Plathville 2: The Whole Family Needs Therapy

[JDuggs]

Lydia’s music is out now. Even her fans are having trouble coming up with positive comments. The naysayers are ruthless, but honest. 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Hi. Sorry about promising recaps a couple of weeks ago and then bailing. I’ve been out of town, and I didn’t have time to start recapping before the trip. Hopefully I’ll get to them in another week or so. (I had to visit my mom to get the app for her cable system working on my phone again.)

On others’ comments (but not bothering to tag anyone):

- Yes, Barry has a creepy vibe. I’m disturbed that I do find him attractive. At least he’s about my age.

- I get that the girls should be able to homeschool at home, but I don’t think Barry should have left and let Kim stay. She left him, so she should have to leave the marital home. (I would see this differently if the kids were younger and the divorce was because Barry had behaved badly.)

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Your long-delayed recapper has finally returned!

Season Five, Episode 1: Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me?

We begin the season with Ethan & Olivia’s European Adventure. They went to Paris for a month and then spent another month going around Britian, including a lot of bicycling in Scotland. (That’s probably why the episode title is a quote from Macbeth.) Of course, they haven’t worked through their issues, though they did at least talk (or argue) about the events of last season. They’re going to try to protect themselves from others’ drama more.

In LA, Micah finally has his own apartment, where he’s coming out of the shower. He’s single; no mention of the woman he was dating last season. Modeling is freelance and he doesn’t have roommates, so his life is very independent, but he’s a little lonely. Micah reminds us about Olivia’s allegation about Kim stealing money from Ethan. He says that Olivia was being negative as usual, and she’s been a big negative cloud ever since they got married. He recognizes that he and Moriah were Team Olivia for a long time, but that’s over now.

Off to Tampa to see Moriah, who has an extremely nice apartment to herself. She went to bartending school and is now a bartender. And she’s in love! With her dog, Blackjack. Like so many big dogs, he’s unaware that he’s no longer a puppy. She’s not dating anyone. The year she spent living with Ethan, Olivia, and Nathan was difficult (partially because of Max and her parents’ divorce). [Recap of riparian drama.] Like Micah, she’s extremely pissed off about Olivia’s allegations. She and her siblings posted on social media that Olivia was wrong. Moriah says she reached out to Olivia, who didn’t respond, so Moriah moved out before Olivia got back from Europe.

Off to Cairo! Kim’s in her apartment. (Kind of a theme here.) Divorce is hard. Barry always ran the household while she parented, and now they handle both roles. The kids come to her for homeschooling, and they sometimes spend the night. She misses them. It’s all new, but it’s better. She knew that she would lose a lot, but she was so unhappy that it was worth it.

Now to a café in Paris, where Ethan and Olivia will undoubtedly be bitching about family over their croissants. Olivia will be spending a week in the Netherlands with a friend before going home. Ethan says that he had worked through the situation with Kim and his siblings shouldn’t have posted about it. They both enjoyed the time away and don’t want to come back to drama. They don’t acknowledge that Olivia brought it up first, in an episode of the show.

Back to Cairo. Barry and the younger kids are eating dinner. He’s proud of himself for having actually cooked something. In a TH, he says that he doesn’t see Kim much, though they talk and text about the kids. He’s stable and moving forward, with the kids’ help. He’s working out multiple times a day, and he looks very buff. Lydia says they’re all doing good.

Ethan’s back in Tampa and glad to be home. Our theme continues with him being alone in the house. There’s a long note from Moriah, who wants to talk with him. He calls her behavior “theatrical,” but is impressed that she actually cleaned her room. Nathan comes home and confirms that Moriah left in a hurry. Ethan says that he and Olivia decided to live in three places in three years, and Minnesota is up next. He’s still working on the cars in Cairo, so he has to finish and sell them before the move. They go for a motorcycle ride.

Back to Cairo. Moriah and Micah are visiting, and they invited Kim over to the house. It’s cold out, but they sit outside anyway. (It appears to be fall of 2022.) Micah apologizes for having been overly influenced by Olivia to oppose his parents. Micah has a TH about how his childhood was actually pretty awesome. Everyone agrees that Olivia has brainwashed Ethan. Kim really appreciated the online statement. She’s willing to accept that she and Olivia have different perspectives on the credit card incident.

