When I was in high school, I was at the peak of my reality TV obsession; however, somewhere along the line, I slowly started to watch less and less of it. Despite this, at the behest of my sister, I delved into the world of MomTok when the first season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered in 2024.
Admittedly, I’m not big on social media. I was born in 2002, but when I was growing up, my mom didn’t let my siblings or me have any. As I continue to try to figure out adulthood, I still don’t have an Instagram, X, TikTok, or even Snapchat. So, when I began watching The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, I was oblivious to MomTok and the swinging scandal that ultimately spawned the show.
Although the cast members of this show like to portray it as something deeper, MomTok is just a group of Mormon moms who dance online and thrive off of attention and also seemingly drama, and who are not really Mormon. Throughout the series, cast members such as Mayci and Whitney have described it as a group that’s fighting the patriarchy. Their choice of rebellion? Twerking online and working outside of the home in a society filled with women who do the exact same thing but, unlike MomTok, largely go unnoticed. Never mind the fact that MomTok’s work isn’t in medicine, business, engineering, or another respectable field; it’s dancing online for millions.
“Fighting the patriarchy,” they say….
While I obviously have my reservations about their messaging, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has found itself to be the only reality TV series in my rotation. I think this could be because there are characters amongst the group that I genuinely can’t help but gravitate toward. I can’t help but love Mikayla’s personality, admire Mayci’s habit of wanting to make peace amongst the group of women, and I really like Miranda. I have a soft spot for Layla, maybe because I see some of myself in her – especially during season five – and Jessi has really grown on me for reasons that I really don’t know.
With all of this being said, though, this show is a cluster.
It’s chaotic, dramatic without reason, and cringey. It’s the epitome of immaturity and hypocrisy. It masterfully demonstrates the worst of female friendships, but also, occasionally, the best.
I’d say that seasons one, two, and three primarily document the group’s navigation through drama and scandal. While season four did too, there was an added layer of some of the women branching out and taking on other ventures.
The fifth season was released on Hulu yesterday, and it’s made up of only five episodes: “The Book of More Men,” “The Book of Dead Roses,” “The Book of Broadway,” “The Book of Friendship,” and “The Book of Destruction.” By the way, whoever decided on this format for the episode titles is a genius.
As the series progressed, the more DadTok was incorporated. Of course, DadTok is MomTok, just with MomTok’s husbands/ex-husbands. To be honest, there are things that I think men and women should refrain from doing. For men, one of those things is having access to the internet. I kid, I kid – not really, but I am. Since restricting men’s access to the internet will never happen, they should at least not create something like DadTok. I don’t know how to put into words why I hate it so much. Posting TikToks like the one below is just so feminine. That’s really the best way I can put it without it coming off wrong. Additionally, none of them are all that interesting. I will say, however, that I admire Connor’s growth from season one to season five and how supportive he is of Whitney. I’ve become quite fond of him.
As mentioned earlier in this post, a swinging scandal that included Taylor and Miranda spawned the creation of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Miranda wasn’t a part of the cast until season two, but Taylor, since she exposed the swinging, has really been placed at the forefront from the very beginning.
Since she entered the series with drama, I guess it’s only natural that she is constantly involved in drama, especially that of the romantic kind. In season five, Taylor found herself in a love quadrangle. One of the men she’s involved with this season is Dakota Mortenson, the father of her youngest child. Season one documented the tumultuous beginning of their relationship, and the series continued to document its few highs and many lows. Season five is no different.
The drama surrounding Taylor with regard to her relationships with men doesn’t just pertain to her. There’s so much drama in the show that there isn’t any downtime, and if it’s not about one of the women’s relationships, it’s about someone clout-chasing; Chase, I’m thinking of you. With the drama being constant and it being fueled by one of two reasons, everything just feels so repetitive. While the entire group has found themselves in the midst of relationship problems or questioning if someone has entered their circle for the right reasons, I specifically mention Taylor because it seems as if she is stuck in a downward spiral.
She’s been open about her struggles with mental health since season one, and yet no one has stepped in to at least attempt to give her an intervention. It’s as if the show’s creators/directors are exploiting her obvious issues. This brings me to the elephant in the room: the reason why season five includes only five episodes.
Although meant to be longer, the season was shortened due to an unexpected pause in production earlier this year. It came after two domestic violence investigations were opened, both involving Taylor and Dakota. Following these investigations being opened, Dakota released a video of his and Taylor’s physical altercation in 2023. The video shows Taylor hitting Dakota and throwing chairs at him, one of which hit her daughter in the head.
Season one shows footage of Taylor being arrested for the incident. The new investigations and the video were discussed at the very beginning of season five’s first episode and discussed at the end of the last.
To me, what it sounds like is that most of the female cast members view Taylor as purely the victim, which is so disappointing. It’s obvious that she was in a toxic relationship when she was with Dakota, and I don’t doubt Dakota got physical with her, but this doesn’t negate her physically abusing him and putting her children in harm’s way. In the police report from the incident, it states that a chair thrown by Taylor hit her daughter. What do the girls have to say about that? Throughout the series, Taylor has only focused on what she wants: sex, men, alcohol, and victimhood. The only one who got it right was Mikayla when she said that the only side that should be taken is that of her children.
So, will MomTok survive season five of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives? Probably. In all technicality, as long as a mom is making TikToks, MomTok will be alive. Will the group’s friendships with each other stay intact? Probably not. Will Jen’s career as a singer/music producer work out? Despite getting her pink back- if you know, you know – definitely not.
Regardless, season five falls victim to repetitive drama and exhausted storylines. Rather than being about the (not so) secret lives of Mormon wives, it revolves around Taylor, her questionable choices when it comes to men, and her many crash-outs. I understand that Taylor was the catalyst for the show’s creation, but it’s evident that many, including myself, are tired of seeing the others be portrayed as mere side characters in her world. Her world is a disaster. I know the entire group has their own drama, but Taylor’s world is actually a disaster that she can’t quite help herself from dragging everyone else into. It would so better seeing more of Mayci and Jessi’s businesses away from TikTok, Whitney’s New York adventures, the group embracing their motherhood, or simply more moments without drama, DadTok, and Taylor.
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