New Season: Meri, Meri and More Meri

[Tatar-tot]

In a nutshell:

1.  Meri is fed-up with Kody.

2. Meri is evicted by the landlord: neighbors don’t want polygamist living next door. Meri feels extremely uncomfortable after they neighbors called the cops on her.  So Meri returns to Vegas.

3.  Meri feels lonely in empty houses and is sad they are putting in fencing between the properties to get the houses sold.

4.  Meri is upset about the family leaving the Vegas set up.  This one I totally agree. The family seemed to finally be on solid ground physically, emotionally & financially, then kaboom ?.  Kody moves the family to Vegas.  Kody mid episode announces the family is on the edge of financial ruin due to carrying the Vegas properties, the rentals, Christine’s home purchase, and the loan on the land.

5.  The episode closes with Meri encouraging the kids to swim in a run off pond due to the excavation of the property.  This was beyond gross although it was characterized as a type of baptism for their new life in Flagstaff.

Stay tuned for next week!    

Edited March 19, 2021 by Coconut Flan
Typo

[purple_summer]

I plan to catch up on this tonight 

[Cheetah]

Thanks for posting - I didn't realize there was a new season.  I think I'm behind... did last season end with them actually moving to Arizona or just looking at property there and putting their LV houses on the market?

[SilverBeach]

15 hours ago, Tatar-tot said:

Meri is upset about the family leaving the Vegas set up.

None of them wanted to do it at first. They all caved in instead of standing up to Kdouche. I don't want to hear their whining now. I suspect the move was done to have material for a new season or two.  It makes no sense whatsoever, they could have moved to Flagstaff insted of LV in the first place if Flagstaff is so wonderful. All that disruption and expense, for what? I don't get this family, at all. Now they are split up yet again. Their saving grace is how they have accepted Mariah and her partner, which is a decidely non-fundy thing to do.

Couldn't Meri have tried taking her skeptical neighbor a fruit basket or cookies or something? No, she runs away instead of extending an olive branch, because she is overly sensitive. They really should have stayed in Vegas where nobody cared. Or Utah even, because obvious polygamy will never be the norm and some are afraid of what they don't know. They won't be welcome everywhere.

[Tatar-tot]

2 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Thanks for posting - I didn't realize there was a new season.  I think I'm behind... did last season end with them actually moving to Arizona or just looking at property there and putting their LV houses on the market?

Yea - they up and left Vegas on ill thought out plan. 

[ifosterkittens]

I haven't watched last night's episode yet, but I get the impression Kody is very the grass is greener on the other side. He is always chasing a dream, who cares how it affects his family. Last season Meri, Janelle and Christine counted the number of moves with Kody and it was around 20. If Kody or one of the wives were in the military or had a career that required several moves to advance I would understand, but that wasn't the case. Aspyn and Madison have both said their parents move all the time, and they wouldn't plan to settle down near their parents because who knows when they will next move. Last season Robyn was the one who said Flagstaff needs to be the final move, and the other wives and Kody were all like maybe it will be. 

They said last season Kody has been looking at property in surrounding states for the last few years, so a shocked, what do you mean we are moving reaction was all for TV. I believe they moved to show TLC they have a story line for future seasons. It was reported they took a pay cut for the last season (season 11 I believe) because it was take the pay cut or no more show. You need some drama, some storyline to keep people watching. Instead of seeking a fifth wife, they decided to move. 

Kody said they needed to move to a less expensive area and put money in the bank, but they did the opposite. The housing cost in Flagstaff is higher than Las Vegas (where they already owned houses they built), so that was another lie. I do not think Kody factored in the kids, and how the move would impact their lives. I don't think that even crossed his mind. 

[HereComesTreble]

A fool and his money are soon parted.  The Browns are nuts if they think 4 houses in Flagstaff will fix their money woes.

[clueliss]

I'm sitting back waiting on the storyline where Kody is all stressed out from traveling from home to home - just like when they first moved to Vegas.  Just so I can yell 'repeat'

[Cheetah]

Okay, I'm caught up, although I have to confess that I only half pay attention to the show (I web-surf while it's on).  OMG - 4 mortgages on houses, 4 rentals, and 1 mortgage on a piece of land???  I think the speculation was that their LV mortgages were likely going to go into a balloon payment or something but it sounds like they are having trouble selling.  Seems like it would have made a lot more sense to put them on the market first and see if they sell before moving.  I don't know...

