Jill & Jessa Special, Sunday, December 20

[EmmieJ]

13 hours ago, pumpkie0 said:

does anyone else wonder how jen from the little couple feels about having a show on a network that is okay with these peoples actions and lies?  I would think they both wouldn't want to be associated with this mess.

I think Jen and her husband probably started off with good intentions but now they are just as enamored of the money and fame as JimBob and Michelle.  I have very little respect for any parent who sells out their children's privacy on a reality tv show.  Sure, Jen and Bill seem much nicer and more "normal," but in the end it's still selling your children's privacy so you can have expensive cars, a customized new home, vacation home, vacations, and all the other perks that come with selling your children for the entertainment of strangers.  Ugh!

[lascuba]

I think Ben's problem--other than just not being charismatic--is that he and Jessa are hamstrung by the constraints of the show. They have to keep sweet for the cameras and are allowed only the tiniest bit of "edge." Ben is an inarticulate asshole who isn't used to pretending that the script he's reciting is his real self like the Duggars are, and since he's not allowed to spew his preferred fire-and-brimstone stuff, he ends up sitting there looking dumb(er) and bored.

[Dandruff]

8 hours ago, YourGodIsNotMine said:

I'm not saying this lightly. I truly believe Ben is a stoner. In the talking heads, he often had that faraway look when Jessa is speaking and he thinks the camera is not on himself. When he speaks, he can't form a coherent thought.   He also is friends with former drug users. 

 

I know this had been discussed a lot, but these latest episodes really cement that belief for me. There is less editing of the taking heads and different camera angles than previously, and his being stoned is not edited out. 

My guess is that he takes allergy medicine and just isn't very bright.

[hollywood]

I can't get over Anna sharing a room with all the kids.

[missegeno]

Ok, just watched it and here are my thoughts:

I am amazed that they moved on from the scandals (relative to how they hung them over the entire last episode). I really thought they would milk it some more, but I guess they saw that they overmilked it last week. They are definitely trying to set things up for more of these folk on tv, from what I see.

I think the whole baby food game was essentially just a way to get easy product placement. I wonder how much Harps paid for it, and it was clever of them not to go with a commercial break slot that would gather more protester attention. The camera sure made sure we all saw the Harps sign, and then proceeded to show all the departments and great products available at Harps. Did you notice that some of the products were blurred, but others weren't? I wonder how much that means.

Fast forward a bit and the camera lingers on the Holland's Barn sign as Jessa make a perfect advertisement sentence highlighting the name. And how many times did we see the ice cream container when they were making the baby food? Far more than we saw Izzy's avocado.

At the Southern Women's event (which, btw, there is no reason to play the Newlywed Game under the guise of enriching women), Jessa interrupts Ben, who is regurgitating the standard Duggar line, to say that she will not be having 19 bio children. Not, "we'll see." She straight up says that she will not be pushing 19 kids out of her vagina, and instead reiterates the adoption thing (please, God, no). So, perhaps she intends to do some natural family planning, but who knows if Ben is on board or aware. 

Watching her made me a lot sadder than I thought it would, because, to me, she and Ben seem to be really clinging to their time as just the two of them. Like when they savor the "last picnic with baby" and their insistences that they are so excited just seem really forced to me. They are taking in the time of just the two of them, and then the baby gets mentioned and there's Ben's stoner-deer-in-headlights look. He talks about how it's going to be the big countdown to baby when they get home, and it seems to me like he is trying to push that into the future as much as possible, all while knowing it's futile.

I'm very much of the mind that a couple should enjoy their alone time before their first child is born, but most expectant parents I have known have enjoyed the time while still seeming excited (where those seem to just be words when I see Benessa).

