S19.E23: The Stars Will Fall From the Sky

[laurakaye]

1 hour ago, BAForever said:

This times 1000 @waterytart. Whether it's Robyn's influence, his childhood experiences or a character flaw, I think that Kody is incapable of empathy and self-reflection. Interestingly enough, it seems like most of his sons are different. 

I think Kody chased his father's affections and didn't get what he wanted from Winn.  We know from many interviews that Kody was a bit of a flamboyant showboat and loved the spotlight, and maybe that tough old bird Winn didn't know what to do with Kody.  Kody then took multiple wives just like his dad, but I don't get the feeling that Winn took to that either, or maybe he didn't want his son to go on television to broadcast polygamy, who knows.  But if his father withheld his love I guess it would make sense that Kody do the same thing, but only after Robyn came along.  Maybe in finding his soul mate in Robyn, Kody was angry that he followed his dad into polygamy only to become burdened by three women he decided that he didn't love and then took that out on his kids.  I have no idea what I am talking about, but I am always struck by the fact that his sons seem to be particularly loving and kind gentlemen.  I have to imagine that's due largely to Janelle and perhaps even more so, Christine.

As to why Kody seems to be missing the empathy and reflection genes...he is in so damned deep with Robyn and their revisionist history, I don't think he even knows the truth of what he's really done to his non-Robyn kids.  After all, he's gone from ignoring the OG3's kids to smothering his kids with Robyn, so we know he's capable of being an attentive father (although I am questioning the smothering - is he making up for what he's done wrong with the others - but that would mean he actually does see where he's gone wrong?)

I feel like Kody has to know what he's done wrong.  But in trying to fix it now, does he think that is going to push Robyn away?  And now she is all he has left.  I am probably giving him credit where it's not due, but he said some things at the end of the episode that make me wonder if he's just starting to pull apart the tangled web he's made with his "soulmate" at the expense of everyone else.

TL;DR - Kody messed up terribly - will Robyn allow him to realize just how much?

Edited Tuesday at 06:36 PM by laurakaye

[salvame]

This was heartbreaking. I cried right along with Janelle, Meri, Christine, and the kids. I can't believe the powers that be would give K&R a bad edit if there had been genuine raw emotions to show. It was very interesting that Robyn, who produces tears for every scenario, couldn't squeeze out a drop. Neither of them holds themselves accountable for the estrangement that came out of the COVID debacle. Sadly, the isolation took a huge toll on those with cognitive or mental health issues. All the demons Garrison was fighting could rise to the surface. Kody skirted around the who COVID rules issue, but did he ever express remorse or regret? He strikes me as they type who just expects people to snap out of/get over it and just move on. Too bad, as I feel he could benefit from counseling. Garrison's siblings reactions just broke me.

[Denize]

4 hours ago, BAForever said:

Interestingly enough, it seems like most of his sons are different. 

It is probably good that Kody was an absentee father much of the time, as most of his boys didn't emulate him, except sometimes Paedon. 

[Emmeline]

I found it very strange that Kody said at the viewing for family & friends, all he could say was “I’m sorry”.  Isn’t that what attendees at the viewing say to the family?

I was surprised to see that Kody had a poster sized photo of Garrison in his military gear in the garage or workshop.  I feel confident that no photographs of any of Kody’s non-Robyn children were featured in the home they shared before Garrison’s passing.  Too little too late.

[Soapy Goddess]

4 hours ago, Emmeline said:

I was surprised to see that Kody had a poster sized photo of Garrison in his military gear in the garage or workshop.  I feel confident that no photographs of any of Kody’s non-Robyn children were featured in the home they shared before Garrison’s passing.  Too little too late.

Being the skeptic that I am, I thought the poster size photo was placed there on purpose the day of filming. Because we don't see ANY other photos of the OG13, do we?

[ginger90]

The picture was one that was displayed at the National Guard memorial service for Garrison. They also played with the timeline. That scene of Kody in the garage was at their new house which they closed on in October, 2024.

