S07.E01: Catfishing Fallout

[RedheadZombie]

1 hour ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Honestly, Maddie comes from a family that makes bad decisions AND they're all encouraging her to 'just' be married. In their culture, being married and having tons of kids is praised far more than having a reliable income, an education, etc. I'm actually more surprised Meriah, Logan and Mykelti (I think? Christine's daughter who is in a sorority?) are still in school.

Hasn't Mariah adjusted her aspiration from Doctor to physician's assistant?  Which I think was very sensible.  There aren't many people in med school who were educated in Plyg schools. 

Christine's sorority daughter is Aspyn. 

[RazzleberryPie]

PA school is no joke, either. Let's see if she actually gets accepted into a program. What year is she in college?

[CofCinci]

22 minutes ago, RazzleberryPie said:

PA school is no joke, either. Let's see if she actually gets accepted into a program. What year is she in college?

She'll be a senior in the fall.

[Angel3186767]

2 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Thousands of women drop out of school to get married, and many eventually end up going back. I don't want to sound like I'm committing Maddie to law school, because as a teenager she said that's what she wanted to be. Teens often have lofty dreams. However, Maddie is from a family that does not value commitment to anything, education or hard work. They'd rather grift and speculate. They don't finish anything. Kaleb seems like a nice enough guy, will be good to her, has a job, they're in love, but a big part of his appeal is that he's rescuing her from this emotionally depraved family. She'll be pregnant really soon. 

I couldn't agree more! Taking a semester off once you have a degree is one thing but it's obvious that Maddie is not committed to getting an education. She's committed to being a wife! I laughed when she decided that she wanted to become a Physician Assistant. Does she realize how competitive it is to get into PA school and how difficult that degree is? And to take a year off for a boyfriend, shows her level of commitment. My daughter is in her last semester in college and was accepted into PA School. And she managed to maintain a long distance relationship with her boyfriend who is in Medical School in Tokyo. 

I think Caleb seems like a nice guy but he could have been any man really. Maddie was simply looking for someone, (anyone), to rescue her. There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting married at a young age. My husband and I married during our senior year of college. But, even while being married, we fullfilled our education goals of me getting an MBA and him finishing Medical School. I wish that someone would tell Maddie that you can have both a husband and a degree/career.  Women do it all of the time. You do not have to forfeit your dreams. 

[Absolom]

I think Mariah was the one who originally talked about med school and then switched to PA.

Maddie had talked about becoming a lawyer.

[AmyFarrahFowler]

2 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Oh and hate to pick on the under age kids - but that group of I think Christine's - sitting on the couch - all loud, dorky, and obnoxious, just like Kody. Especially that one boy and I think Gwyndlynneqrz@~( or how every they spell it. I might have left out a Y.

I wanted to smack that snotty facial expression Gwendolyn had on her face throughout the kid's segment.

[Armchair Critic]

Those middle kids though are screwed. The two little ones and the older college aged ones get all the attention. Kody doesn't even want to deal with the middle ones, they are too much work and are out of the young cute stage.

[MarysWetBar]

He has all the time in the world for Dayun and Awwroara thooooo

[Armchair Critic]

Robyn's kids were taught to suck up to Kody, the way her older girl clings on him borders on inappropriate.

[ghoulina]

12 hours ago, laurakaye said:

I think Wife #5 is totally on the horizon, if only because all those weddings will take attention away from Kody, and Kody can't have that nonsense going on.

Especially since he was just told there's really not reason for HIM to go scouting out locations. 

[ghoulina]

9 hours ago, Angel3186767 said:

I think Caleb seems like a nice guy but he could have been any man really. Maddie was simply looking for someone, (anyone), to rescue her.

I may be alone, but I just really don't see this. While the Brown marriage(s) are crazy making, most of the kids seem very well adjusted. I don't think there is any denial of education or attempts to keep them home as we've seen in another large, reality family. So far we've had 4 of their older kids enroll in college. Hunter's in the Air Force academy. I'm not surprised that one would drop out or take time off. Many people attempt college and realize it's not for them. At least she tried, some never even do. And we have no idea, for certain, whether she'll go back or not. 

