The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Recap: Girl Talk

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
The Book of Unearthing
Season 4 Episode 8
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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One-half of this episode was beautiful and heartwarming and genuinely made me tear up. The other half is about Dakota. Let’s start with the good part: Taylor and Liann’s trip to Pueblo, Colorado, for Taylor to learn more about her biological father, Brian. 

When Steve, Brian’s former best friend, first starts describing Brian in high school and basic facts about his biography, I wonder why Liann couldn’t have told Taylor any of this. But the more we learn about Brian and what his relationship with Liann really was, the more she seems to come into focus as a person, and all of her choices and behaviors suddenly make perfect sense. Brian was a great guy, Steve says. He was very intelligent, but he had a temper and he could get jealous. After the marines, Brian got in a car accident that broke his neck. Steve and Liann agree that he was never the same after that. “Brian had that hold on me that I feel like Dakota has on Taylor,” Liann says. He began using drugs and became physically abusive to Liann, which Steve haltingly describes as having witnessed personally. Taylor is shocked to learn the extent of what her mom went through, while Liann seems to shrink into herself. 

Afterwards, Taylor and Liann visit the restaurant where Taylor once met Brian when she was four years old. I’d assumed this had been a scheduled meeting, but no. Brian happened to be working there, and Liann, seeing him, asked if he wanted to meet his daughter. It’s all becoming too much for Liann, who repeats quietly that she doesn’t like to talk about it much. She declares she needs some air and starts walking. Taylor, driving, eventually tracks her down on the way to their old house — the site of many memories, both good and bad, they say. The current owner lets them explore the yard, where they can talk. 

In her confessionals, Liann has been filling in some of the context. She describes meeting Jeremy, who adopted Taylor after they got married, and says she feels like he saved both of them. She had dreams where Brian showed up on her doorstep to claim her and Taylor, but he never did. Standing together in their old yard, Taylor’s resentment toward Liann has evaporated, and so has Liann’s toward Taylor. Liann tells Taylor that, as much as she wanted that happy little family, it was never going to happen with Brian. She chose not to stay with him for her. Taylor tries to apologize for not considering Liann’s trauma when she insisted on this trip, but Liann says she owed Taylor answers. Taylor reflects that rediscovering the past has been cathartic, but she has two loving parents in Liann and Jeremy. “You’re an amazing mom,” she tells Liann. In confessional, Liann says she’s glad Taylor thinks she and Jeremy are enough, but, “I want her to feel like she’s enough.” Taylor says this is Liann’s story, and Liann says it’s Taylor’s, and they agree, “We’re a part of each other.” No, seriously, why am I crying? I need to go call my mom. I’ll be right back.

I’m not quite ready to talk about Dakota yet, so let’s check in on Layla. Seeing the other MomTokers spread their wings has encouraged Layla to start chasing her own dreams, so she’s flying to New York City for a meeting with Ford Models. The only problem is, if the agency does take her on, they’ll need her to commit to living and working in New York City for at least three months. Meanwhile, she and Mason have a long-needed discussion about her kids. He thinks she’s too permissive with them, and she thinks he needs to step all the way down because he is an uncle, not a parent. And, by the way, they’re 3 and 4 years old. They’re innocent babies. When she explains her own broken home and fighting parents, and how she is careful about the kind of energy she brings around her children, Mason finally understands and agrees to back off. It ends with happy tears and Sauvignon blanc. Refreshing! 

Okay, ready? Are we all calm enough now to discuss Dakota? Because that man is going out of his way to remind everyone why, exactly, he is universally disdained. Jordan knows that Dakota has been seeing someone within their circle, which means that Jessi knows that Dakota has been seeing someone within their circle. Jordan won’t tell her who it is, but it doesn’t take much detective work to conclude that the woman is Miranda’s friend, Shinia. When we met Shinia at pickleball, she was updating Taylor on her recent breakup — her ex found God and went back to his wife. She reappears on day two of this country music festival, the day after her relationship with Dakota was outed. Half of MomTok, led by Jessi, spent the previous evening reading Dakota the riot act for hooking up with a friend of Taylor’s. Now, Shinia is being given the business by Miranda, who has been put in a truly wretched position. 

Miranda believes that Dakota picked Shinia intentionally, wanting it to get out and make its way back to Taylor. If he really wanted to keep this a secret, he would not have told Jordan, of all people. This is the point Miranda tries valiantly to impress upon Shinia in the women’s bathroom. She says Dakota is love-bombing her, and Shinia says love-bombing is only gross if you don’t like the guy. In exasperation, Miranda yells that love-bombing is always gross! She says Shinia can do way better than Dakota. She urges her to look at what happened to Taylor, the last woman who thought she could change this man. She is giving this girl talk her all, but to no avail. Dakota catches up with Shinia afterward and tells her himself that he is still stuck on Taylor, but they agree to stay in their little bubble anyway. Sorry, Miranda, this one’s a goner.

MomTok now has a problem. What are they going to tell Taylor? If Taylor flipped out when Dakota hooked up with a stranger in London, one can only imagine how she’ll react to discovering Dakota is currently hooking up with a friend. Jessi calls another meeting at her house, MomTok’s go-to venue for serious conversations. They weigh the pros and cons of both options. If they tell Taylor, they risk her crashing out and jeopardizing her position on The Bachelorette, which would reflect badly on all of them, not to mention the hurt it would cause her. If they don’t, she’s likely to find out anyway from another source, which would only increase her sense of betrayal. Layla doesn’t feel comfortable with the idea of lying to Taylor’s face. Mikayla makes a good point when she says they’re always trying to save Taylor, but it only makes it worse. But before they make a decision, Jessi has one more secret to reveal. Dakota isn’t only hooking up with Shinia. He also just hooked up with Jenna. The very same Jenna he lied to Taylor about hooking up with back at the beginning of their relationship. The lie Taylor has still not forgiven him for, and which she brings up in every argument. Says Mikayla, “The man continues to stoop lower.” Says Mayci, “Hell has a basement.”