Edited Wednesday at 12:08 PM by ginger90

[Orcinus orca]

6 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

Being the skeptic that I am, I thought the poster size photo was placed there on purpose the day of filming. Because we don't see ANY other photos of the OG13, do we?

Wait, what?  They have a bazillion enormous bizarre paintings covering every wall of the house and they stick up a poster of Garrison in the garage?  There are no words.

[laurakaye]

11 hours ago, Emmeline said:

I found it very strange that Kody said at the viewing for family & friends, all he could say was “I’m sorry”.  Isn’t that what attendees at the viewing say to the family?

Is it too much to think that he kept saying that because he never knew how badly Garrison was struggling?  Or maybe others tried to tell him but he never did anything about it because Garrison was one of Robyn's perceived "enemies?"  If so he should be very sorry.  And Robyn should be sorry times a million.  "I'm sorry" seems to be something to say when you had no idea of what was going on, and that tracks.

Here's my thing - Kody can try to make up for lost time.  He can work on forging bonds with all of his children.  There is zero guarantee that it will work, but he can try.  If he can do enough soul searching to realize how badly he shut out the children that grew up with him as their dad, he might be able to salvage some relationships out of it.  Maybe not.  But the bigger question is, will Robyn allow him to try?  Because if she keeps up with her "poor me" perpetual victim dry-cry act, Kody will have a life-changing decision to make.  I hope he tries.  But he might fail mightily.  He might end up losing everyone.  Unfortunately Robyn holds all the cards now and I wouldn't trust her to hold anything, ever.

[mythoughtis]

I’m not going to fault  them for  filming the interviews in the fall/winter of 2024. They always film those as they are putting the episode together.   I know they normally ask them to answer as if they are in the ‘moment’ of the scene being shown.  Can’t really do that for something like this.  I don’t feel that the OG were less than honest with their emotions.

I don’t even fault Kody for not having the photo hung, especially if they had just moved   Sometimes it’s just too hard to deal with yet  

Now I do still have a problem with Robyn and Kody at the fire pit   I’ve seen screenshots that show that ‘scene’  was actually filmed at two greatly different points of time based upon items in the scene and clothing worn.  Their conversation was stilted.  Now was Kody grieving?  Of course he was.  He’s an a$$ but I do think he was grieving.   

 

Edited Wednesday at 05:21 PM by mythoughtis

[smarty]

Based on the video of Meri getting the call from Kody about Garrison's death and then going right over to help Janelle, does it seem that Janelle and Meri were both back in Flagstaff the day Garrison died - possibly for the filming of talking heads?

[RoxiP]

I do think Kody was grieving, but I also think he is so narcissistic that he is only grieving for himself and for what he's lost - not for the other people around him nor even for the pain and mental suffering Garrison was going through.  I know I'm overly cynical but I don't think Kody has the capacity to truly feel empathy for his children and for his former wives.  I would love to be wrong but ...

[Lurk]

This was a tough episode to watch.

Something that kept going through my head while watching was hoping that the family had not been very open and talking about any of this publicly before because that was what THEY wanted and not because they had to stick with the NDA from TLC. We (the public) have no need or right to know about all this other than what the family wants to share. I just hope that it was their choice in how and when. 

Especially in dealing with mental health issues, you don't need to be repressed in what you can or cannot say. You need to be able to freely get the help you need and do whatever you need without restraints. That is part of the stigma that makes dealing with mental health issues so bad.

[albarino]

I didn't get through the entire episode but there were a few things that struck me (and you've already touched on them).  

First, Kody used the passive voice so much when discussing his relationships; I wanted to tell him to "Own It!" [But that is a different reality show].  Examples off the top of my head were things like, "When we were estranged," or something like "When we weren't close" along those lines.   The active voice would have been, "When I disallowed my children to visit" or "When I decided my family with Robin came first."  Coward.

