We’ve been duped, Sister Wives viewers.
For months now, we’ve been wondering when Meri Brown might leave Kody, considering how hard their marrriage has fallen apart and how often and how little Kody admits to caring at this point.
But it looks like we’ve been focusing on the wrong unhappy spouse.
Meri, remember, keeps saying she’ll always stand by her self-centered and very sexist husband.
But Sunday night? On the Sister Wives season finale? Christine Brown didn’t sound nearly as certain.
The episode aired shortly after polygamy was decriminalized in Utah in early 2020, which prompted Christine to express her strong urge to flee Flagstaff for her native state.
She was alone in this desire, howeverr.
“Five years ago we sued the state of Utah, and then we won for a bit and it was decriminalized. And then a year later it wasn’t,” she told cameras.
“Then two years ago, Kody wanted to move back to Utah and we were like, ‘Oh, it’s not safe.’ The governor of Utah just signed the bill that makes polygamy decriminalized.”
“When I heard about the law, immediately my first thought was, ‘Well, if the law passes, why wouldn’t we move back to Utah?’
“So I want to talk to Kody about it, too.”
Upon doing so, Christine told Kody how she, Meri, Janelle and Robyn had all been interested in the past in a return to Utah, explaining that “it’s about living with the community again, living with like-minded people again.”
It’s also about her immediate family, and one person in particular.
“My dad’s super sick,” Christine said in a confessional, adding:
“And I would love to be there the last few years of my dad’s life. My kids need to get to know him better. My dad being there is a really big pull.”
Kody didn’t immediately shoot Christine down.
But he didn’t leap out of his seat over the idea of moving again, either.
“You’re talking about something that I want that I just refuse to even entertain now,” he told Christine. “It’s an exciting thought, just ’cause all my friends are in St. George.”
Naturally, Kody made this all about himself.
“I don’t think Christine will be able to convince any of us, but it’s a roller coaster that I am more than willing to join,” Kody said via confessional.
“I hate the idea of moving, but I love the idea of living in St. George. And I’m just not shutting her down because I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Your idea is dumb.’
“Especially when I like it. I just know that it’s not possible.”
Kody also made it evident that he actually likes Arizona.
Continued Kody:
“I think Christine was mistaking my nostalgia for a desire to move back. But I don’t necessarily think that means that my other wives want to move back to Utah.
“Man, I don’t want to move again, and I don’t want to leave Flagstaff. I mean, this is the neatest place I’ve ever lived.”
After talking to Kody, Christine’s plan was to chat with the other sister wives in person.
“I’m hoping that when we talk about it, [Kody] like, talks about how he’s got family there, he has friends there, he would love to retire there,” she told viewers.
She had her hopes up for these discussions, too.
“It went great, I thought,” she added about her exchange with Kody, saying she felt “really hopeful.
“I’m looking forward to going into this conversation with everybody knowing that I’ve got some support from Kody. It means a lot when you go into it to have some support like that.”
As you can see, there was some major miscommunication there.
Fast forwad to Kody and all four Brown women sitting around outside and delving into this topic, with Christine making a hard push.
“I want to move back,” she said.
“I think we have a beautiful property here, I’m not saying we don’t. But we haven’t done anything. We’ve been here for two years and we haven’t really done anything.”
It’s true. Long-time viewers are aware that the Coyote Pass property has been sitting unsued and mostly untouched since 2018.
The family was sitting around this propery for the important talk on the finale, as Christine proposed just leaving it undeveloped — and then she made a candid reveal:
“I would’ve already been gone had it just been me alone.”
Cut to the negative respondes…
Robyn:
“As much as I would love to live in Utah, I have to think about the long-term effects on Saul and Ari.
“You know, ’cause Breanna’s just got a couple years left before she’s out of high school, and so I would really be worried about like, the issues that they would run into knowing that their parents are these public polygamists.
“I’d be very, very concerned the whole entire time.”
Janellle:
“There’s nothing for me in Utah. Nothing. My children aren’t there — you have a lot of children there. There’s nothing for me there.
“This is the dream I always wanted when we lived in Wyoming. So the idea of giving this up is making me sort of — my gut reaction is anger. And I don’t know how to reconcile that and keep everybody happy.
“I don’t feel any calling to go back to Utah.”
Meri:
“I think that once we basically were kicked out of Utah, I’ve just kind of had a feeling of, ‘Well, I’m not going to grace you with my presence, then.'”
She continued in a confessional:
“I feel like there’s a big difference between me owning a business and providing a home for my mother and me living in Utah. I don’t live in Utah and I’m not going to.
“You wanted to kick us out? Fine, I’ll stay out. I don’t need you.”
Kody, of course, always gets the final say on family matters.
“This is the most likely place for any of our kids to move back, our adult kids. For the price, we would never be able to replace this in Utah,” he said to Christine.
Hearing Kody say that, Christine said she was “surprised, because I thought Kody was more in favor of this.
“But he’s acting like we’ve never even talked about this and that he wasn’t in favor of it last time we talked.”
Christine, who has previously said her relationship with Kody was rocky, finally broke down on a walk with Meri, finally realizing she was stuck in Flagstaff.
“Meri, I can’t do marriage with Kody anymore,” she confessed to Kody’s first spouse, who told a tearful Christine to “look at the mountain.”
“I don’t want to do it anymore,” Christine again claimed.
“Don’t talk about that,” replied Meri. “Just look at the mountain, that’s what you saw that day.”
Christine then pushed back on the notion that she was “quitting” her marrriage.
“I don’t want it,” Christine told Meri, confirming that she was “hurting.”
“You didn’t put 30 years into this — 25, 28, wherever you are, to walk away. I didn’t put 30 years in to walk away,” Meri said before the two shared an embrace and, yes, looked at the mountain.
Christine appreciated all Meri had to say on the topic.
HOWEVER…
“Her relationship with Kody certainly isn’t one that I would want. And the relationship that I have with Kody isn’t what I would want either,” she said in a confessional.
“What I have here is not what I want right now.”
Speaking to cameras, Christine admitted that it had “been a struggle” ever since she moved to Flagstaff … and that she didn’t feel supported by Kody
“I don’t want to look at the mountains and remember the angels, how they were singing and I felt this pull. I agreed to move to Flagstaff and I followed Kody here, but it’s been a struggle the whole time,” she said.
“I’m tired of feeling like I don’t matter. I’m tired of not having his support when I really need it. I’m just tired.
“I need a partnership. I need something different than this.”
Quite the cliffhanger, huh?
Will Sister Wives even return for a new season, so that we can learn more about Christine’s future with her terrible husband?