This may come as a shock to the husband of one of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” but polygamy is not legal in Utah. And, while he hasn’t talked to his priest about it yet, the Catholic church isn’t real keen on plural wives, either.
That’s just part of an episode filled with fighting and Housewives who just can’t get along.
Possible polygamy, Part 2
Despite the fact that they haven’t talked much since the blow-up in last week’s episode, Jennie Nguyen and her husband, Duy, go to the Market Street Grill & Oyster Bar in Salt Lake City. Jennie tells Duy she was “very upset” when he suggested adding a sister wife to their relationship so they could have more children. Duy apologizes, but says he was “hurt” when she walked away from him.
“You think having a sister wife is a solution?” Jennie asks. “Isn’t that illegal to have multiple marriages?”
“As of 2019, they removed the law in the state of Utah,” Duy says. “It is not against the law.”
That’s not true. In 2020, Utah decriminalized consensual polygamy — it’s now an infraction similar to a traffic violation. It’s still a felony if it involves threats, fraud, force or abuse. And you cannot legally marry more than one spouse.
Duy repeats that having multiple wives is “not uncommon in our culture.” He believes that he and Jennie can “make it work.”
She says, “I’m not sharing my husband with another woman.” And Jennie points out that polygamists in Utah generally consider themselves fundamentalist Mormons, and she and Duy are Catholic. “What about our religion? ... Have you talked to the priest?” "
“No, I haven’t,” he replies. “And I don’t think it’s an issue. The Ten Commandments does not say ‘thou shalt not have another wife” or “multiple wives.’”
(Except for that pesky “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”)
“Why would you want me to share you with somebody?” Jennie says, breaking into tears. Duy says his greatest fear is losing Jennie, but ... “A big family means a lot. Having children means a lot.” And he sheds tears of his own.
Jennie tells Duy she believes this all stems from the death of their infant daughter, and she suggests he see a therapist. He immediately refuses: “There’s nothing wrong with me.” Later, in a confessional, Jennie says, “In our culture, we don’t go to therapy.” She says that in Duy’s mind, it would be “admitting that he’s a failure.”
Duy agrees to think about all this, which is where they leave it for now.
(Bravo) Whitney Rose on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Whitney thinks she’s in control
Heather throws a party to celebrate the first anniversary of the new location for her business, Beauty Lab + Laser, and the guests include five babies — in season 1, Heather had a party for their moms, her five employees who were pregnant.
The adult invitees include Whitney Rose, Jen Shah and Angie Harrington, who accused her now former friend, Lisa Barlow, of sabotaging her fundraiser. The women — particularly Angie — do a lot of drinking; Angie imbibes so much that she falls on her butt and later throws up in the restroom.
Whitney tells the women about her unsubstantiated conspiracy theory — that she’s convinced that Lisa invited her to a restaurant owned by Aubrey and Marco, the caterers who canceled on Angie’s fundraiser. Whitney thinks Lisa did that to somehow prove she had nothing to do with the cancellation.
“The first thing out of Aubrey’s mouth, she says, ‘Isn’t it weird that Angie’s lying and trying to, like, pin this on me?’” Whitney says.
“Wait, wait — she said ‘lying’?” Angie asks.
Actually, no, Aubrey didn’t use the word “lying.” That’s a Whitney embellishment. She said Angie was “putting words in my mouth.” And Marco said, “It isn’t true.”
In Whitney’s mind, Lisa “set up a trap and I figured it out and I took control.” She left out the part about her acting unhinged as she launched into profane, unsubstantiated attacks while weirdly waving her hands around. But not all of her fellow Housewives were buying her version of events.
“I’m honestly surprised Whitney feels like Lisa was setting her up at this dinner,” Jen says in a confessional. “That is so not even Lisa’s style or vibe.”