Robyn's response when she and Kody were discussing Aspyn's question to Kody along the lines of what did I do wrong to derail our relationship....Wowza.  Wasn't her response along the lines of "What now, is she trying to manipulate the situation?"  Talk about being an evil Step Mother!!!  There was ZERO compassion in her response.  The "I try so hard and want us all to be a loving family" narrative went right out the window.   She really is a terrible person.

I'm not even going to comment on all of her contributions when they were discussing Coyote Pass.

 

[waterytart]

6 hours ago, RoxiP said:

I do think Kody was grieving, but I also think he is so narcissistic that he is only grieving for himself and for what he's lost - not for the other people around him nor even for the pain and mental suffering Garrison was going through.  I know I'm overly cynical but I don't think Kody has the capacity to truly feel empathy for his children and for his former wives.  I would love to be wrong but ...

I agree. Otherwise he would have been so consumed with guilt he wouldn't have been able to function after the things he said and did.

[Tdoc72]

On 5/5/2025 at 6:35 PM, OlderThanDirt said:

 But one can't help but wonder if there will be any follow-up to  the rumors that there was a break between Mykelti and Kody & Robyn over the memorial service.

Yes, really wondering what happened to turn Mykelti. 

[65mickey]

Most likely she came to her senses and realized that the worse that could happen, the loss of her brother, made her take a long hard look at what was going on with the family and the part that Kody and Robyn played in the breakdown. 

[laurakaye]

We know Mykelti was the "rebel" of the family, the one getting knocked down for daring to show her body by wearing a tank top, coloring her hair red to stand out in a sea of ignored blond sisters, etc.  I 100% think that Robyn came into the family, quickly noted that Mykelti was the outsider, and took her right under her wing.  Robyn needed someone on her side, and Mykelti was finally getting some parental attention.  Hanging out with Robyn and her kids also gave Mykelti a chance to get a little closer to Kody.  So I don't blame her for that at all.

Mykelti grows up, gets married, has babies - and is still the "favorite" of Robyn and Kody.  But she is also seeing how horribly Kody is treating her siblings.  Why would you want to be the favorite of a narcissistic father and a truly evil stepmother?  That's not a win.  I think Mykelti did what she felt she needed to do at those times in her life.  If Robyn doesn't even have Mykelti on her side now, Robyn is firmly on the outs with everyone.  Meanwhile, a family tragedy hopefully wakes Kody's ass up to the truth of what he's done.

I know this show is sputtering to an end.  But I question what's in the future for Kody and Robyn.  She was the catalyst to him ending relationships with his kids.  He was a willing participant but man, I cannot fathom him not figuring out her role in all of it.  And now they only have each other.  What a toxic multi-million dollar home they must live in together.    

[MamaMax]

The info we got on Garrison's struggles really shed some light on Janelle's final break from Kody. I think her level of anger in the "fuck you" argument was due to the way Kody was treating Garrison even though she knew (and IMO, Kody knew) that G was in a really vulnerable place. Kody had truly put Janelle's back up to the wall in terms of choosing (literally!) bw her kids or Kody.  That was it, she washed her hands at this point when Kody really showed his ass IRT Garrison.

Janelle has a clear conscience bc she knows she did all she could to help G; Kody DOES NOT. I am not saying its Kody's fault (suicide is complicated and you cant blame anyone really) but he def did not do everything he could to help.  Robyn's seemingly cold reaction is IMO due to her blocking out the fact that she and K didn't take his struggles seriously enough to reconsider their covid protocols. She 100% pressured Kody to stay at her home bc her kids "needed" Kody more. And G was out there needing his dad and family and K turned it into a pissing contest. 

[kassa]

14 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

Yes, really wondering what happened to turn Mykelti. 

Spoiler

Rumor has it that the National Guard memorial service was private, he and Robyn were not invited, and they showed up with the camera crew, then he made a scene because they gave the flag and medals to Janelle. And he wanted the ashes but didn't get them, either.  

