Plathville 2: The Whole Family Needs Therapy

[libgirl2]

4 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

Now I find What Not to Wear pretty distasteful, mainly because they were so indifferent to different lifestyles outside of metropolitan areas. Like I'm not going to wear a pencil skirt and blazer to the store on a Sunday. I have a blazer in my office and I put it on as needed, but if I'm in a pencil skirt at the store it's because I'm stopping at the store after work. Sundays are for running gear and house pants. And everyone is so mean about different styles. Let people wear tie-dye tee shirts to the gym if they want. And there's no such thing as "that outfit is too young for her" UGH. Shut up stacy. No one cares that a 55 year old woman is wearing a miniskirt and flipflops but you. 

I have to admit I did like that show a lot and there were some people who really did dress just horribly.   I do agree that not everyone is going to get super dressed up to go to the grocery store. Though, seeing what some people wear out in public, they could use a dose of the show. 

[Maggie Mae]

4 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I have to admit I did like that show a lot and there were some people who really did dress just horribly.   I do agree that not everyone is going to get super dressed up to go to the grocery store. Though, seeing what some people wear out in public, they could use a dose of the show. 

I think my main problem is that they didn't take people's personal style or lifestyle into account. Almost every woman was given like 4 or 5 outfits, and it was always the same pair of heels, a pair of dress pants, a pencil skirt, some blouses, and a blazer. Sometimes an ugly jean jacket.

Like the kindergarten teacher doesn't need a structured blazer, she needs leggings and a cardigan. The artist who wear flip flops and paint stained overalls doesn't want to wear heels and and a business suit. 

Let people wear the flowy hippie dresses if they are hippies, even if they don't have the body type that Stacy and Clinton think "works" for it. 

IDK at least the show was entertaining. Baby Story bored me to tears when I was 18. 

Trading Spaces was fun too, even when the designs were impractical and ridiculous. Sometimes the homeowners had terrible taste, but they liked what they liked. And then Hildi comes in and glues their furniture to the ceiling. 

[Coconut Flan]

If I never heard the words pencil skirt again, I'd be very happy.  I had a friend who watched the show regularly and every week I'd hear about a pencil skirt would solve my problems.  There's just one tiny problem, I despise them and they've never fit my curves quite right..  

[Maggie Mae]

1 hour ago, Coconut Flan said:

If I never heard the words pencil skirt again, I'd be very happy.  I had a friend who watched the show regularly and every week I'd hear about a pencil skirt would solve my problems.  There's just one tiny problem, I despise them and they've never fit my curves quite right..  

They are the worst! Hard to walk in, uncomfortable, and don't actually look that good on most people. 

[libgirl2]

5 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

They are the worst! Hard to walk in, uncomfortable, and don't actually look that good on most people. 

Yea, wouldn't work for me and doesn't look comfortable. And of course, not everyone can wear the same type of style, whether due to body shape or lifestyle. I remember though on several episodes they had people who were in careers that did require you to look a certain way, so in one sense, it did help. 

I enjoyed the show and miss it. I read the two did not get along at all. 

[JDuggs]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

I enjoyed the show and miss it. I read the two did not get along at all. 

Stacy and Clinton had a longtime falling out, but recently, within the last year, have made up. I believe they’re going to work on something together again soon, but I don’t know the details.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, JDuggs said:

Stacy and Clinton had a longtime falling out, but recently, within the last year, have made up. I believe they’re going to work on something together again soon, but I don’t know the details.

I'm glad to hear that because I thought they had really great chemistry. 

[marmalade]

Clinton could have chemistry with a lamp. He's a star. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I like Clinton but I can’t watch that show. I just hate when people get mean about fashion. Some people are tired/depressed/poor and can’t dress like a fashion plate all the time. 

[marmalade]

3 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I like Clinton but I can’t watch that show. I just hate when people get mean about fashion. Some people are tired/depressed/poor and can’t dress like a fashion plate all the time. 

