The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Recap: Reunion Redux

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
The Book of True Colors
Season 4 Episode 3
Editor’s Rating ★★
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In every cast of unscripted television stars, there must be at least one who, irrespective of natural talent or charisma, longs for a career as a pop star. In the case of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, that person is Demi. How long Demi or her husband, Brett, have harbored such an ambition is a mystery to me, but here they are, doing vocal warm-ups in the car on their way to the recording studio. Demi has often complained of some conspiracy to make her look bad, and this scene is the best evidence I have to back up that claim. It’s not that Demi and Brett are laying down one of the worst covers of “True Colors” ever committed to audio that makes her seem unlikable. It’s that Demi spends the entire session harshly critiquing Brett’s singing — too flat, too high, too breathy — without seeming to apply any such standards to herself. The truth is that Demi could sound like a wet cat and still be found endearing if she were only a smidgeon less of an asshole about it. But Demi makes it difficult to be on her side — which is how we find ourselves relitigating, for the 900th time, whether or not she’s telling the truth about Marciano.

In its third episode, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives takes us on a little trip back in time, as the whole thing revolves around the season three reunion episode. Despite the kumbaya of last season, many of the moms remain leery of welcoming Demi back into the fold with open arms, and the reunion will be the first big test to see if their fragile peace actually holds. Somehow, it has all come to hinge on whether or not Demi can prove her story to the other women’s satisfaction. As the date of the reunion approaches, MomTok prepares to confront Demi, once again, about her allegations that Marciano sexually assaulted her.

In Los Angeles, Zac has returned from Vanderpump Villa a full Marciano convert. Whatever doubts he had about Demi’s claims before, he tells Jen, they have been fully affirmed by hearing Marciano’s side of the story. This is more than good enough for Jen, Demi’s greatest foe. Whitney, Demi’s last remaining ally, is not an ideal audience for Jen in this moment, but she is who is available. Jen worries about the reunion because, she says quite accurately, Demi hates her guts. Whitney delicately responds with a lot of nodding and “mmhmm’ing” and occasionally she throws out a, “Both of your feelings are valid.” Whitney, newly evolved voice of reason, would love nothing more than for everyone to just drop the Marciano thing, but until Jen sees a 180-degree attitude adjustment from Demi, she’s coming at her with everything she’s got. “I trust vibes over words,” Jen says, and the vibes are telling her that Demi is a lying liar face who is going to try and make her cry on-camera. 

Luckily for Jen, Jessi is equally motivated to prove that Demi is a two-faced jerk whom she is under no ethical obligation to care about. Back in Utah, Jessi gathers everyone except Whitney (still in L.A.), Taylor (recovering from a pre-Bachelorette breast augmentation), and Mikayla (unclear) for tacos to discuss the Demi situation. We are two days out from the reunion, and Jessi wants everyone on the same page about how much, exactly, they believe Demi. Jessi’s first point of evidence is that, off-camera, Demi has allegedly, “kind of admitted that she leaned into the Marciano stuff too much.” (Jen can barely contain a smile). But Jessi considers Gabi the real smoking gun. In their last joint energy healing session, Gabi could “read” that Demi has a pattern of emotional cheating, to which Demi said sure, but never with Marciano. Jessi presents this to the group as if it were entirely new information and moreover incontrovertible proof of Demi’s essential duplicitousness. The other women may not trust Gabi as implicitly as Jessi does, but they do agree that Demi is never fully genuine with them. 

For the record, Demi maintains that Marciano sexually assaulted her at Vanderpump Villa, which Marciano has consistently denied. He has also sued Demi for defamation. Without the luxury of the footage that both parties say will corroborate their own version of events, I will only say this. We don’t need to disbelieve Demi in order to dislike her. Frankly, the world would be a much better place if we accepted the fact that not every victim of sexual assault is a nice person that everyone wants to hang out with. 

The day of the reunion arrives, and we all know how it goes because we all watched it when it first aired several months ago. We revisit the moment Brett makes fun of Zac’s “munchkin voice,” as well as Demi asking Jen, who has openly struggled with suicidal ideation, “What the actual fuck is wrong with your brain?” So later, even as Demi is sobbing that she only wants to be believed, the other women find it hard to fully wrap their arms around her. I think Miranda puts it most eloquently in her confessional interview. “The lack of accountability, the lack of transparency, the lack of sensitivity on her end has made it very difficult for all of us to give her the grace that I think that she believes she is owed,” Miranda says. “But I think all of us girls as a whole would’ve been a lot more open had we had that transparency from the beginning.” 

There was still a way forward for Demi after the reunion. Because that is what reunions are for: one last blow-up for the road before putting last season’s grievances to bed and making room for new feuds in the future. But Demi might have sealed her fate by not showing up to Whitney’s event afterwards. Whitney is willing to let Demi take a mental health day, but for Taylor, this is Demi’s most serious transgression. 

“What do you mean she’s not here?” Taylor asks, using the voice reserved for when she really means business. “Isn’t this Whitney’s thing? That’s her best friend.” Being a part of MomTok comes with certain obligations, among them the commitment to supporting one another at events like these. If Demi can’t even pull it together to support her best friend, how can she claim to be a part of MomTok at all?