Previously, on Sister Wives, patriarch Kody Brown and his remaining wife, Robyn Brown, discussed their daughters' desire to find a new religion and church, while former wives Christine Brown, Meri Brown and Janelle Brown moved forward without Kody.
Christine is, of course, giddy at her upcoming nuptials with David Woolley, while Meri relies on a strong group of female friends for support and welcome into her new life in Utah.
Episode 15, entitled "Faith Can Move Mountains," picks up with Christine and David throwing yet another celebration (this time, it's their wedding shower), Meri celebrating her move and Robyn and Kody struggling to find a new religion that suits them and their family. Let's see what kind of entanglements this family gets into this week.
Quick Links
For those following along, we've recapped every episode of the season so far:
| Season, Episode Number | Episode Title | Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| S19 E1 | September 15, 2024 | |
| S19 E2 | September 22, 2024 | |
| S19 E3 | September 29, 2024 | |
| S19 E4 | October 6, 2024 | |
| S19 E5 | October 13, 2024 | |
| S19 E6 | October 20, 2024 | |
| S19 E7 | October 27, 2024 | |
| S19 E8 | November 3, 2024 | |
| S19 E9 | November 10, 2024 | |
| S19 E10 | November 17, 2024 | |
| S19 E11 | November 24, 2024 | |
| S 19 E12 | December 1, 2024 | |
| S 19 E 13 | December 8, 2024 | |
| S 19 E 14 | December 15, 2024 |
At Least Meri Can Laugh About It Now
We begin at Meri's bed-and-breakfast in Parowan, Utah. Meri enlists the help of her friends (this time, it's Lisa and Amber) to help her install a sign she had made for her mom back when she was alive. The sign has the names of each of her mom's children and their spouses, and the distance away from each child. Now, since Kody and Meri aren't together anymore, Meri's portion of the sign needs to be updated before the housewarming party her friends' to celebrate her full-time move to Utah.
The women giggle as they reassemble the sign, making jokes about Meri's lack of sex life with Kody towards the end of their relationship. It's nice that Meri can laugh about it now.
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Meri symbolically pulls off her and Kody's portion of the sign, and says she doesn't want to just throw it away. She wants to destroy it, which she does by breaking it in half. Symbolic, you know.
Back in Flagstaff, Robyn takes her daughters Aurora and Breanna to visit a new church, the Commons Church, that they're interested in joining. It's an informational meeting, where the girls can ask the leaders of the church about their religion. Charlie, the co-pastor of the church, sits down with Robyn and the girls and goes over their own background. Robyn explains that because they were a plural family, they weren't accepted in the church they grew up in. Charlie explains that their church family is extremely diverse and consider themselves interdenominational. Robyn appreciates that she doesn't feel judged at Commons Church.
Meri And Kody Blame Each Other For Failed Relationship
In a confessional, Meri says she's no longer part of any organized religion because she doesn't think men should control her relationship to God. Great point, Meri.
Back in Parowan, Meri and her friends continue to talk about her divorce from Kody. They also tell her that after her and Kody's legal divorce in 2014, things shifted, and Meri seems to be coming around to the idea that her relationship with Kody was doomed for a lot longer than she thought.
Meri and Kody initially divorced so that Kody could marry Robyn and legally adopt her children from her previous marriage. At the time, Kody assured Meri that the divorce was on paper only and nothing about their spiritual union would change. Meri now questions whether that divorce was really a plot for Kody to actually leave Meri, which Kody, of course, denies. Meri says that six months after they were legally divorced, Kody stopped coming around.
Meri reflects on that divorce, saying she never felt fully emotionally supported during that time. She would reassure herself that she and Kody were still spiritually connected, but still, she was emotional about the split and didn't feel like Kody supported her.
A flashback of Meri crying as she signed the divorce papers plays, and it's truly heartbreaking how much Meri had to endure in that marriage because Kody was unwilling to be brave enough to be honest with her.
In a confessional, Kody recalls that after signing the divorce papers, he and Meri went to dinner and then "probably went home and made love."
Meri is disgusted upon hearing that Kody said that in a confessional.
"I think it's kind of disgusting that he would bring up a potentially intimate moment with somebody that he's divorced from because I can guaran-damn-tee you that he would never talk about those moments within this setting with his wife."
Meri also denies they were intimate, saying their relationship wasn't in that place at the time.
Kody continues to be baffled that Meri would have had feelings or been emotional about their divorce, since he maintains that it was only on paper. Then, he brings up the infamous catfishing incident, when Meri was catfished by a woman pretending to be a man online in 2016. Meri says when that happened, she and Kody's relationship was virtually non-existent.
Meri says after the divorce, Kody was present in their relationship for maybe a month or so.
