Ep 371: Sister Wives Revisited S6:E16

Surviving Sister Wives

The hosts recap Season 6, Episode 16 of Sister Wives, titled 'Browns in Crisis,' which focuses on a period of intense family turmoil. They d

Key takeaways

• Truly suffered from acute kidney failure after a period of illness that was initially treated as a simple flu.
• The family planned a 'commitment celebration' featuring a massive, $8,500 tree-shaped cake designed by Cody.

Main topics

• Truly's kidney failure
• The commitment celebration planning

Notable quotes

The centerpiece of the whole thing is going to be this giant cake.

Conclusion

The episode offers a poignant look at how external celebrations can ma

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Surviving Sister Wives contains adult content that may not be suitable for Latter-day Saints or sinners. Listener discretion is advised. Speaker 2 (0:13) Hello and welcome to Surviving Sister Wives. Speaker 3 (0:16) I'm Kori. And Speaker 2 (0:17) I'm Carly. And this is another episode of Sister Wives Revisited, Season 6, Episode 16, Browns in Crisis. This Speaker 3 (0:28) was a big ol' season right in the middle there. Well, not really in the middle anymore. 21 seasons of Sister Wives. Speaker 2 (0:37) 21 seasons because Sister Wives returns on Sunday, October 4th. And we're very excited about it. Yeah, Speaker 3 (0:46) it's going to be a big change. So we're going to have one more episode of the Revisited series, which was the fan-picked, voted on Patreon votes for which episodes we were going to kind of fill in the schedule leading up to the new season. So we've got a special one. This one and one more. Yeah, the one next week. And then it'll be season 21 premiere. Speaker 2 (1:10) Which we did recap the entire trailer. Oh, Speaker 3 (1:15) there you go. Speaker 2 (1:16) So go back and check out that episode. We break it down. Two minutes and 30 seconds turned out to be... About Speaker 3 (1:23) 50 minutes of content for us. So, yeah. There are a lot of thoughts. Speaker 2 (1:28) No Cody and Robin is the biggest headline. Speaker 3 (1:31) And She's a Wonderful Woman was a big amount of time spent on... Speaker 2 (1:36) We need your help. Speaker 2 (1:39) dissecting and understanding what accent Pete has. People Speaker 3 (1:42) are saying Brooklyn. People are saying Southern. People are saying not Southern. People are saying New Orleans. People are saying we're all over the place. We're all over the board. Don't know what to expect. Speaker 2 (1:52) Yeah. Speaker 3 (1:53) I guess we're Speaker 2 (1:53) going Speaker 3 (1:53) to need more sample size of him speaking. More opinions. So then that way we can nail this down a little bit further. But Speaker 2 (2:01) no, Speaker 3 (2:01) no, no, no. We got other stuff going on today. Focus. We're going to stay focused. Brown's in crisis. All Speaker 2 (2:08) right. Truly's kidneys are going like a knife to the kidneys after all these years. Knife to the kidneys. After all these years. I'm so excited about the prospect of having Cody show up on our podcast despite not being in season 21. Speaker 3 (2:26) Cody and Robin. Yeah, we're going to get all of the B-roll footage on the podcast. All the sound bites Speaker 2 (2:32) that we're missing. Speaker 3 (2:33) Definitely. Yes, those will be here. That's where you can get them. Definitely. Speaker 2 (2:38) This is the point where the Browns are still planning this commitment ceremony. Oh, Speaker 3 (2:44) my God. The commitment celebration. I'm Speaker 2 (2:46) sorry. Celebration. It's not a ceremony. Speaker 3 (2:48) It's Speaker 2 (2:48) not a ceremony. Speaker 3 (2:48) That's too official. We don't want it to sound like a wedding. It's not a wedding. It's a Speaker 2 (2:52) party. Speaker 3 (2:52) And it's celebration. Yeah. So let's focus on that. Celebration. Celebrate good times. Come on. You know, like, that's what we're trying to. To really get the point across. Speaker 2 (3:06) This seems to be like such a distraction for them. I think that's the point. Because if they sit with their thoughts