Sister Wives 8: And Another One Down, Another One Bites the Dust?

[noseybutt]

I realize that polygamy has its own vows and moral obligations, but it’s hard for me to get bent out of shape about Meri having an emotional affair when her husband is split four ways.

[JermajestyDuggar]

13 minutes ago, noseybutt said:

I realize that polygamy has its own vows and moral obligations, but it’s hard for me to get bent out of shape about Meri having an emotional affair when her husband is split four ways.

Same. But of course I come from a culture that pushes monogamy. Honestly it’s the secrecy of the relationship that seems like the worst part. 

[Cults-r-us]

On 11/11/2023 at 6:19 AM, freethemall said:

So it's interesting to me watching her come so so so slowly to the realization it's over snf that they finally mentioned the catfishing, but never discuss how that led to the dissolution of their marriage. I'm guessing Kody was over her when that happened. She plays the victim in all this but never acknowledges how much that situation destroyed things.

     How much of Meri hanging on is courtesy of the TLC Story Invention Service? It seems too stupid to be true 

     I have observed Kody never recovers from narcissistic injury. Look, for example, at how out of proportion his anger at Christine (fantasizing he is physically hurting her) is to her leaving him. Meri thinking she had found a better man is a wound from which Kody will never recover, regardless of how he felt about her. 

     I suspect part of Kody's problem with Meri has to do with whatever went on with Meri and the older kids. Kids feel powerful when they are able to provoke a person to losing control. I suspect the older kids couldn't resist making Meri lose her shit. Meri was an easy mark for them  but that doesn't mean the kids didn't incur trauma when Meri lost her temper. Christine ended her relationship with Meri over how she treated her kids.

      Meri is like Kody in that she lost her relationships to Kody, the older kids and Janell and Christine because she refused to take accountability for her behavior.

[TN-peach]

It was interesting that Mykelti is trying to force a reconciliation between 3 bracnhes of the family but doesn't realize that she is a hypocrite because she excludes Meri.  Mykelti is not able to appreciate other people's boundaries but wants her's respected.  (I am referring to the Zoom gender reveal call from the most recent episode).

 

I felt so sorry for Janelle in this episode.  She is realizing that she has no money and that Kody (and Robyn) have screwed her over. 

[ifosterkittens]

21 hours ago, Cults-r-us said:

 How much of Meri hanging on is courtesy of the TLC Story Invention Service? It seems too stupid to be true 

I agree it has to be TLC; they have nothing else as a story line for Meri. Meri has no work content (if she still does LuLaRoe TLC won’t advertise that, and the BnB stuff is boring), no relationship content, and no (adult) child content for a story line. I don’t believe Leon has appeared on the show since helping Grandma Bonnie at the BnB during early covid. Leon has only made brief appearances in the past few years and may not want to have shared the transition process on such a public platform for a multitude of reasons- which I completely understand.

21 hours ago, Cults-r-us said:

 I have observed Kody never recovers from narcissistic injury. Look, for example, at how out of proportion his anger at Christine (fantasizing he is physically hurting her) is to her leaving him. Meri thinking she had found a better man is a wound from which Kody will never recover, regardless of how he felt about her. 

I believe Kody said early on Christine was basically royalty in their polygamous community. I always wondered if Kody married Christine for the status alone. Kody has seemed over Christine for almost the entirety of the show. He didn’t appear to want to reassure her she was important to him, he valued her, he was attracted to her, or he really loved her. Christine admittedly struggled with Robyn entering the family, they quickly moved to Las Vegas and their lives very quickly changed. For the first time ever, the wives were living with just their children, and had more money than they’d ever had before, and she truly became the head of her household. Kody was no longer seeing their children every day like in the house in Lehi. Christine adapted, and Kody didn’t like it. He was already over it with Christine, and felt not as necessary, and I think it hurt his feelings, and instead of handling it like an adult he chose to focus on Robyn and her children where he felt loved, honored, respected, valued etc. He continues to neglect his relationship with Christine, and while Christine wasn’t perfect, I do think she tried, and I don’t think he did. After a decade of the show Christine says enough, she’s done. Kody is acting like he has whiplash—where did this come from?? 

