Over 18 seasons Sister Wives has shifted from the mundane to tragic, and it’s left viewers wondering about their complicity
For most of its 18-season run, Sister Wives has been a remarkably boring show. Pick an episode at random and you’re probably about to watch 45 minutes of suburban tedium: estate planning, meal prepping and a lot of filler footage of kids running around big, carpeted houses. But now, even the most mundane episodes feel like they might merit a closer look following the death of one of the show’s former child stars.
Sister Wives, on TLC since 2010 (and now Max), explores the polygamist Kody Brown’s marriage to his now-ex-wives, Meri, Janelle and Christine, and his last remaining wife, Robyn. It also shows their collective 18 children – some of whom have been on television for their entire lives. What started as light patriarchy propaganda took a darker turn in the last few seasons, as Kody belittled his wives, berated his children, and seemed to harden in his archaic views that he alone should be the head of his several households. Embittered that some of his children were siding with their mothers, he began demanding apologies from the elder children, who refused to acquiesce. By season 18, in 2023, Janelle and Kody’s son Garrison had fallen so out of favor with his dad that he was talking openly about their estrangement. “Since I last talked to Dad, I bought a house, I got into school, and I bought [a] car,” he said to two of his moms and a host of his siblings, matter-of-factly. “You know what, Robyn? Have him. We don’t need Dad any more.”