 

Edited 20 hours ago by kassa

[mythoughtis]

3 hours ago, kassa said:

  Reveal spoiler

Rumor has it that the National Guard memorial service was private, he and Robyn were not invited, and they showed up with the camera crew, then he made a scene because they gave the flag and medals to Janelle. And he wanted the ashes but didn't get them, either.  

 

I don’t know about not being invited.  Kody’s mother is seated next to Hunter in the photos.   She still lives in Wyoming.   I can’t see her traveling to Arizona without Janelle and other family knowing she’s coming. I also can’t  see Janelle being that spiteful to disinvite him.   Some of the rest of the spoiler … possibly.  
 

Edited 17 hours ago by mythoughtis

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, mythoughtis said:

I also can’t  see Janelle being that spiteful to disinvite him.  

After that episode of Kody and Janelle yelling "f*** you" at each other, I wouldn't judge any of her behavior after that as spiteful.  They both had CLEARLY stated their opinions of each other's choices.  Janelle had chosen her children over Kody, and he was royally pissed with her.  

If you don't want to see your kids when they are alive . . . and continually push them away . . . you don't instantly become entitled to re-enter their lives after they're gone.

JMO. 

[ginger90]

4 hours ago, ButterQueen said:

Kody is garbage.

Regarding  the spoiler, I highly doubt this. It sounds like something that Without a Crystal Ball would put out there though.

1 hour ago, mythoughtis said:

I can’t see her traveling to Arizona

The National Guard memorial was in Nevada.

Edited 15 hours ago by ginger90

[barshi50]

The last appearance of Garrison on Sister Wives was when he, Gabe and Gwen were discussing the Christmas gift exchange fiasco with Janelle and Christine. Garrison said that he had decided to "let Robin have him. He was an adult and didn't need a father anymore." If you listen to that now, you can hear the hurt in his voice under all the brave front he was showing.

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Regarding your spoiler, I highly doubt this. It sounds like something that Without a Crystal Ball would put out there though.

The National Guard memorial was in Nevada.

It did come from WOACB, who claims she had "sources."

Edited 15 hours ago by Salacious Kitty

[ginger90]

2 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

It did come from WOACB, who claims she had "sources."

Figured, she’s so far from being a reliable source herself.

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Figured, she’s so far from being a reliable source herself.

I wonder at her "sources." 🙄

[mythoughtis]

28 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Regarding  the spoiler, I highly doubt this. It sounds like something that Without a Crystal Ball would put out there though.

The National Guard memorial was in Nevada.

Thanks for the correction - I still think Genielle( I think that’s her name?) wouldn’t have been brought there by family unless she’d been requested  to come. 

[Salacious Kitty]

Here's WOACB's video. How this source found KJ is up for debate. 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Salacious Kitty

[Denize]

On 5/7/2025 at 12:02 PM, smarty said:

Based on the video of Meri getting the call from Kody about Garrison's death and then going right over to help Janelle, does it seem that Janelle and Meri were both back in Flagstaff the day Garrison died - possibly for the filming of talking heads?

I was wondering the same thing.  It also made me wonder if Garrison had been involved in filming (or choosing not to) and something happened to prompt him to send that group text to the producer, Kody, Janelle & others.

[Denize]

16 hours ago, laurakaye said:

Mykelti grows up, gets married, has babies - and is still the "favorite" of Robyn and Kody.  But she is also seeing how horribly Kody is treating her siblings.  Why would you want to be the favorite of a narcissistic father and a truly evil stepmother?  

Mykelti made trips to visit K&R, but Robyn probably only went to Utah to visit Mykelti for filming, like when the twins were born and Robyn was sleeping in the closet with the newborns portraying herself as a more devoted Mom than Christine.  Like Meri and Maddie (Kody's previous favourite daughter), Mykelti probably began to see that Robyn & Kody were only there for the show & themselves, not for her.