21 hours ago, Cults-r-us said:

I suspect part of Kody's problem with Meri has to do with whatever went on with Meri and the older kids. Kids feel powerful when they are able to provoke a person to losing control. I suspect the older kids couldn't resist making Meri lose her shit. Meri was an easy mark for them  but that doesn't mean the kids didn't incur trauma when Meri lost her temper. Christine ended her relationship with Meri over how she treated her kids.

      Meri is like Kody in that she lost her relationships to Kody, the older kids and Janell and Christine because she refused to take accountability for her behavior.

I’m sure Janelle and Christine’s older kids had strong negative feelings about Meri, and it makes sense they would do things to provoke Meri to lose her cool. The older kids know how they were treated by Meri, saw how Meri treated Janelle and Christine, saw how Meri and Leon got extras they did not get, and I’m sure overheard valid criticism about Meri from Janelle and Christine.

I hope Meri spends some time and does the work in therapy. I doubt she’ll repair her relationships with Janelle and Christine because I doubt any of them really have any interest to now make an effort now. They can do the superficial texts happy birthday, happy holidays, brief update on the children. I agree Meri had no accountability with her actions and chose to dismiss how they impacted her relationship with Janelle and Christine. Meri also seemed to have no accountability for the catfishing event. She brought that other woman who was catfished to meet Leon and Audrey. Leon was sympathetic to the other woman’s experience (I believe that woman was single), and sympathetic to a lesser extent to Meri. Leon seemed frustrated Meri wouldn’t own her role in the emotional affair. Leon didn’t want to see Meri catfished, but Leon probably didn’t approve of an emotional affair. I wonder if Meri and Leon are closer now because the relationship seemed very strained for a while, and I think that is the one relationship that truly matters to Meri.

[Cults-r-us]

On 11/13/2023 at 4:55 PM, ifosterkittens said:

I agree it has to be TLC; they have nothing else as a story line for Meri. Meri has no work content (if she still does LuLaRoe TLC won’t advertise that, and the BnB stuff is boring), no relationship content, and no (adult) child content for a story line. 

I believe Kody said early on Christine was basically royalty in their polygamous community. I always wondered if Kody married Christine for the status alone. Kody has seemed over Christine for almost the entirety of the show. He didn’t appear to want to reassure her she was important to him, he valued her, he was attracted to her, or he really loved her. Christine admittedly struggled with Robyn entering the family, they quickly moved to Las Vegas and their lives very quickly changed. For the first time ever, the wives were living with just their children, and had more money than they’d ever had before, and she truly became the head of her household. Kody was no longer seeing their children every day like in the house in Lehi. Christine adapted, and Kody didn’t like it. He was already over it with Christine, and felt not as necessary, and I think it hurt his feelings, and instead of handling it like an adult he chose to focus on Robyn and her children where he felt loved, honored, respected, valued etc. He continues to neglect his relationship with Christine, and while Christine wasn’t perfect, I do think she tried, and I don’t think he did. After a decade of the show Christine says enough, she’s done. Kody is acting like he has whiplash—where did this come from??

 

    The B&B stuff could be interesting - I heard Meri's haunted Halloween tour was fun. But I guess no one would pay when they can watch it on TV.

      I don't think Kody was over Christine. He criticized and berated her as a control measure to punish her for being vocal and making demands on his time.

[Cults-r-us]

Did y'all see Robyn made a joke on national TV she should get her own share of Coyote Pass because who knows if they'll stay together? Also note her tears Meri is leaving but stayed silent about the part Meri gets ripped off on their property split? Does Meri say she has to learn how to be a friend to her ex's wife because she realizes Robyn is no friend at all?

[TN-peach]

56 minutes ago, Cults-r-us said:

Did y'all see Robyn made a joke on national TV she should get her own share of Coyote Pass because who knows if they'll stay together? Also note her tears Meri is leaving but stayed silent about the part Meri gets ripped off on their property split? Does Meri say she has to learn how to be a friend to her ex's wife because she realizes Robyn is no friend at all?

Meri and Janelle both need to get attorneys and team up to make sure they get their fair share of Coyote Pass. 

What was Kody going to say who his lot will be left to? Because he denied that it will be left to all 18 children?! "The loyal childen", Robyn's children." the children from his next wife...

Why would Robyn want Kody to make that "sacred promise" to him about not sitting there in a loveless marriage... unless he told her that he was miserable in at least one of his current marriages?!