I wish they would all have some more time to get to know their spouses. Anna could have used some more getting to know Josh before marrying him, and Jessa could still use some time to get to know Ben. She even mentions how they have all these stories that eachother don't know yet. I think it's an important part of a relationship when you are sick of all of your partner's stories. Things can get stale quickly at that point, or you can find out you are a great pair. But I can't believe Ben and Jessa are parents and have not hit that point yet! It makes sense given their circumstances, but wow, not my approach to finding a marriageable partner.

[Thumb of Justice]

5 minutes ago, hollywood said:

I can't get over Anna sharing a room with all the kids.

Me, too.  Can you imagine being a married mom of several little kids, living in a dorm room with a bunch of sisters-in-law and your little ones?  Zero privacy.  Zero independence.

It's great to have help with the baby and toddlers, but damn.  I value privacy too much to put up with that.

[Snickles]

This show is better than ambien.

[EmCatlyn]

4 hours ago, Gimme a Free RV said:

Probably for TV but maybe she just wants to feel pretty for herself.  I don't have anyone in my life anymore and I still doll myself up everyday to look my prettiest...because of my self-esteem and wanting to look my best for MY sake.

(Of course, if it's a Saturday and I stay inside the house all day by myself, all bets are off.  The dogs love me, anyway!)

I think they were having her fix her hair to give the audience something to look at while she talked and to make the "conversation" seem more natural.  But honestly, can you think of anything more unnatural than doing your hair while being interviewed about your feelings about your husband's scandals?  It may work for the typical TLC audience, but for me they should have filmed her holding baby Meredith and looking at her older children at play.  That would be natural enough as opposed to weirdly intrusive.

[freethemall]

18 hours ago, Gossamer1 said:

Why won't they say 4 of his victims were his sisters!

She also isn't calling him Josh, it'sJoshua now. She is distancing herself from him.

I remember her calling him Joshua previously, because I always thought it was strange.

[EmCatlyn]

3 hours ago, 2manyKidzzz said:

If they do have access to the big house Jill and Dill are in in the special, I'm guessing Anna is in the TTH because she has four children and she is alone. So, all of the help helps with her stress level.......people preparing meals for and entertaining the cute M'kids. And they are cute. It would be very hard for her to be "alone" with the four kids considering the stress she is under. All of this makes me very tired of organized religion. People need to learn how to be kind without all of  this controlling baggage/misogyny.

I think Anna is in the TTH because when it was decided that Josh would go to Christian rehab, it was also decided that Anna would move in with the in-laws.  Among other things, it is because Josh isn't earning any money.  At the TTH they can be housed and fed without it costing too much.

The question for me is what happened to their furniture and the house they sold to the LLC.  Is it empty? Is it being rented?

The interesting thing about this so called "reality" show is how little is really shown or explained.

[freethemall]

8 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

I think Anna is in the TTH because when it was decided that Josh would go to Christian rehab, it was also decided that Anna would move in with the in-laws.  Among other things, it is because Josh isn't earning any money.  At the TTH they can be housed and fed without it costing too much.

The question for me is what happened to their furniture and the house they sold to the LLC.  Is it empty? Is it being rented?

The interesting thing about this so called "reality" show is how little is really shown or explained.

Well and the main thing is help with the 4 kids, including a newborn. I can't imagine having to go through being publicly cheated on while dealing with a new baby, I'd want be around family for the emotional support with or without kids. And in response to why not just go to Florida - I'd rather stay in the huge TTH mansion colony than the tiny Florida trailer. While I'm sure it was difficult for Anna to go back to bunking in a dorm room, it still sounds more glamorous than what she grew up in.

Also, we should have a drinking game every time they say "walking through" (e.g "what we're walking through") - seems like the memorized phrase of the day. You'd be drunk at the end of that game!

[vienna]

Does anyone have link so that I can watch the "Show"? Thanks

[withaj]

Just now, vienna said:

Does anyone have link so that I can watch the "Show"? Thanks

It's up at Project Free TV.

[vienna]

1 minute ago, withaj said:

It's up at Project Free TV.

