Sister Wives

[happily single]

Just finished last night's episode and I think it was a better one than we have been getting lately. It was nice to hear from Gabe about his perspective. What did you all think?

Janelle and Christine did such a great job raising well spoken, grounded adults. We don’t see enough of Meri’s child to say, but I think Leon turned out ok. With that said I was Appalled by Kody’s outright denial that Gabe had a conversation with him.

 

[barkley]

Just finished last night's episode and I think it was a better one than we have been getting lately. It was nice to hear from Gabe about his perspective. What did you all think?

dh and I felt the same. much more depth on how the kids are feeling/doing. gabe has been an interesting kid to watch grow up. he was SO gutted by the move from vegas but he seems to have rebounded to an extent. I also remember last season him speaking of how much he enjoyed interacting with robyn's daughter on the college campus they were both attending so the current song and dance from that side of the 'family' that none of robyn's kids were ever accepted by any of the other kids falls flat on me, that whole dynamic reads to me similarly to what kids who undergo 'parental alienation syndrome' experience. the kids can have past memories of or even recent positive experiences/interactions but they are twisted and manipulated by a regular-or in kody's case, a constant barrage of negative speak/contradiction of their own experiences and memories I hope that gabe is still doing well-the death of his close brother let alone being the one who discovered him had to be life-shattering for him. I am hopeful he has continued with counseling.

I understand from recent reports that it's no longer the case but at the time this filmed mykelti and tony were still close to robyn and tony which of all the kids does not surprise me. she has always reminded me the most of kody-entitled, quick to anger and very willing to slam the door shut to anyone not willing to 100% support her wants/demands/beliefs. they 'get' each other and speak the same language (maybe that's why she got along with robyn-does robyn do mykelti-speak too?) I will never forget the outrageous demands that were made for her wedding which was announced out of the blue during the final hard core preparations and planning (and budgeting) for her sister's.

I want more of these episodes vs. kody/robyn verbal vomiting all their hurt and how they've been done wrong.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I haven’t watched this weeks episode but last week Robyn had to make it known over and over that Christine doesn’t want a relationship with her and her kids. When that topic was brought up at the break up talk Christine did not mention Robyn’s kids. Robyn always has to include her kids and is giving them this huge victim mentality.

 

[mom2rtk]

I haven’t watched this weeks episode but last week Robyn had to make it known over and over that Christine doesn’t want a relationship with her and her kids. When that topic was brought up at the break up talk Christine did not mention Robyn’s kids. Robyn always has to include her kids and is giving them this huge victim mentality.

It's almost like she doesn't realize we all saw the footage of exactly what Christine said.

 

[Dakota731]

Robyn and Ari - good on Janelle.
Robyn and her expert budgeting - the audacity.

What happened with Ari and Janelle? What about Robyn’s budgeting? I sometimes doze off watching the show lol and may have missed something!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

A few weeks ago Kody mentioned that one of Robyn’s kids doesn’t like someone else in the family (can’t remember who but I think it was Ariella not liking Christine because “she’s mean to daddy”) and he said she is showing her loyalty to him. So basically loyalty to him is taking his side no matter what. Even if he’s dead wrong. He has serious issues. He wants blind loyalty.

 

[barkley]

A few weeks ago Kody mentioned that one of Robyn’s kids doesn’t like someone else in the family (can’t remember who but I think it was Ariella not liking Christine because “she’s mean to daddy”) and he said she is showing her loyalty to him. So basically loyalty to him is taking his side no matter what. Even if he’s dead wrong. He has serious issues. He wants blind loyalty.

spot on!!!!! speaking of dead wrong-what is this b.s. in last night's episode of his talking about how he 'never' believed in or wanted any form of patriarchy? last season when christine announced to the other wives that she was leaving kody flat out told them-

“I’m going to be the head of my household again, and I’m not going to be circumvented in that. If everybody’s willing to conform to patriarchy again ... 'cause I’ve been fighting to make everybody happy,"

as for ariella's opinions on christine-she's eight freaking years old, the split up was formally announced in 2021 so she was 5 but had not been in contact or around any Christine or anyone else due to kody's personal covid lockdown since early 2020 (he did'nt go to other homes not following his rules as soon as the lockdown started/noone was allowed at his and robyn's), so ariella was then.....4 years old. the only opinions she can have can be based on what she has heard and been told inside the little bubble kody and robyn have kept her in. you can bet that they restrict those kid's outside world knowledge to the hilt (I don't know if they go to school or continue to be privately taught as they were previously).

 

[lisaviolet]

What happened with Ari and Janelle? What about Robyn’s budgeting? I sometimes doze off watching the show lol and may have missed something!

Robyn pondered that maybe the other wives were not as good at budgeting as her.

God that was hard to type.

