Sister Wives Season 19 Episode 19 Recap: Closing The Chapter On Coyote Pass

It's time for another installment of the greatest failed plural marriage experiment of all time: TLC's Sister Wives, which is slowly inching towards its mid-season finale on Feb. 2. The show will take a hiatus and return with part two of Season 19 some time in the spring, so we'll have a short breather from the happenings in the Brown family, which is much needed, in our opinion. But let's catch up with Kody Brown, Robyn Brown, Janelle Brown, Meri Brown and the newly-minted Christine Woolley first.

The mid-season break is the perfect time to catch up on all that's gone down by reading our recaps of every episode of Season 19 thus far:

Janelle Wants To Close The Chapter On Coyote Pass

This week's episode, entitled "Behold I Come Like A Thief," opens with Janelle visiting her daughter, Madison, and Madison's family in North Carolina. Janelle is putting together documents that her lawyer requested.

That's right, Janelle has retained legal counsel. Hallelujah.

Janelle says that as of right now, there's been no movement on Coyote Pass, so she wants to protect herself legally.

Just explaining the financials of Coyote Pass to a lawyer sounds exhausting, but if anyone's up for the challenge, it's faithful bookkeeper Janelle.

In a nutshell, despite the way Coyote Pass is divided up on paper (lot one: Kody and Janelle; lot two: Kody and Robyn; lot three: Kody, Janelle and Meri, and lot four: Kody and Robyn), everyone put money into the purchase of Coyote Pass. Now, they're arguing that all should be equally compensated when the land is sold, except for Christine, who washed her hands of any claims to Coyote Pass when she left.

Janelle regrets the way everything went down, saying she should have insisted that their names were put on the property equally. But, she was too trusting and now she's in a bit of a legal mess.

The lots aren't even divided up equally, some lots are bigger than others, and Janelle says it made sense at the time for Kody's name to be on all the lots because that's how they did things in the family, but now, it doesn't make much sense. Hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it?

Janelle is ready to "close that chapter" on Coyote Pass, so she's eager to get this done.

Christine And David Plan Themed Rooms For Investment Property

Christine and David are driving down to visit the home Christine purchased in Moab. They're going to use it as a short-term rental, and Christine bought the property without David seeing it in person.

In an odd conversation, David says he wants one of the rooms to be shrimp themed, and this might be the beginning of David's red flag era. He wants to call it the shrimp room. How original.

Christine is grateful for David's interest in the home, so she's willing to humor him on the shrimp room. Christine, for her part, wants a giraffe room. These two crazy kids might be meant for each other after all.

Christine is making big moves, including with her name: She's legally changing her name to Christine Woolley. She's been a Brown for years, but she's so excited to take on David's name.

As they're driving down to Moab, Christine recalls that this was the same road the family used when they fled Vegas for Arizona. It was a rough drive, with multiple drivers getting flat tires and other mechanical issues ensuing. Christine says that should have been a sign they shouldn't have moved.

"Feels like another world."

Now, she's driving down in her new life with David, and she couldn't be happier.

Kody Uses Child Labor To Paint Tables

Back in Flagstaff, Kody and Ko. are taking the kids to Coyote Pass to paint some picnic tables that Robyn's dad had made.

Kody says he's not here to teach the kids to sand and paint the tables, he's just using their labor to get it done.

That Kody really reveals himself sometimes.

Robyn's dad was a real project guy, so she thinks he'd be happy to see them all together working on the tables.

Robyn then explains a bit of her interesting family tree.

"Before he was dad to me, he was Uncle Paul," she begins. This is going to be a doozy. Turns out Paul wasn't her biological uncle, but he and his wife were friends of the family.

"Before my dad married my mom, he was already married. My mom was friends with my dad's first wife and with my dad. That's why I called him Uncle Paul. So my dad's first wife looked at my mom one day and was like, don't you think Paul's a good guy? Cause she was single. Because my mom and my biological father had been divorced for a while. So then my mom married Paul. He came to my mom's hosue on teh weekends and was in Las Vegas with my other mom during the week."

Confused? Good, so are we.

Janelle And Meri Talk Business

After a commercial break, we're back with Janelle, who is going to have a video call with Meri to discuss the latest updates on Coyote Pass—namely, that there are no updates.

It's not the first time they've talked about the property. A while back, Janelle warned Meri about getting a lawyer to protect her assets, but Meri initially balked at the idea. Cut to months later and Meri appears to have had a change of heart.

"Before Robyn joined the family, we were together for like 17 years," said Janelle. "A sister wife relationship is very challenging, and when the personalities are different, it's even more so. But part of what we strive for in embracing this lifestyle is to learn how to get along and be a team. Were we besties? No. Meri and I still don't see each other, we aren't friends, we don't hang out, but there's no ill will there."

The former sister wives make small talk on the video call before diving into the heart of the issue. Meri sent an email to Kody, Robyn and Janelle to start the conversation about Coyote Pass, because Meri has been left out of any talks thus far. Any correspondence from Kody has been scattered, with him wanting to divide it up, and then sell the entire thing at another point.