[Tatar-tot]

Haven’t the Vegas properties all sold?

[ifosterkittens]

@Tatar-tot is much more concise, there are several things bugging me that I feel the desire to share.  

Season 14 and this episode is called Kicked Out— seriously? Lie #1: Kody claims they lived in Las Vegas in exile for seven years. Please stop with the martyr role I can’t take it anymore. 

Lie #2: Reason they are leaving Las Vegas (LV) this episode? According to Robyn LV has changed, they are worried about what the kids could be exposed to. They need to get the kids into a safe place. Last season we were told Kody has been looking at pieces of property in surrounding states for years. Also let’s consider his history of moves. I enjoyed when Robyn said the verdict is out if this was a wise move. 

Lie/Misrepresentation #3: Old news, but Janelle conveniently left out how she met Kody and Meri. Janelle you were married to Meri’s brother that is how you met Meri and Kody, then you divorced your husband and married Kody. Janelle said "why not marry the best guy you know?" Ummm because you were already married. 

Meri’s rental house: Meri said when she signed the contract for the rental it was included that their would be filming. If I owned a rental, and someone included it was ok to film in their lease I would surely find out what show it was for, this could not have been a surprise. When Meri moved in with all the Browns helping, a neighbor called the police (no idea what was discussed with the police), then the neighbor called the rental’s owner, and expressed their concerns. The rental’s owner asked Meri to terminate the lease, Meri didn’t. Then the rental’s owner terminated the lease (not sure of proper terminology). Meri said she could fight it in court since the owner canceled the lease, not her, but she chose not to, if the owner and neighbors don’t want her renting there, she doesn’t want to be there. Meri said she felt like a second class citizen, and this was bullying. Meri moved her stuff into a friend’s garage, and went back to live in Las Vegas until she could find another rental in Flagstaff (FS) which took a few months.

Four mortgages in Las Vegas, two mortgages in FS (one on Coyote Pass land, and one on Christine’s new house), three rentals (Meri, Janelle, Robyn). Who can afford nine mortgage/rent payments? Christine said financially we are drowning, and she admitted this move didn’t save us money. Kody admitted we pulled the trigger before we were ready to move, moving into a precarious situation. 

Christine is the only one who had her house ready to put on the market when they left LV, presumable early August. Janelle and Robyn aren't going to put their homes on the market until October. Janelle a realtor said most people do not focus on buying a home during the holiday season, and we are putting the homes on the market right before the holiday season. Robyn said she committed to hosting a large family reunion in LV a year ago (before they planned on moving), and the reunion is in October, so she needs her house. Robyn gets what she wants, so let’s say ok Robyn keeps her house and doesn’t put it on the market until end of October, why didn’t Meri and Janelle put their homes on the market before or right after the move to LV? Honestly put all four homes on the market, it wasn’t likely they would all sell by October, and even if Robyn’s house had sold couldn’t she have hosted the reunion in a sister wive’s home? Meri ended up moving back to Las Vegas because of her rental issues, but even if her house had sold, couldn’t she have moved into a sister wive’s house temporarily? They are adding walls (fences?) between the four LV homes before selling them. Why? It seems like an expensive and unnecessary addition. 

Lie #4: Family culture is so important to us. They have been in Flagstaff for weeks and haven’t gotten the families together. If you don’t make it a priority to get together it is hard to believe family culture is a priority. Janelle and Christine are 25 minutes apart. I feel for Janelle’s kids because they have always been so close to Christine and her kids. I hope the older kids are in the same high school, but not sure. Janelle is more realistic in terms of they have to sell the Las Vegas homes in order to build on Coyote Pass, it will take time to sell the homes, and then it will take time to build the new homes, so getting the family back together is going to take a few years. 

Janelle said Gabe is melancholy, on the depressed side, sleeping all day, and staying in his room. Kody said Gabe was punishing him by not going to see the Coyote Pass land. Didn’t you learn with Hunter? Please don’t highlight Gabe’s struggles. Gabe can express he isn’t thrilled with the move, but let’s not exploit it for a story line. 

