Sister Wives S19 E6 Recap

Season 19 of Sister Wives continued on Sunday with Episode 6 (“He Delivered Me From All My Fears”) — and TLC’s producers are doing an excellent job in stitching the goings-on of the fractured Brown family into a cohesively themed and linear episodic format.

Sister Wives’ nineteenth season has been an absolute roller coaster, and before we get into those episodic themes, we’ve recapped each episode to date if you need a refresher on the massive amount of stuff that has happened so far:

Episode 1 of Sister Wives Season 19 sort of established where things stood for everyone, whereas Episode 2 focused quite a bit on another common cause of acrimony in divorce — money, communal funds, assets, and the division of such.

By Episode 3, the more pressing financial and logistical aspects were less a focus than how each person from the main cast – Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn – felt about the “triple breakup,” a theme that carried through to Episode 4, “How The Mighty Have Fallen.”

Episode 4 depicted Robyn and Kody’s “snow fight,” which was prominently featured in trailers and previews — and it was one of the rare instances in reality TV where a preview is less dramatic than the scene itself.

Robyn and Kody’s “snow fight” gave viewers a glimpse into Kody’s state of mind and spotlighted his tendency to frantically shift blame — and Episode 6 contained a similar enlightening and emotionally charged scene between an unruffled Meri and a very confused Kody.

Taken together, the first six episodes of Season 19 are, in a narrative sense, kind of like the stages of a break-up in real-life: Episodes 1 and 2 were like the initial shock and scramble to untangle one another’s lives, Episodes 3 and 4 were about the short and long-term emotional impact on the people in the relationship, and Episodes 5 and 6 dealt with moving on … and getting drawn back in.

Polygamists. They’re just like us!

In short, the initial shock of Kody’s “getting dumped hat trick” has worn off – well, for everyone but Robyn – the reality of a post-plural marriage lifestyle is settling in, and each person is handling it in their own way.

A Very Meri Christmas

The Tables Have Turned, Alright

Recent episodes of Sister Wives depicted the Brown family’s first Thanksgiving post-breakup, and “He Delivered Me From All My Fears” began with a focus on Christmas.

At the end of Episode 5, Robyn appeared in a teary confessional filmed on the bathroom floor on Christmas Eve, and at the start of Episode 6, she cried in another confessional and said: “It just hit me so hard that, I’m just … I just don’t get to have the perfect Christmas.”

Robyn, there’s people that are dying.

Kody pointed out that it was his first Christmas with only one wife, and Robyn made the first of many mentions of Meri; for some reason, Robyn’s held-out hope for a reconciliation hinges on Meri, and she said:

“It wasn’t my first Christmas without everybody else, but it was my first Christmas without Meri.”

“Chasing Meri” could have been an alternate title for Sister Wives Episode 6 — Meri is always just trying to be left alone, and someone is always hunting her down for interactions she doesn’t want to have.

As is often the case this season, fans got a rundown of who was spending Christmas with whom.

Janelle went to Maddie’s, Christine was with most of her kids (“Aspyn and Mitch, Tony and Mykelti and the babies, Ysabel, Truely, and [Christine]”) and Meri hung out with her old friends Lisa and Amber.

Meri, aware of Robyn’s fervent wish for a shared Christmas, said that it “will never happen” and “makes no sense,” adding:

As much as it’s frustrating to see that Meri has been made to feel that way – a feeling church leaders substantiated, as they granted her release on the grounds of abandonment – there’s almost an irony to it, too, given what happened later in the episode, and Robyn’s constant hand-wringing over how badly she wants Meri specifically back.

Meri, Janelle, and Christine seemed happy amid their respective Christmas celebrations, but Robyn struggled, admitting: “For my children’s sake, I just need to focus on what’s good today.”

The New Adventures Of New Christine

There was a soft transition to Christine’s house, where she discussed her romantic endeavors and her fast-moving courtship with David among her mostly-adult kids … and Truely, 14, whose presence in the episode was deemed “a vibe” by fans on Reddit.

