There were a lot of things that didn’t add up for me. Jo started crying over these poor girls who don’t go to school but then suddenly they’re making a home study area up there? Where was the discussion about why they aren’t at school? Of course that’s just too boring for us so we’ll never know. It’s irritating to me that the show tried to have it both ways! First they portray it as slavery but then the happy ending is that the girls have some time to themselves all alone in the attic every day!? If they’re out of school because of their parents greed or ignorance then putting them in the attic is not really solving the problem and if they’re out of school for a more understandable reason then don’t skip that part just to get us all worked up and pissed off.
However apart from all that I cried my way through the show because of that daughter who fainted. She was completely carrying the whole emotional burden for everyone else. When she was saying goodbye to Jo I just thought if I were Jo I’d email that girl every day forever just to make sure she eventually gets out of that role in life.
It was funny that they were named Brittany and Moriah. At first I thought maybe there was going to be a Beyonce too.
I didn’t see it like that. I think Jo was working withing the confines of what she was presented with. If the girls were to be home schooled, it could work, if they are given the time and the right space to do their work. The issue was they were being “home schooled” but all they were really doing was watching their three brothers (3,3,4). The new schedule gave them time specifically designated for school when some else had to be watching the kids.
Frankly, I found this episode disturbing. The utter disconnect with the parents and hopelessness of girls was sad to see.
Sometime in the last year that episode was aired and it has haunted me since. I prayed that someone from Social Services saw it and investigated that family. The girls were being used as slaves and the “homeschooling” was just an excuse to make that happen. Near the end of the episode the family posed for a picture so the mother could do her “I’m a photographer” thing. That was chilling to me. The family was so messed up and the mother was just invested in making the world think they were a happy family. She’ll be old and on her death bed looking at that portrait and remembering what a happy family they were. Clueless. I have no sympathy for an adult who brings kids into the world who doesn’t want to bother parenting them. Maybe she wanted to appear normal. Maybe she thinks she’s a good mother.