Sister Wives

There is coming a new monument to the United States, similar in theme and design to Mount Rushmore, that of the oracle of wisdom Kody Brown. His carved image will, as always, be surrounded by the lesser images of four women all fawning over him like lemmings.

In the arena of the genre of so called "reality" TV, there is a vast wasteland of garbage and idiocy. However, some of these reality TV shows manage to slither into sewers and crevices even lower than the rest. Sister Wives, featuring Kody Brown the holy oracle of polygamy along with his patriarchal empire, is the epitome of moronic reality shows.

If this sloppy mess of distressed emotions and constant social conflict was meant to put polygamy in a good light, it fails miserably. Kody can make up phrases like "multiple marriage" to legitimize his world of confusion," but the reactions of his four wives (one legal and three he calls "spiritual") belie his false pretense of harmony and success. And multiple marriage means exactly the same thing that polygamy does.

Nothing is ever calm in the four neighboring households "on the cul- de-sac" that defines Kody's realm. None of his kids seem happy, and one by one are moving as far from him as they can get. The women are griping all the time, and of course, instead of blaming his royal highness they stage childish cat fights among themselves to increase his ego of having women fighting over him. Listening to their carefully prepared speech is irritating too; you can just see Kody's disheveled hair and squinty eyes staring at them threateningly while they talk.

One could go on and on about how trashy these people and their arrangement are. Suffice it to say there are many other TV channels you could be watching instead of these imbeciles.

This is the story of five people who don't seem to like each other, do nothing but complain about each other and the choice they have made. Its getting too negative to watch anymore. They keep complaining about where they live, move, then complain about where they've gone. You know what they say, you can move but you take your problems with you.

I watched this show years ago and thought it was great. The 3 wives worked together well and I felt a little envious of them because they had their crap together and even with slight disagreements they were well and truly a family to be envious of!!! Then came Robyn. I continued to watch and saw the decline in the other wives and so many issues arising from the rise of Robyn as the newest wife and how many things she managed to manipulate and change along the way , she is rather good at working her magic and getting Kody to comply with everything whilst making it all look like his doing. After A few seasons of her I switched off as it just wasn't the same. I decided to tune back in recently 2021 and wow it's pretty hard to watch now as it well and truly is all about Robyn as I predicted. And Kody still has his head well and truly planted in her sandlot. And even more recently with Covid added to the situation and everyone having rules places on them. Oh except Robyn can have a Nanny ......... blerk!!!!!! It's the Robyn show in full swing! The other wives if you read this , life is way too short and there is still plenty of life to be had for you all with all your kids, you are no longer wives or partners you are minions and chess pieces in the life and times of Robyn and Kody - get out , get out now, run!!!!!

I thought the point of this show was to show the public that polygamy works. I've binged watched the entire show and I've yet to see anything that gives the impression that any of these women are happy. There is constant bickering and jealousy. Robin might be a *little* happy. It's painfully obvious that she's the favorite wife. She seems to be the only one out of all four that is even remotely comfortable in her relationship. None of the kids want to follow a polygamist lifestyle. Can't blame them.

I'm actually surprised they continued doing the show after Meri's catfishing scandal. What better way to prove that none of these women are getting what they need emotionally than to have one of the wives looking for love online..? Poor woman had seemingly finally found her way out and instead it was a scam. I guess when Kody says "love should be multiplied and not divided", he really just means the number of women HE can sleep with. It's obvious that Meri REALLY wants to be seen as the victim and not the married woman who was looking for love on the internet. She seemingly wants her family to help mend her broken heart. It's....awkward. It's also obvious that she offered to divorce Kody, bought the B&B on her own and tried to start a new relationship in hopes of getting away from the "family". It's easy to see why Kody has changed his opinion towards her. He realizes that she is no longer completely dependent on him. You can actually hear his ego shattering through your TV screen if you listen hard enough. The whole thing is really, really sad.

The easiest way to sum up this show is that you've got 4 drama queens wanting the main spotlight. I say 4 because Janelle couldn't care less. It's hard to tell if that is their real life personality or just their TV personality to keep the show interesting. In one episode, Christine talks about how many times Kody has moved the family during her time with him. The number of moves is astounding. Is Kody a polygamist because of a "calling" or just because he's never satisfied with anything..? Let those kids settle somewhere. You've already drag them through a lifetime of ridicule and shame due to your lifestyle. It has to be horrific for those kids to keep having to introduce themselves to new sets of friends and explain their home life, especially now that the fam has aired their problems on TV for a decade.

And last but not least, we have Kody's hair. It has always been a pitiful sight, but somehow he has outdone himself. He is now in his 50s and sporting a platinum spiral perm that he wears in a man bun most of the time. Good Lord.

This family has always been a fascinating sort of train wreck. I have been engrossed in every season and grew to really like the individual people, and always hoped for more follow up seasons to keep up on the Brown family, but I'm not sure I can watch much more unless these two things are changed:

1. The catfishing situation and the Meri/Mariah situation has been beaten to death and is still going... and going... and going... still being dragged on endlessly even though it happened 4 years ago- I can't watch any more of that because now it's just incredibly annoying. Meri was my favorite one in the beginning back in 2010 because she was so down to earth and relatable, but she's SO victimy now and always suspecting that everyone in her family is out to get her, and she can't seem to see how her behavior in her relationships is often quite toxic and inflammatory, and she really needs some intensive therapy on her own to get herself through this midlife crisis and out of this major victim mode. I feel like she changed at the time of the divorce and turned into a completely different person... and has felt like the left out, abandoned victim ever since. But please, no more catfish stuff. That dead horse has been beaten down to nothing and you're killing us regular viewers with it.

And...

2. This show is SOOOOO far behind real life that I have looked things up online to get details. The current episodes aren't current at all. So Axel should only be a few months old according to the episodes playing now but in reality he's almost two. Meri didn't JUST open the B&B, it's been open for more than a year, and there's been another wedding and another pregnancy, and a major relocation several months ago, but we probably won't see that until 2021. It's so far behind real life. I wish they would try to catch up, at least a bit. I could understand being a few months behind but not this far behind.

I have to say that Christine keeps me watching. She's down to earth and I love how she puts Kody and all of his gigantic attention-seeking narcissism in his place (like "this is NOT about you Kody"). She seems so real. I love how she goofs around, even tackling Meri, because she makes the show fun. And her honesty is refreshing- the best part of the show. Janelle is a sweet lady but so emotionally detached that I don't see how she has any relationships at all, and I hope she can heal from whatever childhood trauma made her so entirely afraid to be vulnerable and connected to other people, because she obviously has a good heart. Robyn is nice and seems sincere too. Polygamy is clearly a miserable way to live, no matter what the show's intro script says. Holy cow. Never in a million years could I live that way. But still, a train wreck that is interesting to watch. Take out the catfish, get Meri individual counseling, catch up a bit (seriously!), and then keep it coming!