Back to Tampa. Olivia discovered when she got back that Moriah had moved out and the Plaths had all turned against her. She’s sad and angry. Olivia’s feeling anxious about Ethan going to Cairo for a couple of months. Ethan promises to call every day; when he’s gone to Cairo in the past he’s been uncommunicative. He’s not sure if he’ll be able to visit her in Tampa. He plans to stay busy working and not get involved with his family, but since this is a reality show about his family drama, we know that’s bullshit.

Coming up this season: Kim is dating someone. Lydia might be dating someone. Barry goes drinking with his kids. Ethan and Olivia spend time with her family in Minnesota. The family feud rolls on.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I honestly have no idea why anyone would watch this show anymore. It sounds like a huge yawn fest of bitching about each other. I can easily get that in my own life. 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

The first recap pushed my status up to “Keeper of Schrödinger’s Uterus.”

Season Five, Episode 2: No Legacy Is So Rich As Honesty [That's from "All's Well That Ends Well." All of the season's episode titles are Shakespeare references; I guess because he wrote about family drama?]

We open at the gym in Cairo, where Micah and Barry are working out together. Micah is amazed by Barry’s transformation. He’s recovered from his post-separation depression. Micah feels inspired to get closer to his family. Ethan hasn’t spent time with them while he’s in town.

In Tampa, Olivia’s sister Lydia is visiting. [Lydia Plath is not in this episode.] Losing the Plaths means that she can reconnect with her own family. Olivia had been estranged from Lydia as part of family drama involving their parents, and they haven’t spent time together in years. Ethan arrives unexpectedly, because he’s selling his motorcycle. Olivia isn’t thrilled that he’s there with her sister about to arrive. [It feels very staged.] Ethan doesn’t like Lydia because she created a lot of drama. Olivia introduces her pet hedgehog (Haley) with “Do you want to meet your niece?” which makes things even weirder. Lydia says in a TH that she was the scapegoat in their dysfunctional family’s dynamic, so she’s scared but excited to start a new relationship with Olivia. Olivia says in a TH that she left her family behind when she got married. Lydia and Moriah were good friends briefly when they were going through rebellious phases at the same time. Lydia feels that Olivia chose Moriah over her.

Kim has a friend she calls “Mama Sue” because she reminds Kim of her mother. Sue asks Kim how she’s doing. She’s still feeling sad but the marriage is over. She’s thinking about dating. Does she have to go online? Do guys still pay? Questions, questions! Mama Sue says in a TH that Kim still has responsibilities to her children and she has to be really sure about what she’s doing. She tells Kim to be patient and the kids will understand, and to keep praying about it. Kim jokes about putting up flyers, and Sue jokes that they should say “For a good time, call..”

Back to Tampa. Ethan heads back to Cairo. It’s Lydia’s 23rd birthday, so Olivia drives them to the beach. They talk in the car about how embarrassing their fundie upbringing was. Their parents told Lydia that anything that made her happy was sinful. Their other sisters were okay with being fundie. Olivia wanted to get along with their parents and was jealous that Lydia had no fucks to give. Lydia is sympathetic about the Plath mess.

Barry, Moriah, and the dog are at the family farm. They eat sandwiches leaning against the car. Barry asks why Moriah’s song “I Missed Myself” isn’t online anymore. Moriah says Olivia had uploaded it on her own account and she took it down. Moriah threatened to sue her. Olivia responded that Moriah needed to take down any photos that she had taken or pay her, so Moriah took down the photos. There have also been “a lot of other things” and now their relationship is “nonexistent” and staying that way. Barry asks if she’s also estranged from Ethan. She says he reached out to her a few times, and he would yell at her about paying her rent and apologizing to Olivia. She finally blocked him.

Moriah “hit rock bottom” a few months ago. She was very depressed and didn’t want to live. She realized that something needed to change, and she’s not who she wants to be. Barry went through something very similar and he wants to be here for her. He tells her to be patient and not to be hard on herself. Moriah says in a TH that Barry’s strength and grace comes from his faith. She tells Barry that she wants to be baptized, even though she was baptized when she was eight with some siblings. She never thought that she would come back to Jesus like this.

