‘Welcome to Plathville’: The Plaths Are More Divided Than Ever in the Season 2 Sneak Peek – Moriah Calls Her Parents’ House a ‘Cage,’ Ethan Gets a Tattoo, and Micah Confronts His Parents
Welcome to Plathville will return to TLC for season 2 on Tuesday, November 10, at 10 p.m. EST. The series follows Georgia-based Christian fundamentalists Kim and Barry Plath and their nine children.
The latest TLC sneak peek promised plenty of drama and family conflict this season. In particular, several of the adult children began to move away from their parents’ strict rules – ranging from a sugar-free, alcohol-free diet to no internet, TV, or college, as well as modesty and chastity.
Ethan and Olivia had no contact with Ethan’s parents
The Welcome to Plathville season 2 sneak peek made it clear that the Plaths were now a house divided, to say the least. What’s more, the whole family made many major changes in their lives after the first season ended.
For example, Kim and Barry moved off their remote farm in rural southern Georgia and into a house in the nearest town. For Ethan Plath and his wife, Olivia Plath – who had frequent conflicts with her in-laws on the first season of Welcome to Plathville – this was a less than ideal situation. After all, Ethan pointed out, his parents now lived less than half a mile from the home he shared with his wife.
“The more we’ve tried to make space, the closer they’ve tried to come,” Ethan complained of his parents in the preview.
Ethan also revealed that he wasn’t simply arguing with his parents now. In fact, their relationship was completely broken, and they weren’t on speaking terms.
“Right now, there’s no contact between my parents and me and Olivia and any of my siblings,” Ethan said sadly.
Kim said she hoped for “healing” in the family, but she wasn’t sure how that could continue when Olivia and Ethan didn’t want any contact with her in particular.
“He’s made it clear I’m not to contact him at all,” Kim said. “And now, we’re to the point where we’re not together.”
In the trailer, Ethan also planned to get a tattoo (which his family would never have allowed) in order to assert his freedom from his parents.
Micah started modeling and had only restricted access to his siblings
Ethan wasn’t the only adult Plath child to radically change his lifestyle after Welcome to Plathville season 1. Micah Plath, who also no longer lived with his parents, had been pursuing modeling – often scantily clad and shirtless modeling, to boot.
“I’ve come such a long way in being comfortable with my body,” Micah told TLC producers in the sneak peek.
But there were deeper consequences to Micah’s emerging modeling career than parental disapproval alone. In fact, Micah revealed, he wasn’t allowed to see his siblings at all without direct, constant supervision from Barry and Kim.
“I’m not allowed to see my siblings unless my parents are there, because of my lifestyle,” the Welcome to Plathville star lamented.
Moriah was making moves toward a different lifestyle
Micah and Ethan weren’t alone in taking steps toward freedom outside of their parents’ strict rules. Moriah Plath, too – who had always been known as a family rebel – moved out of the Plath home. She now worked two jobs and even had her first boyfriend.
“I feel like I’m really living life right now,” Moriah said in the Welcome to Plathville trailer. “When I’m at my parents’ house, it feels like a cage that I worked so hard to get out of.”
Previews showed Moriah teaching fitness classes, wearing makeup, embracing a new style, and even riding a motorcycle with her boyfriend. She even brought him home to meet her parents – and Kim and Barry didn’t seem too pleased to meet him.
Micah and Moriah confronted their parents about their upbringing
The Welcome to Plathville preview also showed Micah and Moriah confronting their parents about their sheltered upbringing. The young adults wanted to know why they hadn’t been more prepared for the reality of relationships and life outside the Plath family farm.
“Why didn’t y’all prepare us more?” Micah wanted to know.
“This is all stuff that we had to learn on our own,” Moriah agreed.
While Kim didn’t seem happy with her children’s line of questioning, Barry seemed to want to make amends. “Can you forgive us for our shortcomings?” he asked his kids.
“It depends on what your version of forgiveness is,” Moriah said noncommittally, suggesting that her resentment toward her parents was far from resolved.
Still, Kim told TLC producers she hoped the “two sides” of the family – with Kim, Barry, and their daughter Lydia Plath on one side, and Ethan, Olivia, Micah, and Moriah on the other – could find a way to come together. But, she admitted, she thought it would “take a miracle” to reach any sort of resolution.
