The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Finale Recap: Now What?

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
The Book of Thorns and Roses
Season 4 Episode 10
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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Well, gang, at least she actually made it to the Bachelor mansion, right? And thank God they took away her phone. But while Taylor has (hopefully) (mostly) closed the book on Dakota, we end with little resolution for the rest of the MomTokers. Mikayla’s marriage is still in limbo. Jen and Whitney may never speak again. Jessi can’t file for divorce until she’s gotten her prenup figured out. There was never even a proper good-bye from Demi. She could show up at the reunion for all we know. Most frustratingly, for me, it would have been nice to see more of Layla’s journey after she shared something so painful, but her story about her eating disorder didn’t even come up until just now.

Layla did not get signed by Ford Models, and even though they never said anything about her appearance, it’s the first thing she thinks of when trying to make sense of the rejection. In particular, she says she immediately worries that she weighs too much. Then, for the first time, she opens up about her eating disorder. 

Layla says she had anorexia in high school, then things changed when she got pregnant. But after her split from her sons’ father, she says she fell into old habits. “I feel like I’ve been battling it for four years, silently,” she says. At the spa with Jessi and Miranda, Layla admits she always feels like she weighs too much and she’ll never be small enough. Now, she has lost all her energy and it’s painful even to sleep, and she knows it can’t go on. Miranda gives her a hug and Jessi asks if she’s still on GLP-1. 

Much of what Layla says about her eating disorder feels like a warning. People don’t talk about how addictive this is, she tells the confessional. She tells her friends she doesn’t know how to stop. Layla is also candid about how online commenters have affected her. People telling her to eat something or that she was too skinny was like a dopamine rush, she says, because it showed that it was working. Jessi and Miranda offer hugs and assure Layla that she doesn’t have to fight this alone. In fact, next we see that Jessi has found one of the best eating disorder treatment facilities in the country and accompanied Layla to her first appointment. Because of course she does. 

There is little more that needs to be said about the Jen and Whitney feud, other than I cannot respect sending one’s husband to settle scores on one’s behalf. After Jen gets eliminated on Dancing With the Stars and says in an Instagram Live that she will not be voting for Whitney, Whitney tries to set up a meeting to talk through their issues. But when she arrives, Zac walks through the door instead. It’s an entirely pointless conversation. Anything Whitney says Zac immediately dismisses as bullshit, and she eventually gets up and leaves in frustration. Over the phone, Conner says he’s going to rip the guy’s head off. “My biggest fucking pet peeve, Whitney, is when men try and make women feel small!” Okay, we get it. Conner concludes, “What a fuckin’ loser.”

Speaking of which, I cannot say for sure why Dakota did what he did, because I don’t actually know him. I can say that in this episode of television, Dakota’s behavior is the behavior of a person trying desperately to stop another person from becoming the Bachelorette. I know we’re in for trouble the moment Dakota’s car pulls up to Taylor’s driveway the night before she is supposed to leave for The Bachelorette. Sure enough, an ominous title card announces “The Next Morning,” and Dakota skips merrily out the front door. Now, when Liann and Aspen arrive to take Taylor to the airport, she is suddenly too sick to get out of bed.

Dakota immediately informs Jordan that he and Taylor slept together, so when Mayci, Mikayla, Layla, and Jessi are supposed to be sending Taylor off at the airport with their little hand-decorated signs and find only Liann and Aspen instead, Jessi is able to provide Liann with this important context. Everyone is universally grossed out. Nobody can prove that Dakota has caused Taylor to miss her flight, but nobody doubts that it is Dakota’s fault. MomTok decides to just break into Taylor’s house and try and force her out of bed. “Why won’t anyone leave me alone!” Taylor cries from inside her room. “Because you said yes to The Bachelorette!” answers Jessi, stating the obvious.

The good news is that Taylor does get a later flight. The bad news is that Dakota is not done. Taylor is being driven to her new temporary home in Los Angeles, moments from being whisked away into Bacheloretteland, when Dakota FaceTimes her. It’s the last time he has to express how he feels, he tells us, the horrified audience, in a confessional interview. To Taylor, he says he just wants to say sorry, and she wants to hear exactly how sorry he is and for what, which I view as a bad sign. Dakota makes one last plea. Their relationship doesn’t have to be toxic, he says. Then he delivers a line I imagine he’s practiced several times in the mirror. “All I’m gonna say is, save a rose for me.” The guillotine for this man!

You think it’s over, but we still have Jessi’s annual Halloween party to get through, and Dakota has arrived dressed as a literal red flag. I suppose he thinks this is funny. After cornering poor Shinia and alternately hitting on her and warning her to stay away from him, Dakota has one last move to pull. Now, if I wanted to get a rumor going but I didn’t want to spread it myself, Jordan and Jessi would be my very first call. At this party, Dakota pulls J and J to the side because he has something to tell them. According to Dakota, Taylor said she was ovulating the last time they had sex and she hasn’t gotten her period. Jessi gasps. Does this mean there could be a pregnant Bachelorette? Maybe! Or maybe that’s just what he wants you to think. 

Another show might try to find some natural conclusion to the season’s drama here, but The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives likes to keep us guessing. In any case, if you do have questions, you can always take them to the MomTok comment sections.