Ethan is working on his cars in his Workshop of Avoidance. He tells his friend Phillip about the latest family drama. Phillip tells him that if he doesn’t deal with it, it will only get worse. We get Ethan’s version of the rent/apology phone call. He doesn’t understand why his family is so bipolar about being close or estranged. Ethan says in a TH that he sees Barry and they get along, but he hasn’t been talking to Kim. He understandably feels caught in the middle. He’s looking forward to moving to Minnesota.

Olivia and Lydia are on the beach. Olivia will be leaving Tampa soon, and this might be her last trip to the beach. Olivia tells Lydia that she assumed a mom role with the Plath kids. Lydia says in a TH that Olivia is a nurturer, and the Plath family filled a void for her. Lydia tells Olivia that she was very bossy when she was young. Lydia says that Olivia and Kim are a lot alike, and the similarity scared Olivia into working on herself. They’re having fun and glad to be together.

Next episode preview: Kim and Micah talk; Ethan feels bad about Moriah; Barry baptizes Moriah.

[JDuggs]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I honestly have no idea why anyone would watch this show anymore. It sounds like a huge yawn fest of bitching about each other. I can easily get that in my own life. 

It’s kind of frustrating to watch because the people that need to talk to each other and hash things out rarely talk to each other. It’s a lot of talking about why they’re not talking to each other! But, it is a show about a formerly fundie family and how each person has changed over the past couple of years. There’s anger from some of the kids over their lack of education. There’s drinking, tattoos, sex outside of marriage, separation, divorce (not official yet). We’re now seeing Moriah rebounding back to religion, but in her own way, while Olivia no longer considers herself a Christian.

The episodes move slowly and never adequately explain the issues/problems in enough detail to really understand them, but the evolution of the family is interesting.

[JermajestyDuggar]

50 minutes ago, JDuggs said:

It’s kind of frustrating to watch because the people that need to talk to each other and hash things out rarely talk to each other. It’s a lot of talking about why they’re not talking to each other! But, it is a show about a formerly fundie family and how each person has changed over the past couple of years. There’s anger from some of the kids over their lack of education. There’s drinking, tattoos, sex outside of marriage, separation, divorce (not official yet). We’re now seeing Moriah rebounding back to religion, but in her own way, while Olivia no longer considers herself a Christian.

The episodes move slowly and never adequately explain the issues/problems in enough detail to really understand them, but the evolution of the family is interesting.

The problem is you can easily get all that from social media. Most of the stuff they talk about happened a year ago. And was talked about already on social media. You don’t have to pay for Instagram but you have to pay for TLC. And Instagram isn’t a year behind. There’s no positive to watching these people sit around and take about something that happened last year. It’s boring. And it’s always so obvious it’s set up by producers. Ok so you two will be eating sandwiches by the car and talking about the most recent incident. Don’t forget to bring up A, B, and C. Action. Instagram stories is full of “taking heads.” It’s more interesting to just watch Instagram instead of these “reality shows.”

[JDuggs]

On social media, Olivia is active; Moriah and Lydia are somewhat active; Ethan, Micah and Isaac are occasionally active. Barry and Kim aren’t on social media as far as I know. So while all the major events are covered: Olivia and Ethan moving to Minnesota, Moriah getting baptized and tatted up, there’s still a lot that’s missing. When Barry said that Olivia brainwashed Moriah and Micah and they agreed with him, that was a WTF moment. And now we get to see Kim our on romantic dates with her new honey. Micah and Moriah are leading the lives they want because Olivia showed them it was possible. And now both parents are totally accepting of their kids’ lifestyles because they want to have relationships with them. Barry now has this idea that he’s a #1 Dad because the kids are so mad at Kim for wanting out of a bad marriage. It’s a shitshow!

[Zebedee]

20 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

Season Five, Episode 1: Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me?

I really need to get a life, obviously I read this as a „Duggar“ and was waiting for the Duggar/Plath crossover. 

[LacyMay]

Moriah being baptized felt like it came way out of left field, I'll be interested to see if this decision actually comes with any type of tangible changes in her life or if it was just a quick way to get some positive attention she seems really invested in this narrative where she believes that she's so grown up, mature and responsible for her age and this lines up with that. 

