Review: S04 Ep02 Polygamist Date Nights

I really didn't expect a rehash of the Brown's book in the episode tonight. Almost  every recollection about the family's early years was straight from the book. I only will have a few  things to say: Kody looked so effeminate dressed in white at his wedding, didn't he? And what an odd song choice of Bread's 'Everything I Own' - if they were monogamist maybe it would be OK, but polygamist? Too bad Meri didn't get up and sing the Stones 'Beast of Burden'.

First off, we get a glimpse of the LIV company car Kody tweeted about in January of this year (http://sisterwivesblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-scour-internet-1412-new-year-tweets.html). My oh my, they must have run out of Mercedes before Kody could get cross country to pick up his car (or the 'marketing' company ran out of dough). If that isn't the UGLIEST little car on the face of this planet. And what color is that? Well at least it looks like it has more leg room in the back seats than the Lexus...Which leads me to ask the inevitable question, Where IS Kody's Lexus? This could be a new game, like Where's Waldo! Is that Kody's Lexus hidden in Robyn's garage? Was that Kody's Lexus found on the road, dead? (No, that was a FORD). Was that Kody's Lexus in the impound yard?

Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Did anyone else catch Robyn's explaining that the 'car' was a 'bonus' Kody earned for THEIR work at a 'marketing' company. Interesting to know that we can just leave off the words Multi Level and just go with the Marketing to describe LIV International. It's so deceptive, don't you think? Kody can barely string 3 coherent sentences together in an interview, so I can just imagine one of his 'marketing' presentations. I hope Meri's driving that car, because she is the driving force behind that bonus car!

But then, with a totally straight face, Meri actually said "...It's a great vehicle...It's fun to have a nice car to go out on a date with...it's fun because...it's a convertible..."Hmmm.... call me silly but shouldn't a COMPANY CAR be used for COMPANY BUSINESS? I mean, isn't that what the Kody Lexus is for, dating? And all this dating talk - these people are acting like they are teenagers instead of adults. Adults with SEVENTEEN children between them.

What is WRONG with these people?

But before I answer that question, let's get on to the first date, with Meri.

When we see Kody and Meri hitting the slopes, and they are going at least 30 mph, who didn't think that this skiing adventure was going to end in a bad way?
Kody even admits...he is a lousy skiing instructor. Yeah, got to agree with you on that one, most instructors make sure their students can stop, and certainly wouldn't have them barrelling down the slopes at 30 mph. Thank God when she wiped out, she didn't take out other skiers too. Too bad about your knee, Meri. Maybe next time you'll take instruction from someone better qualified.

Kody and Meri are not very smart.

With Meri laid up with an injured knee, Kody runs off to his next date with Janelle.

As Janelle and Kody head off to Red Rock Canyon, Janelle explains how liberating it is to know, since working out, that she is now physically able to enjoy hiking and walking wilderness trails again with Kody. But she has only lost 10 pounds. Seriously, I think Janelle should go to a doctor, something isn't right. Last year she said she lost 10 pounds. So is that 10 pounds in totality, or 20 pounds in the last year? Like I said, Janelle needs to go to a doctor, or at least a qualified weight loss professional (sorry trainer Bill or whatever your name was).

Anyway, she appeared to be happy in the wilderness with Kody.

Next, we go to Christine's house. After a brief discussion with daughter Gwendlyn about her decision to ask her brother Logan to take her to the Valentine's dance instead of her father, Christine scurries over to Meri's to help her out.

Kody has a talking head where he says sister wives will discuss their marital problems with their fellow sister wives. Maybe in a perfect polygamist world, but does anyone really think it's prudent to discuss your problems with a rival? And let's be real, these women are all rivals for Kody's attention, and they don't even make an attempt to be even friends. So why should the viewing audience be misled to believe these women are sisterly with each other when clearly, they are not? And that the advice they dish out is anything but self-serving?

When Meri tells Christine to work through her own issues rather than putting her marital problems all on Kody, I just have to wonder, why is he getting let off the hook so easily? Why does Christine have to be the only one to change? Well, if you look deep enough, it's obvious that in this family, when Kody is unhappy, EVERYBODY is unhappy. In fact, hasn't Kody said that what affects one family affects all the families? Since Kody is the common denominator, it doesn't take much effort to come to the conclusion that Kody must be kept happy, even if it means a wife has to change to accommodate HIS whims. Keep sweet and don't make waves is what Meri is telling Christine. And that's just sad. Chalk this segment up to the perks of being a sister-wife: Depression, repressed emotions, loneliness, and jealousy,  just to name a few.