(Photo courtesy of Fred Hayes/Bravo) Mary Cosby, Lisa Barlow and Whitney Rose in “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”
Mary vs. Lisa
Whitney invites all the Housewives to go snow tubing at Soldier Hollow in Midway And she invites Angie, ”which is kind of annoying,” Lisa says. “But to me, it’s like Angie’s invisible. We were friends. You decided that you were going to accuse me of something I didn’t do. ... I forgive and forget, and sometimes it means I forget you.”
On the way to Soldier Hollow — in a callback to something Mary said in Season 1 — Heather says sparkling water will “freeze your ovaries.”
“Hardens them,” Mary says sourly. “Get it right.”
“Mary, I need to Google that,” Lisa says. “Is that real? Is that a thing?” It’s the kind of question anyone would ask. And Lisa is not confronting Mary, she’s bantering.
But Mary takes great offense. “Everything I say, you’ve got to Google it?” she asks. “Don’t do that. ... I mean, are you trying to diss me?”
”No, no, no,” Lisa says. “I was being fun.” And, to all appearances, it was a perfectly innocent comment.
“Please don’t talk to me like I’m dumb,” Mary says. “If I say something, it’s fact.”
Except … it’s not a fact. Google doesn’t come up with anything indicating carbonated water hardens ovaries.
And Mary, who’s displaying all sorts of attitude, says, “You really have an attitude, Lisa. … I don’t deal with little girls like you.” And she waves her hands dismissively at Lisa.
It’s awkward and socially inept. So, it’s completely on brand for Mary.
“It triggered me when Lisa says she needs to Google what I say,” Mary says in a confessional. “But how about we Google what she says? Because most of the time she’s lying.”
Says the woman who, in Season 1, lied to Whitney, falsely telling her that Meredith and Lisa said they were afraid of Jen. And, in doing so, caused all sorts of drama.
Lisa approaches Mary when they arrive at Soldier Hollow, and Mary says Lisa speaks to her in a way that is “demeaning.” And then she asks if Lisa said she had to Google the hardened ovaries thing “because I’m Black.”
Lisa’s immediate response to that is unclear, as the two women talk over each other, but then Lisa says, “I’m so sorry. But if you come at me like that again, we’re going to have another conversation, because it’s not OK.”
“What do you mean?” Mary says.
Later, Mary says she’s now “good” with Lisa. “We have to stay in the good lane, Heather,” she says. “It keeps you youthful. It keeps you having a bowel movement every morning.”
Mary hates tubing
Mary complains about, well, everything to do with the outing. She complains that Soldier Hollow is two hours away: “That’s 60 minutes twice.” She complains that she has to pull the tube behind her for a short distance. Not up a hill — there’s a moving walkway to get tubes and tubers up the hill.
“I just want you to have fun,” Whitney says. “This is not fun!” Mary replies.
Mary is also “mad” that she “didn’t get to dress up.” (Although she is in platform heels.) “Now I’m pulling something — a big tire. It’s, like, probably my same weight.”
That is not even close to being true.
Mary refuses to ride the walkway back up and slide down a second time. She sits on a bench at the bottom of the “brutal” hill.
“If she didn’t know what snow tubing was, maybe she should have Googled it,” Whitney says.
Ha!
(Bravo) Mary Cosby offers surprising insight into Whitney Rose's motives.
Mary vs. Jennie
Just after telling Lisa she’s “way too sensitive,” Mary is highly offended when Jennie drops an F-bomb.
“Don’t ever use that word,” Mary says, sounding like a schoolteacher. “Sweetheart! Get your language right. … You shouldn’t talk like that.”
To be clear, Jennie was not swearing at Mary.
Jennie is not having it. “It’s not a good day for me, so don’t even start with me,” she says. “I don’t care about what you think, Mary, so just keep your mouth shut. … Don’t tell me what to say. No one tells me what to say or do.”
Later, Jennie explains to the women that, after being picked on for being Asian while she was growing up, she was “triggered” by Mary telling her what to do. Mary nods smugly. “Jennie is yelling her piece about — no one tells her what to do,” she says later in a confessional.
