Once again, it’s time to head on down to Georgia and see the level of creepiness Barry Plath will be bringing this week on Welcome to Plathville!
Sweet Lydia is looking for a way out of the Plath Family a job at the local auto body shop where her older siblings have also worked. The owner says he’s known the Plath family for nine years and keeps a list of their names in his wallet.
Um…this dude may actually taken the spot as ‘Creepiest Person on This Show,’ which is no easy feat, considering Barry is on it.
Lydia lands the jobs and runs into her forbidden brother Ethan! Cue all the Lydia tears and lots of yellow hair rubbing together.
(As you may remember, Lydia and Ethan haven’t spoken since the infamous Ethan-Kim-Barry driveway showdown from last season.)
Ethan embraces his sis in a classic fundie side-hug. (They know they’ll go to H-E-double-hockey-sticks if their belly buttons touch.) They chat, but they are not acting like siblings. They’re acting two people who met at a party 10 years ago and became Facebook friends and are still following each other for some reason, and then randomly ran into each other.
It’s very strange, it’s very Plath.
Micah’s model pal Hottie Helena is back and treated to a tour of Micah and Moriah’s house. Micah is very proud of “all the couches,” as he should be! Last season their living room was just the place where the drum set hung out. Now they have couches— and these aren’t just couches— these are Ashley Home fine furnishings, folks!
Helena and Micah go over to Ethan and Olivia’s house and the vibes from the ever-struggling Ethan and Olivia are nothing short of disdain for each other. Rather than try to work on his broken marriage, Ethan quickly heads outside to fix a broken air conditioner with Micah.
He tells Micah about the planned move to Tallahassee and that he doesn’t know what’s happening with his marriage. (Anyone else think that Ethan also doesn’t know where Tallahassee is? Just me…ok…)
Meanwhile, Moriah has a new manager for her music “career” and said-manager has shipped her a home studio to start recording her moody tunes. Super!
Micah pops in to help her and Max set it up because he’s decided his role this season is that of third wheel, which is arguably better than last season’s role of flex master.
Max wants to spend some time with Ethan and Olivia because he feels that they are avoiding him. Poor Max, they aren’t avoiding you, they’re just miserable. It’s not you, Max, it’s them. Well, that shirt sure isn’t helping the situation.[/caption]
Back in her prayer closet, Lydia is praying hard for some healing among the Plath family and, boy are the walls of that prayer closet filling up! It’s all sad and all creepy, but if anyone can fix this mess, place your bets on Lydia and her terror shack of Jesus beggings.
Ethan and Olivia meet up with Moriah and Max for an evening of cheeseburgers and straight-shooting convos. Olivia lets Max know they aren’t avoiding him, she was just scared to spend time with someone who is still hanging ’round her in-laws. Olivia was also hurt by how easily Max was welcomed into the family by Barry and Kim, who pretty much shunned her. While her feelings are valid, it’s not really Max’s fault.
The new job isn’t the only big change in Lydia’s life: she’s traded in the Duggar-Sister-inspired maxi skirts for some adorable (and surprisingly well-fitting!) jeans. Yes girl!
Lydia has also snagged a new man(!), so naturally, Kim calls for a sit-down with her daughter that leaves viewers even more confused than Lydia.
Kim explains that she went through Lydia’s phone (ummm…?) and found 100 texts a day to this new mystery man. While Kim approves of the guy, she isn’t down with all this texting. Kim wants Lydia to get to know this male caller, but thinks they need to talk to each other less. I see a Jitterbug phone in Lydia’s future to prevent texting.
Our heads are spinning and we now have whiplash from Kim’s confusing conversation.
Poor Lydia is going to need some SERIOUS prayer closet time to figure this one out!
This season is shaping up to be full of awkward meals, Ethan breaking things to fix, Micah at the gym, Olivia quoting her therapist, Max and Moriah kissing like he’s heading off to war and parenting tips from Barry and Kim.
So basically… business as usual.
On the next episode of ‘Welcome to Plathville,’ Olivia asks Moriah what she’s doing for birth control, and we need an answer because so far, the clingy couple has only admitted to kissing and major PDA. We need the deets like Lydia needs additional wall space in that closet of hers.
To read The Ashley’s previous ‘Welcome to Plathville’ recaps, click here!
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(Photos: TLC)
Wait a minute! Don’t skip over the fact that the mom literally told Lydia that they had given her that phone, which is for their rental business (who would ever ever ever want to rent from these people? I could only imagine how clingy they are and how much they linger around) and almost threatens her with the fact it wasn’t meant to be HER phone.
Love your Judy Blume reference 🤣
Lydia has a direct line to Jesus saved in her favorites.
*SPOILER ALERT*
The man she texts 100 times a day is Jesus.
Now that she’s outed, she can finally come out of the closet. Thank God.
These parents…I understand why they raised the kids the way they did, I do see their point, but when you’re up your kids ass 24/7, of course they want to get the hell away from you!
But raising your kids is one thing, and ideally those children will become fully functioning adults… but they still need to “adult” and make choices on their own or you’re leaving them completely unprepared for life.
No parent can protect and/or control their child forever. At least not without a disastrous outcome.
Exactly, that’s why they’re in the situation they’re in. They never prepared their kids for the real world. And those younger kids, when they get older, are going to resent the hell out of Kim and Barry for cutting them off from the older kids.