In Season 19 so far, Sister Wives has approached Christine’s first crack at dating through the lens of her initial spark with David Woolley, about whom we learned more in Episode 6.

However, Christine also mentioned that she went on a bunch of dates before finding David, only getting to a second date with one of her prospective suitors other than David — twice, she said, mentioning her polygamist past ensured a connection was “definitely over” before it began.

Janelle disclosed that Christine found David through a matchmaker.

David is a widower whose wife died 11 or 12 years before Season 19 was filmed, and David had given up on dating after a few initial attempts despite having been widowed so young.

In confessionals, Janelle and Meri weighed in on the subject of dating, and Janelle said that if she dated, it would have to be an “organic” connection, as she is not into the “dating app scene.”

Meri pointed out that at 52, “the idea of dating is so weird … then add the fact that [Meri] was in a plural family for 30 years?”

Christine also told viewers what she sought in a partner before she met David, traits she considered “extremely sexy”:

We really want to know what the “and stuff” was, because it sounds like Christine had some additional stipulations.

Cutting back to Christine’s living room, she raised the topic of David in what Mykelti’s husband Tony said was “the most unsmooth transition ever.”

Christine called David her “boyfriend,” and said “he was charming and kind, and his eyes were amazing.”

Mykelti volunteered that she’d let David hold the babies and wouldn’t have if she didn’t like him, while Tony praised David’s resilience as a widowed father of eight children who “didn’t get addicted to gambling and drugs” and “survived.”

From there, the conversation turned to whether David was a “Boomer,” and the following exchange occurred:

[Tony]: “[David] reminds me of Kody … he’s like, from the same generation for sure. All this Boomer stuff …”

[Mykelti]: “Tony, he’s not a Boomer.”

[Christine laughs really hard while trying not to wake one of Mykelti and Tony’s newborns.]

[Tony]: “He’s totally a Boomer … bro … bro! … That’s like Cold War stuff, man!

At the time the scenes were filmed in December 2022, Christine was 50, and David was 59.

Per ScreenRant, David was born in December 1963, making him one of the last Baby Boomers to be born on a generational cusp, as Gen Xers were born from 1965 to 1980 (ranges vary, depending on the source).

Tony was technically correct, but everyone else – Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn – are Gen X.

Kody went on to proudly identify as Gen X, in an annoying “we drank from the hose” way:

Kody, we do not claim you. Go sit with the Boomers.

Before cutting to an ad break, Christine continued polling her children, but also made it clear that she was unwilling to slow things down with David — adding that they’d already said “I love you” to one another.

After the commercials, we were still at Christine’s, and her kids all weighed in on the David situation.

Ysabel and Aspyn felt things were moving fast – which would make more sense later – and the subject of public displays of affection (PDA) came up.

Paedon said: “I’m super happy for you. It’s weird, I don’t wanna be in the same room.”

In a confessional, Kody claimed he used to dislike PDA because he had four wives, and now Robyn is too shy for it.

Back at Christine’s, Mykelti clarified that she and Aspyn were not judging, just “observing,” and Aspyn mused:

Christine was visibly moved when she explained David was willing to meet Janelle and her kids, saying it was “such a relief that [David] understood polygamy.”

As Sister Wives transitioned to an ad break, a teary Christine said of her realization she loved David:

“I legit felt calm for the first time in my life … our souls just synced up … and our heartbeats synced up, and I realized I was in love with him.”

The next segment between ads was brief, depicting Janelle’s search for property with Maddie and Caleb.

Janelle said Kody refused to take action “until everything is falling down,” that Kody was not financially prepared to buy her out of Coyote Pass, and all of her money remained tied up there.

As with Meri’s release, Kody’s inaction trapped another one of his wives in limbo … which was directly relevant to the scenes that followed.