for too long, they realize that the family's already starting to fall apart. Speaker 3 (3:16) This is moving without moving. This is moving without putting stuff in boxes. We're throwing ourselves, whipping ourselves into a frenzy and adding a level of turmoil that's manageable for our lives right now. Speaker 2 (3:30) Some chaos that is Speaker 3 (3:31) much Speaker 2 (3:32) missed because they can't just get up and leave these houses. They got to put down roots. Speaker 3 (3:36) Yes. But they've had enough other things that are happening to some chaos that's already ensuing here because truly fell ill. A little touch of flu while the moms were away in San Francisco. See, I forgot that there was like this span of time in between because I thought it was pretty much when Christine got back from San Francisco. Where it was like, we got to go to the hospital right now. But they're still kind of showing this as like, oh, there's time that's going by where Truly still is sick. And there's like this in-between gap. Speaker 2 (4:11) Yeah, I think that the first time we watched this, I misunderstood the story. Because it sounds like while they were in San Francisco, Truly got sick. Of course, Cody didn't bring her to... to the doctor. They had to wait for Christine to come home to do that. Aspen and Speaker 3 (4:26) McKelty were tending to truly to the best of their ability, but they kept telling Cody, seems like she's like really sick. She's very uncomfortable. She's not eating much. She's barely keeping fluids down. So it's like, there's a concern. All usually Speaker 2 (4:42) bad signs. I mean, we're not doctors, we're teenagers, but that does seem like a red flag. Speaker 3 (4:47) Yeah, cause for concern. He's like, that's okay. Speaker 2 (4:49) Mom will take care of it when she gets home. Yeah, in like a Speaker 3 (4:52) week. Speaker 2 (4:52) That's a mother role. Yeah. That's something that she does. I'll be back. Facilitate the relationship. I got to Speaker 3 (4:59) go Speaker 2 (4:59) burn some Speaker 3 (5:00) more steaks. That's dad stuff that I have to do. Okay, Speaker 2 (5:03) so. Bush steaks. Speaker 3 (5:05) Burn. Oh, I'm not burning any witches at the stakes. I have to go burn steaks on the grill. Speaker 2 (5:11) OK. Yeah. Speaker 3 (5:12) Yeah. OK. Speaker 2 (5:13) Just want to clarify. Speaker 3 (5:14) Right. Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:15) So then she took truly to the hospital when she got the hospital. She took her to the pediatrician when she got home and the pediatrician said that she had the flu. So that's what happened was truly was sick. She had the flu, but then she continued to not consume any liquids. And it got to the point that her kidney shut down. Speaker 3 (5:36) Yeah. It Speaker 2 (5:37) progressed. Speaker 3 (5:38) Is what it's seeming like. That was the timeline here that we weren't fully grasping. Because I always put those as like it was the next day that Christine had to take her to the pediatrician. And I was like, no, I think there was a little bit of time in between there. But yeah. I Speaker 2 (5:55) mean, kidney failure. Put that aside because we have to go pick flowers for the commitment. celebration. Well, Speaker 3 (6:01) she hasn't gone to the pediatrician yet at this stage. No, she's just languishing Speaker 2 (6:04) on the couch at home. Speaker 3 (6:06) She's just violently ill and like, whatever. McEltee and Aspen kept an eye on her for the week when I was gone. They can keep an eye on her while we go look at some flowers. Important stuff that we have to do for the family commitment celebration ceremony. Speaker 2 (6:20) We need to have everybody's opinion on them. Speaker 3 (6:22) Everybody's opinion. Everybody gets a say and then we all get to pick the flowers that we want. To include as part of this. Yes. They Speaker 2 (6:31) kept talking about how the only thing they agreed on was the fact that they all like calla lilies. And then every time they cut to the flowers that they had picked out, I was like, I don't see the calla lilies. Speaker 3 (6:42) I don't see them anywhere. I don't know. Yeah. I Speaker 2 (6:44) was like, where are they? Speaker 3 (6:47) Maybe I Speaker 2 (6:48) missed them? Were they a different color than they normally are? I don't know. Yeah. Speaker 3 (6:53) What was crazy about this, too, for me, was where Janelle was so excited to go pick out flowers, and she normally doesn't get excited about girly stuff like this, like flowers, even though she's supposed to be starting a fresh-cut flower farm. Speaker 2 (7:08) Yeah, things have changed, I guess. Now, Tata Speaker 3 (7:10) Farms, like, was this the birth of Janelle's interest in flower farming? That it's cultivated here? I Speaker 2 (7:18) don't think so. No. I think it was some other kind of flower that she got into when they moved to Flagstaff. Speaker 3 (7:24) Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Different vegetables she was growing in the garden. Different Speaker 2 (7:27) kind of garden that she had set up out there. Speaker 3 (7:31) She gets very excited about this. That Speaker 2 (7:33) really is what they should do with that property that they have. Well, I Speaker 3 (7:37) mean. Speaker 2 (7:38) I don't think they, are the Carolinas very progressive when it comes to cannabis farms? Speaker 3 (7:42) No, I don't think so. Speaker 2 (7:43) Maybe she needs to. Lobby the state Senate to change the laws. Speaker 3 (7:47) Yeah. That ought to work out just fine. That should be. Speaker 2 (7:52) Imagine Janelle from Sister Wife. She'll get her pantsuit back out. Speaker 3 (7:59) The power suit. Her little, Speaker 2 (8:00) her skirt suit that she wore to the My Sister Wives Closet presentation. Speaker 3 (8:04) If you'll refer to your packets. If you'll Speaker 2 (8:05) refer to your packets. There's a lot of information here about how beneficial it would be for us to legalize marijuana. Speaker 3 (8:14) Legalize it. I don't think it's going to happen, though. Not for her. You don't Speaker 2 (8:18) think Speaker 3 (8:18) so? No, no, no. Speaker 2 (8:19) That might be the only way they turn a profit on that property. Speaker 3 (8:22) Yeah. I mean, I don't doubt that, but I just don't see it happening. It was Speaker 2 (8:28) hilarious, though. She was like, no one is more shocked than me that I'm actually excited about flowers. Speaker 3 (8:32) Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:33) Well, obviously. Speaker 3 (8:35) She's never really experienced flowers. Cody doesn't bring her flowers. She doesn't have much, you know, firsthand experience of receiving flowers. And then she's like, actually, this is kind of nice. Speaker 2 (8:46) You know how flowers have, like, a symbolic meaning behind them? Aren't calla lilies deaf? Speaker 3 (8:54) Oh, I don't know. Speaker 2 (8:55) I know something is. I got to look it up. That's Speaker 3 (8:58) kind of ominous. I got to know the answer. For Speaker 2 (9:00) this Speaker 3 (9:00) episode? That's not good. That's not a good sign. I hope I'm Speaker 2 (9:03) not wrong. If Speaker 3 (9:03) everybody's going to be so excited about the calla lilies in this instance. Yeah, that would be extra eerie. Yeah, kind of scary. Oh, no, I'm Speaker 2 (9:10) sorry. Purity, rebirth. Speaker 3 (9:12) Okay. Speaker 2 (9:13) Beauty and faithfulness. Faithfulness, Mary. Well, Speaker 3 (9:16) rebirth, Speaker 2 (9:16) I Speaker 3 (9:16) guess death could be a component of rebirth. Yeah, I must be Speaker 2 (9:19) thinking of another white flower, that is. Speaker 3 (9:22) Something. Speaker 2 (9:23) Symbolic of death. Well, I'm glad that wasn't the meaning behind it because that would be pretty awkward. Speaker 3 (9:31) Yeah, it'd be a little uncomfortable there, probably. Speaker 2 (9:34) Cody. Didn't really get involved in the flowers. You know, that's a female thing. Speaker 3 (9:39) Yeah, I'm letting Robin pick out most of the flowers. It's up to her. I'm just going to Speaker 2 (9:43) dry them out and keep them in the bedroom anyway. Yeah, Speaker 3 (9:45) so she needs to really be invested in which flowers they are because she's going