But I don't see anything that Maddie (or any of them) needs to be rescued from. She wasn't even living at home at the time, was she? She went to college up in Utah and had her own place. So I see this as a girl who HAD some independence, outside of home and marriage. She's lived on her own. I don't see this as a sheltered girl, running away from one daddy into the arms of another. She looks absolutely smitten when she's around Caleb, so I don't believe she was just looking for anyone to take her away, but just happened to find someone who makes her really happy at a fairly young age.

[laurakaye]

For as completely messed up as their parents are, the Brown kids (not counting Robyn's) are, for the most part, remarkably well-adjusted.  As far as credit goes, I would have to say that Christine, who home-schooled and took care of most of them when they were young, is probably one of the reasons behind this anomaly.  All of the older kids (except Mariah, and again - discounting Robyn's kids) seem to have a very close bond with Christine.  She comes off as an airhead a lot of the time, but she did something right with those kids.  I'm sure Kody thinks it's his strong, paternal presence that made his kids want to pursue higher education, but that's a laugh.  He only wants to bond with his boys when he can show off (wrestling), and only takes care of his girls when his wives pressure him to do so.  Kody should get on his knees and be thankful that his children are succeeding not because of him, but in spite of him.

[Kellyee]

During that whole therapy session, no one brought up the fact that the real issue is that Meri was going to leave. If that catfish had been a real guy who was who he said he was, Meri would be gone. She was planning to leave the family. Her real grief is that her online love didn't work out. And nobody brought that up. They spent so much time on how evil the catfish was, and no time on why Meri desperately wanted out of her marriage. I also thought Meri was still manipulating and distracting to keep anyone from asking a truly hard question. And I noticed no one brought up the role of the divorce, especially Robyn.

I would have thought Janelle would be more worried about Maddie's complete lack of an education as well. It looks like they all drank the same Kool-Aid.

[laurakaye]

There are so many elephants in so many rooms of those houses, it's unbelievable to me that anyone can hold a conversation.  This is why I tune in, because I want to see someone, ANYONE, talk about what the real issues are...namely, as Kellyee said, Meri would've left, the divorce gutted her (supposedly the divorce was only a piece of paper, except it's really much more than that, everyone knows it and no one is saying it), the fact that Kody is a clueless doofus who acts supportive when the cameras are rolling, the fact that none of the original three wives are happy or healthy (just look at their faces...Meri is clearly depressed, Christine looks like she's aged 10 years in the past two seasons, Janelle remains checked out)...what else?  It goes on and on.

Meri wanted to always be Kody's Number One.  Janelle, I think, wanted to share a man because she wasn't all that interested in the love and romance and messy nonsense of a monogamous marriage.  Christine wanted to be 3rd (and LAST) wife, the cute, funny one that Kody would run to for good times.  And then there's Robyn, who wanted to be Kody's Number One, the Queen of the Family, and she got that, at the expense of the other wives.  Kody, however, allowed it to happen - because he doesn't care about how his wives feel about their place in the family.  As long as no one actually leaves him, and the TLC checks keep rolling in, he is going to continue to play the befuddled man-boy with the surfer hair, the pretend concerned face, and an ego the size of the entire cuddle-sac.

[CofCinci]

Like others have written, how the hell did Christine age so much in a short period of time?  The Halloween/Fall decorations in Meri's house during the "therapy" segment show that it's October.

[riverblue22]

I'm going to be positive and say that Maddie will return to school.  She is madly in love but she is sensible.  She was class president and she had a scholarship to college.  Caleb can probably more easily support her college education than her family could with all of those kids.  She may not make it to law school but I see her attending the local college and getting a degree.  If I was in her situation, I would rather go to school than get a fulltime job.

I'm a little confused about Christine's kids.  Isn't Aspyn the one who is in a sorority and still in school?  And didn't Mykelti get a job in the pawn shop out of town?  Anyone know if Mykelti is in school anymore?

ETA:  Just answered my own question.  Mykelti lives in St. George and works in the pawn shop. She is in a relationship with a guy named Antonio Padron.

