By Mackenzie Byerlee
Features Editor
Dirty sodas were not the only thing bubbling up on season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
Following the recent domestic violence investigation involving Taylor Frankie Paul and ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, viewers were able to see the events leading up to the scandal that caused production to be halted.
Due to this abrupt ending, there was very little about the situation featured in this season. I will say that I was rather disappointed by this, having been an invested viewer since day one.
Every season follows a different large issue within the group, but I would argue that this was the most chaotic despite it being the shortest.
The season started with Paul right after she got back from filming “The Bachelorette.” This was already dramatic as Paul proceeded to meet up with Mortensen which as everyone knows, is never good.
Their relationship is extremely toxic and gets harder to watch every season.
It was quite clear to me throughout the course of the five episodes that, as the other women noted, Paul was much more interested in the men she was seeing than the friends that have been there for her.
The women have always aimed to promote female empowerment, especially within their community where that is not widely spoken about.
But in this environment where all they do is fight, it is apparent that the Mormon wives have a lot of work to do if they want to get back to where they started.
On a more positive note, we got to see the successful career moves that the members of MomTok have made.
Whitney Leavitt was shown making her Broadway debut in “Chicago.”
As viewers we got to see Mayci Neely speak more about her memoir and Jen Affleck shared her journey with wanting to release music.
Another large plot point this season was the ongoing feud between Leavitt and Affleck.
Last season we got to see the tension that followed them being on “Dancing with the Stars” together.
In a one-on-one conversation, Affleck shared that she felt as though Leavitt could have been more supportive and that she was not listening to her perspective.
Affleck seemed to go into this with a closed mind, and I was not surprised that their issues were not resolved.
One thing I was grateful for was the lack of screentime that DadTok received this time around.
Since season 3, the husbands and boyfriends have been promoting their platforms on the show and I was sick of it. While we did still see them, especially when it came to Mortensen and Paul’s on again off again relationship, it was not nearly as much as in previous seasons.
In the last two episodes, a fight between Mathews, Neely and Paul shook the friend group. Neely and Mathews felt as though Paul was not being a good friend to them and makes me question even more where their friendships with Paul are today.
They seemed to have resolved this particular issue as Paul broke down about Mortensen again and the women rallied around her in support. But we have yet to see what happened after the newest scandal which leaves me with so many questions.
But my biggest question of all is: will MomTok survive this?
