I wasn’t sure whether to put this here or in IMHO… but it is TV after all.
For those who were watching the conversation some months back about this show and polygamy, the first few shows of the new season have shed more light on this family, and the more I see of them, the more I buy that they are what they appear to be: the goofier version of Big Love, complete with the “I’m going to make a stand for polygamists everywhere by being super-public.”
And here’s a fascinating twist I don’t recall knowing last year: When Janelle, who was NOT raised a polygamist, was dating Kody, she introduced her mother to his father and his father’s sister wives. Her mother was either widowed or divorced, i dont’ know which, but in any case, her non-polygamist middle-aged mom fell in love with Kody’s father and with the idea of polygamy and married him before Janelle married Kody! (And made one of his existing wives very jealous at the time, but they have since become very close.)
Kody is still pretty much a tool, but we’ve had more on the kids this year. So far, so good. Kids come off as very normal, very happy, very well-adjusted.
Do you have the link to the old thread? I’ve been watching, not obsessively but when I’m out of things on my DVR I plug it in. I liked the ranch episode and the perpective of the older polygamist family.
I’ve been checking it out and whatever issues they have, they certainly are not anything like the way people portrayed them when we originally discussed them. (Wives = disrespected zombie slaves).
I wonder where the money comes from, too. They talk a lot about how tough it is, but they must be pulling down some nice coin somehow to keep four houses and feed everyone.
Yeah, I started watching this again, and I figured out one of the things that really bothers me about it. It’s that Kody really has a separate marriage with each of the wives, and so each couple makes decisions independently that affects the whole group. For instance, when Robin got pregnant, she and Kody were very worried about telling Meri about it, that she would be upset. But, it never seemed to occur to them to talk to her about it beforehand to see how she would feel before just forging ahead. The wives are as powerless in the overall dynamic as children typically are in their parents’ decision-making. So, no, I never said they were zombie slaves, but it is an inherent culture of disrespect for adult people.
Well no one ever confronts Kody with the more troubling societal issue of polygamy. That is, if we have one man with multiple wives then other men will be left without. A society where you have lots of single men with little or no hope for marriage and family tends to be a violent and dangerous one. Putting aside issue of female empowerment that’s a core issue right there.
They don’t seem to talk about their religion that much (other than in very general terms).
That’s not an issue at all. You just kick a bunch of the young men out of the society when they’re in their mid to late teens. It’s true that most of them won’t have any marketable skills, but I’m sure they’ll do just fine prostituting themselves to get by. Either way, not a problem for the polygamist group!
I always thought Kody would make a pretty nice dad, if he could focus his attention on fewer number of kids. His interactions, especially with his teenaged kids, seem very genuine and insightful. He’s just so scattered and split that no one child gets much.
Anyone else take issue with Kody’s uber-serious talk with the kids about sex? He doesn’t want the kids’ friends to have more influence over them than he does. The man with three unhappy wives and one smug one.
*This *guy is concerned about the sexual mores conveyed to kids in his household/s? Come on.
That’s only a “troubling issue” if everyone is participating in polygamy. Kody Brown is one man who is living with his wives and children right smack dab in the middle of the larger society, his choices aren’t affecting anyone, so “confronting” him with the “societal issues” would be ridiculous.
Well, they finally got around to acknowledging the fact that the ladies have some weight issues. I wasn’t at all surprised by Janelle’s 271, but I was shocked that both Meri and Christine are over 200 pounds! How tall are they? I would have put Christine at maybe 180-190 and Meri at 160, tops.
Amazing.
And I was stunned by Robyn’s weight…until I was reminded that she’s extremely pregnant.
Can I bump this old thread for the new season? I felt kind of uncomfortable watching the first episode, as everyone seems kind of miserable now. I’m not sure if it’s money troubles, the stress of adding Robyn to the family, the stress of not enjoying the living situation, or a combination of the above, but I think they’re headed for a crisis.
One interesting aspect of this for me is that it doesn’t really seem like a patriarchal situation; Kody seems mostly ineffectual and detatched. He’s all a barrel of fun when things are going well, but when stuff breaks bad he’s all like “Wha…?” I’m not one to say a husband should run the show, but when your wives seem mostly unhappy, you’d think you’d at least care about why.
I honestly expect Janelle to jump ship sooner rather than later. Just pack up her kids and say, “I’m outta here.”
Christine is not getting her emotional needs met. She feels that Kody doesn’t even love her any more. I was under the impression that she was friends with Robin before Robin was invited to become a sister-wife, and I think Christine has surprised herself with her “disloyal” thoughts of jealousy now that Robin is part of the family.
Meri is surprisingly content. She would have wanted more children, but I think her position as first wife has given her a niche, and she’s comfortable with it. She’s the family matriarch, and I honestly feel she’s got more power in the family than anyone else, especially Kody.
Kody is a delusional idiot. He’s got a new toy (Robin) so he’s “happy.”
Robin thinks her tears are her weapon, and she can drive the train as long as she cries enough. If she has more than two or three brain cells rattling around in her head, she’ll wake up one day and realize the whole arrangement sucks.
Most of the kids are pissed off, and are planning an exodus.
~VOW
We watched a few episodes of this show, and decided that Kody’s “polygamy” is just a scam. Without legal marriages to at least three of these “wives” (is he legally married to Meri or not?), they can claim all kinds of state benefits and that must be what they’re living on–no way in heck they could afford or get credit for all those houses and cars.
So we lost interest at that point. Sounds like there hasn’t been much evolution in the plot since then.