‘Counting On’ Season 11 Episode 12: A Pandemic Parade & Another Pregnancy Announcement

Me, powering through the final episode of Season 11…

The season finale of Counting On flew past us quicker than the better part of 2020, coincidently bringing with it the same amount of joy (i.e. very little). 

However, because we’ve come so far – in both Season 11 and this year – let’s have a break down one final Duggar adventure before spending months asking ourselves why we continue to watch this show… only to ultimately tune in and do it all over again next season. 

While the Duggars typically partake in activities that most of America does not – having a bajillion babies, getting married at 18, wearing ridiculously long denim skirts – this episode shows the family in full quarantine mode like so many others.

You know things are rough when the lockdown has Jessa and Jinger actually missing the summer camp style sleeping arrangement at The Compound.

To help pass the time, John-David attempts to bake a chocolate cake for Abbie’s birthday. As if making his wife shovel down this homemade gluten-free, dairy-free, confectionary disaster isn’t bad enough, John also makes Abbie film the entire process. 

“I wear the starched Dockers in this trailer!” 

While whipping up the goods, Pilot John pats himself on the back for dropping some major coin on the ingredients needed to accommodate Abbie’s high-maintenance diet. 

Chocolate cake AND guilt?! That Abbie sure is spoiled! 

While John continues his one-man competition on The Great Fundie Bake-Off, assorted Duggars decorate their cargo vans and children haulers nearby in preparation for a surprise drive-by birthday gift drop parade (working title, we hope).

“I honestly have no idea what we’re doing, I just wanted to get away from my husband.”

Naturally, Jim Bob can’t resist the urge to do whatever possible to get some attention/camera time, so he chooses to cruise on into the parade driving a “three-wheel sports car” with Michelle sitting shotgun. 

Um…what happened to buying used and saving the difference? I hardly think this thing was up for sale at Hillbilly Harry’s Thrift & Gift! 

Just wait until they find out that color is called “Sizzling Sinner Red.”

The forever long car parade eventually arrives at John and Abbie’s and John finally relieves the birthday girl from camera duty. After obnoxiously honking/pissing off every neighbor along the way, the Duggars drive by and wave, only to then awkwardly park their vehicles and (even more awkwardly) place gifts at Abbie’s feet. 

“Smile and say, ‘social distancing!'”

Once John and Abbie are back inside, John presents Abbie with her possibly edible cake and proceeds to belt out a really enthusiastic rendition of “Happy Birthday.” 

Kind of disappointed TLC didn’t show any footage of John warming up his vocals for this performance.

Given the sudden need for cloth masks, The Compound has been turned into a makeshift Fundie Face Covering Factory and Jana is leading the charge. 

Jana helps the younger girls sort through gender-specific fabric (because that helps fight the virus, evidently) and schools them on the art of fabric folding, all while Jordyn expresses how embarrassed she is to wear a mask in public. 

And we know those Duggars like to stay up on all the trends…

Are you kidding, girl?! You finally have an opportunity to cover your face when forced to go out in public with Jim Bob and/or Michelle… enjoy it while it lasts. 

Later on, Jana and her crew deliver the homemade masks to Duggar homes, while making sure to remain socially distant from each of the families.

Back in Los Angeles, Jinger passes the time by purging Felicity’s clothes, which she plans to ship back to her family in Arkansas.  Certainly, those less-cultured folk will be happy to have these fancy LA baby threads.

“Nah, I think the thrift store is more their style.”

While sorting through everything, Jinger gets sentimental over tiny sweatpants and the producers ask her if she thinks these clothes will make their way back to her again. Jinger says she doesn’t know when her Fundie Baby Factory will be back in business, churning out blessings.  

When we check in with Jessa and Ben, Ivy has started taking her first steps so Jessa invites her parents over to watch Ivy through the window. (File that one under “Things you can say during a pandemic that would otherwise sound incredibly creepy.”) 

Jim Bob, Michelle, Jana and some little Duggars soon arrive at Jessa and Ben’s to get their peep on, while a confused Henry tries to wrap his head around what the hell is happening. 

Spurge, on the other hand, is on some sort of power trip guarding that doorknob.

Once Ivy is unleashed on the floor, she reluctantly takes some steps, much to the delight of her window audience. 

This should sufficiently give the children nightmares for years to come…

Because the Duggars will literally burst into flames if they go too long without some form of a Duggar Family Fun Night, the group organizes a family hang out sesh over video chat. In typical Duggar fashion, a pregnancy announcement is made (Jinger), though surprisingly, no Duggars give birth mid-Zoom call. 

During the call, Jeremy has the family members predict the gender of his and Jinger’s unborn baby, but instead of simply stating their guess, each group is asked to reveal their guess using things found around the house/outside because…Duggars…

When you instantly regret complaining to your brother-in-law about how bored you’ve been during the quarantine.

Jeremy tells the group that he and Jinger do not know the gender yet either and will be surprised along with the family.  

Our thoughts exactly.

After the family gathers their blue and pink supplies, Jeremy and Jinger take the camera outside and place their gender-revealing soccer ball on the ground so Jeremy can make this about him do the honors. 

Once Jeremy and Jinger have covered their backyard in hot pink powder and the Duggar enthusiasm has dropped back down, 17-year-old Justin jumps on the video call from Texas. (Who even knew there was a Justin Duggar?!) He tells his family that he’s “in a relationship” and his girlfriend is a 19-year-old named Claire Spivey. (As if his parents haven’t already done a thorough background check on this chick to make sure she’s never worn a bikini or watched a rated PG-13 movie.) 

This is Duggar for, “The second I turn 18, we’re doing the Fundie shuffle down the aisle.”

Naturally, all the Duggar siblings are tickled pink for Justin, but none more than Jana who will soon have one less kid to clean up after.

That’s all for this season! 

To read The Ashley’s other ‘Counting On’ recaps, click here! 

(Photos: TLC)

11 Responses


  1. That girl looks really old for 19, and Justin looks really young for 17.
    She literally looks like she could be his mother.


  2. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “Trash”. Reason: Failed Bot Test (expired) *]
    If you despise this family so much, why are you taking the time to write about them? Why do you care how they choose to live THEIR LIVES? It’s none of your’s or my business. It’s their’s and their’s alone! So, either stop with the snide, smart Alec comments or stop covering them entirely. Clearly, it’s not your thing!!!!


    1. Hey, Phoebes… how about you untwist your knickers and realize that everybody has a right to free speech…at least for now, until/unless trump gets his way.
      Wouldn’t the Duggars love having’the liberals’ silenced?
      Sounds like you would too.
      – eyeroll –


  3. I assume the courtship age for girls will drop to 16 now. (Poor Johannah) How do they not see a problem with this?! He was basically 16 when he met her and said he will marry this chick, who is 18. (Every year matters when you’re that young so an 18-year old girl taking an interest in a 16-year old boy is a bit weird) If they go the fast route (getting engaged on his 18th birthday next month and marry early next year), he might even have 2 kids by the time he is 20. I just…don’t understand. He has PLENTY of older brothers (not to mention Jana, who is a running gag to them with her singleness), one of them even wants to be a politician now, you are telling me he didn’t meet ANY girl on his rallies?!

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