Thank you so much

[socalrules]

I don't understand why she couldn't stay in her house, or one of Jim Bob's many houses, and the Duggar girls could come by once in awhile and help. Single moms take care of multiple kids all the time and work outside the home. Spouses do it all the time when their loved one is away in the military. She doesn't have an outside job, I am sure has enough money to live on for awhile and she has numerous aunts to babysit. There is no logical reason why she should be living at the TTH. She is now stuck in a room with what, 8 or more other people? She has lost her own bed, kitchen, privacy and independence. If she had her own bedroom I could maybe understand but she is literally sharing a dorm room. She has gone further backwards in life than she was already. She is now a Duggar girl and her in-laws have control over her and her children. How is this not demeaning? Why don't they admit that with Josh gone she has to be under a male authority, i.e. Jim Bob. 

[EmCatlyn]

2 hours ago, Swamptribe said:

So, she knew, she knew everything about his molesting five little girls BEFORE she married him.  She knew he admitted to having a problem with porn before she married him.  (hence, why his first courtship broke up.  Wow, that young lady dodged a bullet) I have completely lost any sympathy I may have had for Anna.  She married a known child molester and perv.  She had children with a guy who stalked and sexually molested his own sisters.   She knew exactly what she was getting into.  Now Joshua is hiding behind her skirts, and the skirts of the very sisters he molested.  She is reaping what she has sown.  I do still feel sympathy for the children,  I hope CPS watches that situation very very carefully.  Because their own family sure can't be trusted with their welfare.

I don't think that she knew the extent of the molestations. I think it was downplayed for her as it has been down-played for the victims themselves. 

I can imagine Josh said something like this:

"Anna, I want to be perfectly honest with you.  When I was a kid, I made some bad mistakes.  I got curious about how girls were different from boys and I snuck into the girls' room and felt their bodies when they were sleeping.  It was very wrong of me.  A couple of times I even pulled down my little sister's panties to see how girls looked like down there.  I also got in trouble for looking at porn.  I feel so ashamed to have to tell you this.  I wish I had not let Satan into my heart.   It is hard to be a growing boy, Anna.  We have many temptations.  I succumbed, but now I am stronger.  I want you to know that I confessed and have repented.  I have been pure in thought and deed for the past five years and with Jesus's help I will never sin that way again.  Do you think you could love a sinner like me?"

This wouldn't ring any bells for someone as innocent as Anna was back then.  She would have been told "everything" but not really.  And her father, who was supposed to protect her, didn't ask the questions he should ask or stop the marriage.  She thought everything was fine.

Now she sees the adultery and porn as an escalation of the sexual sinfulness that he had successfully overcome and repented from back as a teen.  She doesn't see him as a "pervert."  He is her husband and the father of her children.  He has betrayed his wedding vows and shamed her and his whole family.  She is in shock about what he did while married to her, behind her back. 

I don't blame her for not worrying that Josh might hurt their children.  I am not sure I see a threat there either.  But I do agree about CPS.  

I hope CPS watches the Duggar family in general and not just about sexual abuse.

[bella8050]

2 hours ago, slickcat79 said:

 

I canNOT believe, though, that they have to stay in the girls' dorm. Mary and JB are real estate investors, FFS. Surely they would be able to find some property nearby that they could stay in and have some peace and privacy. If Anna needs help with the kids, send a J'slave or 2 to stay with her...the rest of the Duggar kids can't need much day-to-day help at this point. I definitely don't think Anna likes the living arrangements, regardless of what she said. They didn't even show her face when she talked about staying in the girls' room because I doubt she was keeping sweet. You could hear it in her voice. Hopefully the kids are liking it though...I'm sure Kynzie loves getting to hang out with Jordyn and Josie, and I'm sure Michael likes being with his older uncles.