 

I don't believe for a second this whole story that Olivia somehow stole the profits from Moriahs music. 

The accusations of Olivia brainwashing Ethan are tiresome, he's 25 years old at some point some of the responsibility needs to lie with him. And if Olivia was this terrible manipulative possessive brainwashing person would he really be trotting off to Cairo alone for a month to work on his cars? They aren't winning any healthy relationship awards but the blame Olivia game is getting old. She's not perfect by any means but it feels like no matter what happens it's her fault. 

[freethemall]

Olivia and Ethan have confirmed what everyone pretty much all figured out - they have parted ways, in their words. Hope Ethan can reconcile with his family away from the train wreck of their marriage and they can both grow on their own.

[MayMay1123]

27 minutes ago, freethemall said:

Olivia and Ethan have confirmed what everyone pretty much all figured out - they have parted ways, in their words. Hope Ethan can reconcile with his family away from the train wreck of their marriage and they can both grow on their own.

Damn... that's sad. Olivia was posting on a Facebook snark group for a little bit, and we all liked her. The plath family messed up all of those kids. Reality tv just pushed it all over the edge

[JDuggs]

This is probably a great move for Olivia and will make Ethan happier in the end too. Olivia has changed so much (personal growth) and Ethan had no interest in growing as a person. I’m very interested to see where they both land physically now. Does Ethan head straight back to Cairo to have superficial relationships with his parents and to spend more time with the five youngest siblings? He seemed to really like MN, but will he be too lonely there without Olivia.

Olivia’s journey should be interesting: what she decides to do for work, where to live, who to have relationships with.

[JermajestyDuggar]

We all saw it coming. I’m just glad divorce is an option. I hate to see fundies stuck together in miserable marriages. It’s likely for the best. Even thought divorce sucks.

[LacyMay]

I can't say I'm surprised, I do feel bad that they were unable to make it work I really do think they deeply cared about each other. Unfortunately I think they both just changed so much. 

I don't think it helped that their marriage was often a little crowded, having their younger siblings live with them so early on probably didn't help them when it came to setting boundaries. 

 

Hopefully they are parting ways amicably and wishing each other the best in this next stage. 

[indianabones]

Another one of my 2023 fundies predictions has come to pass!

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Have they said whether they’re filming? I sometimes got the impression that Ethan deliberately created conflict as content for the show, and I could absolutely see them spending a season or two breaking up and another season or two getting back together. Also, did they ever hint where they would be spending the third year of their live-different-places plan? Not being able to figure that out might be a big conflict point for a wobbly marriage.

[JDuggs]

On the last episode, Ethan and Olivia we’re discussing many of their differences in separate talking heads. Having children and how that would look seemed to be a huge issue of divergent views. Ethan wants to homeschool!!! Given what he claims was a horrible educational experience for him personally, I guess he feels that he and the mother of his children can do better.  Not sure how that will happen. It hit me as another red flag that Ethan, like Micah and Moriah, is now looking back at his idyllic childhood and forgetting the bad stuff.

All Ethan knows is family and siblings playing together. So he wants to have kids so he can have new playmates. My guess would also be that he wants lots of kids while Olivia probably wants none to two.

[JermajestyDuggar]

30 minutes ago, JDuggs said:

On the last episode, Ethan and Olivia we’re discussing many of their differences in separate talking heads. Having children and how that would look seemed to be a huge issue of divergent views. Ethan wants to homeschool!!! Given what he claims was a horrible educational experience for him personally, I guess he feels that he and the mother of his children can do better.  Not sure how that will happen. It hit me as another red flag that Ethan, like Micah and Moriah, is now looking back at his idyllic childhood and forgetting the bad stuff.

All Ethan knows is family and siblings playing together. So he wants to have kids so he can have new playmates. My guess would also be that he wants lots of kids while Olivia probably wants none to two.

What’s interesting is that when they actually do have kids, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a way of them seeing very well how their parents failed them. It’s happened to me and I’m not fundie. Raising my kids shows me all the ways my parents didn’t parent the best and I try to do better. 

