Welcome to Plathville

[AnneWeber]

Does anyone watch this? It's about a religious homeschooling family in Georgia US with 9 kids.
Lots of tensions and now the older kids have moved away and 3 of them have fallen out with the parents and confronted them about their homeschooling not properly preparing them for adult life.
The parents seem to try and blame everything on the daughter in law Olivia corrupting the others. It's funny how they are going to the opposite extreme doing sexy modelling etc

I don't mind the Dad so much, it's the Mum I find really annoying and controlling.
Poor girl not having a phone at that age

She just wants to be in contact with her older siblings as she's missing them poor girl

Sounds interesting. Where is it available?

The bloody Dad turning up at the gym while Moriah was teaching yoga, my god i bet she was mortified

@IntermittentParps It's on TLC channel.

Thank you, Grape

I watch this. I feel sorry for the kids. If I was any of them I’d move a million miles away not just a town away.

The Bates family are quite friendly with the Duggars I think
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The Duggars give me the creeps, though tbf so does Dad Plaith.

When the Dad and the younger boy turned up at the gym the boy started to floss.... found it odd as they don’t have access to the internet, I guess they must have friends who do.

The Bates are hugely problematic as are all these fundie families.

Gil Bates is on the board of IBLP (look up Bill Gothard scandal). The kids are very poorly homeschooled despite both parents having accredited college degrees - the mum in Chemistry no less.

Gill was happy to have his teen son support the family rather than pursue a paying job. They are extremely fortunate they landed a TV show.

A lot of it is about image, they try to look like they give their kids choices however independence is discouraged and they're intentionally stunted.

I don't know if Olivia and Ethan should be together as she just finds everything he says really irritating. I do understand when he says things like "Let's do what we do best. Smell my feet" He's a bit like an overgrown 6 year old.
It felt like Moriah wound Lydia up about the boyfriend thing. It's funny how they are such opposites.

@Quadrangle we laughed quite a bit on last nights episode with them in LA.
Moriah dressing up Lydia i thought oh god their parents would freak.

I don't blame Olivia for still being annoyed Ethan didn't stand up for her when his parents were publicly insulting her character. He just stood there like a lemon. It's a shame he couldn't think what to say when the woman asked what he loved about olivia and needed to be prompted. I just don't think they're suited.
Awful about the Plath son Joshua who died. He would be the same age as my dd2

I also watch this! I find the dad really creepy / slimy. He just seems to smile all the time and doesn’t have much to say for himself. Lydia I really worry for she seems like she really isn’t coping well.

I agree Barry's creepy and about Lydia. I thought in the last series barry and kim were trying to blame all their family problems on olivia but refusing to see any fault in themselves.

Plathville this week! Cringe. Half way through watching it and just saw the Ethan visit to the Plath home. The parents are so stubborn. If it were me I'd do anything to see my child and swallow my pride to accept Olivia. Lydia looked really upset

Kim and Barry see their kids crying then make it all about how upset they are, when they're the ones who've caused it.
Im sure Ethan only had Barry as his best man because they've been prevented from having friends.

Yes the parents always make it about them. Weird.

I was willing Ethan to knock his Dad out on the driveway this week.

It was all very strange at the end with the custard pies. I think the mum was trying too hard to show what a fun family they are. But we all know it's poor Lydia who'll have to clear up the mess

There’s something not right with the parents. Why could they not just let the kids speak to Olivia without out them? They are going to mess up all their kids.

I've watched this. Thought it would be a setup like the Duggars, but it's much sadder I think. Kim accidentally running over and killing her young child - what more evidence do you need that there were too many children in this family?

Kim & Barry are both awful though. Denying their children so many opportunities in life - those poor "little girls" are given some rudimentary ballet teaching by Kim, yet when she was young, she went to real ballet classes.

Poor Lydia - she's very devout, offering everything up to god and thinking he's got some great plan for her. I don't think she'll ever break away until she realises that's all bollocks.

Ethan & Olivia - he loves her, but he just doesn't understand her at all, thanks to zero preparation for real life by his parents. The episode where he described when he first masturbated and ejaculated age 13 - he had no idea what was happening

Micah - what a handsome young man. I hope he's successful in his modelling career, but what then? No skills or qualifications.

Moriah - I like her a lot, and she's so much happier now she's moved in with Micah.

The stand-off on the driveway - I wanted Ethan to smash Barry in the face, he deserves it!

Custard pies - such a weirdly staged scene. The kids had no idea what was going on, they were nervously glancing around to check what they were supposed to do - join in, laugh, or what?

I watch this on and off I’ve spent a while trying to work out the family. I thought Ethan was correct when he said Kim is the neck that turns Barry’s head, but I find his constant smile creepy - I wonder if behind that smile is an abusive man. I also wonder if Kim tries to control her children and keep them from having friends or, from being part of a wider church community like the Bates after their son died, it could be a natural grief response. Who can blame her for feeling that way, the guilt she must have felt would have been unbearable, she needs counselling to be able to give her children remaining at home the freedoms they need before she loses them all.

Good points Miranda

I think Ethan certainly has the potential to be an abusive man, having had the upbringing where wives obey their husbands, etc. but I think his smile is more nervous than creepy. I hope he & Olivia can settle many miles away from Kim & Barry (in California?). I'm also very pleased that there are no new babies yet, and that Olivia is pursuing her own career in photography. Not sure what Ethan's job is - sometimes he's wearing a logo'd polo shirt with a name badge, so I'd guess some sort of customer service job.

Kim clearly needs help with her grief, and with being able to let her children grow up. Barry's just useless.

I finally caught up with it the other night.

I just love Ethan, he's adorable, I was cracking up with him eating with the chopsticks and asking stupid questions having a massage.
He clearly loves Olivia when it comes down to it, he was brilliant standing up to creepy Barry.

I think as time goes on, more and more of them will leave.
I follow Micah on Instagram and he's left.

The pie in face thing was just weird, like staged, but nobody knew how to act.
Then it was like the most fun ever.
Surely normal families have fun often on a small scale, rather than that weirdness?

Do we know anything about the oldest daughter Hosanna who isn't featured?