I was thinking of Clinton's subsequent successes, such as hosting The Chew and shows on Food Network. 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Episode 7, “Romeo, Romeo!”

We open in snowy Minnesota. Olivia is at a bar, where she explains to a young female bartender that she wants to shadow her, and the owner had told her it was okay. She had started bartending school in Tampa and is finishing it in Minneapolis. She’s still working as a wedding photographer, but she likes tending bar at her own parties. Olivia says in a TH that she’s still only 24 and she’s feeling more like an individual than she did when she was involved with the Plaths. She and Ethan “have more of a divide” now that she’s changed a lot. She has high hopes for her marriage because Ethan is so happy in Minnesota.

In Cairo, it’s beautifully green. Kim and Issac are meeting up to discuss maintenance of the farm property. Kim wants to turn it into a wedding venue. She awkwardly tells him that she’s been dating Ken. He’s not surprised. In a TH, he says he felt sad and awkward. Issac wants to know how Barry responded to the news, and Kim says he said “that’s really sad.” Kim tells Issac that Barry didn’t react when she told him that she wanted to see other people. Kim thinks that Barry will find someone else who will make him happier. Issac says that Kim should make herself happy, and not worry about others’ reactions.

Back in Minnesota, Olivia and Ethan are decorating for Christmas in advance of a visit from Olivia’s sister Lydia and her boyfriend C.J., who they haven’t met yet. Even more than usual, this scene is a back and forth between the actual scene and THs commenting on it.

• TH (Lydia and C.J.): He describes Lydia’s family as “difficult, to put it in a nice way.” They disapprove of this non-courtship relationship. Lydia says that Ethan was distant when they saw each other in Tampa.
• Scene: Olivia says that they think the guys might like each other because they both like sexual humor. C.J. says “comes with the territory” and Ethan looks unamused.
• TH (Ethan and Olivia): She says Ethan “isn’t the biggest fan of people in general.” Ethan says “Relationships are hard. I’ve barely made this one [gestures to her] work at all.” She snickers and he tells her to stop laughing at him.
• Scene: Discussion of possibly doing limoncello shots.
• TH (Ethan): He’s happy that Olivia has been able to reconnect with her own family and hopes that she will reconnect with his family as well.
• Scene: Lydia asks if they like Minnesota and they do.
• TH (Lydia): She’s happy to reconnect with Olivia, but it’s kind of weird too, because they never really had a connection.
• Scene: Ethan wants to play two truths and a lie. His true statement is that he put his finger in a cow’s ass (TLC bleeps the word). Olivia says “I love butts, and he won’t do anything!”
• TH (Ethan and Olivia): They’re kind of embarrassed.

Kim and Ken are on a date at a sushi place in Tallahassee. In a TH, Kim says that she and Barry decided to get married right away, and the last guy she dated before him was in 1993. Ken really cares about her feelings and makes her feel heard. Issac told her so many good things about Ken that she felt comfortable from the beginning. Back at the date, they’re glad Issac is okay with them dating. She asks about relationship status and they agree that they’re boyfriend/girlfriend. They’re very happy.

At the Plaths’ house, Barry tells us that he recently found out that Kim’s dating. He’s having a lot of feelings: sadness, anger, loneliness, unworthiness. We see him doing yard work alone. He’s trying not to be angry, and he knows that Kim’s also trying not to be angry. He has to move forward, and work on relationships with those who want relationships with him. For too long, he didn’t do that. His faith has brought him through the process. He’s not thinking about dating yet.

In LA, Micah is packing for a Christmas snowboarding trip. He tells us that he grew up not celebrating Christmas. Did we know about this before? Hardly any American fundamentalist Christians are that puritanical. He takes a video call from Moriah. She has a new tattoo on her bicep saying “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” They discuss her estrangement from Ethan. She says that the rent he wanted her to pay was for September, even though the lease had ended and she had moved out in August. In a TH, she says that they fought a lot as kids. He’s always bullied her and she’s finally standing up to him. Micah tells her that he had an argument with Ethan, who apologized, but then stopped responding to his texts. Micah’s not sure if he’s mad or just being Ethan. Micah asks if maybe she should talk to him and she’s not sure. In a TH, Micah says he’s not going to try to fix their relationship for them.