[JDuggs]

Micah was the bartender (I’m not familiar with the concept) on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. I couldn’t watch the whole clip because I feel the awkward cringiness of a live situation. Josh Gad and another Broadway guy that I don’t know were the guests.

[marmalade]

1 hour ago, JDuggs said:

Micah was the bartender (I’m not familiar with the concept) on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. I couldn’t watch the whole clip because I feel the awkward cringiness of a live situation. Josh Gad and another Broadway guy that I don’t know were the guests.

Usually the "bartender" on WWHL is promoting something. A restaurant, a book, something. Micah seems an out of left field choice for that show. 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Sorry it took me another three weeks to get back to this!

Episode Three: To Thine Own Self Be True

It was inevitable that that would be one of the episode titles, wasn’t it? After the recap, we open in Cairo at Kim’s apartment. She’s wearing very short shorts. Micah arrives. He’s visiting the family after doing a modeling job in Miami. In a TH, he says that their relationship has changed a lot. They’re friends now. He asks about the divorce. She says that she’s going down a road and she doesn't know where it’s leading. Micah observes that they always seemed to have a great relationship, and she says that parents try to hide problems from their kids. Micah says in a TH that Kim didn’t seem to try to fix it. Kim tells him that she got to a point where she knew she would have to put up with “not having a deep connection” for the rest of her life or she would have to leave. She says that many friends disapproved of her leaving, and describes them as “conservative Christians without a lot of grace.” He asks if “that’s turned you off from all that” and she says yeah. She says there’s more of a need for love and forgiveness than she had realized.

Micah asks about dating and she says she’s ready to date and she’s fine with Barry dating. Micah is surprisingly shocked. He wants to ask if they really tried, but he doesn't. She tells him to not to settle, and he says that’s why he hasn’t settled down. She says she saw the post of him in a hammock captioned “Where’s my soulmate?” He jokes that she’s stalking him. Of course, we get to see him looking pensive and sexy in the post. She asks what he wants in a woman and he says he wants someone hot.

Off to Tampa. Olivia and her sister Lydia are playing around with Olivia’s clothes and makeup. A modest top reminds Olivia of her fundie days and she says that she’s decided organized religion isn’t for her. Lydia says that they both need a supportive family member. They put makeup on their brother Nathan and post a photo.

Olivia misses Ethan, but she feels like they’re on the same page. She says “when you confide in siblings about marriage problems, it’s not a good thing” to her siblings. She’s blaming everything on the Plaths. We flash back to Olivia helping Moriah post her music. Olivia explains that the music was under her name because she did this for Moriah, and she was shocked when Moriah accused her of stealing the music. Nathan says that over the summer Moriah invited Micah to visit all the time, and he stuck up for Olivia when they talked about her, so he “made an easy target.” He’s still hurting from how they treated him. They cheer themselves up with some dancing and using the stripper pole. He’s still wearing violet eyeshadow and fuchsia lipstick.

We’re still in Tampa and still dancing, but now with Moriah. Like her mom, she ran away from her family to the dance studio. She’s learning ballroom dancing and is going to be in a competition. Her instructor is a Ukrainian named Max.

Barry, Micah, and Issac are at a bowling alley in Thomasville (the larger town near Cairo). Barry compliments Micah’s “drip” and tells us unhip TLC viewers that it means “flashy accessories.” (Micah often highlights his pecs with tight shirts and necklaces.) Barry says in a TH that his kids have been very supportive. They’re so good at bowling that they order one hot dog for each point that each of them is short of 300. Despite doing very well, this is a lot of hot dogs. They wish Ethan was there to eat the extra hot dogs. Barry’s still reaching out to Ethan even though he doesn’t answer. Issac eats eleven hot dogs and Micah eats seven.

Back in Tampa, Nathan is singing and playing guitar at a kava bar. (He’s appearing with his friend Ryan, who sits silently during the scene.) He’s pretty good. In Olivia’s TH, she misses going to the kava bar with Moriah, but she’s ready to move on. Olivia has rented a fiddle so that Lydia can play along. Lydia is touched (and kind of surprised that Olivia isn’t jumping in to play too). Lydia is also pretty good. Olivia is happy to be creating something new with her siblings.