Possible Lie #5: Robyn’s cousin who has lived with her in LV, and assisted with child care for years said last season she wasn’t moving to FS, but she was there in FS when the crowd went to see the Coyote Pass land. It is possible Robyn’s cousin was just visiting, but I doubt it. 

Kody whined about it being weird to be so far away from the adult kids. Janelle said who was the we have to move guy? Shut up Kody, no one is going to feel sorry for you. Also when Kody and the older kids went swimming in the “pond” aka run off Kody stripped down to his undies, I never want to hear another word about modesty from him ever again. 

[ifosterkittens]

4 hours ago, Tatar-tot said:

Haven’t the Vegas properties all sold?

Yes, they are all sold now. 

https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/did-the-sister-wives-stars-sell-their-las-vegas-homes/

So I think the houses went on the market in fall 2018, but didn't sell until 2019. 

Edited January 7, 2020 by HA88
Added more

[keen23]

27 minutes ago, HA88 said:

(snip)

They are adding walls (fences?) between the four LV homes before selling them. Why? It seems like an expensive and unnecessary addition.

This actually makes sense. It's the norm for houses in the Las Vegas neighborhoods like that to have block wall fences. People expect it now, and it would be hard to sell the houses with out the block fencing.

[PumaLover]

Just got back from Flagstaff and I wondered if I would run into any of these fools. Luckily I did not.

I get why Kody wanted to move there. It's literally one of the most beautiful places I've ever been* and the weather is great (well, if you love snow, which I do). Moving to 7,000 feet in one of the snowiest cities in the US must be quite a shock from Vegas. Also the cost of living is ridiculous there so I still don't know how they can afford to build all these houses and buy land. What the realtor told us when we were looking to relocate was that land in Flagstaff is limited due to it being surrounded by national forest. I guess TLC money helped out with all that. Must be nice.

I worry about the kids as they get older and graduate, because as I mentioned cost of living is high and good jobs are hard to come by. But I'm sure Kody isn't worried about any of that.

(Side note I am very glad that they have accepted Mariah and her partner, which so many of the fundie families we read about would NOT do).

*Here's a pic from my snowshoeing trek in Flag.

[LacyMay]

I actually felt kind of bad for Meri. From my understanding the neighbors complaining to the owner was what caused the owner to terminate the contract. If that's true I can't help but think that was hard on her. I don't need to agree with your beliefs to be a welcoming neighbor.  

Kody is a temperamental teenager who wants what he can't have. He wanted to move to Flagstaff to save money ignoring the fact that they would be paying money on 9 propertys. He didn't care when Janelle and Christine talked about leaving their adult children behind, now he's talking about missing the adult kids. He thought Flagstaff would be better for the family and kids. Now they are scattered in rentals. 

When they first moved to Vegas Janelle made a point of saying how important it was that they be in the cul de sac houses before Logan left so that the older kids would see that s their home and touch stone. But Kody is incapable of being content or accepting reality. 

I don't feel sorry for the kids because their parents are polygamous, they seem loved, taken care of and fairly well adjusted. I feel bad for them because Kody doesn't give a poop about providing them with any stability. 

 

[Natalie22]

8 hours ago, LacyMay said:

I actually felt kind of bad for Meri. From my understanding the neighbors complaining to the owner was what caused the owner to terminate the contract. If that's true I can't help but think that was hard on her. I don't need to agree with your beliefs to be a welcoming neighbor.  

Kody is a temperamental teenager who wants what he can't have. He wanted to move to Flagstaff to save money ignoring the fact that they would be paying money on 9 propertys. He didn't care when Janelle and Christine talked about leaving their adult children behind, now he's talking about missing the adult kids. He thought Flagstaff would be better for the family and kids. Now they are scattered in rentals. 

When they first moved to Vegas Janelle made a point of saying how important it was that they be in the cul de sac houses before Logan left so that the older kids would see that s their home and touch stone. But Kody is incapable of being content or accepting reality. 

I don't feel sorry for the kids because their parents are polygamous, they seem loved, taken care of and fairly well adjusted. I feel bad for them because Kody doesn't give a poop about providing them with any stability. 