ETAA:  Hey look what I did!  I uploaded a photo!

Edited May 11, 2016 by riverblue22

[ghoulina]

Maddie did say on Twitter last Sept that she would finish school. So we shall see. I'll reserve judgement until after she is married, see what she does then. 

[riverblue22]

To reinforce my new skill, here are a couple of more photos of Mykelti and BF.

[Adeejay]

4 hours ago, laurakaye said:

As far as credit goes, I would have to say that Christine, who home-schooled and took care of most of them when they were young, is probably one of the reasons behind this anomaly.  All of the older kids (except Mariah, and again - discounting Robyn's kids) seem to have a very close bond with Christine.  She comes off as an airhead a lot of the time, but she did something right with those kids.

I couldn't agree more.  Based on their talk show appearances, Christine comes across as the nicest, warmest and the friendliest.  I've noticed that she is always the first to hug the host.  It pains me that Kody seems to barely tolerate her, because she appears to be a genuinely good person. 

[beeziebee]

Am I seeing things?  During the "Catfish" episode, Meri was talking about her fillings, and there was a little bit of discussion about how their lives as sisterwives have been.  A photo of the original three wives was shown.  Next a photo was shown of all four wives, but clearly the three originals appear to be 15 years younger than they are now, and Robyn appears on the left of the photo, complete with her hand resting on Meri's shoulder.  I know they knew Robyn years ago, but did they really stage that photo then, or is this the work of Robyn's Eye-talian artist again, or just some plain ol' Photoshopping?  Inquiring minds want to know!

[laurakaye]

I wondered that too, because both Meri and Janelle, if I recall, both have very long hair in that photo, and I don't remember ever seeing them with hair that long, except in pictures from before the show began.  I would not put it past any one of this group to have had Robyn photoshopped into that picture.  After all, as Queen Sobbin' likes to say: "It's like we all shoulda been together from Day One."

The only other explanation is that Meri and Janelle got their hands on some hair extensions for the day...which makes about as much sense as anything else, I guess?

[RazzleberryPie]

3 hours ago, ghoulina said:

Maddie did say on Twitter last Sept that she would finish school. So we shall see. I'll reserve judgement until after she is married, see what she does then. 

I'm not understanding why she is taking, what, a year? off in this stage between now and getting married. I just don't comprehend what a person does with his/her time if not working, not in school, etc. I was just never an option in my family to not do one or the other while you are engaged/planning a wedding.

[ghoulina]

1 hour ago, Adeejay said:

I couldn't agree more.  Based on their talk show appearances, Christine comes across as the nicest, warmest and the friendliest.  I've noticed that she is always the first to hug the host.  It pains me that Kody seems to barely tolerate her, because she appears to be a genuinely good person. 

I really would like to know just WHY Kody is so bothered by Christine. She's done the lion's share of the kid raising. She may be a bit ditzy and dramatic, but she seems to have a genuinely good heart and a vested interest in keeping the family together. I could see myself hanging with her and having a good time. What's his problem???

 

2 minutes ago, RazzleberryPie said:

I'm not understanding why she is taking, what, a year? off in this stage between now and getting married. I just don't comprehend what a person does with his/her time if not working, not in school, etc. I was just never an option in my family to not do one or the other while you are engaged/planning a wedding.

I thought someone posted earlier that she has a job? I don't personally know anything about that, but it wouldn't shock me. But planning a wedding can be a lot of work, and just the transition into marriage. Also, she was going to school in Utah and is now moving to Montana, so I'd wager that requires some decision making about where to go to school, what credits will transfer, etc. 

[riverblue22]

Maybe Christine's bubbly and caring personality takes too much attention away from King Kody.

[ghoulina]

10 minutes ago, riverblue22 said:

 

Maybe Christine's bubbly and caring personality takes too much attention away from King Kody.

 

Ooooh, or maybe he's actually resentful of how much she dotes on the kids? I can see him being the kind of immature douche who gets jealous when his wife puts the kids "before" him. 

