Will MomTok survive this? These are the questions viewers have had since the premiere of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. The girls have taken the reality TV world by storm and given viewers another insight into what life is like in Utah as a member of the Mormon church.
Every episode had viewers at the edge of their seats since there were shocking reveals about the MomTok group and who would be the one to become the newest Queen Bee. Even though each episode was intriguing, some episodes attracted more attention. Below is a ranking of all the episodes in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
8 “The Book of Belonging”
Episode 2
This is the second episode of the season and the one that sets the scene for what the whole season will be like. It takes place 11 months after the first episode was filmed. The episode is important since it shows what happened to Taylor Frankie Paul after her arrest. After revealing she went through a miscarriage in the first episode, viewers find out that she got pregnant again, and she is celebrating her baby shower with hopes of being involved once again with the MomTok group.
The episode revolved around Taylor’s baby shower and Whitney Leavitt’s absence. This gave an inside look at how Whitney manipulated the group to have her side and exclude Taylor. The most interesting part of the episode was mostly Taylor’s shower, and it also showed how Mayci Neeley felt about Taylor’s boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, since there had been rumors of him cheating on Taylor and mistreating her. Even though the episode did not have too many interesting moments, it allowed viewers to see Taylor’s mom call Whitney for not going to the baby shower, which was funny to experience.
7 “The Book of Broken Vows”
Episode 4
As an episode after the chaotic birthday trip for Mayci, the most interesting part was seeing what life would be like for Taylor and Dakota as parents, since Jen Affleck and her husband, Zac Affleck, gave him a crash course on being a parent. Not only that, but after revealing her dislike of Dakota, Mayci was able to have a conversation with him about his relationship with Taylor, but things took a turn when Taylor revealed she wasn’t ready to take the next step into marriage with Dakota because of him having a relationship with someone else when they decided to take time apart.
Besides the Dakota and Taylor of it all, it showed viewers how the group felt about Whitney at Layla Taylor’s divorce party. Most of the girls could see how Whitney would try to victimize herself, and her showing up at the party shined a light on her wanting pity from what had happened at Mayci’s trip.
6 “The First Book of Sin”
Episode 6
Seeing what these girls would be like in Las Vegas was intriguing, since half of the group does not partake in some of the main experiences of a Vegas trip. They all went as a group to have fun and be able to let loose, but the only one who decided not to go was Whitney. Since Layla’s divorce party, most of the girls have left on bad terms with Whitney, and it showed how she had unfollowed every single one of the girls on Instagram. Taylor and Dakota were again at the center of it all since their last conversation was in front of Mayci, and they did not leave on the best of terms.
The most shocking part of the episode is when Jen and her husband discuss their Vegas trip. In the plans of the trip, there was a mention of going to a Chippendales show, and Jen’s husband Zac said to her, “Being divorced and taking care of two kids would be kind of tough,” implying that he would divorce her if she wentto a show like that. First, he did not let her go alone, and his comment showed the type of relationship that Jen was in. It was also revealed in the episode that Zac had a big gambling problem, but he was going on the trip to gamble while Jen was with her friends. Besides Zac going on the trip, which was a girl’s trip, Dakota had also invited himself just in case Taylor gave birth and was close to her. Things did not end well for Jen since Zac found out they went to the show and freaked out on her because of it.
5 “The Book of Trust”
Episode 7
This episode showed the aftermath of the girl’s first day in Las Vegas. The main focus was on Jen since she had issues with her husband after he disagreed with her attending a Chippendales show. After leaving the show, Jen decided to go in the middle of the night to find Zac and have a conversation with him, but she didn’t tell any of the girls where she was, so everyone was alarmed. In this episode, the girls speak very openly about their feelings for Zac and how he tries to control everything Jen does. It was later revealed that she had gone to his hotel room to talk to him, and they could move forward, but the girls still didn’t appreciate her leaving and Zac being rude to Jen.
During the Zac and Jen drama, Dakota comes back to the house upset with Taylor because of the show and because they are still unable to move forward because of their issues. The biggest shock of the episode, though, was finding out that Mayci had received a blind item about Dakota, which revealed that he had cheated on Taylor, and she was debating whether to tell her or not.