 

You pretty much summed up my feelings about them.  It seems that their religious beliefs haven't prevented them from raising good kids who are loved and accepted for who they are.  They're idiots when it comes to their interpersonal relationships and finances, but there are plenty of people who could describe their parents this way who live 'normal' lives.  

[clueliss]

I think Kody had this fantasy that when he declared where we go one, we go ALL - all the adult children would drop their lives and move to Flagstaff because he said so.  And he didn't want to acknowledge his thinking was wrong on that despite the fact that four wives sat there and told him the kids were going to all leave anyway.  

And I'm really tired of the ongoing Meri doesn't love us and wants to leave storylines.  

[Cheetah]

My husband wandered in while the show was on (him - 'another crime show - oh no, it's the polygamists..') and he asked me if I watched this because I want to see them go down (I can't remember exactly how he phrased it).  I said no, what I really want is for the women to put their feet down and stop letting Cody call the shots and make bad decisions that affect all of the kids.  

But that isn't going to happen so I probably should stop watching...

[SilverBeach]

On 1/7/2020 at 2:28 PM, HA88 said:

Meri’s rental house: Meri said when she signed the contract for the rental it was included that their would be filming. If I owned a rental, and someone included it was ok to film in their lease I would surely find out what show it was for, this could not have been a surprise. When Meri moved in with all the Browns helping, a neighbor called the police (no idea what was discussed with the police), then the neighbor called the rental’s owner, and expressed their concerns. The rental’s owner asked Meri to terminate the lease, Meri didn’t. Then the rental’s owner terminated the lease (not sure of proper terminology). Meri said she could fight it in court since the owner canceled the lease, not her, but she chose not to, if the owner and neighbors don’t want her renting there, she doesn’t want to be there. Meri said she felt like a second class citizen, and this was bullying. Meri moved her stuff into a friend’s garage, and went back to live in Las Vegas until she could find another rental in Flagstaff (FS) which took a few months.

Do you have a source for any of this? I would love to read more.

Mr. SB watched some of the new episode with me, for the first time ever. He was incredulous that any man would ever want more than one wife, especially to get his own planet, or something. I am still incredulous that four wome would knowingly share their husband's penis without protection. What if oneof them has a yeast infection or something? Polygamy is not for me. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by SilverBeach

[ifosterkittens]

1 hour ago, SilverBeach said:

Do you have a source for any of this? I would love to read more.

Sorry no source, just took some notes while watching the two hour episode. 

1 hour ago, SilverBeach said:

What if oneof them has a yeast infection or something? Polygamy is not for me. 

Did you watch Seeking Sister Wife season 2 last year? It came on after Sister Wives, and Ashely and Dimitri were looking to add a sister wife, and Ashley had this intense 21 day diet Vanessa had to follow prior to having sex with Dimitri to prevent passing yeast infections (according to Ashley).  I can't find a season 3 premiere date, and can't find if the show was canceled.

I agree polygamy is not for me. I fail to see the appeal, and I don't share their religious beliefs. 

[ifosterkittens]

13 hours ago, Cheetah said:

 I said no, what I really want is for the women to put their feet down and stop letting Cody call the shots and make bad decisions that affect all of the kids.  

But that isn't going to happen so I probably should stop watching...

Sister Wives is trash TV, but I enjoy it. There are tons of trashy reality TV shows out there, why should I feel guilty I enjoy one? 

Robyn is the only wife I can possibly imagine standing up to Kody. My guess is Robyn compromised with the move to Flagstaff, and in return got a huge rental 6,000 square feet, 7 bedrooms), and then later purchased a $900,000 5 bedroom home. Dayton also found a college Robyn felt was a good fit for him in Flagstaff, so it worked for Robyn this time. 

[SilverBeach]

8 hours ago, HA88 said:

Sorry no source, just took some notes while watching the two hour episode. 

Thanks for responding, I was actually half-watching so missed some of the details. I'll rewatch on demand and pay greater attention.

8 hours ago, HA88 said:

Sister Wives is trash TV, but I enjoy it.

Yeah, I've watched since the beginning, no apologies. I draw the line at any of the housewives iterations.