Related

In Sister Wives Sneak Peek, Meri Gets Her ‘Release’ From Kody

Meri’s beliefs are such that she feared being “bound to” Kody for eternity – and he still refused to help her.

Kody Confronted Meri, But He Didn’t Seem To Know What He Wanted From Her

Throughout Season 19, Kody has been contradicting himself when he talks about Meri, Janelle, and Christine, but in a long-teased scene where he visits Meri at her house, his levels of inconsistency were off the charts.

Christine and David made a brief appearance, calling one another “soulmates,” before cameras cut back to Kody at Meri’s house.

“The vibe” at the beginning was a stark reversal – Meri had been distraught this season from time to time, and had difficulty dissolving her marriage to Kody – but as they sat across from one another, Meri was calm and unflappable, while Kody was … not.

Kody began grilling her about the release kind of vaguely, and Meri referenced a final discussion with Robyn and Kody about the breakup, saying Kody made it clear he wouldn’t work on their marriage.

Cut to a confessional, where Kody rambled about the ways wives earn or deserve his acts of service, like “carrying in the groceries,” and he confusingly huffed:

“Well, don’t blame me for not loving you. I was doing my duty. Blame yourself if I don’t love you, okay?

“When I’m in love with a woman, that’s her fault, so what happens if I’m not in love with a woman? Is that just my fault?”

Kody magnanimously boasted he could “fake through it,” and back at Meri’s, she told him she was not willing to argue with him; he maintained it was an “accountability conversation.”

Kody mentioned “moving forward together,” and Meri said there was no “moving forward together.”

Throughout the conversation, Kody was insistent, but it wasn’t really clear what he wanted from Meri, and in a confessional, she quipped:

“If you didn’t wanna fail, maybe you shouldn’t’ve [pause] married the wrong person. One or two or three times.”

Meri told Kody that “nobody won here,” and Kody denied he’d abandoned her, expressing anger about the church leaders agreeing to the grounds of abandonment to grant a dissolution of their marriage.

In an exchange that was baffling to Meri and everyone other than Kody, he accused her of rushing to get a release from him:

[Kody] “Why did you move so quickly on it, then?”

[Meri]: “Quickly?!”

Meri asserted obtaining the release was actually a “long, slow, and painful process,” and Kody complained that Meri had a choice, but he didn’t.

After a cut to a confessional, a glassy-eyed Kody claimed he “felt compelled” to stay with Meri “even though the relationship was terrible,” and blamed Sonny and Cher for “rattling” him with their divorce when he was six.

What Kody said next was kind of remarkable.

It was almost like that “hot mic” scene at the end of The Jinx, as Kody admitted in a roundabout way that he was unwilling to let Meri go:

“I do not know why I am still holdin’ on a little bit [to Meri], because I know damn well I don’t wanna be in this relationship, and I know damn well I don’t wanna be in a relationship with Janelle, and I know that Christine did me a favor by being brave enough to leave.”

After another ad break, Meri and Kody’s conversation continued, and Meri said in a confessional that she didn’t think Kody was entitled to information about his exes’ lives.

Remember like 30 seconds ago, when Kody tried to guilt Meri for allegedly obtaining a hasty release?

Kody doesn’t seem to know whether it was way too fast or a quarter of a century too late, as he said in a confessional:

“I wish I wouldn’t have ever married [Meri] … I married a woman that I just didn’t love so much that I wanted to serve her … [it was] never enough.

“This marriage was on the rocks the entire marriage … How would I know that? Because I had such a better relationship with Janelle, with Christine, with Robyn.

“And Janelle and Christine didn’t survive [as wives, presumably]. I should’ve gotten out of the relationship 25 years ago.”

Right after that, cameras cut to Janelle in a confessional, where she said of Kody:

Kody told Meri that he wished “[she] would’ve made [her] choice sooner,” as if he hadn’t literally just accused her of moving too quickly.