Yep, Robyn's right. It's not for amateurs. And especially not for a self-deluded AUB princess who wanted to be the LAST wife and thought she WOULD BE the LAST wife, but alas, was not.

Just when this episode couldn't get any worse, it's time for Kody's and Christine's date. They go paintballing, and take a helicopter ride from a (wink wink) new buddy of Kody's. Thank goodness TLC is there to not only fund the production crew having to film this crap, but to fund these wonderful excursions.  Hey, did you notice the LIV product placements?

I wonder if Kody and Krew ever thought about taking a cruise on a Love Boat? He needs to become buddies with a cruise company owner. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

Back on topic, Kody and Christine end their date at a frozen yogurt parlor, Christine actually APOLOGIZES to Kody. "I'm sorry honey. It's been a rough year...I'll be more grateful, I promise..." she says, sounding more like a child than a wife, let alone a wife who's given birth to 6 children.

"We'll work it out..." says Kody, as he rocks her back and forth. Yeah, right...

We return to Robyn's house. The sounds of children coughing fills the air. Robyn laments about her 4 kids being sick. If you remember, Robyn tweeted about poor [old] Sol [omon Grundy] being sick for about 3 months. THREE MONTHS???? Well, if this segment is any indication, I'm not surprised. Aurora has her face close to Sol's. Sol coughs on her. Breanna kisses Sol. Sol coughs on her. Aurora plays with a doll after Sol coughs on it. Yep, that's how germs and viruses are spread. And then when Kody says that because Sol baked an extra two weeks, the baby has the stamina to weather having the flu for a couple of months. I don't know, but have these two rocket scientists thought maybe if they keep Sol away from sick children or vice-versa,  he would get well? Like, Duh!!!

Has anyone noticed how much Kody is shown holding and cuddling little Sol, and how much Robyn's little girls almost hang on to him for dear life?  Kinda sucks that Truely didn't get the same daddy  TV time, doesn't it?

I think Christine had a point that Kody doesn't appear to allocate his time equally. But that point is now moot, because Christine has promised to be more grateful of the crumbs he begrudgingly doles out to her and their children. And in his talking head, Kody admits that he  "... actually spend more time with each individual wife relationship...Me and one wife....than I do with the whole family relationship." Yeah Kody, we definitely can see that.

For some reason, that saying of Kody's about Love Being Multiplied, Not Divided is simply not adding up in the real world. And who is suffering? The children, of course.

While we watch Kody and Robyn decide what to eat at the restaurant on their date, Robyn talks about being able to leave Sol at home with a teenage bonus kid babysitter when he's older. Hey, where is Sol? Didn't I see Kody carrying Sol in his seat thingy on the way to the restaurant? You would think the baby would be between Kody and Robyn in the booth, but he's not. WHERE IS SOL?

Oh, THERE he is!. It seems that Sol was placed on a chair at the end of the table. Guess Kody and Robyn needed that extra space to cuddle a little closer to each other. And talk about old times. She even pulls out of her purse the string engagement ring Kody gave her, as well as her engagement ring. I wonder if she kept....oh never mind! Anyway, the mystery of Sol's location has been solved!

After listening to Robyn drone on and on (and she does drone in a nasal monotone voice) about Sol's future and that Kody will be 62 when Sol leaves for college. I think to myself I would cut my ears out my head if I had to listen to her drone on and on and on. I tell ya, she's only been a sister wife for a year and a half and already she claims to knows more about being a sister wife than the 3 women who've been together for over 20 twenty years. That takes chutzpah!

I think I'm beginning to see what's wrong with this family, and Christine was RIGHT !

Finally as this hour slowly comes to the end, we find out that Kody checks his kids 'social media' accounts. Oh really? So THAT's why the teen girls were tweeting how they had the greatest dad and family in the world!

And last but not least, for her birthday present, Meri will be spending her anniversary in Mexico (no doubt courtesy of TLC) with Kody.  Let's hope he doesn't teach her how to  water-ski!

And before we leave this episode, here's my favorite picture! It pretty much sums up this episode!

Hey, he asked Savanah nicely!

5/24/12

Hi everybody. For some reason, I can't get blogger to load the next page of comments. I'm not sure if it's just my browser or if others are having this problem.  I'm going to open up a new discussion page for this review. This page will be changed to read-only.

I apologize for the inconvenience!
Cynical