Edited January 9, 2020 by SilverBeach

[SilverBeach]

Does Cody ever think about the future? Many of the younger kids have experienced little in the way of family togetherness, and all of the children will one day be adults. So what is the point in building a huge family compound house now, this late in the game? And why does Robyn need her relative to help with child care, isn't that what sister wives are supposed to do? 

[ifosterkittens]

6 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

Does Cody ever think about the future? Many of the younger kids have experienced little in the way of family togetherness, and all of the children will one day be adults. So what is the point in building a huge family compound house now, this late in the game? And why does Robyn need her relative to help with child care, isn't that what sister wives are supposed to do? 

Yay I am not alone in not enjoying the housewives of somewhere! 

I think Kody thinks about the future, but not in a realistic way. Parents obviously aren’t obligated to pay for college or weddings, and when you have 18 children and 5 adults I think you should create a budget and come up with a plan to best serve everyone. They could say at this time we can pay X towards college and Y towards wedding, you are responsible for coming up with or taking loans for the rest. Since wedding planning is a good story line it is probably worth it to them to give a certain amount toward them. 

If they built a compound house in Vegas instead of the 4 expensive cul-de-sac homes it might have made sense for them, but now it is just plain stupid. Selling a compound style home seems like a nightmare, there can't be a large market for that. Robyn buying a home in September 2019 for $900,000 makes me think the mega home is no longer on the table. 

Family togetherness and help with child care hasn’t seemed like a priority Utah. They appeared to operate as one big family in Utah, Janelle worked full time, not sure how much Kody worked, Meri worked part time and Christine was the stay at home parent. They moved to Vegas and became 4 separate families, although Janelle’s kids always seemed close with Christine. My guess is Robyn preferred to have her relatives help with child care. She didn’t want her sister wives monitoring her day to day life and how she allocated her time. 

More idle speculation: 

Robyn wanted My Sister Wive’s Closet to succeed, and if it had been financially successful I think she would have put in the time and effort to build the business and paid relatives to take care of her children, clean the house etc. MSWC wasn’t successful but she wasn’t interested in being solely in charge of child care. 

Why hasn’t Janelle gone back to work full time? She expressed early on she enjoys working, but she may figure why work full time to only keep 1/4-1/5 of her salary. Most traditional jobs would not allow the flexibility needed to film, and they likely make far more money filming than working traditional jobs, so for now the priority is on filming.

This move was allegedly to save money/put money towards retirement, but that didn’t happen. How many more seasons of SW can they count on? The gravy train is going to coming to an end, and they are going to have to make some drastic changes. 

[AliceInFundyland]

Oh Brown Family.

So clueless. The women don't stand up to him. I did think it was about more seasons. But, no... the women all seem miserable. Unclear about Meri. But ffs, she didn't want to move. She nutted up. Then she ended up back there? Ugh. I don't love her but I wouldn't have made overwhelming effort with said neighbor either.

All polygamist men, good-evil, have a defining characteristic of ego. To carry out such a mission I think it's essential. Kody is in this mold. He's a dreamer and schemer. And I think he can't stop.

That last scene with the kids made me sad. I loved that they all jumped in the gross pond. Gabe got excited. His sisters got excited. And you know the littles wanted to zoom in after them. That's when I love the Browns. Christine was right. Yeah we all did that dumb shit and didnt think about parasites. They were bonding.

But they were also right when she said Gwen remarked that she'll be out of high school before any houses are built. And no adult kids are moving down there. It kills me when Janelle and Christine are smart. They know better than his nonsense. They should have stopped him.I hope they're periodically sampling a bottle of wine. If not,ladies..this is the time.

So what have they accomplished exactly? The culdesac was golden. Truely, Solomon and Ariella are goung to grow up on 15 acres with 4 large houses. Eventually.

I understand why he wants...craves...a space..truly his own. They fucked up here.

ETA: It's also clear that all the kids down to Solomon do have relationships with Meri. I love that. I do think they want her in the family. And I don't think she really wants to be far away. I hadn't gotten that vibe 100% before. Her big issues are with Kody and whatever happened with not having another baby and her alienations of spousal affection.

It would be excellent if she could have some separate but close relationship, where she can still visit and be in the family but date someone else. If they can open their mind to gay marriage, perhaps this is possible.

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by AliceInFundyland