Review Sister Wives S06Ep09: Sister Wives On the Ropes

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to my BFF on the phone. Now, BFF usually ignores everything about Sister Wives, but when she saw the commercial for this episode - with Robyn's flared nostrils warning someone not to make her out to be a victim, she was hooked.

So, a few days ago, we were able to coordinate our busy schedules and even busier DVRs in order to watch this episode while chatting to each other over the phone.




 Anyway, right off the bat,  BFF (who prefers to remain anonymous) took issue with Christine allowing her 3 year old to walk across the street to Robyn's McMansion.

 I agreed. I mean, seriously, what mother would allow their 3 year old to walk across a street without an adult or older child accompanying her? I was gob smacked. (Been watching too much of BBC2 on cable).




And then, Christine yells upstairs to daughter Aspyn and tells her to call Robyn and let her know she needs to unlock the door for Truely. So let me get this straight...the cul-de-sac is not safe enough to leave the front door unlock, but IS safe enough to allow a 3 year old toddler to wander across the street on her own.

Bottom line...Christine should have walked Truely across the street to Robyn's. Major fail for Christine.

Lucky  for us, the viewers, TLC quickly returned to why we viewers tuned in...the UNLV discussion panel.

A large portion of this episode centered on Christine's reluctance to be on an UNLV discussion panel (chaired by the Anthropology Department) featuring the Browns and four former members of various fundamentalist Mormon sects. It seems her Aunt (her mother's sister Kristyn Decker) would be representing the anti polygamy side of the discussion panel, and Christine felt her Aunt's presence on the opposition side was a betrayal to Christine's family.

Actually, in real life, Christine's mother ALSO LEFT polygamy. According to her commentary in "Becoming Sister Wives", her mother leaving polygamy was one of Christine's biggest regrets in her life.

Now, I don't know why Christine's mother left, but I do believe her leaving  probably would explain why Christine has such a problem sharing physical space with her Aunt, who also left.

Funny thing, this was never explored in the episode's storyline. Unless you read the book, you would never have known Christine's mother left the polygamy "lifestyle" too. Frankly, I think this explains a lot of what drives Christine to act so irrational at times, particularly with people who are not (or no longer) into being fundamentalist Mormons.

This most certainly could have been a  great Dr. Drew moment, where he could have offered Christine some "help" on understanding why she acts the way she does. And more proof  that something weird was going on inside Christine's head was a brief exchange between Christine and Meri. On the couch, Christine was describing how it would be one of them going against four anti-polygamists on the discussion panel. Meri corrected Christine by reminding her there would be a total of FIVE people representing polygamy against the four who were anti-polygamy. Clearly, polygamy may be a catalyst for Christine's behavior, but something deep within her must be driving her irrational behavior towards her Aunt.

My BFF wondered out loud that maybe Christine could be harboring thoughts of leaving, and that's why she was so adamant against being in close proximity to her Aunt Kristyn. I have to agree with her.

Unfortunately, a Dr Drew intervention was not to be, so the audience was left to watch the Christine Irrational Behavior Show, complete with her refusing to leave a university restroom alone because her Aunt Kristyn was standing outside the door. She had to be rescued by her sister wives Meri and Robyn.

As for the rest of the Kody Krew, only Meri and Kody were kool as a kukumbers while the remaining three wives fretted about, worrying that they would be "ambushed" by the anti-polygamists (Robyn), or imagining that they were "dead men walking" as they walked through the auditorium to their chairs (Janelle).

To Kristyn Decker's credit, she never said one mean thing about her family who still followed polygamy, and that she stilled loved Christine's family with Kody "...no matter what". She did, however, mentioned how she would welcome Christine with open arms if she ever decided to leave the lifestyle.

Anyway, it just seemed the Browns were making this panel discussion out to be more than it actually was. For goodness sakes, it was just a discussion panel...not an interrogation by the Spanish Inquisition!!






I'm not going to recap the TLC edited version of the UNLV discussion panel. I will, however, point out my two favorite scenes.

The first of my favorite scenes was of Meri as she smugly declared how glad she was to be liberated enough that she didn't care if Kody didn't sleep in her bed every night.

"Kody's glad, too!" BFF and I yell, at the same time.




And of course, that "little" tiff between Robyn and Kristyn Decker. Yes, with Robyn uttering those immortal words "...Do not make me out to be a victim, sweetie!"

If only that confrontation had gone down like this....

Robyn: Don't call me a victim, Sweetie!

Kristyn: I'm not your sweetie, SWEETIE!








BFF and I thought the two questions shown from the audience members were good.

One audience member questioned Kody if he was active in his 17 children lives. Kody didn't quite answer the question. He basically said "I feel like I'm as active in my children's life as anybody else that I know...monogamist or plural." I suppose that could be considered a "great" answer for a polygamist and reality "star", but he has been shown to be clearly lacking in the parental guidance arena on the show Sister Wives, preferring to leave a majority of the parenting and attention duties on his wives.

The next question was a doozy, calling out Kody's domineering attitude with his wives and how they look at him for permission, the audience member asked his wives "Do you have the financial wherewithal to take the money out to take care of your children if you had to escape from Kody, or does he have to give you his permission."

Janelle immediately jumped in, exclaiming "I make my own paycheck and I have my own bank account. I don't share with Kody!" Great answer, but reality reared its ugly head when, after this episode was broadcasted, Janelle went on twitter to explain how finances really work in the Brown Households:

Hey all-my comment about not sharing my money with @realkodybrown simply meant that I'm not required to do so. My family shares r $ freely.
— Janelle Brown (@JanelleBrown117) September 16, 2013

And then there was the rambling explanation from Christine where she says that Kody told her "...If you're not happy, I will give you money and you can leave...if that's what's holding you back is money..." Funny, but a couple of years ago, I remember Christine talking about how tight money was when they moved to Las Vegas, that she couldn't afford to visit her father, who was ill. In fact, she said Kody told her she would have to take the money from her food budget to make the trip. So I was left wondering about her response. If it doesn't jell, it ain't aspic....and this ain't jelling.

And as far as the statistics quoted by the good professor, he estimated that only about 30% of plural marriages could be rated as "satisfactory", claiming that number was probably not that much different from monogamist marriages. BFF took exception to his statistics, noting that 30% satisfactory vs 70% unsatisfactory was no way a success story for polygamy.



 Kody, I don't think you should have buttoned that jacket!

Anyway, the discussion panel came to an end. As noted by Janelle, there was no agreeing to disagree. Meri was disappointed the panel discussion turned into a debate. But Aspyn summarized it best, saying  "...the parents didn't see  [ that the other side] was just talking about their own experiences."

Aunt Kristyn attempted to make peace with Christine by inviting the Browns to go out to dinner. Christine curtly declined the offer, however Janelle's son Logan did give Kristyn  a hug.

And with that, the Browns defiantly walked out of the building, to go back to the safety of their gated cul-de-sac and their McMansions. Maybe the next UNLV discussion panel featuring the Browns will be chaired by the folks responsible for TLC's What Not To Wear show.

BFF thought that would be an excellent idea, because as she put it "How did these people get a reality show anyway?"