“Hunter is a raging testosterone monster.” – Kody
It’s a rough week in Sister Wives Land. The six teens are still unhappy, and it’s starting to affect the rest of the kids. The older preteens look like they’re getting rowdy, and some have been picking on Robyn’s kids. Hunter is complaining about everything all the time, and the teens are getting increasingly disrespectful.
Meanwhile, it’s something close to four million billion degrees in Vegas, so the family takes a vacation to a lake in California for the July 4th to get away from the heat. Family troubles boil over and it’s kind of a stressful mess, and there’s also the fact that they weren’t warned about the dirt roads and a creek to cross before getting to their camp site.
Still, even in the roughness, there are little bits of light: Janelle gets to bond with Robyn’s kids in a way she hasn’t had a chance to do before while they’re fishing, and Christine gets to ease some of the stress in her own home by letting Isabelle move in with Meri.
Some episodes of this show have a lot of recaps before and after commercials, and this is one of them. The overall effect is that they didn’t really have a lot to say other than that the kids are not getting along as well as they should, and it ruins a holiday. And if there’s resolution to the issues, it’s not in this episode, so we’re left with this discomfort of seeing everyone fighting all the time. Moreover, we’re left wondering what’s going to happen to the family–will they fall apart like families under the scrutiny of reality TV tend to do? Or will they get to go back into one house and patch up all their dramas? That’s probably exactly what the producers want us to think about, so good job, producers.
Even though it’s not the focus of this episode at all, there’s the detail that they get to discuss one of the perks of having more than one mom around–if the kid doesn’t get along with a birth mother, she can move in with one of the other mothers, have a happier environment, and still be in the family. I’ve read a few books where this very idea what put forward, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in action in the real world, and it seems to work well. Maybe it can work with the older kids? Hunter seems calmest around Truley; could he be happier living with Christine?
More thoughts on “July 4th Rebellion”:
* I really do love to see Truley just sitting on the ground being a baby. And she stole the scene where Isabelle was packing up.
* I get the idea, watching these teen-centric eps, that the teens are feeding off each others’ unhappiness. Like, instead of mingling more with the younger kids who have things they like about Vegas, they’re focusing entirely on their own anger and making each other less happy about it all.
* I like this show better when it’s an hour-long episode. There’s more chance to get into the issues being discussed, and more space for talking to the family.
* Bonus children is what we call step kids and half-sibs in our family, so it was funny hearing it here–and entirely appropriate.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.