RECAP: ‘Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Says He Only Sees Meri ‘Once in a Blue Moon’

The Browns are still adjusting and struggling with the beginning weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. The mom-autonomy is going to cause problems for the other households and for Kody Brown. After the group phone call from last episode, the decision was made that each household would isolate and only Kody would travel from house-to-house. But Kody still isn’t going to Meri’s house.

Kody Brown  logs in on his phone to share his thoughts. Production still cannot travel to Flagstaff. He says it’s March 29, 2020, and he’s trying to figure out if this is as big of a deal as everyone says it is. Kody is visibly shaken that Janelle Brown wants Kody to not stop over. Garrison Brown is still working outside the home and Gabriel Brown is still hanging out with his friends. Janelle is trying to do the right think with Kody and not have Kody spread the virus from house-to-house, but it’s upsetting both of them to not see each other. Kody was upset that he was just “told” not to come over. 

Kody is struggling to be separated from Janelle, Gabriel, and Savannah Brown. He’s glad that none of the members of the family are isolated. They all have someone to hang out with. Christine Brown thinks that she is under-reacting to the pandemic and Kody is probably overreacting. That’s kind of the opposite of their everyday power struggle. But Kody does think far enough down the road through the “what ifs” to realize that he would be haunted by guilt if someone got sick or died from this and he could have prevented it.

Mariah Brown and Audrey Kriss came to Meri Brown’s house from Chicago. Mariah and Audrey are spending their two-week quarantine with Meri. Kody talks about consulting with their doctor on precautions. Everyone has a mixed reaction to the precautions that Kody is suggesting. He wants everyone to leave packages outside, leave their shoes outside, and immediately Christine goes on a rant about how many people touch a cereal box before she puts it in the cabinet.

Meri talks about her loneliness. She says, “They say that a person needs four hugs a day just to survive.” And without that, it’s very lonely. Meri is being careful about pushing Kody. Why? She doesn’t know what post-quarantine looks like for her. Kody hasn’t been coming to her house for quite some time. So Meri’s not sure what’s next. She’s very matter of fact about the reality that Kody isn’t putting in any effort to see her. And Kody is also very matter of fact that Meri only shows up for family gatherings and birthdays. He’s obviously tired of trying.

Practical dad Kody and privileged Mariah debate the value of losing lives versus the economic impacts of Covid. He claims that she just doesn’t understand how fortunate she is to be able to sit around and survive this. Others don’t have that option. Christine chimes in on her solo diary to talk about how she banned political discussions at her house. Mariah says that she “needs a nap” after that conversation with her dad. There have been many stories in the news nearer to the presidential election about Mariah cutting off family members due to their political views.

At Christine’s house, Christine is sad that Janelle made the decision to isolate from Kody. Janelle meets with her kids to tell them that their dad won’t be around for now while Gabriel is still seeing his friends and his girlfriend and while Garrison is still working at construction sites. Kody was surprised to find out that Gabriel had a girlfriend. Kody always seems to be the last to know. It’s a theme that runs strong. And then Kody realizes, that’s part of the reason why he can’t see Janelle. Gabriel is choosing his girlfriend over the family. Janelle does tell her children that their dad is splitting time with Christine’s home and Robyn Brown’s home because those two households are isolating.

Gabriel thinks that the moms should all quarantine together with all of the kids, but that will never happen. Gabriel thinks he’s not at risk. Janelle is worried that Gabriel misses his dad. Savanah is a very thoughtful girl, trying to express how horrible she would feel if someone else or if the little ones — Solomon, Truely, or Ariella Brown got sick because she didn’t follow the rules. 

Kody checks in on April 10. He has fantastic news from Joe Darger. The Governor of Utah decriminalized polygamy. Polygamists have been felons in Utah since Utah became a state and polygamy was outlawed. Kody thinks that every wife having a legal marriage is the way to clean up some of the other behaviors and abuses historically and currently associated with polygamy. With a legal marriage, men will take it seriously and women will have remedies. Kody clarifies that it’s not legal and it’s not allowed, but it’s a much lesser offense. Kody is itching to sue the state of Utah again. He even says he’s willing to mortgage their land at Coyote Pass to do it. Yikes!

Everyone has thoughts about the Governor’s stay-at-home order. Groups of ten cannot assemble. The schools aren’t going to reopen for the year. There are family birthdays coming up. Graduation might be canceled for Aurora Brown. Her class has been looking forward to being the “cool class” that graduates in 2020. But they might not have a ceremony. Birthday parties are scaled back to the households. Christine says that Truely “melted down” to hear that no one from the other households will be at her birthday party. 

Aurora and Breanna Brown take this particular time during the conversation to suggest getting an emotional support dog. They both think it will help them, but Kody is opposed. He struggles with allergies, but the wives just do what the wives do, and there are dogs in different houses. Kody suggests farm animals. Let’s get a horse, a cow, or maybe some chickens, as if that is less work somehow. Maybe fewer allergy problems, but certainly not less work.

Christine tells her kids about the change in the Utah law and asks her kids, Truely, Gwendlyn, Ysabel Brown, about moving back to Utah. Christine is so relieved to not have to be so secretive about their lifestyle. Christine is shocked that her youngest daughters don’t want to move back to Utah. Christine is now questioning “why would we build?” Christine is hoping that Kody and the wives will want to move back. She plans to tell them that she wants sell the land and move back to Utah.

Next time, Breanna turns sweet 16. Kody thinks it’s peaceful to have just Robyn’s kids there, but Robyn thinks it’s disloyal to enjoy time without the rest of the family. Kody’s conversation with Meri doesn’t go well. The episode ends with a teaser that Mariah and Audrey went to Utah to help run the bed-and-breakfast. Kody’s going to flip that the girls left town. And Kody’s going to flip that Meri didn’t tell him about the plan. Once again, Kody’s out-of-the-loop.

 

 

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