[RazzleberryPie]

Normal people think all those things out before uprooting to another state and quitting school. But they're Browns. Planning isn't their best skill.

Why does Kody hate Christine? She's the most overtly demanding one and he resents her questioning or asking for anything. Meri is a master manipulator and he's honestly too dumb and egotistical to realize it. Janelle is beyond low maintenance. He'll figure out soon, if he hasn't already started to, that Robyn blows Meri out of the water with manipulation skills. Christine just isn't as covert as she should be and he resents it. I think he also didn't want to marry her in the first place, but couldn't really say no to Polyg Royalty, so he's stuck.

[Granny58]

5 hours ago, riverblue22 said:

To reinforce my new skill, here are a couple of more photos of Mykelti and BF.

who is the woman back row center?

1 hour ago, ghoulina said:

I really would like to know just WHY Kody is so bothered by Christine. She's done the lion's share of the kid raising. She may be a bit ditzy and dramatic, but she seems to have a genuinely good heart and a vested interest in keeping the family together. I could see myself hanging with her and having a good time. What's his problem???

and I think she's attractive.  I wonder if  never really shook off  first impression of her (chubby, scarfing down nachos which made him ill).  

[CofCinci]

I probably shouldn't ask, but has Catfish Jackie O. said anything about the series return? I don't want to click on her site. 

[kimaken]

19 minutes ago, CofCinci said:

I probably shouldn't ask, but has Catfish Jackie O. said anything about the series return? I don't want to click on her site. 

I was wondering about that, too. Like you, I don't want to visit her site, but I am curious! I heard somewhere that she (as Sam Cooper) wrote a second book or has one planned/in process. Would like to know what else she/he could write about since it was all a huge sham.

[Galloway Cave]

2 hours ago, laurakaye said:

I wondered that too, because both Meri and Janelle, if I recall, both have very long hair in that photo, and I don't remember ever seeing them with hair that long, except in pictures from before the show began.  I would not put it past any one of this group to have had Robyn photoshopped into that picture.  After all, as Queen Sobbin' likes to say: "It's like we all shoulda been together from Day One."

The only other explanation is that Meri and Janelle got their hands on some hair extensions for the day...which makes about as much sense as anything else, I guess?

They met Robyn when Meri still had long hair. TLC did some preliminary filming before Meri's make-over. There was a flashback scene during an earlier season where Meri and Robyn were together and Meri had the long hair. The whole "Courtin' Robyn" story was basically bullshit; Kody and Robyn had already been dating and discussing marriage for a while when the show started. They just made it seem like they were newly dating for the show. They pushed back the wedding for the show too. I don't think Janelle went with the shorter, platinum hair until a few seasons later.

[purpleflowers]

51 minutes ago, Granny58 said:

who is the woman back row center?

 I think that is Mindy, that niece or cousin of Robyn who stays with her sometimes. 

[Armchair Critic]

Who are the two woman on the right?

[riverblue22]

The one in the glasses and blonde hair is Maddie's best friend who is going to be her maid of honor in her wedding.

[RazzleberryPie]

4 hours ago, Adeejay said:

I couldn't agree more.  Based on their talk show appearances, Christine comes across as the nicest, warmest and the friendliest.  I've noticed that she is always the first to hug the host.  It pains me that Kody seems to barely tolerate her, because she appears to be a genuinely good person. 

Christine comes off as nice, but I think she is also the best at 'Keeping Sweet' to your face while stabbing you in the back. A whole lot of these polygamist women are like hat a little. That ex Polyg girl with the weird hair pretty much said the same thing on her YouTube blog after filming with them. Surprised me that she said Meri was the nicest and Robyn was Robyn.

now in Christine's defense, I don't think she's as conniving and mean as Meri and Robyn, but I think it would be more like giving her kids a bigger piece of pie or letting them ride shotgun. Little snippets, and due to having come from a family who had to fight for sparse resources - from food to attention from dad. 