to hold on to them the longest. So we're just making sure that that's all covered. Oh, Speaker 2 (9:54) you know what cracked me up when Janelle was like, you know what? I think it's really great that we chose the fall to have this because we can do so many things with like gourds. Yes. And pumpkins and all kinds of everything. Colors Speaker 3 (10:06) and shapes and sizes. There was not a gourd to be seen. No. It's a full fall harvest. Didn't really get that vibe based off of the selections that were made. Speaker 2 (10:17) No. At Speaker 3 (10:18) all, actually. Speaker 2 (10:19) Or any of the finger foods. Speaker 3 (10:21) No. No Speaker 2 (10:22) pumpkin puree to be seen. Speaker 3 (10:23) It was very windy, though, that day. I think that's the only thing that I really remember now is the standout. Part of trying to plant the tree in the backyard, too. If they had had enough Speaker 2 (10:35) time, Janelle could have been the one to get all the gourds, you know? She could have grown them all. Speaker 3 (10:40) Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:40) From scratch. Speaker 3 (10:41) Well, maybe. I Speaker 2 (10:42) love a gourd. Speaker 3 (10:43) Uh-huh. An Speaker 2 (10:44) ugly gourd. Speaker 3 (10:46) Yeah, the uglier the better. Speaker 2 (10:47) Uh-huh, one with lumps on it and stuff. They have more Speaker 3 (10:49) character. It's got wabi-sabi. So, yeah, that's what we're going after. And they last Speaker 2 (10:54) forever. Speaker 3 (10:55) Yeah, they usually do. Last a lot longer. Speaker 2 (10:58) Cody doesn't care about any of that. No. He's just here for the cake. Speaker 3 (11:02) Okay. The cake is where he gets reinvested, as he would say. So this is not a high point of interest for the flower picking of what's going on. Don't really care. I'm just kind of here along for the ride. I want to go talk cake, though. We need to talk cake. And the bigger, the better, really, is what it comes down to. Like most things Speaker 2 (11:22) in life, you know? I think he wouldn't normally have cared about this, but they came up with a theme while they were picking out the flowers about the tree of life. Yes. And so now that has gotten him thinking about what the cake could look like. So now it's his idea. Speaker 3 (11:37) Right. So Speaker 2 (11:38) now this is the most exciting part of the entire planning process. Speaker 3 (11:41) He's taking it and running with it. Speaker 2 (11:42) The centerpiece of the whole thing is going to be this giant cake. Speaker 3 (11:45) Yes. Life-size. Tree size. I'm pretty sure Speaker 2 (11:50) when they were talking about how big they wanted it originally that it was going to be like actual tree size. Speaker 3 (11:57) Yes. Well, and that was what she drafted up very quickly. She's doing the mathematical calculations of what need to be, how much. cake am I going to be working with then for this? And what is the structural integrity of the trunk going to be for how much cake we're trying to have in here? Janelle's amazed by the witchcraft and wizardry that's taking place here with just figuring out how much cake is going into this. Speaker 2 (12:27) Well, Cody won't even explain what the idea is at first because I don't think he can verbalize it. He's like, you just got to see it. I got to sketch it out for you, okay? These women are waiting on bated breath. Like, what? Are they going to show us? Yeah. Speaker 3 (12:41) This Speaker 2 (12:41) man who's married to four different women. What design of a cake is he going to come up with? Breastises. It's apparently so scandalous that he can't explain it. You just have to see it. Speaker 3 (12:54) Right. And Speaker 2 (12:55) then it's a fucking tree. It's Speaker 3 (12:56) a tree. That's exactly what it is. Janelle's on board immediately when she's like, trees? Speaker 3 (13:03) Okay. 420 blaze it. All right. What Speaker 2 (13:06) kind of trees? No, she's starting to get nervous because she's like, okay, the scale of this, it's going to be expensive. It Speaker 3 (13:13) sounds like you're trying to build a tree