In Sept. 2024, Hulu released “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a reality show following a group of mom TikTokers who go against traditional Mormon values to promote their views on religion, family life and the outdated position of females in the church. After the face of the social media friend group, Taylor Frankie Paul, was exposed to be a part of a soft-swinging scandal, the first season of the show centered around the backlash Taylor received and how the image of the group would recover after that.
Following the scandal, the show also uncovered the drama the women had in their friend group. What seemed like a group of best friends who support each other through everything turned out to be just a mask for social media. Personal secrets resurface, lying is normalized, sneaky alliances are created, jeopardizing friendships is present and ruining the image “MomTok” has created even more tension between the girls
With the release of the second season of the show on May 15, the drama is back to an even greater extent. In the first season, the show provided viewers with a small look into the relationship of Jen Affleck and her husband Zac, the two ultimately deciding to separate for a while to give Jen time to think about the way Zac had been diminishing her feelings in their relationship. The second season exploits this more closely and shows Jen’s vulnerable side in deciding whether to divorce Zac, with an unexpected pregnancy adding to the struggle.
The second season also touches on Taylor’s process in figuring out her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Dakota, who is the father of Taylor’s son Ever True. Co-parenting and working through old lies have been a hindrance in their relationship, causing Taylor stress over the situation.
While Jen has been working through her relationship with Zac, both Demi and Jessi feel the need to insert their opinions on their relationship and try to turn the other moms against her. Jen, clearly already struggling with Zac, has to find where she stands in “Momtok” with Jessi and Demi keeping a close eye on her every wrong move and supposed friendship-threatening lies.
Whitney, being categorized as the villain in the first season, is back to rejoin “MomTok.” Most of the women were willing to give her a second chance, even after willingly destroying friendships for money and fame, but some relationships remain unbroken. Mikayla, sharing the start of her therapy journey, has not let go of Whitney’s wrongdoings and asserts how she has no intention of mending the old relationship the two previously had.
A new influencer, Miranda, has joined the group of girls this season after taking a break from “MomTok” for a few years. Miranda used to be very close friends with Taylor and was also involved in Taylor’s soft-swinging scandal. Taylor and Miranda talk about the unresolved feelings from their friendship fallout and their new blooming relationship is shown throughout the season as Miranda gets adjusted to the group.
Overall, the new season brings an even crazier level of drama that tops the first season. True friendships are hard to decipher, fights are ever-present, and the truth continues to be found out with the second season release of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