"You just can't keep up a facade for too long."
Meri says the catfishing situation began about eight months after the legal divorce, so clearly, the divorce had an impact on her.
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Throughout the course of discussing the divorce, it's repeatedly mentioned that it was actually Meri's idea to obtain the legal divorce. Of course, now that we have the benefit of hindsight, it's unclear whether that was Meri's original thought or whether someone put the idea in her head.
In confessionals, Janelle and Christine say that when Meri and Kody legally divorced, they'd already began to sense Kody's favoriticism towards Robyn.
Then Christine goes so far as to say that Robyn talked about other plural families where the first couple legally divorced so that children could be legally adopted from the very beginning. Christine accuses Robyn of planting the idea in Meri's head and then convincing Meri it was actually her own idea to get a legal divorce, which Robyn denies. Robyn says she doesn't even know couples who divorce so that kids could be adopted. Robyn then babbles on about how she never even wanted to be legally married to Kody because she'd gone through a lot of trauma in her first divorce. Robyn lays it on thick when she says a spiritual union with Kody was all that she ever wanted.
Kody continues to blame Meri for the demise of their relationship, saying her attitude towards him shifted after the legal divorce, but Meri says her attitude changed because his actions changed.
Around and around we go on this merry-go-round of Kody being unable to accept responsibility for anything, ever.
Robyn Struggles To Find New Identity In Wake Of Failed Marriages
After a commercial break, we're back at church with Robyn and the girls. Robyn explains that she and her husband are no longer polygamists, and that the kids don't have any desire to marry into plural families.
"It makes sense that they don't because they've watched some really crazy crap go down."
In a confessional, Christine says she doesn't go to any church or affiliate with any religion. Christine says her "religion" is being kind and doing good.
Pastor Charlie asks Aurora and Breanna to describe their own spiritual journeys. Aurora, who looks terrified, says that she didn't feel welcome at their old church. Robyn says she had a positive experience in the church, but at this point, she doesn't live anywhere near where her church practices, and the basics of the religion, i.e., plural marriage, don't apply anymore.
Robyn says that her former religion and being in a plural marriage was such a major part of her identity, so she feels somewhat lost now. She says she never expected to be in a monogamous relationship with Kody, and since Kody will probably never marry another wife, she now has to grapple with this new identity.
However, she says if Kody were open to it and if she could guarantee that it would work, she would be interested in living plural marriage again, which is kind of shocking given what the family has been through. But Robyn is nothing if not loyal: to her husband, her sister wives (in theory, and even when they dont' want her to be) and her old religion.
This woman just loves having multiple women married to her husband, doesn't she?
Robyn says she is having mixed feelings about even going to a new church, since her old church shaped so much of her life.
Christine's Dream Gown For Her Dream Wedding
We finally get to Salt Lake City, where we catch up with carefree Christine picking up her custom wedding gown.
Christine remains the happiest woman alive now that she isn't married to Kody Brown.
Her first wedding dress resembled a large satin pillowcase, so she's understandably excited for this new custom dress.
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Said pillowcase dress was since cut up and made into flowers for Mykelti to carry on her own wedding day.
Christine puts on the dress and exits the dressing room with the energy of a movie star walking the red carpet. Her daughters who have joined, some in person, some on video, are blown away by the vision of their mom in her dream wedding dress.
Aspyn says her mom looks gorgeous and the dress is perfect. Christine says she feels "beautiful and glamorous and sexy."
In a rare moment of kindness, Kody says in a confessional that he knows that plural wives often lose out on the "pageantry" of a wedding, so he hopes that Christine has a big, fabulous wedding. No idea where that's coming from, but hey, we'll take an empathetic Kody when we can get him.
'Kody's Got A Lot Of Opinions And He Likes To Voice Them'
After a commercial break, back in Utah, Meri is preparing for a housewarming party thrown by her bestie, Jenn.
Meri and her friends make jokes about pickles (gotta love these girls) but then they discuss an important issue in Meri's post-divorce life: Will she go back to her maiden name, Davenport, or will she remain a Brown? Meri says she doesn't intend to stay single, so she isn't sure she wants to go through the hassle of changing her name back.
And back in Salt Lake City, preparations for David and Christine's wedding shower are underway. Christine's daughters put folding tables together and blow up balloons for yet another celebration of David and Christine's love. Mykelti bosses her sisters around, ordering them to fill in more balloons on the balloon arch.
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Back in Flagstaff, Robyn and her daughters continue "church-shopping." They're going to Sunday service at one of the churches the girls are interested in. Kody awkwardly films them leaving, asking them how they feel, holding back his instinct to tell them his thoughts on church.
