When you watch the super tease for Season 9 of Sister Wives, pay very close attention to the facial expressions and body language of Kody Brown’s four wives.
It’s not optimal.
The show returns Sunday, January 5, as they are now in Flagstaff, Arizona, but they are not free and clear of homes that are not selling back in Las Vegas and that financial stress is taking a huge toll on the happy family vibe they normally put forth.
There are many issues with series, despite its high ratings and trainwreck of circumstance and living on the edge of the LDS world where plural marriage isn’t kosher. It was once, but now the LDS mainstreamers are quite removed from this version of old-timey Mormon wife whack-a-mole, and it is illegal in all 50 states.
Which just makes this series catnip for the TV viewers who are fascinated by the willingness of women to have families and share one man. They seem to love it. Until they don’t.
Exhibit A would be first wife Meri. She is very angry at Kody still, as he divorced her to take on Robyn and her brood from another marriage (she was wife four). She also embarrassed the family by being catfished and subsequently outed in the press for her online correspondence.
There was also the issue of her buying a bed and breakfast and diverting monies from the communal coffer that angered Kody as well.
Money, it seems, it the ultimate nail in the coffin of their love, more than the additional wives. But how people spend money and who gets what is a huge deal, and it builds enmity and distrust. We are now in the winter of the Brown family co-op where money is a driving issue in this season. It’s tight and tempers are flaring.
So now we are looking at 2020, and this family’s polygamist lifestyle is not sitting well with the angry neighbors who drive one wife out of her rental house.
“I’m looking for you to have an open mind and a prayerful disposition…” – Kody Brown
This quote sums up Kody’s eleventh-hour plea for his wives to consider living under one roof.
What this means is the homes that are not selling in Vegas are now draining the finances and the cost of these many properties are setting them up for financial disaster.
In hopes of reducing this burden, Kody decides to consolidate, but watch closely in the video as not one wife seems enthused about this prospect.
Like the HBO series Big Love, each wife and their brood of kids wants their own home and separate space.
“Plural marriage makes you feel disenfranchised, sometimes.” – Robyn Brown
So what we have now this season are very angry wives, tight finances, and other huge issues… not to mention more babies on the way for the Browns.
Plus, some health issues for one grandchild too. Janelle and Kody’s granddaughter born to Maddie has some congenital issues sadly.
“There’s been no interest in the homes…” – Janelle Brown
The new property that they own will either have four houses or one. The tensions with first wife, Meri, are still unresolved and she goes back into therapy with Kody to fix and salvage their relationship. It doesn’t seem possible at this point.
Then, the good news comes as Meri’s daughter Mariah and her girlfriend Audrey get engaged and Janelle’s daughter Madison has a second baby. But as we mentioned above, this child has serious health issues. The baby granddaughter is beautiful, but she faces enormous challenges ahead.
Tune in to see if fame and fortune are backfiring on an unconventional life lived by the Browns that might have been better served hidden in plain sight.
Sister Wives Season 9 premieres Sunday, January 5 at 10/9c on TLC.