[Angel3186767]

11 hours ago, ghoulina said:

I may be alone, but I just really don't see this. While the Brown marriage(s) are crazy making, most of the kids seem very well adjusted. I don't think there is any denial of education or attempts to keep them home as we've seen in another large, reality family. So far we've had 4 of their older kids enroll in college. Hunter's in the Air Force academy. I'm not surprised that one would drop out or take time off. Many people attempt college and realize it's not for them. At least she tried, some never even do. And we have no idea, for certain, whether she'll go back or not. 

But I don't see anything that Maddie (or any of them) needs to be rescued from. She wasn't even living at home at the time, was she? She went to college up in Utah and had her own place. So I see this as a girl who HAD some independence, outside of home and marriage. She's lived on her own. I don't see this as a sheltered girl, running away from one daddy into the arms of another. She looks absolutely smitten when she's around Caleb, so I don't believe she was just looking for anyone to take her away, but just happened to find someone who makes her really happy at a fairly young age.

When I stated that Maddie wanted to be 'rescued', I did not mean in a physical/emotional sense. She was obviously independent and smart enough to move out on her own and enroll in college.While the Browns are a lot of negative things, they aren't trying to hold their children back. I just feel that she started college with a sense of idealism but got sidetracked. Yes, all young adults change while in college but kids who are really committed to getting an education, don't just drop out after a year. When my daughter wanted to spend a semester with her boyfriend in Tokyo in her junior year, we talked her out of it and said to wait until she get's the 1st degree. If it's really love, he will wait! She was angry at us but thanks us everyday that we were so adamant that school must be a priority. Didn't Maddie's own mother say that she tends to let her boyfriends change her? I get it, she's in love but at least think before you leap. The PA Program is very specific and it's not so easy to transfer to another school. I hope that goes back to school but I just don't see it. I think she will find contentment in being a wife and quickly become a mom. 

[riverblue22]

Quote

The PA Program is very specific and it's not so easy to transfer to another school. I hope that goes back to school but I just don't see it. I think she will find contentment in being a wife and quickly become a mom. 

Maddie was not interested in a PA program.  That is Mariah.  Maddie's plan was law school.

[Angel3186767]

4 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

I'm not understanding why she is taking, what, a year? off in this stage between now and getting married. I just don't comprehend what a person does with his/her time if not working, not in school, etc. I was just never an option in my family to not do one or the other while you are engaged/planning a wedding.

Exactly! Planning a wedding is a lot of work but does she not have a house full of Mom's to help with the planning and  alleviate stress? Don't most women work and/or go to school and still manage to plan a wedding without taking a year off? I'm with you, that was just not an option in my family! While, my family was in a MUCH better position than the Browns, I worked, finished my final year of college, applied for Grad School and purchased a home; while planning our wedding in my hometown of NY, while still in college back in LA. Had I told my parents that I was taking a year off to plan our wedding, I would have been quickly brought back to reality :).

[CofCinci]

Kody has no interest in Christine because she wanted the family (lifestyle) and not the man. 

[Angel3186767]

28 minutes ago, riverblue22 said:

Maddie was not interested in a PA program.  That is Mariah.  Maddie's plan was law school.

My mistake, law school! Either way, I don't see her being motivated enough for 6-7 more years of school. Once TLC offers her a spinoff when she gets married and has her 1st baby; college will be a distant memory.

[toodles]

6 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

I'm not understanding why she is taking, what, a year? off in this stage between now and getting married. I just don't comprehend what a person does with his/her time if not working, not in school, etc. I was just never an option in my family to not do one or the other while you are engaged/planning a wedding.

Wade through pinterest ideas that make your wedding too precious (tm duggars) for words. Try on a gillion over priced wedding dresses until you get the wow factor.  Spend time thinking about the perfect theme!!  

You can't possibly be expected to have any interests other than your sweet, precious (tm duggars) wedding.  I know I watch way too many tlc wedding shows, but for maddie' s sake I hope she has a real life outside of her wedding plans.  She seems like a level headed person, outside of this (tm duggars) season of life.  

I guess this wedding follows the tlc we need to marry a kid off for ratings pattern so closely that I'm confusing this with the duggars.  And I don't even watch the duggars.  I just follow the snark.

