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After being introduced to the Brown family last year, TLC brought back the polygamist Utah family for a second season to delve deeper into the lives of Cody Brown, his four wives and their sixteen children.
In the beginning of the show, Cody and the wives shared their mixed emotions for making a trek to New York City to ‘come out’ as a polygamist family on The Today Show. They were excited to be able to lift the weight off of the shoulders with the big ‘coming out’, but they were nervous for the possible backlash they would not only receive from the world but from their fellow community members. So what will the world think? We do not get to find out about the legal investigation (that we already know about) that was brought on as a result of their ‘coming out’ until the end of the show.
For filler, we get to see how the kiddos get through their first days at school. While many of the polyg-lits (as the kids call themselves) prepare for the start of another school year, most of the children fret about starting public school. Mariah, Meri’s (Cody’s first wife) daughter, chooses to continue attending the private church school due to her hatred for public school. During a family meeting, which included a lot of Cody’s serious googly eyes and his mop top dancing uncontrollably atop his head, the kids expressed their concern for attending public school and being accepted as a polygamist family.
Quite a bit of time was spent on the preparation for the first day of school. We discovered that Christine, the third wife, is a fabulous cook and the other wives, kids and Cody enjoy popping over to Christine’s crib to see what baked goodies and other home cooked meals they can snatch.
How the wives handle their emergency contacts for the children’s school paperwork was interesting. Christine writes her emergency contacts Janelle and Meri as the ‘other moms’, while Janelle feels more comfortable with referencing the other wives as “aunts”.
Before the big Today Show New York visit, the whole family celebrate their unity by spending some quality time together. Their activity of choice? Taking bags of ice to the top of a hill, sitting on the blocks and sliding down the hill as if they were sleds or as they call this activity…ice blocking. They enjoyed a hot dog and
Then came the ‘big’ Today Show visit. During a three hour set visit and waiting, Meri forgot to zip her pants up after numerous bathroom breaks, while Christine expressed how starstruck she was meeting Meridith Viera and felt “fantastically weird” when the morning talk show host asked her how baby Truly was.
After being asked by Meredith why he chose polygamy, Cody was speechless. For what seemed an eternity, Cody sat struggling for words, while the wives looked on. After feeling frazzled, Cody was able to spit out that his intentions were “faith based” and that he “followed through with it” and “this is kind of how it landed.”
When the family arrived back at their home turf, they worried about neighborhood acceptance and trying to shield their children from the negativity of internet blogs.
Unfortunately, after their appearance on the Today Show, they became under an investigation into the family to see if they would be charge with bigamy. Due to the lawsuit, their new found fame and the big coming out, there was cause for concern as paparazzi and media sat outside their home snapping photos.
In the final couch moment, Cody went on to describe his fear that his family could be torn apart due to this lawsuit. He said that he chose the lifestyle ‘out of love’ and by ‘choosing to abide by faith’ he is ‘now faced with reality of something much scarier’. He added that it really ‘makes you search your soul’ and ‘puts you in touch with your maker’.
Meri breaks down when contemplating whether she would choose this lifestyle knowing what she knows now with the legal drama they are experiencing. Her response? A resounding yes and she went on to say that what she fears the most is that she would be taken away from the family or have Cody taken away from the family.
With Janelle and Robyn chiming in with a ‘yes’ response to choosing the polygamy lifestyle again, Christine responded with a mere ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.”
What do you think of their family dynamic? Will you be tuning in for more of Sister Wives season two?