I don't think she's happy staying in the girls room either. For years now she has been happy to be fulfilling her "role" as not only a wife but a homemaker. Both of those things were taken away from her at the same time. I have a hard time believing she's still going out and doing her own food shopping and making the types of meals she normally was for the kids. I can't imagine living her life for a lot of reasons, but right now, to not have a moment of privacy to have a good cry or to reflection on the situation...that would drive me absolutely crazy.

[nst]

1 hour ago, lascuba said:

I think Ben's problem--other than just not being charismatic--is that he and Jessa are hamstrung by the constraints of the show. They have to keep sweet for the cameras and are allowed only the tiniest bit of "edge." Ben is an inarticulate asshole who isn't used to pretending that the script he's reciting is his real self like the Duggars are, and since he's not allowed to spew his preferred fire-and-brimstone stuff, he ends up sitting there looking dumb(er) and bored.

I love thisbecause not only is Ben inarticulate, I wonder if he cares about what he is saying about the duggars. He said something last night about the duggars being pickles and jessa got all offended.  What was that about? She is so ingrained, she still doesn't see herself as married, he is just an extension of her sisters, yet she can have sex and procreate. With him. 

I honestly think his brim stone and fire  act is for a boy who needed or needs an edge.  Whether he truly believes which he does is another issue. And if that all he gets going on, well that is a safe assumption that people don't want to be around him.

[HWest]

What struck me the most after watching was that Jill is still being homeschooled! Why can't she go to class with Derrick at the school while her mother in law is with her and can watch the baby? I know she is nursing but can't she pump milk to bottle feed? She made ZERO attempt to speak Spanish with the natives. That shouldn't surprise me because she can barely speak English. Like totally yeah. What kind of wisdom can she impart to the heathens? I can't even listen to her English.

[vienna]

I am just watching the Special. Did you see that Jill and Derrek  have a statute of holy Mary in their bedroom?!!

I love this!!! Surrounded by Catholics, even in the bedroom, how great is this?!

 

[EmCatlyn]

1 hour ago, Thumb of Justice said:

Me, too.  Can you imagine being a married mom of several little kids, living in a dorm room with a bunch of sisters-in-law and your little ones?  Zero privacy.  Zero independence.

It's great to have help with the baby and toddlers, but damn.  I value privacy too much to put up with that.

I agree completely; I would move myself and my kids to a tent or a used  RV in the backyard if I had to, for privacy.

But I wasn't brought up like the Kellers and Duggars.  And to be honest,  having to share a room with kids and extended family when your breadwinner is gone is not that odd among people in developing countries and/or among the very poor even in this country.

I was just talking to someone who works with abused women who is trying to find a place to stay for a woman with three children who have taken shelter with the abused woman's sister in a 2 bedroom apartment.  The abused woman and her daughter sleep in the living room and the little boys are sharing their boy-cousin's bedroom.

The arrangement must be unpleasant for Anna, and it is one of the things that make us roll our eyes about the Duggars, but these are people who crammed 14 kids into a 3 bedroom house, so their ideas about over-crowding and privacy are not exactly mainstream.

[slickcat79]

I can't believe how amazed Jill was at the idea of a baby sling. She was supposedly training to be a midwife and spent tons of time around women and babies and she never saw that before? It's not like they're THAT exotic

[missegeno]

I'm honestly really surprised that Derrick is (was?) still leaving for classes. If home classes are so prevalent there, I would think she would want him home, as with the Walmart concerns. Did I miss something?

[EmmieJ]

2 minutes ago, missegeno said:

I'm honestly really surprised that Derrick is (was?) still leaving for classes. If home classes are so prevalent there, I would think she would want him home, as with the Walmart concerns. Did I miss something?

Maybe that time apart from Jill is what is keeping Derrick sane.  Actually, I think the guy is fairly content with his life.  He seems to have simple needs - a wife, a kid, a place to sleep, and pretend missionary work to look forward to!

[missegeno]

Complete agreed and I am so glad he gets to leave regularly. I'm just surprised Jill didn't complain about it this time.