On Tuesday’s Season 8 premiere of Welcome to Plathville, Lydia Plath rounded up her (mostly) bad-mannered, fair-haired family members to admonish them for their mistreatment of her husband, Zac Wyse, as well as the abhorrent behavior they exhibited before (during and after) the couple’s wedding.
As fans of the TLC series likely remember, Lydia’s mom, Kim, and brothers Micah and Ethan were less-than-supportive (and at times, even cruel) about Lydia’s marriage to Zac last season. Despite Zac inviting the family to be present at his proposal to Lydia, Ethan, Micah and their significant others responded by giving Zac a hard time– from Ethan lighting a fire in the location that Zac planned to pop the question, to Micah obnoxiously tossing a chair into the water and nearly knocking down Lydia’s future husband by barrel-rolling down a hill into him.
The Plath shenanigans continued at Lydia and Zac’s rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself, with Kim claiming that Zac was “controlling” and Ethan accusing Zac of being gay, citing Zac and Lydia’s decision to save their first kiss for their wedding day.
On Tuesday’s episode, Lydia and Zac revealed they were planning to confront the problematic Plaths over their past behavior, with Lydia noting that the situation was still weighing heavily on her mind eight months after she and Zac tied the knot.
As Lydia’s siblings began arriving to the Plath farm in Georgia, they acknowledged why Lydia had called for a family meeting, with Kim predicting that Lydia and Zac were seeking an apology.
“I’m a little bit dreading it,” Kim said. “Because I know that things were crazy at their wedding, and I feel like they’re coming here wanting an apology.
“I have mixed feelings about that, because I am sorry that a lot of things happened the way they did,” she continued. “At the same time, I’m not sorry that we really cared.”
Despite all of her family’s “caring,” Lydia told viewers that she’d been so angry and upset over what they did that it often caused her to “fall asleep crying,” at which point Zac would have to comfort her. Still, she insisted that she was finally ready to have a conversation with her family and ready to move forward.
Upon Zac and Lydia’s arrival to the farm, the couple sat outside with the rest of the Plaths and Lydia began by acknowledging how quickly she and Zac got married and apologizing to those who may have felt pressured to accept their union. However, Lydia also noted that while some chose to get to know Zac, others in the family “just made their judgments.”
“ … I know you guys care,” Lydia said. “It would be amazing if there was a way to show that care, especially to Zac.”
Zac then spoke up to tell his in-laws that if they had any lingering concerns or questions for him, he was open to having a conversation– a comment that seemingly referred to the accusations Ethan and Kim previously made against him.
“I don’t have a lot of pain from what they did to me, it’s more that they would do it to me and that they’re hurting [Lydia] in the process,” Zac explained to viewers. “That hurt me more. I’m trying to lift Lydia up, because I know what she’s doing is right.”
Back at the family meeting, an emotional Lydia began to unload her unfiltered feelings onto her family.
“The way we were treated the night before our wedding, it was supposed to be a joyful time celebrating the last night as a Plath,” Lydia said. “It was actually the hardest night of my life.”
Micah went on to break the tension by apologizing to Lydia for his behavior around the time of her wedding, telling his sister he “felt awful” afterwards. Still, like Kim, Micah insisted that he was concerned for Lydia and “looking out for [her] best interest.”
After expressing a modicum of regret, Micah told viewers he could see how the family’s actions made things “difficult” for Lydia and Zac– Zac in particular. He also told Lydia and Zac that he approved of their pairing and knows that Zac is a good guy.
Lydia’s brother Isaac echoed similar sentiments as Micah, telling his sister and brother-in-law that while he was weary of their fast-paced relationship, he realizes he “went about it completely the wrong way.” He also admitted to viewers that he had acted “like an idiot.”
Despite the fact that she was “dreading” the conversation with Lydia and Zac, Kim told the couple she was “100 percent supportive” of their relationship– a statement her ex-husband Barry seemed hesitant to believe– and even Ethan begrudgingly apologized to pair, before claiming that he, too, acted out of concern for Lydia.
“Before their wedding, I was just saying what I saw and what I felt,” Ethan told viewers. “Just like Isaac and Micah, we were just encouraging Lydia to not rush into something, especially with not knowing really what their physical attraction is.
“I think there’s nothing wrong with checking yourself and being like, ‘Do you see what I see, or am I just delusional?’” he continued. “But I certainly could have been nicer, you know? Gone about things maybe in a better way.”
New episodes of ‘Welcome to Plathville’ air Tuesdays on TLC. Watch a clip from this week’s episode below.
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
One Response
If only there was something like talking to your sibling or daughter instead of being childish and rude jerks.
She was raised to court and marry like she did.