Sister Wives jumped ahead a few weeks on Sunday night.
When we last left the Browns, Meri was settling back in Las Vegas by herself after her new Arizona neighbors took issue with her polygamous lifestyle.
The show's second episode of 2020, however, fast forwarded six weeks to Meri's Flagstaff return, as she found a new place to rent in Arizona that cost more per month... but for a very good reason.
While the TLC may have skipped ahead more than a month, though, not much changed between the first two episodes.
Which is to say the following: all other Sister Wives pretty much hate Meri... and they barely even pretend otherwise at this point.
Last week, none of them offered Meri their home as a temporary residence; this week, none of them helped their supposed loved one move into her new digs.
In the latter's case, this may have been an issue of jealousy as well, considering the family pulled up together to Meri's enormous four-story rental in Flagstaff -- replete with two master bedrooms, an elevator, and built-in waterfall with koi fish -- and could not believe it.
After reacting in shock to Meri's house, Robyn, Christine, Meri, and Janelle all met for lunch to catch up because they were feeling so isolated.
Meri mentioned that she was sleeping on a mattress on the floor and would love for the whole family help her move her things into her house.
And this is when the tension became most evident.
“Meri lives in this house built up the side of the mountain,” Robyn explained in a confessional of why she refused to help, adding:
“So, she has these huge stairs all the way up the side of her house and every time I walk up those stairs, I about faint.”
When this is brought up during the lunch itself, Meri argues that offering assisting each oother is “kinda what family does."
Makes sense to us -- but Robyn notes that the stairs at Meri’s house are “insane.”
She reveals that their fellow Sister Wives are afraid they’ll damage Meri’s stuff going up and down the steps during the moving process. So why not just hire professionals to do it?
“I don’t want to hire somebody. I do not want to hire somebody. I want to have family around,” Meri, on the brink of tears, said in her own confessional.
“I’d rather have my family come and help me put my stupid bag together then pay somebody to do it, because that would mean I would have some family interaction, which I think is really important.”
While Meri and the Wives are trying to sort all this out, Kody is meeteing up with his friend, Nathan, to share a 3D rendering of his dream polygamist palace.
Yes, he still hopes to move everyone under one roof someday.
Nathan’s eyes can’t believe what they’re seeing -- and his brain likely can't fathom that Kody thinks there will be "rapturous joy" when he reunites the family in this manner.
In the end, however, this episode was once again all about Meri and how estranged she feels from the family.
"What the hell? Why am I crying over this,” she said at one point, prior to wiping her tears away with a tissue.
She then shared how she’s “hearing Christine and Janelle talk about how they’re feeling isolated and alone,” which she thinks is an issue that can be solved if they do the work “together.”
The women just aren't having it, though.
“This isn’t like a big deal. Just hire people to help you with the big stuff, we’ll come over and help you with the smaller stuff,” Robyn said of the situation in a confessional/
“It’s no big deal at all, that’s no brainer. She just needs to let us know.”
Why can't Kody help? Please. This suggestion is scoffed at by Robyn, who says he isn't there "for any of us and that’s just what it is to be a plural wife.” Sounds awesome, guys!
We conclude with Meri sayingshe understands why the Sister Wives don’t want to assist in the heavy lifting, although she feels that their “love and caring” for her is “conditional.”
Sounds about right to us.
Also sounds like time for Meri to get the heck outta there.