By now, Meri is fed up with Kody's waffling.

"I don't think you get to decide what we do with it. Sorry, you are not the head of my family."

Janelle reiterates her plan to get a lawyer, which seems to scare Meri, but she agrees that she will also be seeking legal counsel. Meri says that Kody and Robyn have a plan for what they want to do, Janelle has a plan for what she wants to do and Meri has a plan for what she wants to do as well, but nobody is sharing those plans or communicating at all because they don't trust each other.

Meri is tired of taking a backseat and intends to start advocating for herself, which Janelle is fully supportive of.

Janelle's lawyer feels she has a case, since they all equally contributed to the land.

Kody, of course, refutes this, saying he paid for one of the lots all by himself. Seems like a difficult thing to prove at this point.

Again, Meri and Janelle revisit the way the lots were initially divided, which wasn't exactly fair, since Kody's name is on all the plots, Robyn's name is on two, and Meri is only on one-third of a plot.

Meri is coming to terms with the fact that she isn't being protected. She always assumed she was, since they were all family. But they aren't family anymore. Now, it's a business matter.

Janelle suspects Kody is making plans without including them. In theory, he has the right to do whatever he likes with the property, but Janelle hopes this isn't the case.

Kody claps back, saying he isn't their servant and that they could do the footwork if they want to.

Janelle says she's offered to help, but without her name on the titles, there isn't much she could do. She says she wants to stay in contact with Meri, but she isn't interested in having more conversations with Kody and Robyn. Janelle even dreams of walking away and washing her hands entirely of the property, like Christine did, but she knows she has to fight for what is hers.

"I just want to get this done. It's the only thing that ties me to Kody."

David Approves Of Christine's Home Purchase

After a commercial break, Christine and David are at their Moab property, showing David for the first time. Christine is nervous to show him, because he works in construction and is very particular, and it's a major investment for them. But there's no need to worry, because David loves the property.

"You done good," he tells her.

Christine reiterates that making business moves with David is easy, as opposed to when she was married to Kody. Things were difficult, especially with so many family members, so Christine values that she has autonomy now and can provide income for herself.

Back in Flagstaff, Robyn, Kody and the kids make lunch to enjoy on their newly painted tables. Kody chops wood for a fire, and shows his daughter how to do it as he goes.

Kody talks about the things he needs to do with the property every year, and Robyn laments that they may not own the property for much longer. Robyn loves Coyote Pass and is having a hard time letting it go, but she knows they need to sell it.

They flash back to 2019, when the family was still together and happy, and they first purchased Coyote Pass. Everyone gathered, enjoying the land, and they had high hopes for the future of the family. It's an emotional topic, the idea of selling it.

Christine, Janelle Create New Family System Together

After a commercial break, Janelle pays Christine a visit to the rental property in Moab. They want to ensure that they strengthen their relationship now that they're not technically family anymore, so they make the effort to be involved in each others' lives.

"Janelle and I are closer than we've ever been," Christine shares.

Aspyn, Mitch, Ysabel, Paedon and Truely, along with David's relatives, have come to help them unpack at their new investment property. Ysabel, in particular, took longer to warm up to David, but as they all unpack, she seems to have come around. She compliments him on being a problem-solver.

Christine says Kody was also a problem-solver, but he and David have different ways of going about things.

David includes Christine in the process, whereas Kody did not. Janelle and Christine reminisce about previous business endeavors the family attempted, and Christine says she was always most comfortable just being a mom and staying out of the finances. But now, she has achieved financial independence after breaking free from Kody, and she's proud of how far she's come.

Christine says that Ysabel's back surgery a few years back taught her how independent she could be, because she and Ysabel traveled during the pandemic for the surgery without Kody. It was a major turning point in her and Kody's marriage.

Janelle says that in the beginning, their finances were very transparent, but in the last few years, Kody seemed to withdraw funds and not tell them what he was doing with it. Kody argues that he had many family members to provide for, not just Janelle, so he did what he saw fit with the money.

But for Christine, the new dynamics of the family suit her just fine.

"I think this is what our family's going to look like right now. Janelle and David and I, all of our kids are going to be together. And then it's Robyn and Kody and their kids. And I'm not sure what Meri's going to be doing."

Christine says she wishes that every woman could have the independence she has now, especially at her age.

Kody Doesn't Want To Deal With Coyote Pass

Back to Flagstaff, Robyn and Kody sit on folding chairs around the fire. Kody is still mulling over the best use of the property, whether they keep one lot for themselves as a rental property and buy the others out, or selling the whole thing outright.

Story of their lives, but there's never a solution on the horizon.

"In this moment, I'm back to that place again, I don't want to sell it. Also knowing that Meri and Janelle want to sell it. It's not fair to Meri and Janelle, and that's not my intention, to be unfair. My intention is just to not deal with it."

For more reality show coverage, visit our hub page. The mid-season finale of Sister Wives Season 19 airs on Feb. 2 on TLC, and the following day on Max and Discovery+.