In Minnesota, Olivia says in a TH that Lydia and CJ’s visit is taking place during a very cold week. She misses Florida weather, but it’s just for a year. She’s not looking at Ethan, who is sitting next to her looking unhappy. We cut to Ethan driving an SUV and “doing donuts” (spinning around) in the snow. As the film crew is driving behind them, this is clearly staged. In the back seat, Olivia is scared. In the TH, Ethan feels that he had the vehicle under control, while Olivia explains that she’s been traumatized by past car accidents. She’s also upset that he’s not taking her feelings seriously. [Just like his dad!] Back in the car, Olivia is swearing at him to stop. In the TH, the conflict rises. He thinks she’s making too big of a deal out of something that’s only a few seconds. She says “I don’t have words for your lack of respect.” He says she’s overdramatic and she says “I don’t want to be gaslit by you.” He says “How are you so sensitive that doing a donut…” and she says “Fuck off. I don’t want to talk about this.” He tells her okay, but he’s going to be stubborn about it. Back in the car scene, they stop and get out. In a TH, CJ feels very awkward and Lydia is angry that Ethan didn’t stop when Lydia was upset. Then they all have a lot of fun sledding.

The promo covers the rest of the season: more conflict between Ethan and Olivia; the Plath guys go out to Malibu; Kim and Barry are still working through the divorce; Moriah is in a ballroom dance contest; Moriah surprises Ethan in Malibu; Ethan doesn’t want to have kids with Olivia anymore.

[noseybutt]

On 12/7/2023 at 3:41 AM, libgirl2 said:

Yea, wouldn't work for me and doesn't look comfortable. And of course, not everyone can wear the same type of style, whether due to body shape or lifestyle. I remember though on several episodes they had people who were in careers that did require you to look a certain way, so in one sense, it did help. 

I enjoyed the show and miss it. I read the two did not get along at all. 

Thankfully I see far fewer pencil skirts and even sheath dresses these days compared to pre-Covid. Business formal for women has shifted more towards slacks and midi length looser/more flowing outfits. Tights are tight and everything else, not so much.

[Pecansforeveryone]

I am so thankful for more flowing and midi and maxi length styles of dresses these days. I am all about comfort. Maybe I am more fundie than I realize. Thank you @QuiverFullofBooks for the recaps. There is a lot for the Plaths to work thru. 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Pecansforeveryone

[JermajestyDuggar]

Just based on Lydia’s social media, she and CJ have broken up. It’s been months and months since she has posted a pic of him. I always assumed Ethan and Olivia broke up around the same time as CJ and Lydia. 

[Markie]

I've tried to like Moriah, but just don't. She comes off as self centered, judgemental and lazy. She is a lot like her mother. I am glad she is finding herself and doing her own thing. Actually, I do not really care for any of the family, and as the thread title says, they could all benefit from therapy and counseling.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Markie said:

I've tried to like Moriah, but just don't. She comes off as self centered, judgemental and lazy. She is a lot like her mother. I am glad she is finding herself and doing her own thing. Actually, I do not really care for any of the family, and as the thread title says, they could all benefit from therapy and counseling.  

I agree. They are all immature for their ages and emotionally stunted. All thanks to their parents. All of them could use lots of therapy and life away from a terrible reality show. It’s doing them no favors. 

[marmalade]

How long until Ethan, Micah, and Moriah return to Cairo? Because we all know that's gonna happen.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

1 hour ago, marmalade said:

How long until Ethan, Micah, and Moriah return to Cairo? Because we all know that's gonna happen.

Ethan seems really, really happy in Minnesota, where he also has family. I don't think he'll go back. I don't see Micah moving back to Cairo while he's modeling and dating, but I think he will move back east, maybe to Miami or Tampa. He might want to be in Cairo once he's married and ready to raise a family and go into a new profession. Moriah loves Tampa, she sees her family frequently despite the distance, and Cairo is too much of a conservative southern small town for her. 

