Wilson/White - Recap

This episode features two very different families. Not only do they look different, but their lifestyles are almost the polar opposite of each other. First up is the White Family. They are from Farmington, CT. The mom is Elaine White, and the father is Marty White. They have 5 kids, but I didn't catch all of their names since there are so many of them. They live a very traditional lifestyle and Elaine even comments that if someone walked into their home, they would think that they are in the 50's. Marty is a doctor, and Elaine graduated from law school but decided that raising a family was more important than her career.

The second family is the Wilson family from Dallas, TX. Tina and Todd are the parents, and their house consists of various things that you would find in the thrift shop. Now I am all for different decorations, but these people went a little overboard. However, Tina does state that she is proud to live in "junk." They have 2 kids and they enjoy going to Drag Racing shows. Tina claims that people call them the "coolest" parents. Usually kids call parents cool when they don't care what their kids are doing, I don't really know if I would take that as a compliment, however Tina doesn't care what people think. This is a phrase that she repeats over and over again in the show. What I have found when someone repeats how they don't care what others think; it means that they really do.

Departure Day:
It's goodbyes as usual from both families and the moms board planes to take them to each destination. This is my favorite part because it is always confusion. Whenever the dad goes to pick up the new mom its confusion, they usually ask 2-3 other people first before they find the right mom. I just don't get it, why don't they just carry a sign just in case the cameras following the mom around don't tip him off. Finally they find each other.

Tina and Marty go home first. When Tina arrives at the White's mansion she is overwhelmed. She goes into the house trying to make a joke, but it's really just stupid. You can tell how uncomfortable she is getting when they take her on the house tour. After everyone else goes to bed, Tina stays up and looks at family pictures. She decides that they have everything and that there is nothing that she can teach them because she was going to teach them to be open minded but now she doesn't really know why she is there. This is where Tina starts to make me mad, just because they have a different lifestyle doesn't mean that they couldn't benefit from someone else's advice. I think that Tina is jealous of their lifestyle and doesn't want to be accepting of it because she feels inferior so she just hides out in her room the whole time.

The minute Elaine walks into the Wilson's house she does not like it. She thinks that it is dirty, and her room has a pet rat in it. However, instead of giving in, Elaine decides that she is going to make a difference in their family. Before she can do that, Todd wants to take her to a Drag show so she can see how they live. Elaine is very uncomfortable with this. And to make matters worse, Todd gets on stage and drags Elaine up there and takes his pants off. I actually found it kind of funny, but felt bad for Elaine at the same time. She is really uncomfortable and scared. I mean she still claims that it's the 50's so I am sure that this was something that she never experienced before. When they leave she expresses her concerns to Todd and he feels bad for taking her there, he said that if he had to do it over he wouldn't.

Back at the White's.....
Back at the White's, everyone is getting up for the day and Tina is still sleeping. Then you see her floating in the pool as she says that there is nothing for her to do and that she is just going to enjoy herself, almost like a vacation. This family is so nice that they just do everything and don't even ask Tina to help. Later on, she comes to dinner late and one of the kids asks her what she has been doing all day and she says not really anything. I just felt uncomfortable watching this, you could feel the tension. After dinner Marty tells Tina that they are having a dinner party, Tina is not excited about this. He even asks her if that is all right with her and it takes her about 5 minutes to answer. This is where I start to get mad at Tina, she is a guest in these people's home, the least she could do is be polite and try to make the best of it. It only gets worse folks, Tina decided to call a caterer for the party because she doesn't know how to cook and is too embarrassed to let them know that, BUT she doesn't let Marty know, he just finds out by the call he gets from the caterer the morning of the party.

Over at the Wilson household Elaine is making some big changes. She decided to make the family clean. It was really nice because they all did it without any fighting at all. They cleaned the fridge, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Then Elaine takes them grocery shopping and tells them that she will make dinner for the night, and that they are all going to eat at the table together. It seems that they all really enjoy this, and enjoy sitting together at the table.

Back at the White's, Tina is getting ready for the party. She again says that she doesn't care what people think as she is getting ready. All of the guests seem very nice and ask Tina a lot of questions to find more out about her. Tina just puts up this defense, and it is so obvious that she is ashamed of her lifestyle because she puts this spin on everything. When asked what her husband does she says computer work with phones, he is a cable installer. When asked if she works, she says no and gets really uncomfortable. All she has to say is that she takes care of the kids. I was kind of glad when the party ended because it didn't seem fun for anyone.

Time To Go Home:
It's a very different scene at both households when it is time to leave. At the Wilson's you can tell that Elaine made a positive impact because they are sad to see her go and make her a very nice present. It's good that she really made an impact on them. However, Tina could not get out of the White house faster. First of all she rudely makes Marty bring down all of her bags, and doesn't even say goodbye to all of the kids. Thank goodness it's over, at least for the White's sake.

Tina and Elaine meet up at an undisclosed location where they exchange letters and advice. Elaine talks about the changes she implemented and gives some good advice, however it starts to turn into a lecture and it would probably make me mad if she were saying it to me, even if it were true. Tina talks about the dinner party and how she ordered a caterer, Elaine is really really mad about this. Elaine asks her to share her advice and Tina says that she didn't change anything her family is perfect. Then they part ways.

The Homecoming:
Both families are very happy to see their mothers. And now it is time to find out how the money got spent.

The White's
$1000 for kids to do whatever with
$500 for kids to buy clothes
$3000 for a cell phone allowance (parents not happy with this one)
$5000 for each kid for college

The Wilson's
$500 for kids to do whatever with
$5000 for an antique booth (Tina not happy with this)
$1000 for vacation with the White family (Tina angry with this one)
$10,000 for the kid's college fund
$20,000 to do what they like with

All in all I think that both families are happy to be home, and honestly I am happy that they are because it was really uncomfortable for me to watch this one. Tina is a really negative person and I could tell that she was not making the best out of the situation.

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