[Spiderella2]

On May 9, 2016 at 9:24 AM, ghoulina said:

I kind of feel badly for Meri, but then again I don't. On the one hand, catfishing is just awful - and it sounds like JO went beyond that and was actively stalking and harassing Meri to a degree. Public personality or not, that just really really sucks. But, on the other hand, she never would have gotten into such a mess if she wasn't looking for male companionship outside of her marriage. As kooky as I find polygamy, she signed up for it and she broke her vows. Period. 

As for Mariah, I'll reserve judgment until we hear exactly what her gripe is. I've never really cared for her, but I can understand her being pissed. She ostensibly cares about her dad and Meri cheated on him. She was likely ready and willing to run off and leave the entire family, except it turned out not to be a guy. I can see Mariah feeling betrayal because of that. Also, it was likely really embarrassing. 

Meri was lying through that whole therapy session. She was leaking dishonesty every minute. Did you see the way her eyes kept darting to the side?

I think part of Mariah's gripe with her mom was that she actually met Overton. When they went to Disney in CA, it was a trip that Meri planned with Mariah. Seems like Meri must have told Sam about it, or invited Sam along so that Mariah could meet him. In hindsight that was a bad decision, but to Meri, it was the perfect chance for her daughter to meet her new love and soon-to-be stepfather. 

Overton showed up instead, and there is a pic floating around of Mariah, Meri & Overton at Disney. So maybe Mariah is pissed that her mother put her in this situation that she met the catfisher. Maybe it was supposed to be a mother-daughter trip but Meri invited her 'boyfriend'. Even if they don't say it on camera, I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I'm looking for Mariah to call her mom out, because it doesn't look like anyone else in the family is going to do it. The Princess may actually be good for something after all.  

I don't think the catfisher bugged Meri's house. This is an expert, professional Catfisher. She has been doing this for years, so she probably knows what her targets do in certain situations. Overton probably said something like, "I know what you did" or "I can see you sitting down" and Meri's paranoia took over. 

[CofCinci]

If "Sam" had shown at Disney as planned, Meri planned to have sex with him. Meri turned their mother-daughter Disney trip into a bootycall.  Mariah is rightfully upset. 

[RealityCowgirl]

1 hour ago, CofCinci said:

If "Sam" had shown at Disney as planned, Meri planned to have sex with him. Meri turned their mother-daughter Disney trip into a bootycall.  Mariah is rightfully upset. 

Mariah certainly has had her moments. But this. I get the mother/daughter thing and her history of being a spoiled child acting out on TV. But she at least gets to call her out on this. Maybe not on national television, but...

Edited May 12, 2016 by RealityCowgirl

[SistaLadybug]

I think Kody's problem with Christine is that she's the most likely to call him on his shit.  Throughout the show, we've seen Christine be vocally miserable - telling him that he doesn't spend enough time with her or her children, that she's unhappy with the state of their marriage, that she's jealous, that she doesn't think he listens to her and on and on.  She seems to be the one who is the least practiced at "keeping sweet", actually.  She wants to and feels guilty when she doesn't, but her cracks show way more easily than the others'.  Kody can't stand to be around Christine because Mama will be mad and say she's mad.  She'll ruin a vacation, cuss out one of his friends.  He can't pretend everything is hunky-dory when she's around and it chaps his ass.

[RazzleberryPie]

Meriah is awful, but I give her a pass in being furious at her mother, especially in light of he Disney trip. I mean seriously, Meri literally used her daughter as an excuse to have a booty call with some internet guy. She used her daughter to facilitate cheating on her husband - her daughter's father. 

I would also be livid if one parent manipulated me into helping them cheat on the other. 

[MarysWetBar]

21 hours ago, Granny58 said:

who is the woman back row center?

and I think she's attractive.  I wonder if  never really shook off  first impression of her (chubby, scarfing down nachos which made him ill).  

Pariahs gf likely.

