Warning: The next submit comprises discussions of suicide.
When Sister Wives first began, the TLC docuseries shared the story of Kody Brown and his first three sister wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine, as they welcomed a fourth spouse, Robyn, finally swelling right into a household with 18 youngsters. “Love ought to be multiplied, not divided,” Kody informed viewers within the first episode as he launched his plural, fundamentalist Mormon household.
Now, although, that love has been divided… and divided… and divided. Lots of of episodes later, Kody is divorced from Meri, Janelle, and Christine, and he’s struggling in his relationship with Robyn, by his personal admission. He’s not talking to a number of of his youngsters, and off-screen, the household is coping with a heartbreaking tragedy. So, ought to TLC’s cameras nonetheless be rolling?
On one hand, Sister Wives stays compelling, maybe much more so now that the Browns are candid in regards to the tensions that existed lengthy earlier than actuality TV producers got here knocking. We viewers know now that Meri, Janelle, and Christine struggled to attach within the household’s early days — and that when Robyn entered the image, it was clear to them that she was Kody’s favourite.
Now that the soiled laundry is airing out, the ladies of Sister Wives are asserting their energy. Meri is having fun with a contemporary begin, whilst she holds her ex-husband accountable. Janelle is loving life as a single lady. Christine has already discovered the love of her life with one other man. And Robyn is doing every part she will to get Kody to fix fences. In these latter (day) seasons of Sister Wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine show it’s by no means too late to seek out happiness. Janelle and Christine are even shut mates now!
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Then again — and we all know this may appear to be a knife within the kidneys — maybe it’s time to let the Browns reside their lives off-camera.
These days, it appears the household drifts farther aside with every successive season — Kody even referred to as the household dysfunction a “civil conflict” in a current episode. And but Sister Wives forces Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn to rehash the previous as a substitute when they need to be seeking to the long run.
Worse but, Sister Wives’ confessionals imply that these 5 stars all hear and reply to one another’s ideas about one another, which may’t be wholesome for anybody. Robyn appears depressing when she has to rewatch scenes from the present, and Kody can get overtly hostile when he does. We’re not satisfied any of the Sister Wives stars truly need to be on the present, and possibly TLC paychecks are the one factor maintaining them on our TV screens at this level. (Coyote Cross isn’t going to pay for itself.)
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Plus, with everybody however Kody and Robyn residing separate lives — and with lots of the Brown youngsters not showing on digital camera — not a lot occurs in every episode. We don’t know what number of extra photographs of Meri doing yard work we will take — however producers can solely accomplish that a lot, contemplating how little is maintaining Meri linked to anybody else as of late.
In the meantime, we’re hurtling towards what stands to be the Brown household’s most painful chapter but. Garrison Brown, one in every of Janelle’s sons, died by suicide in March 2024, and although the present talked about Garrison’s dying in a title card at first of Season 19, the onscreen narrative hasn’t caught as much as the tragedy. Frankly, we had been stunned Sister Wives even returned for a nineteenth season after Garrison died. However now that it has, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than we witness the household’s excruciating grief. And till then, it’s painful to look at the Browns go about their lives, unaware of the devastation to return.
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All of that’s to say, possibly the Browns don’t should do a twentieth season. Perhaps they will comply with the lead of a few of their youngsters and step out of the highlight. Perhaps they will heal and transfer on with out cameras rolling, with out mics recording their off-the-cuff ideas about each other. If the Browns need to proceed the present, that’s their name, however we definitely hope they don’t really feel pressured to.
Should you or anybody you understand is having suicidal ideas, please contact the 988 Suicide & Disaster Lifeline by dialing 988. Should you or a liked one are in instant hazard, name 911.
Sister Wives, Sundays, 10/9c, TLC