Overall, it seems that Kody’s loss of control over Meri perturbs him more than anything else, and though it’s a term that is bandied about constantly on social media, his focus on Meri and his violent reaction to her freedom kind of looks like a “narcissistic injury.”

In yet another confessional, Kody ranted about “F and F, where the second F stands for ‘fight’” in relationships, saying “that doesn’t create intimacy, that just creates more orgasms.”

Incidentally, Sister Wives fans on Reddit agreed that Kody “saying the word ‘orgasms’” was “the worst moment” of Episode 6.

Kody continued, and it wasn’t incredibly clear what he was going on about — but he seemed to be trying to claim that he was not empowered to leave anyone, and that he had to wait for them to leave:

“You don’t get to be in plural marriage, you know, with leadership, leadership will never allow you to marry again if you’re discarding wives.

“Well, I, I was in terrible relationships, but wasn’t willing to discard them.”

Cutting back to Meri’s house, Kody dusted off his whole “I never loved you” routine, and gave off the distinct impression that the true reason for his visit was his frustration that Meri was happily minding her own business without him.

He tacked on that he believed he and Meri had “different timestamps for when they were no longer happy,” and the cameras began to transition briefly back to Christine and David.

Christine said she liked that David didn’t play her off against anyone, suggesting Kody did that to all his wives, and the “soulmates” thing came up again; Christine said she believed Robyn and Kody are “soulmates.”

At this point, the Christine and David thing started to seem a little rebound-y, as they pondered “how [they could] be soulmates so fast.”

Great question, Christine.

Flipping back to Meri and Kody, Meri observed in a confessional that “some of the things [Kody’s] sayin’ are really, really, really mean”; on the screen, Kody looked to be struggling emotionally while Meri was at peace.

He graciously informed Meri:

“Where we are now, I actually really like you … I didn’t for six years, at all.”

Interestingly, Kody began pressing Meri to visit on Christmas for Robyn’s sake, before he started lightly trash talking Robyn to Meri — Kody laughed and said he usually just disregarded Robyn’s opinions, and he perked up when Meri agreed with his statement that he was a “man of [his] own mind.”

By that point, it just looked like Kody wanted what he couldn’t have, like Meri’s newfound freedom and Robyn’s sustained presence aggravated him, like he was desperate for Meri to stroke his ego, and like Christine’s observation about wives being played off against one another was exactly what Kody was up to.

Kody said he hoped Meri would call him when she “has something fun to share,” and the end of the conversation kind of summed it up entirely:

[Meri]: “We’re exes. Let’s be real. You don’t need to worry about me.
I just wish you knew how amazing of a person I really am.”

[Kody]: “I mean, bon voyage. Happy life, happy journey. I don’t know what to say, Meri.”

Meri, we all know you’re amazing, for what it’s worth.

As the episode drew to a close, teasers for next week foregrounded Mykelti and Aspyn’s opinion that Christine and David were moving too fast — Christine stated that she met David in early November, and that it was, at the time, late December (2022).

The context? Christine and David were visiting wedding venues in the teaser for Episode 7.

TMDB User Rating

61

Release Date

September 16, 2010

Main Genre

Reality

Cast

Kody Brown , madison Brown , Janelle Brown , Tamron Hall , Aspyn Brown , Robyn Brown , Andrea Canning , Gwendlyn Brown , meri brown , Logan Brown , Christine Brown , Sukanya Kirshnan

Seasons

19

Cinematographer

Doug Monroe, Callan Griffiths, Richard Alexander Walkling, Anthony Derosa, Matthew Thompson, Ray Farmer

Distributor

TLC

Filming Locations

Nevada, Utah, Arizona

Main Characters

Timothy Gibbons, Kirk Streb, Deanie Wilcher, Christopher Poole, Bill Hayes

Producer

Deanie Wilcher

Production Company

Puddle Monkey Productions, Figure 8 Films

Number of Episodes

167

Network

TLC

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