm?  Seems like it could be lucrative.  Flowers are nice but will they make any money?

Why did they want to call it “Triple B?”

[laurakaye]

12 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

Right, why not keep it as a timber farm?  Seems like it could be lucrative.  Flowers are nice but will they make any money?

Why did they want to call it “Triple B?”

My guess is, "Brown/Brush/Brush."

A timber farm makes perfect sense, hence why Janelle doesn't see it.  She sees flowers in her dreams, so flowers there shall be.  She sunk all of her money into a huge plot of land full of trees and wildlife, like she didn't think those things would be there or something.

[AZChristian]

50 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

First of all, I think Daddy Kody went shopping with Aurora/Brianna and helped pick out their celebration dresses since both girls appeared to be cosplaying as Jane Austen if she wore Laura Ashley circa early 80's.  Where do these people buy their clothes?

Arizona has a lot of LDS (Mormon) folks.  There are stores here that specialize in modest clothing.

24 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

But they are going to keep playing pretend soulmates for the cameras because they are both so deep into their lies and revisionist histories that they probably don't even know what's real or not anymore. 

And the $$$$$ that their pretense brings in.

22 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

Right, why not keep it as a timber farm?  Seems like it could be lucrative.  Flowers are nice but will they make any money?

I got the feeling they were walking around the forest and said, "We can't make any money with all these trees in the way."  And it never occurred to them that the trees might have a lot of value!!!!

[Natalie68]

41 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

Brilliant.  I love this. 

What I also love is that, now that the OG 3 have peaced out (against Robyn's Vision Board wishes), she gets to be the sole target of Kody's uncomfortably blinding adoration of her.  She can't farm him out to another house anymore, nor can she guide his rage in another direction.  I will always believe that Robyn only wanted Kody when she could be the winner of the hawt man that the other women still pined for.  Now that they've left, she might be sending signs that he's not really the prize she wants anymore - hence, he keeps asking her if he's "enough" for her.  The fact that he even has to ask that tells me that he knows he's not.  But they are going to keep playing pretend soulmates for the cameras because they are both so deep into their lies and revisionist histories that they probably don't even know what's real or not anymore. 

The way he acts would give me the total ick.  If she isn't there, it is a matter of time.

[goofygirl]

On 4/21/2025 at 7:46 AM, 65mickey said:

Janelle bought the land sight unseen and that she invested all of her reserves in the property.   She says there is no infrastructure, no water no power no sewage but they are staking out her house? How is this happening?

She's building one of those shelters they build on "Naked & Afraid".....

[kassa]

On 4/20/2025 at 11:00 PM, mythoughtis said:

Robin’s going to challenge the girls’  ‘suitors’ - you mean like she challenged Tony???? 

Christine couldn't have been more clear about her view of Tony - it mirrored the time when Leon came out and Meri was frozen. And who swoops in with all of the on-camera love and support?  (Can you for one minute believe Robyn's  reaction would be the same to one of *her* children bringing home a Tony or a same-sex partner?)

On 4/21/2025 at 9:28 AM, laurakaye said:

Christine and David are in love, by the way.  And yet - Christine cannot stop talking about Kody.  To David.  I'm sure he enjoys that.

He enjoys the paycheck.  Because nobody's paying to watch them talk to each other about anything else :)

As for Janelle's big dumb purchase, Maddie and Caleb are her retirement plan.  She gives them a leg up on buying something for their future and in return gets a casita and room to garden and they handle everything else.

 

Edited Tuesday at 04:23 PM by kassa

[RoxiP]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

Arizona has a lot of LDS (Mormon) folks.  There are stores here that specialize in modest clothing.

But that bow on the back of her head was ridiculous.

[LotusFlower]

4 hours ago, laurakaye said:

But they are going to keep playing pretend soulmates for the cameras because they are both so deep into their lies and revisionist histories that they probably don't even know what's real or not anymore. 

 

3 hours ago, AZChristian said:

And the $$$$$ that their pretense brings in.

I’ll add another theory: I think it’s all defensiveness.  The 3 OG’s are gone and happy and thriving, so Kody & Robyn have to act (pretend?) that they’re blissfully happy, too.  Deep down I think Kody, in particular, is miserable and bitter, with a huge bruised ego.  Hence all the “Robyn is my soulmate” talk, including that bizarre comment that Robyn’s kids look at him & Robyn with amazement at how in love they are…!  🤢 He’s mad about everything he’s lost, and jealous about everything he’s missing out on.  So he and Robyn are trying to show that their life is great, too, and their family gatherings are fun and special….even though they look anything but!  

[General Days]

3 hours ago, kassa said:

As for Janelle's big dumb purchase, Maddie and Caleb are her retirement plan.  She gives them a leg up on buying something for their future and in return gets a casita and room to garden and they handle everything else.

 

I think you're right, but I think Caleb and Janelle are NUTS to have purchased the land with only Maddie looking at it. And granted, Maddie is Janelle's daughter, and Caleb's wife, but that's a bigass purchase. 

My mom is still in her own place (and only a few miles away), but sometimes she, my husband, and I talk about getting a house with an in-law, so that she'll be right with us.

I've been married for decades, our kids are grown, and still I wouldn't to be the only member of our trio to make that decision (which is a hell of a lot smaller, really, than buying an enormous plot of land).