I wanted Meri to say to Robyn "dammit, Robyn how many times does Kody have to say publicly that he doesn't consider us married for you to understand that the marriage is over and that I now accept it.  Kody left me and he actually left me a long time ago, he is only now just admitting it.  Get over yourself, this is about me and him."

Edited November 20, 2023 by TN-peach

[LacyMay]

1 hour ago, TN-peach said:

I wanted Meri to say to Robyn "dammit, Robyn how many times does Kody have to say publicly that he doesn't consider us married for you to understand that the marriage is over and that I now accept it.  Kody left me and he actually left me a long time ago, he is only now just admitting it.  Get over yourself, this is about me and him."

When Robyn started crying and kept saying she couldn't be there anymore/wanted to be supportive BUT/needed to go for a walk etc it just felt like she was prodding for one of them to tend to her. That conversation *wasn't about her* and I don't think she had any idea of how to deal with that. Robyn isn't an advocate for Meri, Robyn spent 7 years doing everything she could to keep Meri in a relationship with someone who didn't love or even like her. Imagine what that must do to a person's self worth? 

Meri can be annoying but damn if I didn't feel awful for her in this episode. Kody not even pretending to treat her with respect/as an equal member of the family made him look like even more of a jack ass. 

 

Also Robyn making about her and Kody splitting up TO MERI was absolutely disgusting and tone deaf.

[Cults-r-us]

3 hours ago, LacyMay said:

When Robyn started crying and kept saying she couldn't be there anymore/wanted to be supportive BUT/needed to go for a walk etc it just felt like she was prodding for one of them to tend to her. That conversation *wasn't about her* and I don't think she had any idea of how to deal with that. Robyn isn't an advocate for Meri, Robyn spent 7 years doing everything she could to keep Meri in a relationship with someone who didn't love or even like her. Imagine what that must do to a person's self worth? 

Meri can be annoying but damn if I didn't feel awful for her in this episode. Kody not even pretending to treat her with respect/as an equal member of the family made him look like even more of a jack ass. 

 

Also Robyn making about her and Kody splitting up TO MERI was absolutely disgusting and tone deaf.

I think it will help the OG wives get a fair settlement that their family financial management was on display on TV and TLC paid their salary to a family corporation.

     Unrelatedly, one content creator remarked this isn't a Disney movie where the villain gets a comeuppance, that everyone deserves to be happy, even K&R. Maybe they are happy. But it's hard to imagine people who act like these two deserve happiness.

[Cults-r-us]

Also, I wanted to add Kody's language is so flowery and bizarre. Surely this "sacred covenant" to not languish in a loveless marriage is courtesy of a frustrated romance writer in the TLC storyline invention service.

[Pecansforeveryone]

Why is Kody so afraid to say, "I was in love with Meri when I married her, and over the years I fell out of love with her"? Is he is afraid of looking weak and vulnerable? Driven by emotions rather than logic and reason? This conversation with Meri was so long overdue. I am glad for her. Whatever her mistakes, she doesn't deserve that mental and emotional torture. 

[Cults-r-us]

1 hour ago, Pecansforeveryone said:

Why is Kody so afraid to say, "I was in love with Meri when I married her, and over the years I fell out of love with her"? Is he is afraid of looking weak and vulnerable? Driven by emotions rather than logic and reason? This conversation with Meri was so long overdue. I am glad for her. Whatever her mistakes, she doesn't deserve that mental and emotional torture. 

I think Kody compartmentalizes his relationships and disconnects from his feelings to avoid emotional  pain/discomfort. Additionally, he also appears to have failed to form normal attachments to his kids. We saw him display genuine affection for his wives. I think he tells them he only pretended to love them when they are, after all, unattractive and unlovable, to beat them down to size as a control measure. 

[TN-peach]

13 hours ago, Pecansforeveryone said:

Why is Kody so afraid to say, "I was in love with Meri when I married her, and over the years I fell out of love with her"? Is he is afraid of looking weak and vulnerable? Driven by emotions rather than logic and reason? This conversation with Meri was so long overdue. I am glad for her. Whatever her mistakes, she doesn't deserve that mental and emotional torture. 

Before we knew about the "sacred covenant" between Kody and Robyn, I would have guessed it was because he wouldn't want Robyn to know how "easy" it was for him to fall in and out of love.  Now, I don't know.