[marmalade]

All 3 of them are living off show money. Micah has said he's barely working. Moriah is an underaged bartender. Ethan did get a job, but he seems to be  it working at it more often. 

Once the show money dries up, they will have to course correct, since their current lifestyles won't be sustainable. I think the adjustment period will see them in/around Cairo as they have all seemingly reverted back to original dogma. 

I hope they can support themselves in a healthy manner someday, but now they're too enmeshed. 

[JDuggs]

I think it’s a good bet that Micah will end up in Florida. He seems to be able to get some modeling work there and he seems to enjoy the boating/fishing lifestyle. When he’s in Florida, he usually seems to spending time out on a boat with Ed Butera, Ariana Grande’s father. I thought I remembered a cryptic Instagram comment that maybe Moriah had moved further away from Cairo than Tampa. I really don’t know how she’s going to support herself because her music really sucks. Ethan did seem to like Minnesota, but I still see him going back to Cairo for the cheaper, slower lifestyle. All we know for certain in that Olivia moved to Los Angeles six months ago, but she doesn’t plan to stay there permanently. She just wanted to try it out.

[JDuggs]

It looks like Micah is in a relationship, or very good friends, with this Florida realtor Veronica Peters. I’ve seen photos of them together on Micah’s IG, but I always thought she kind of looked too old for him. Maybe not.

This was on Moriah’s IG:

Spoiler

And this was on Veronica’s personal IG and professional IG:

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[marmalade]

Now it becomes clear why Micah said he wouldn't stay in LA. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I might sound mean or nasty but I just don’t see this relationship lasting or being anything meaningful. I just think their parents have raised to to have failed relationships. It’s so obvious with Ethan and Moriah. They tried very hard to make it work. But Ethan just can’t grow or learn how to be a better partner. I think the same is for the others. They are all just stunted and I don’t think any partner could take that for long periods. 

[JDuggs]

At 22, Micah is way too young to settle down. He might be a serial monogamist for at least a few more years before deciding to choose a long term partner. This woman that he seems to be dating appears to have her life together: a real career, given her field most likely a nice place to live. This is probably very appealing to Micah who seems to have been hanging out mostly with young women who are just starting out financially and career-wise and don’t have their shit together yet.

 I think Ethan has a much better idea of what to look for in his next wife. He wants a very traditional marriage with traditional gender roles. He will want a wife who is a conservative Christian who wants to cook and homeschool his children. I think he’s really understanding now the questions to ask his potential mates and that love just isn’t enough.

Moriah is still an emotional mess in my opinion. Since her relationship with Max, she hasn’t publicly admitted to any romantic relationships. She’s also never shown with friends, only family, on the show and on social media. She seemed happy with one friend (Olivia) and one boyfriend. I don’t think Lydia will fill the role of friend that she needs, but Moriah will wait a couple of years for Amber to grow up and step into that role. If any cute guy expresses interest in her, I think she’ll go all in without hesitation.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Episode 8, “Now Is The Winter of Our Discontent”

We open at a Christmas tree farm in Thomasville. When Kim and Barry were married, she went along with him in not celebrating Christmas, because it’s not really Jesus’ birthday. Now that they’re divorced, she wants to have fun with her kids, so they’re celebrating Christmas. The kids (including Moriah in a long black dress) are excited about cutting down a tree for Kim’s apartment.

In Minnesota, Ethan and Olivia are celebrating Christmas with Lydia and CJ. CJ opens Olivia’s gag gift: a vibrating butt plug. In a TH, Ethan disapproves. Olivia and Lydia play violin and piano while Ethan makes breakfast. In a voiceover, Ethan misses his family and feels that Lydia and CJ aren’t family. As a prank, Ethan puts chicken seasoning that includes whole peppercorns in one pancake. Olivia gets it and is mad, plus the seasoning was new and she wanted to use it for chicken.