[Becki]

CofCinci, I read Jackies second book, and it was so awful, it made the first book seem like a Masterpiece. The second book was all about forgiveness, (if I remember correctly) and also how to overcome being recognized in the public eye, how to deal with a scandal, etc. Jackie also claims in the book that "Sam" gave a tv interview that is available on "The worlds most popular video sharing site" which I guess is YouTube. Of course, I couldn't find the interview. I left a review on Amazon. I try to write my reviews realistically, so the review doesn't get removed.

Also, the Bat Blog has been online and offline since the premier of Sisterwives, before the show, Jackie had uploaded a bunch of voicemails that I didn't bother to listen to, that supposedly prove that "Sam" really had sex and a relationship with Meri. On Twitter, after the show, people were calling out "Sam" saying he wasn't real, etc, but of course Jackie as "Sam" continued the Charade that "Sam" is real. I hope that the Bullshit Bookclub reviews "Sam's" book, because it is literally the worse thing I've read in my life.

 Sorry if my reply comes out messed up, or directed to the wrong person. I had a horrible time trying to log in and reply.

[kassa]

Anybody notice that in the introduction to the show, everybody's pretty much as they are now, except Robyn, who's still in all her pre-Solomon skinny glory?  Every week on the couch, we watched her and Meri inching into Christine territory (while Christine was slimming down), but now every week when they turn on their tvs, the other wives get to see her front and center, opening the show with a body she hasn't had in 5 years.  Yes, I get it, she's been pregnant. But I'm sure they've done a TLC photoshoot or two since she was added to the credits the first time.  

Whatever faults Christine has, they're petty little foibles in the grand scheme of things, and the worst of them (paranoia) is an obvious consequence of childhood brainwashing.  On the other hand, she seems extravagantly affectionate in a genuine, unforced way, which is something small children respond well to.  Maybe part of Kody's alienation is that Christine can call him on his behavior in a way that the others can't -- the little ways he falls short of the plyg guy he purports to be.  When he was macking on Robyn pre-marriage, Janelle and Meri were justifiably hurt, but Christine was not only hurt (and doubly so because of being so pregnant and vulnerable), but angry in deeper, religious ways that Meri and Janelle probably weren't.  She's probably the most fervent believer of all the adults, in terms of living to the letter of the beliefs, so when Kody fudges them for his own reasons, she is the one who will call him on it (or at least see it for what it is more readily than the others)

[laurakaye]

Kassa, this is true - I remember during the couch chat when Kody admitted to helping Robyn choose her wedding dress, Christine was so upset, she left the couch session in tears.

I think Kody is so dismissive of Christine because she was raised pylg, believes in it wholeheartedly, and went into it because she really did want the family...whereas Kody, as we have seen over and over, went into it for the notoriety, the martyrdom, and to show off to his friends and family, as in: "Look at meee!  I have four women who want me, RAWR.  I have four wives!  Did I mention that I have four wives?  When I go to the store with one wife, I still tell the cashier that I have four wives!"  His attitude towards polygamy is to throw it in people's faces and wait for their reaction so he can whine about being persecuted.  Christine, on the other hand, was raised to keep the lifestyle a carefully guarded secret.  I think when Kody looks at Christine for too long, he knows that she knows that he is a fraud.

Edited May 12, 2016 by laurakaye

[kimaken]

6 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Meriah is awful, but I give her a pass in being furious at her mother, especially in light of he Disney trip. I mean seriously, Meri literally used her daughter as an excuse to have a booty call with some internet guy. She used her daughter to facilitate cheating on her husband - her daughter's father. 

I would also be livid if one parent manipulated me into helping them cheat on the other. 

I read that the trip to Disney was was part of an MLM (that vitamins, shakes company that they try sell through Meri's house) convention and Mariah just tagged along for a mother-daughter trip. It wasn't a trip specifically for Mariah's sake, so I don't agree that Meri "used her daughter...." Jackie Overton met Meri in person (but using an alias) at one of those home selling parties at Meri's house and then targeted her with the catfish scheme. And of course, Sam was a no-show at Disney because Sam isn't a real person, although Jackie (still using that alias she used at the home party) was there to deliver Sam's excuses and pal around with Meri on the rides and take selfies.