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Robyn, Kody & Janelle, in separate interviews were talking about how Ariella acts every single time Kody needed to see his other children & wives. Ie. she literally hangs onto his leg and wails.

Kody wondered why Robyn would not take care of the situation at hand, right in the moment.

Robyn felt that Ariella needed time in the moment to express her feelings.

Janelle wondered why Ariella had not been parented, especially by Robyn, to know she lived in a large family, where her father had other children & family to visit at times. As every other child in the family had been raised. Janelle suggested this was all a parenting issue.

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I understand what you are saying about missing things. I do too. It can be exhausting to listen to at times. And I tend to watch it while I am doing something else. With 'What the hell did Kody just say?' going through my head on a regular basis.

 

[lisaviolet]

spot on!!!!! speaking of dead wrong-what is this b.s. in last night's episode of his talking about how he 'never' believed in or wanted any form of patriarchy? last season when christine announced to the other wives that she was leaving kody flat out told them-

“I’m going to be the head of my household again, and I’m not going to be circumvented in that. If everybody’s willing to conform to patriarchy again ... 'cause I’ve been fighting to make everybody happy,"

I have another viewpoint on all of this -

When this ridiculous patriarchy comment was made, I honestly thought he was just being an *** because he was deeply hurt by everything that has gone on with Christine leaving (his fault). And how he felt his way of being a husband & a father (not patriarchy) had led to the dissolving of his family (not true but in his head nonetheless).

I sincerely thought it was an immature way to lash out.


Last episode he said exactly that looking back, that he had never been a patriarch all those years, did not really mean it & said it out of anger - to lash out.

He is an ***. But being an *** does not mean he doesn't tell the truth once in a while. I believe him when he said he said it out of anger (sadness) & has no interest in being a traditional patriarch. I mean Robyn does seem to run his one remaining household, in a stealth-like manner.

 

[lisaviolet]

Just finished last night's episode and I think it was a better one than we have been getting lately. It was nice to hear from Gabe about his perspective. What did you all think?

The one thing that really hit home to me was Christine's comment that she has separated/divorced friends in traditional marriages where fathers are not seeing their children as well. Missing in action.

There are many situations that the breakdown of the marriages, despite Robyn's negative influence, has played out like a regular demise of a traditional marriage. It may be plural marriage, but some of the reasons are not distinct.

Many fathers can not handle the emotions coming from their own children during a divorce, nor any valid disappointment in them. Much easier to go silent or fall to the side then to face their own children. They want fa la la la la rather than valid processing of emotions. Kody has that times ten (not feeling sorry for him). Plus he has the game of telephone going on all over.

Also, some men take to new families and children & fail to give equal time to their previous children. Easier to deal with new beginnings and younger children. Where they can try to remain 'the good man' which is really what men live to achieve.
Kody just happens to have this built-in with Robyn and crew.

 

[lisaviolet]

I know most of Kody's speech is off-the-wall, but his vitriol toward Meri during this episode seemed beyond any catfishing. Does she have something on him? It was like he was talking about something we did not know, as viewers. She does not bash him all that much & despite him going on about loyalty she held on for so long.

What am I missing? It felt like - more than his usual - he was speaking about some alternate reality.

 

[lisaviolet]

I continue to find Meri somewhat delusional about her marriage with "He should have told me".

I don't get it. As a viewer I felt Kody said he was done, over multiple seasons. To her directly & during his interviews for years.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I continue to find Meri somewhat delusional about her marriage with "He should have told me".

I don't get it. As a viewer I felt Kody said he was done, over multiple seasons. To her directly & during his interviews for years.

She said the first time she ever heard him say it was over was by watching a clip of the show and that's when she decided to leave for good. He never came right out and told her. He gave her hope. Would have dates with her. Robyn was pushing the issue so she probably assumed Kody had some hope since Robyn is his closest wife.

 

[lisaviolet]

he said the first time she ever heard him say it was over was by watching a clip of the show

How awful, thank you for that information. I missed that.

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I felt he was finished many years ago from simply watching him speak directly to her on screen - not just his interviews.

I also felt that maybe his giving her hope was due to Meri wearing him down by not accepting what he was saying. He also said that Robyn would talk to him a lot about working on it.

None of my words & opinions mean he has not been heartless to Meri even in leaving, he absolutely has - like I have said before I don't know how she has had the strength to take it from him & then all the others seemingly shunning her. She has not been a favourite of mine on the show, but that is a lot for any human to take.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Once Kody met Robyn he completely fell head over heels in love. From that point forward he felt that he never loved his wives. He acted like a teenager that got in a new relationship. Just because he felt different for Robyn did not mean he never loved his other wives. It was just different.

I’m sure everyone has had that moment where they meet someone new and it’s something they never felt before but IMO it doesn’t take away from your precious relationship. Back then you loved that person in its own way. It doesn’t mean you never loved that person because you love someone new and differently.