Two-thirds of the way into the episode, Ethan finally turns up briefly in Cairo, in a TH in his car. He doesn’t like it that his family wants to spend time with him but not his wife. He has the biggest problem with Moriah because he and Olivia did so much to help her. He says the other day it was “eating my soul” that she’s still blocking him. He’s realized that he shouldn’t have vented to “Mike” and Moriah about Olivia because that made everything worse. He’s looking forward to starting a new chapter with Olivia in Minnesota.

Moriah is being baptized by Barry at a lake in Cairo. The whole family is there (except Ethan and Olivia) with some of Moriah’s friends. Micah says in a TH that Moriah told him that she wasn’t sure what she believed just a couple of months ago. Amber is as tall as the adults. Moriah wears heavy black boots and a short black outfit as she steps into the water. In a TH, Lydia Plath is very happy and says she’s been praying for Moriah. Moriah reflects in a TH about how emotional she was during her baptism. (It’s one of the THs filmed at the end of the season, in which her hair is very blond and curly and she’s wearing a sexy black dress and bold lipstick.) Barry says that Moriah will come out of the water to newness of life. After she comes up, she clings to him and he says “Hallelujah!” Everyone beams. It’s very touching. I thought that Moriah wasn’t wearing makeup, but she had on enough eye makeup that it’s smeared across her face. In a TH, Barry reflects on how rebellious Moriah was three years earlier, and he’s very happy with how she’s changed.

Next time: Issac bought an airplane; Olivia and Ethan celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary; Moriah and Barry talk.

[waltraute]

Seriously, thank you for the recaps @QuiverFullofBooks. I'm strangely still interested in the direction the Plath family is heading but I just can't bring myself to track down the episodes, let alone watch them. I'm indebted to you.

[JDuggs]

On tonight’s episode (I’ve lost track of the number), Ethan and Micah were on their way to Minnesota from Georgia. Olivia texted Micah that she wanted to talk to him to try to clear the air while he was in town. Micah wasn’t willing to do that since he’d only be in town for a day. He wanted to “keep it light.” I totally side with Olivia on this. The Plaths wrote that public statement basically accusing Olivia of lying, but none of them have been willing to have an actual conversation with her about the situation. Micah and Moriah just want to sweep it all under the rug and forget the past. It’s very easy for them to do that since it didn’t involve them at all. 

The scene I’m waiting for is Olivia and Kim sitting on a beach with drinks celebrating that they’re free on their unhappy marriages and can finally start enjoying life. Would Kim ever come to the realization that it’s probably Olivia’s influence that led her to making her major life changes? I think seeing Ethan, Micah and Moriah somewhat free prodded Kim into thinking that she wanted that for herself too. I don’t think Kim is a big enough person to ever apologize to Olivia about how she was treated.

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 hours ago, JDuggs said:

On tonight’s episode (I’ve lost track of the number), Ethan and Micah were on their way to Minnesota from Georgia. Olivia texted Micah that she wanted to talk to him to try to clear the air while he was in town. Micah wasn’t willing to do that since he’d only be in town for a day. He wanted to “keep it light.” I totally side with Olivia on this. The Plaths wrote that public statement basically accusing Olivia of lying, but none of them have been willing to have an actual conversation with her about the situation. Micah and Moriah just want to sweep it all under the rug and forget the past. It’s very easy for them to do that since it didn’t involve them at all. 

The scene I’m waiting for is Olivia and Kim sitting on a beach with drinks celebrating that they’re free on their unhappy marriages and can finally start enjoying life. Would Kim ever come to the realization that it’s probably Olivia’s influence that led her to making her major life changes? I think seeing Ethan, Micah and Moriah somewhat free prodded Kim into thinking that she wanted that for herself too. I don’t think Kim is a big enough person to ever apologize to Olivia about how she was treated.

If micah doesn’t want to hash things out, the show will die. That’s basically all reality shows right there. The producers forcing their “stars” to constantly hash out any little problem they have. In real life, most people don’t constantly hash things out. Most just let things fester or never confront anyone. But that’s the bread and butter of all reality shows. They make you do it. In front of a camera. You have to take about EVERYTHING. Which must get so damn annoying. Yes, I’m real life, micah wouldn’t talk to Olivia. But this isn’t real life micah. You have to do what TLC wants.