out of cake and that's going to be way too expensive here. And the lady's like, it's not that bad. It's only like $8,500. I was Speaker 2 (13:23) like, Jesus Christ. They were like, I'm sorry. There's an uncomfortable pause. Where none of them had considered that it was a possibility the cake would cost that much money. Like Speaker 3 (13:35) 10 grand. She's Speaker 2 (13:36) like, half of that's just for the steel that we need to reinforce it with. Speaker 3 (13:40) Because Speaker 2 (13:40) Cody's biggest concern is it has a narrow neck, right? Like it's a cake that's going to stand up, but it's like, it's a tree with a Speaker 3 (13:50) very, it has Speaker 2 (13:52) an hourglass figure. It's very important. The opposite of Robin's neck. It's slender. How do you hold something up that has that much girth? Speaker 3 (14:04) There's so much head. You're going to need more neck to support. Definitely. Yeah, that's a real concern to Speaker 2 (14:12) be Speaker 3 (14:12) having here. So Speaker 2 (14:12) they got to come up with some ideas on the fly. And they're like, here's an idea. 5 Speaker 3 (14:16) ,000? That was the father of the bride moment, though, too, with that. Frank. A cake is flour and eggs. My first car didn't cost $5,000. Speaker 2 (14:27) And steel. Speaker 3 (14:29) Well, it Speaker 2 (14:29) used to be Speaker 3 (14:32) steel. Not anymore. No, not so much. She's Speaker 2 (14:35) like, you asked for a four foot tall tree. Like, what do you want me to do here? So right away, they're like, oh, great. That's fucked now. Now we can't even do that. That was our great idea. That was going to be the centerpiece of the entire celebration. So now everything's ruined. Well, what if Speaker 3 (14:49) you scale it? down a little. Speaker 2 (14:52) The cake lady's like, you could just make it smaller. Speaker 3 (14:55) It's mostly the size. Size is quantity, but you're also trying to feed 500 people with this cake. So, yeah, there's going to be a substantial amount of cake that's going to be involved with that. Speaker 2 (15:08) I did not understand how people who come from such a large family did not understand the concept of you have a cake that is like... the one you cut into, and then you have sheet cake in the back. Speaker 3 (15:21) Right. And Speaker 2 (15:22) everybody else eats the sheet cake. Speaker 3 (15:24) No, they don't. They're not going for that. You go to Costco and you buy Speaker 2 (15:29) five sheet cakes. That's Speaker 3 (15:30) bait and switch. We're not about that. No. Also. Because he Speaker 2 (15:34) wanted everyone to have a slice out of that tree. Speaker 3 (15:37) The tree. Yeah, you need the tree. The tree experience. Because also, these are the same people who are like, we don't know if we're going to be able to pay for all of our kids' college educations. But. Speaker 2 (15:46) $8,500 on a tree cake? Speaker 3 (15:49) Sold. Sold American. Yes. How Speaker 2 (15:52) much cheaper do you think it got when they scaled it down? Not much. Right? Probably not much. It was probably still like $3,500. At Speaker 3 (15:59) least. Speaker 2 (15:59) Something insane. It was probably Speaker 3 (16:01) still like five grand. Yeah. Around there. I Speaker 2 (16:03) wonder what TLC gave them as far as a budget goes to have this. Speaker 3 (16:07) Cake budget. Because Speaker 2 (16:08) they did all of Robin's backyard with that hardscaping and Speaker 3 (16:11) the Speaker 2 (16:12) pergola. Yep. Speaker 3 (16:13) And then they spent a ridiculous Speaker 2 (16:15) amount of money on the cake. The Speaker 3 (16:17) grass, the sod. Speaker 2 (16:18) Uh-huh. They Speaker 3 (16:19) did all sorts of stuff in that backyard. Well, I guess they Speaker 2 (16:21) cut the budget with the food because Mary had to make all the little cups of everything. Speaker 3 (16:26) Oh, yeah. Yeah, they did not cater. Yeah, see, that's Speaker 2 (16:29) lame. Speaker 3 (16:30) That was Mary and Bonnie catering company. I would rather have some Speaker 2 (16:33) actual food and then eat a slice of Costco cheesecake. Cheesecake? Cheesecake? I'll