4 “The Book of Saints & Sinners”
Episode 3
Throughout this episode, viewers are introduced to how the divide is shown through MomTok. It could be seen as the “Saints and the Sinners”, as one group is still heavily involved with the Mormon church, and the other is not as involved. The Saints group was Mayci, Mikayla Matthews, Jen, and Whitney. The Sinners were Taylor, Layla, Demi Engemman, and Jessi Ngatikaura. The divide started because of Zac’s graduation party, and during it, Jessi and her husband decided to take out a flask when they knew that neither Zac, Jen nor his family endorsed drinking in their house. Since this issue, Jen took matters to another extent by disinviting the “sinners” from her baby blessing. This was when Demi started to have a problem with Jen’s husband, Zac.
Besides that, Demi started to take center stage throughout the season. She started having problems with Whitney because she revealed a secret she had told her about her and her husband. Demi planned a Galentine’s party, and Whitney decided to take a joke too far and exposed Demi in front of all of their friends and in front of her husband as well.
3 “The Book of Rumors”
Episode 8
As the conclusion of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, this episode not only answered questions about MomTok’s future but also excited viewers about the potential of another season. The episode showed the aftermath of Taylor finding out about Mayci receiving the blind item of Dakota cheating on her, and it showed how the couple attempted to move forward since she was about to give birth. Nobody expected Dakota to call Mayci later so they could have a one-on-one conversation about this blind item. The two had an open discussion about it and ultimately decided to agree to disagree because they both cared for Taylor. The shock of the season finale was seeing Mayci call the person rumored to have slept with Dakota while he was with Mayci. It was a shock to see her call her, but it was an even bigger shock to see that the season was over after that.
Besides the Dakota and Taylor of it all, viewers saw that Whitney announced her pregnancy, and all the remaining MomTok girls decided to unfollow her from Instagram because she did not support Mayci at her event. Jen also announced that Zac had been accepted to medical school in New York City, so they were thinking of leaving Utah because of it, which meant she would leave MomTok for good.
2 “The First Book of Taylor”
Episode 1
The episode that started it all gave viewers an inside look at the scandal that began attracting attention to MomTok, with Taylor explaining all about the swinging scandal. This episode happened eleven months before the rest of the season, and it was a great background to understand the women and their thoughts on the scandal. Even though viewers saw a different side of Taylor throughout this episode, it was great to see her when she wasn’t pregnant and trying to navigate her way back into MomTok. The shock of the episode was for viewers to see when Taylor got arrested and what she went through that night.
Besides Taylor’s backstory, viewers got a look at Whitney as a person and how she wanted to keep the spotlight on her. She revealed to the women that her husband was on Tinder throughout some time in their marriage, and it was obvious they all knew, but she had denied it for a long time. What surprised everyone was seeing how angry she got when the pity she received was turned to Taylor because she had announced that she had gone through a miscarriage with Dakota.
1 “The Book of Truth”
Episode 5
As the divide between the “saints and sinners” was created, the girls decided to go on a girls’ trip for Mayci’s birthday. What could go wrong? The answer: everything. This trip was meant to try to reunite everyone again after the turbulent year they had all had because of the swinging scandal. This episode not only cemented Whitney as the villain of the season but also showed a potential new Queen Bee in Demi. During this trip, the girls decided to play a game where they would write a question, put it in a box, and answer it without knowing who it was from. It started very lighthearted, but things quickly turned when Whitney received a question asking if she was jealous of Taylor. She revealed she was jealous of her because people could move on from the fact that she released the news about the swinging scandal, and she wasn’t forgiven as easily because of the time she made a TikTok dance next to her baby while he was in the NICU. The two scandals were completely different from each other and something she had gone through in 2022.
Demi became MomTok’s unspoken hero, as she was the only one willing to call out Whitney for her behavior towards the girls. This showed how the divide between MomTok and Whitney was starting to arise and what it would be like without her in the group. In the end, MomTok was able to survive without her.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is available to stream on Hulu in the US.
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