Back in Cairo, Issac carries the tree into Kim’s apartment. Decorating the tree is a whole new thing for them. They have no idea how to use the stand. Lydia holds the tree up while Issac and Moriah run out for fishing line to tie it to the wall. In a TH, Lydia feels that this isn’t Christian enough. They get the tree to stay up. Moriah finds a lot of Christmas stuff confusing. While Issac puts the lights on, the girls hang ornaments on Moriah. Kim loved having a live tree as a child. The decorated tree looks great, though they don’t have a skirt for it.

In snowy Mammoth Lakes, CA, Micah is driving, planning to go snowboarding on Christmas Day. He’s never celebrated Christmas, so it’s fine, but he’s aware that most of the kids are celebrating with Kim. The road is closed. He calls Ethan, who doesn’t pick up, and then Barry, who’s eating a sad, lonely sandwich. In voiceover, he’s okay with Kim celebrating Christmas with the kids. He had normal Christmases as a kid, but as an adult, he studied the Bible and realized that it’s not really Jesus’ birthday. It’s been a lonely path. Micah tells Barry about Ethan not answering his phone. They don’t know whether he’s upset, and they feel bad that he’s estranged from Moriah. The road opens. Micah’s feeling a lot of adrenalin from the huge amount of snow in the mountains. He and the camera crew following him are good at snowboarding.

In Minnesota, Ethan is driving an insanely huge 1976 Chrysler New Yorker, one of four classic cars he owns. He and CJ drive to a cigar lounge while Lydia and Olivia hang out at the apartment. Ethan does a TH about the sisters’ past estrangement, referring to Lydia as “a sneaky behind-your-back person.” He’s concerned about Lydia’s influence on Olivia.

Buckle up for a long back-and-forth between the guys’ and gals’ conversations. CJ finds it odd that their families were insular and didn’t meet other kinds of people, and didn’t date. Ethan says that he and Olivia did date; they would park and fool around in the back of his big old car. He says that he's glad he got married young to his first love. He would still marry Olivia, because what they’ve had together has been priceless. Lydia thought that Olivia was crazy to marry Ethan and didn’t realize what she was marrying into, but she was also jealous that Olivia got to move out. Olivia envied Lydia’s independence. [Where is their family from? Lydia sounds southern, but Olivia doesn’t.]

Lydia doesn’t want to get married until she knows herself fully. Olivia didn’t do self-reflection before she got married, but she’s doing it before becoming a parent, and there’s no way she would have a kid right now. In a TH, she says that she and Ethan aren’t on the same page about how to raise kids. Ethan tells CJ that Olivia has changed, but he hasn’t, and he won’t. He and Olivia have been growing apart for three years (after they were preoccupied by conflict with his family for the first year). They started out in the same place regarding religion and politics and are now “at opposite ends of the book.” [That kind of implies that you changed too, Ethan.] Older guys tell him that they’ve been married to “four women” in the fifty years they’ve been married. CJ says that they don’t have to have the exact same values and asks what the issues are. Ethan says he wants to homeschool and Olivia wants public school.

Now we get a TH with both Ethan and Olivia, who disagree about whether faith plays an important role in their commitment to each other. He thinks that’s a big problem and she doesn't. Ethan tells CJ that he’s glad to be in Minnesota, where they have family who are a good influence. CJ gets a TH where he says that Ethan and Olivia are trying to figure out their relationship now, after having gotten married too young so they could have sex. Lydia tells Olivia that she and CJ are also growing apart, but they’re not married. They wonder whether people can make it work if they grow apart after they get married. Lydia asks if Olivia would be healthier if she were single. In a TH, she remembers their separation as very painful, but now she’s deconstructing the beliefs she learned about marriage, and she thinks she might be okay. In Lydia’s TH, she thinks that Ethan might not be good for Olivia. Olivia tells Lydia that she doesn’t want to live with regrets.

Next time: Ethan takes Micah’s call; Kim tells Lydia and Moriah about Ken; Ethan tries to get Olivia to spend time with his family.