"Kody's got a lot of opinions and he likes to voice them when it comes to religion and churches, and so we're just gonna go just us and then we'll talk to him later about it," says Robyn. It's unclear how she managed to swing Kody not coming to the service, but it's definitely the best move for all involved.
Kody attempts to be open-minded, but we all know how that's going to go.
Robyn says she's still struggling with the idea of the family not all being together, but meanwhile, two of the other wives are throwing parties and enjoying their lives. At this point, Robyn needs to accept this. Because as soon as she says she can't imagine not growing old with the other wives, she says she's gotten some "feedback" from some family members about the accusations being thrown at her.
"I feel like I've been gaslit by some of the family members."
Kody says the other wives are just jealous of Robyn. Naturally.
Through tears, Robyn explains that her expectations of being in a plural family were too high, and that she always "bent over backwards" to encourage Kody to have strong relationships with his kids and other wives.
Are we starting to see a pattern here, readers? Yet again, Kody is the problem.
After a commercial break, Meri mixes and mingles with guests at her housewarming parade. It's a fun party, with Meri parading around with her friends' puppies, but alas, Meri says there were no dating prospects in attendance.
Robyn and her daughters are back from church, sitting on their deck with their overlord, Kody. He asks them questions about their day, and while he's trying to be open-minded, his snideness seeps through.
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Aurora describes becoming emotional multiple times throughout the service, and Kody has the audacity to chuckle. When Aurora begins crying describing how she cried at church (she is Robyn's daughter, after all), Kody puts on his best "supportive dad" character, though in a confessional, Kody says he appreciates Aurora and Breanna's willingness to open up to him. He doesn't outright say it, but it's a dig at his other children whom he is estranged from.
In flashbacks, we see older shots of Kody when his older kids were little, shuffling from house to house, attempting to be a present father to all of his children. It's impossible, of course, to have that kind of relationship when living in four different homes. It took its toll on his relationships with many of his kids. It seems Kody is just now starting to understand this.
Kody wants Aurora and Breanna to try another church, this one recommended by a friend of his in Wyoming. He flip-flops yet again, saying he loved growing up in the church, although he's now estranged from any religion. Kody wants his daughters to have the experience of growing up in a church, but he tells them he leans towards Mormonism.
Robyn quickly pipes up that just because that's what Kody wants, her daughters are on their own journey and they will be supported either way. Robyn wants to refrain from expressing any strong opinion on religion in front of her daughters because she wants them to find their own path. Kody, of course, says he can't not express his opinion, but he will be more delicate about it.
"I'm looking back on my older children and I'm realizing all the mistakes I made because my perspective was actually so fundamentalist Mormon. As I've evolved away from that, I'm so ashamed of that. For a little while, I thought that maybe this is what God wanted, this whole plan of me going public for the sake of plural marriage and the blowing it so bad that nobody would ever want to be in plural marriage... I'm like, my goodness, was this part of the whole plan?"
Leave it to Kody to make it all about him.
Christine And David Are Goin' To The Chapel
After another commercial break, we're back at David and Christine's party. Christine wears a cute white fringed dress, and a sign hangs up that reads, "Welcome to True Love: Christine and David." Janelle comes into town again for the wedding. This poor woman has to come into town every week for another celebration of Christine and David, and she does it with a smile. Janelle wouldn't miss it, she always says.
Janelle gives David a glowing stamp of approval, and they play standard bridal shower games, like who knows the couple best. Christine and David are cute, playfully teasing each other while playing the game.
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In a slightly surreal moment, Janelle approaches the couple and makes a joke about how Christine loves that David lets her use the luggage rack when they travel. Janelle and Christine laugh about the shared experience they being married to Kody: he never let them use the luggage rack. He always put his own luggage on the rack, and they put their bags on the floor.
It would be a cold day in hell that David would ever let Christine put her luggage on the floor while he used the rack, and that's why Christine loves him. Because he's so... not Kody.
Of course, when asked about the luggage rack, Kody says it's "just a petty thing to complain about."
The episode ends on a happy note, with Christine saying the bridal shower was absolutely perfect and she knows the wedding will be too. And we won't have to wait long to find out if that's true because the long-awaited wedding of this couple who have known each other 10 months will finally happen on the next episode.
For more reality show coverage, visit our hub page. Episode 16 of Sister Wives, "A Time To Weep, A Time To Laugh" airs on Jan. 5 on TLC, and the following day on Max and Discovery+.
Sister Wives is a TV series created for TLC that follows Kody Brown and his four wives as they raise their eighteen children and tackle the challenges associated with their massive family dynamic and the stigma that comes with their way of life.
- Main Genre
- Reality
- Number of Episodes
- 167
- Seasons
- 16
- 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
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