“I tell ya, you’ve gotta have love, communication, forgiveness and dedication.” – Kody
The four houses thing (as opposed to one big one) continues to wear on the Brown family. Kody is distressed at having to move from house to house and only seeing each part of the family once in four days — which means one wife/family each week only gets a single visit.
He wants his kids all together, he wants his wives all together, and he doesn’t want to have to be so divided in his own life, living out of duffel bags like he’s a traveling salesman or something. Christine thinks he’s giving too much attention to Robyn, and is aware that a lot of this is no longer being the youngest or last wife, but that’s not making it any easier on her. She thinks that Kody and she need to focus more on their relationship, and that’s not able to happen the way she wants right now. This is especially interesting since she was one of the ones all enthusiastic about the split. Janelle is still concerned about their lack of jobs and Meri wants to go back to work where she was before, regardless of whether the rest of them start a family business–which, right now, none of them can agree on a direction for. Robyn wants to maintain a “honeymoon experience” and that’s not helping Christine’s issues. And the teens are still being pissy and fighting, like teens will do, though this is really bad timing, since everyone else is upset already.
Meanwhile, Robyn goes to find out the gender of the baby, freaks out the sonogram tech, and then makes everyone wait until they’re all together.
This was an hourlong special episode, and it was all full of angst on all sides. And the focus was on Kody. He did a really good job of explaining the situation he was in and how it made him feel without being at all oh-poor-me about it. He’s perfectly aware that this is all his choice, from having this family to moving it to Nevada, and now he’s trying to find a way to fix what’s looking more and more like it was a mistake–just a different sort of mistake from staying where they were.
It’s sad, really. The biggest hallmark of this family is that they stick together and help each other through, no matter what, and it’s sadder and sadder that they aren’t happy. In the beginning of the series, before they came out of the polygamy-closet, they were almost unrealistically happy. Now everyone is always upset, always snippy, always picking fights, even when they’re trying to get each other to get along. And we have tons of snippy families on TV already; I want my happy Browns back. The Duggers can’t be the only family who manages to survive the stress of life and filming.
But if you’re looking at this from an anthropological view, this is where the underlying structures show. Since this is such an unusual way to have a family in this modern climate of single-parent-few-children homes, it’s fascinating to see how they function. That’s why the show was greenlit, most likely, and it’s paying off this season. The support mechanisms, the tendency to pull together, the wide-open emotions so that nothing gets bottled up– that’s what makes them tick. Let’s just hope it’s not also what makes them fall apart.
More thoughts on Sister Wives, “The 4 Lives of Kody Brown”:
* I took the picture above with my cellphone because this show needs more pictures. TLC isn’t releasing enough, and I don’t have the ability to record shows into my computer so I can screencap them.
* I wonder if the old house, with all the kids in it at once, was as loud as an elementary school hallway? They do a good job of not really showing us if it is, but it seems like you can’t keep kids quiet when you have a lot of them in the same age group all in the same room.
* The new baby’s a boy, by the way. There’s an overabundance of girls at the moment, so this evens the score a little.
* This week, Kody suggested they get into a healthy food franchise as the family business. He was immediately shot down. I wonder if he meant to start one or to buy into one?
* They cashed out all of Kody’s retirement fund to pay for the four houses. He must’ve had quite a next egg, because look at the size of those houses! Still, four rends, five adults and sixteen kids, plus the medical bills of the new one… that’s a lot of money going out each month. They’re going to have to get a very successful business off the ground soon, if that’s their plan.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.