That’s not true. Jennie did not yell.
Jennie tells the other women that it is the anniversary of the death of her newborn daughter, and that she also had nine miscarriages. Everyone is sympathetic. Except for Mary, who rolls her eyes and pulls faces.
Lisa — Jennie’s longtime friend, who already knew about her difficult pregnancies — says she “can’t even imagine the pain she’s feeling. But I don’t know why she’s sharing it with this group. I mean, they’re all selfish b----es. They only care about themselves.”
Jen’s miscarriages
In a confessional, Jen says she understands Jennie’s pain because she, too, went through “multiple miscarriages.”
“Coach [Sharrieff Shah] and I wanted a basketball squad. Well, I couldn’t give that to him,” she says. “So I know how devastating it is and the emotions that go along with that.”
(Bravo) Lisa Barlow isn't happy with the other women in the latest episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Lisa vs. everybody
At lunch after tubing, Angie says she’s “tried to reach out” to Lisa and adds “I understand our relationship probably won’t be the same. But I would just like to let it go and move on.”
“Unless you’re saying you’re sorry, I don’t think there’s anything more to say,” Lisa replies. Angie does not apologize, instead asking Lisa if she’s “seen my point of view at all?”
Ugh. Again, neither Angie nor Whitney has any proof that Lisa sabotaged the fundraiser. And, again, the caterers said that did not happen.
Lisa says she won’t “be beat up and accused of something I didn’t do. ... A friend of 20 years doesn’t do that. End of story. I’m done.”
Whitney interjects herself into this conversation, escalating the situation and making more unsubstantiated accusations. Lisa is incensed. “All I want to do is be [expletive] me, and not have everybody question everything I [expletive] think, say, do,” she yells. “Can’t even say the [expletive] word Google [without] someone jumping on me. Get off my [expletive] back!”
Later, in a confessional, Lisa says she doesn’t know “what’s more hurtful” — Angie repeating “this [expletive] lie” or Meredith and Jen not coming to her defense.
Heather questions if Lisa told the caterers to pull out as some sort of “leverage.” It’s unclear how that would provide Lisa any sort of “leverage.” And, remember, Heather has a grudge against Lisa.
Angie’s fundraiser was for LGBTQ+ youth. And, Lisa points out, “My grandfather was gay. That’s a big deal to me, to have someone accuse me of sabotaging something that supports the community that I love. That I saw firsthand how difficult that is to navigate. It’s wrong. Angie has been like a little sister to me …”
At that point, Angie hugs Lisa. “Honestly, it hurt me that you would ever think that I would ever do that to you,” Lisa says. Angie says, “I’m sorry.” Lisa says she’s “sorry that you felt sad.”
(Photo courtesy of Bravo) Seth and Meredith Marks make decisions about their marriage in Episode 8 of "The REal Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Meredith and Seth
Meredith and her husband, Seth, meet for lunch at Antica Sicilia in Millcreek. Seth remains on-brand, asking the waiter for shots so he can get Meredith drunk. “Makes the lock easier to take off, if you know what I mean,” he tells the waiter. And he laughs at his own attempt at humor.
“Last year, Seth and I had a really difficult time,” Meredith says in a confessional. They were separated, “but we were able to get through it and we’re transitioning to a positive place.”
Meredith tells Seth she sometimes feel like she doesn’t have his “full support” when it comes to dealing with their young adult children. “For someone who’s so good at disengaging, you engage in the minutia bull--- with the kids,” Seth says. “Like, let them [expletive] shake it off.”
Meredith doesn’t want to let go, however. “As children grow up, the intensity of their needs just heightens because they’re real issues. There’s no delegating, so it’s up to me and Seth,” she says. “There’s nowhere else to turn. And that can be exhausting.”
Again, Meredith’s “children” are 18, 21 and 23.
“It would be my greatest pleasure to manage, mitigate, diffuse and extinguish the stress from your life,” Seth says. “I will jump on stress grenades all day for you. Naked.”