[apandaaries]

Kody giving his attempt at a serious glare while saying, “the act is easy,” was yet another appalling Kody moment. He is unbelievable. I’m truly amazed that he thought he was acting well. Perhaps he and Robyn bond over cognitive dissonance. 
I look forward to Kody having to suffer for Robyn’s failed dream of porch-sitting amongst sister wives. I also enjoyed her joke about possibly divorcing Kody. I do believe that Kody and Robyn each got the spouse they deserve. 

[TN-peach]

4 hours ago, apandaaries said:

Kody giving his attempt at a serious glare while saying, “the act is easy,” was yet another appalling Kody moment. He is unbelievable. I’m truly amazed that he thought he was acting well. Perhaps he and Robyn bond over cognitive dissonance. 
I look forward to Kody having to suffer for Robyn’s failed dream of porch-sitting amongst sister wives. I also enjoyed her joke about possibly divorcing Kody. I do believe that Kody and Robyn each got the spouse they deserve. 

It wasn’t an act though it was performance (or was it the other way around).  I mean because there is such a huge difference between those words…

are we going to see more rings drop off at the start of the first not “tell all”?

[Cults-r-us]

7 hours ago, apandaaries said:

Kody giving his attempt at a serious glare while saying, “the act is easy,” was yet another appalling Kody moment. He is unbelievable. I’m truly amazed that he thought he was acting well. Perhaps he and Robyn bond over cognitive dissonance. 
I look forward to Kody having to suffer for Robyn’s failed dream of porch-sitting amongst sister wives. I also enjoyed her joke about possibly divorcing Kody. I do believe that Kody and Robyn each got the spouse they deserve. 

In Christine and Janelle's interview tour, it astounds me Christine (who seems to have a simplistic, adolescent point of view) talks about Kody like he is a regular, reasonable person. ",Kody and Robyn just really love each other, he found his soulmate." Did she forget he is a loon?

      The reason we examine Kody through the lens of diagnosis is his blatantly abnormal behavior. Were I the waitress at Dennys, noting the two starched pincurls on each temple, while bringing him warm water and 6 lemons, I would think ,"this is an odd one." Then, overhearig him bellow threateningly on the phone, I would worry he was packing. I would be glad when he left.

     

[TN-peach]

10 hours ago, Cults-r-us said:

In Christine and Janelle's interview tour, it astounds me Christine (who seems to have a simplistic, adolescent point of view) talks about Kody like he is a regular, reasonable person. ",Kody and Robyn just really love each other, he found his soulmate." Did she forget he is a loon?

      The reason we examine Kody through the lens of diagnosis is his blatantly abnormal behavior. Were I the waitress at Dennys, noting the two starched pincurls on each temple, while bringing him warm water and 6 lemons, I would think ,"this is an odd one." Then, overhearig him bellow threateningly on the phone, I would worry he was packing. I would be glad when he left.

     

I agree.  He is a loon and we all know.  She knows it too.  From what I understand that is why there is some tension between Christine and Gwen right now is because Christine was badmouthing Kody too much in front of the kids.  I don't watch her Patreon this is just what I picked up on from what other people said.  Maybe, maybe Christine is trying to be more careful about she says about Kody because some of her kids are taking it personally, especially since Truely is still a "young tender". 

Apparently Janelle's kids don't give a flying f because Janelle comes right and says "my kids don't have a relationship with him and some of them don't want one the way he is now." I hope she has their permission to talk about it.  

[Merry One]

On 11/20/2023 at 10:26 AM, LacyMay said:

When Robyn started crying and kept saying she couldn't be there anymore/wanted to be supportive BUT/needed to go for a walk etc it just felt like she was prodding for one of them to tend to her. That conversation *wasn't about her* and I don't think she had any idea of how to deal with that. Robyn isn't an advocate for Meri, Robyn spent 7 years doing everything she could to keep Meri in a relationship with someone who didn't love or even like her. Imagine what that must do to a person's self worth? 

Meri can be annoying but damn if I didn't feel awful for her in this episode. Kody not even pretending to treat her with respect/as an equal member of the family made him look like even more of a jack ass. 

 

Also Robyn making about her and Kody splitting up TO MERI was absolutely disgusting and tone deaf.

Robyn was cringeworthy. I nearly gave myself a headache with all of the eye rolling I did. She has made a complete idiot of herself! I read an interesting article today concerning the close relationship between Christine and Janelle. It described them as having coparented together. This is an accurate description and explains the closeness between their families. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 hours ago, Merry One said:

Robyn was cringeworthy. I nearly gave myself a headache with all of the eye rolling I did. She has made a complete idiot of herself! I read an interesting article today concerning the close relationship between Christine and Janelle. It described them as having coparented together. This is an accurate description and explains the closeness between their families. 

