The latest season of Sister Wives may be over.
But the trashing of star Kody Brown has only just begun.
Over the past few Sunday nights, Kody and his four spouses* gathered on a stage and spoke to host Sukanya Krishnan about the episodes that recently aired, most of which centered on extreme tension between this father of 18 and the parents of his children.
*(Well, three spouses, considering Christine walked away from this plural marriage in November. But she was included on these special reunion installments.)
For the most part, Kody talked openly about where he stands with all four women after a VERY rocky season.
The problem, according to most viewers?
Kody’s point of view was extremely slanted, selfish and close-minded.
For example, the polygamist told Krishnan that he really has no clue what Meri, Janelle or Robyn think of him these days — and he blames these sister wives for the confusion.
“I don’t know if it’s about love or determination or commitment…
“I know that I’ve got a couple wives standing on a bridge with a torch just wondering, ‘Do I throw this thing in the water or do we light this thing up?’” Kody said, in a confusing manner.
“There’s no better awareness than reading the facts from the light of a burning bridge … but then it’s too late.
“You can’t rescue that.”
For her part, Christine left no doubt about how she feels or how things are between herself and Kody.
“Kody and I are divorced. We’re completely separate. We’re just going to be friends, eventually,” she said on air.
“I just realized I had to make a decision for my heart and my heart was done being broken, and it felt, well, freeing.”
Over the course of Season 16, Kody and Christine often clashes over the former’s strict COVID-19 rules and regulations, with Kody eventually revoking Christine’s intimacy privileges because he felt betrayed by her.
“I don’t know what to do because I’ve got the grief, but I’m still angry,” Kody said on part three of the reunion special when the topic turned to Christine’s departure.
“I’ll take the grief right now to be out of the anger phase. Just moving on.
“Have a good life and find happiness.
“I think, to be honest with you, there’s going to be some relief from the family too.”
Elsewhere, Kody dared to question the same polygamist lifestyle that he’s embraced for decades; the same one also embraced by the women who have been subjugating themselves to Kody over this time.
“I know polygamists who are doing a much better job than me,” he vented during Sunday’s episode.
“I wonder if there’s a disconnect. Are they living in that dissonance that I have experienced?”
Kody proceeded to blame his spouses for the romantic mess they now find themselves in.
“I wanted my wives to love each other,” he said.
“My biggest anger with [my] wives is the way they treat each other.
“Honestly, there’s a wakeup call that I had in Flagstaff: ‘If I was out of the picture, it’d be over.’”
Kody didn’t sound very sympathetic to Christine’s plight, either.
He noted that the mother of six had been “complaining since the time we moved to Las Vegas” that she didn’t want to stay there.
“Years ago, she shrugged. She did not like her life anymore. This is a singular moment that has been building up for years,” he alleged.
“I’ve been trying to make her happy all the time.
“It’s this constant burden.”
Poor Kody, huh? This is the sort of remark that set viewers off.
“It was a waste of time. Kody is lying and playing the victim, and Robyn is sobbing as usual. Go Christine!” wrote one Facebook user as a comment on a preview for part three.
Added a second Kody critic:
“Oh, Lord! When Kody said he doesn’t hold grudges, I almost choked on my coffee!! That’s all he does and talks about. I’m so happy for Christine and hope she and Janelle are still close.”
Yet another user noted how far the Sister Wives have fallen.
“Go back to the first Season,” this person wrote.
“Every wife looked so much better than they do now! Stress and unhappiness will do that to you. Even Sobbin Robin has gained a lot of weight. Now the only one who looks great is Christine.
“My idea: Part 4 talks to the Children. They’ll tell you how Kody destroyed this family.”
Kody, in his semi-defense, did at least seem to realize toward the end of the reunion that he made some mistakes along the way.
“I’m looking at this whole experience with Christine and I’m going all the way back [to] 12 years ago [when she said], ‘I hate polygamy.’ And I just could’ve validated [her feelings],” he admiitted.
“Instead of just becoming so … [full of] righteous indignation.
“That was some arrogance there.”
He added along these same lines:
“My first reaction was, ‘I’ve been loving to you. I’ve been this husband. We’ve done all this together. We’ve got these great memories and we’ve got these great children and you hate polygamy? What the crap?’
“That was my reaction instead of going: ‘Oh, I know it’s so hard.’
“I’m looking back now, and I’m going, ‘If I could go back, would I save it all with being empathetic instead?’”