Kody constantly saying he never loved his wives is degrading to those women and the children he created in those marriages.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

How awful, thank you for that information. I missed that.

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I felt he was finished many years ago from simply watching him speak directly to her on screen - not just his interviews.

I also felt that maybe his giving her hope was due to Meri wearing him down by not accepting what he was saying. He also said that Robyn would talk to him a lot about working on it.

None of my words & opinions mean he has not been heartless to Meri even in leaving, he absolutely has - like I have said before I don't know how she has had the strength to take it from him & then all the others seemingly shunning her. She has not been a favourite of mine on the show, but that is a lot for any human to take.

I agree. She didn’t take the hint for many years. It couldn’t have been me. I have no idea how she took that abuse for so long.

I truly believe Robyn is so full of it when she pushes for him to continue his marriages and reconcile. At the end of the day she knows she is wife #1 and he has no desire to be affectionate or intimate with the other wives. She says it because she KNOWS Kody has no desire to do it. So she looks good for saying it but it’s all empty words that she knows won’t go anywhere. Robyn enjoys being wife #1 and does everything in her power to stay in that position.

 

[lisaviolet]

I truly believe Robyn is so full of it when she pushes for him to continue his marriages and reconcile. At the end of the day she knows she is wife #1 and he has no desire to be affectionate or intimate with the other wives. She says it because she KNOWS Kody has no desire to do it. So she looks good for saying it but it’s all empty words that she knows won’t go anywhere. Robyn enjoys being wife #1 and does everything in her power to stay in that position.

Absolutely.
And the irony of Meri being the one to introduce her into the family. Oh boy.

 

[Southernmiss]

I get the sense that Meri was also needing to hear from Kody that the marriage was over because of their religion.

Even though they were not actively practicing the religion, she needed that official word from him to move forward for closure.

She did state in this episode that she sought the ok for the spiritual divorce from church leaders.

I would imagine that in polygamy, there were relationships like theirs where the husband took up with the new wife and the others were left to do their own thing for years and there was never motion for divorce or closure.

The Brown family showed us that the old ways don't work, especially when living in modern society

 

[barkley]

Robyn pondered that maybe the other wives were not as good at budgeting as her.

God that was hard to type.

she seems to forget that when they were trying to buy the Vegas houses all the other households had to work to clean up her credit and clear the debt she brought into the family in order to qualify for mortgages. is she also spacing on the lien that was put on her Vegas home due to one of her kid's medical expenses (christine managed to budget well enough to keep that from happening when truly was deathly ill and hospitalized for almost 2 weeks)?

She did state in this episode that she sought the ok for the spiritual divorce from church leaders.

I don't care if kody is not technically a member of the church/his former sect or claims he no longer has mental ties anymore, it still had to GUT him that meri was granted her spiritual divorce based on 'abandonment'. that places the blame squarely on him. I don't know what the process is like for their sect but my understanding of traditional LDS practices requires a prolonged process that is challenging at best, successful (esp. if requested on the woman's part)- rarely. kody was enough of a main-stream LDS to have gone on mission and i've always believed his sole purpose in not addressing the reality of his marriage to meri ending was b/c in his core there's that seed of LDS beliefs that would never permit HIM to call on ending an 'eternal marraige'. as mad as he is at christine and janelle he can mentally justify his anger b/c THEY ended the marriages and he always figured that if meri left him then he was not ending it/not the one who would shoulder the blame/scorn-never dreaming that she would and COULD go to the extent of having the church deem and document in their archives that HE is responsible.

 

[Southernmiss]

she seems to forget that when they were trying to buy the Vegas houses all the other households had to work to clean up her credit and clear the debt she brought into the family in order to qualify for mortgages. is she also spacing on the lien that was put on her Vegas home due to one of her kid's medical expenses (christine managed to budget well enough to keep that from happening when truly was deathly ill and hospitalized for almost 2 weeks)?


I don't care if kody is not technically a member of the church/his former sect or claims he no longer has mental ties anymore, it still had to GUT him that meri was granted her spiritual divorce based on 'abandonment'. that places the blame squarely on him. I don't know what the process is like for their sect but my understanding of traditional LDS practices requires a prolonged process that is challenging at best, successful (esp. if requested on the woman's part)- rarely. kody was enough of a main-stream LDS to have gone on mission and i've always believed his sole purpose in not addressing the reality of his marriage to meri ending was b/c in his core there's that seed of LDS beliefs that would never permit HIM to call on ending an 'eternal marraige'. as mad as he is at christine and janelle he can mentally justify his anger b/c THEY ended the marriages and he always figured that if meri left him then he was not ending it/not the one who would shoulder the blame/scorn-never dreaming that she would and COULD go to the extent of having the church deem and document in their archives that HE is responsible.

And this would really tick Kody off.