I read about single moms living together and calling it a momune. Janelle and Christine are like single mothers. It makes since to me that single mothers would work together to parent their kids.

[Cults-r-us]

     Shall we talk about (not) Tell-all 1 before 2 airs? It seems to me our boy Doosh-Canoe Kodster may not be a practicing AUB member but he is still in the polygamist community of their origen.

      Remember that panel the Browns Sat on about Season 5 where they argued pro-polygamy views against actually traumatized former members of polygamist sects? Remember when Kristyn Decker (Christine's Aunt, an anti-polygamy activist) described how her heart broke when her husband courted additional wives? Anybody remember how Christine described her heart breaking when Kody courted Robyn? Yet she did not connect the dots that this is a shared experience amount polygamist wives. 

      But I digress. My point is that Kody is the opposite now of how he portrayed himself on that panel.  Back then he liked his independent wives, now he is full-blown patriarchy. Back then, he stated he valued individual freedom for wives and kids, but now he demands a cult-like fealty, unconditional "loyalty" to him, despite his atrocious behavior.

     At the present moment, he is humiliated by his rebellious, runaway wives in the face of their polygamous community. Christine has a reputation of being an especially good woman, so it has to hurt his fragile ego. When they split, he expected the family and community to shun her. But what happened? The community gave him the side-eye and Christine walked away with the kids and Janell to boot.

      So what does Kody do? What he always does: retaliate by calling them unloved and unlovable. Don't you know he never loved them? Didn't vet them good enough to see they were totally unsatisfactory? You doth protest too much, our dude. One commented said he is like guy who calls you ugly when you refuse to sleep with him.

      As far as this Romeo and Juliet romance he has with Robyn, do they seem attracted or attached to you?

     Did you see Robyn rolling around on the ground at Coyote Pass on the Angie and Tim animation recap? Spot on, for sure. Robyn is a deeply abnormal person. I loved when she told Kody he couldn't speak.

      On summary and conclusion, Christine, Janell and Robyn look better every time they appear, but not Robyn. She seems so miserable. As for Kody, glad he got the pin curls off his forehead, but something seems up with his face and maybe lips?

 

[gustava]

12 hours ago, Cults-r-us said:

When they split, he expected the family and community to shun her. But what happened? The community gave him the side-eye and Christine walked away with the kids and Janell to boot.

Made me giggle!!  Thank you!

[SerenitybyJan]

On 11/21/2023 at 11:24 PM, Cults-r-us said:

In Christine and Janelle's interview tour, it astounds me Christine (who seems to have a simplistic, adolescent point of view) talks about Kody like he is a regular, reasonable person. ",Kody and Robyn just really love each other, he found his soulmate." Did she forget he is a loon?

 

     

IMHO, Christine is being REALLY nice most of the time with how she talks about Kody. I think because of Truely. Someday she'll talk more about all of his nonsense. I am sure we are only hearing about 30% of the total story right now from Christine. 

[mango_fandango]

Omg! I was just browsing through Reddit and someone created Sims 4 versions of Kody, Robyn, Meri, Christine and Janelle 
Kody’s traits are Childish, Materialistic and Self-Absorbed.

Robyn’s are High Maintenance, Snob and Lazy.

Meri’s are Neat, Jealous and Romantic.

Janelle’s are Unflirty, Loves the Outdoors and Adventurous. 

Christine’s are Cheerful, Romantic and Family-Oriented.

Here’s the one of Kody. The top comment is “Kody wishes his hair was that nice” LMAO! The creator doesn’t seem to have used any custom content. Mind you, I don’t think there is any CC that could properly recreate Kody’s bird nest 

[TN-peach]

Y'all! The second tell all spilt some tea about how the whole show has been a sham.  Kody melted down Meri's wedding ring after meeting Robyn.  Meri has been pushed out since the very beginning of the show which is the very beginning of Kody and Robyn's relationship.  No wonder she was vulnerable to the catfish - her husband abandoned her years ago. 

The ring melting, the legal divorce - Meri the writing was on the wall for so long but because of this cult they are in she couldn't leave because she didn't know any better.