take the cheesecake, too. Okay. That's because you brought up cheesecake last night and now it's on my mind. Speaker 3 (16:44) Yeah, it sounded good. Speaker 2 (16:45) He is upset about having to make it smaller, though. Speaker 3 (16:48) Well, of course. This was supposed to be like Speaker 2 (16:50) his grandiose centerpiece that he was going to brag to everyone was his idea. I Speaker 3 (16:54) think he wanted to climb the cake tree. I think that was what he had visualized in his mind at some point, was that if it was a cake that was large enough for him to physically climb. That is a successful representation of what he's trying to do with this tree of life. I didn't like where it's like, okay, we're talking about tree of life. Are you talking about like the tree that's in the Garden of Eden? Like the tree of knowledge, the tree of good and evil, like that sort of thing. I don't like where this symbolism is going to in a biblical sense. Speaker 2 (17:28) I'm not sure they even really knew what they were thinking about. I don't think they tied that in. It evolved from family tree. Tree of life. We're going to plant our roots. Like there were a lot of different connections to the concept of a tree. Tree. But none of them really ever tied together fully. Speaker 3 (17:46) Yeah. So I think we missed a couple of different points there. But I was just concerned about inferring another reference to a tree where it was like, not all the trees in the Bible are doing so good. Speaker 3 (18:00) There's some bad trees in there, man. Oh, he would love Speaker 2 (18:03) to remind the wives of the original sin. Speaker 3 (18:05) Yes, of course. I feel like that's the callback here that I'm concerned about. Speaker 2 (18:11) Isn't it odd that none of the commitment celebration was focused around their faith? Speaker 3 (18:16) To an extent, it was. Speaker 2 (18:18) Did he give, like, do a reading from the Book of Mormon or anything? Speaker 3 (18:23) Maybe not on camera, but I think it was part of the contract, the covenant that they all had to sign. I think so. It was in there. It was mixed in with the faith. The one Speaker 2 (18:34) all the kids signed? Yeah. Speaker 3 (18:35) Well, it was everybody. Everybody signed it. The whole family. I just Speaker 2 (18:39) expected more of a tieback to... their religion, but they're not religious anymore at this point. No, it wasn't so big for Speaker 3 (18:48) a lot of them. So maybe that was it. It was like, oh, this is just all the stuff that we can agree upon. Speaker 2 (18:53) Well, you know who is still religious? Leon. Speaker 3 (18:56) Leon. Speaker 2 (18:57) Leon is about to celebrate their last birthday at home. Speaker 3 (19:01) Yes, this is the birthday slash going away to college party. Speaker 2 (19:06) It's time to be a Westminster. Westminster. Speaker 3 (19:09) Yep. Speaker 2 (19:10) Going back to Utah. Long awaited. It's been many years. It's Speaker 3 (19:15) been. Gotta pack up the car and go find some sister wives. You know, like that's the main reason. Time to go on the Speaker 2 (19:23) hunt. Speaker 3 (19:23) Gotta get your scent out there for the polygamists in the wild here in Utah. Gotta get back. Gotta get back. Speaker 2 (19:33) Mary's trying to do this up big. Yes. Because Leon's birthday is at the end of August. Plus, Leon's packing up to go to school, so it's like a party with two meetings behind it. Plus, this is Mary's only child, so of course Mary's going to go over the top. Speaker 3 (19:50) Yes. So this is car shopping. But also, Speaker 2 (19:54) it Speaker 3 (19:54) makes sense, because if you're going to drop Leon off a state away, probably good to have a reliable form of transportation available, right? I mean, this isn't Speaker 2 (20:05) too crazy. Yes, but it's also framed as a surprise because I think Leanne is under the impression that they're going to school without a car. Speaker 3 (20:13) Which sucks. Yeah. So this Speaker 2 (20:15) is the big cherry on top of the entire celebration is that there's also going to be a car as a