Child abuse.
These two words are very upsetting and triggering to many people. Abusing, torturing, and hurting anything is bad. An animal, a teenager, the elderly, ANYONE.
But to abuse a child, a poor, innocent, extremely vulnerable person who has never done anything wrong to you...is a special type of an evil. An evil that no one should justify or understand. An evil that must be stopped.
An evil that's sadly more common than we think.
Which brings us to one of the most infamous examples of real child abuse seen on live television: The Supernanny episode:
The Davis Family.
WARNING: This episode contains possibly triggering content relating to child abuse, both verbal and physical. There's discussion relating to toxic home environments, domestic abuse, slut shaming, and misogyny. Viewer discretion advised!
Yes, I have to put this warning on a SUPERNANNY episode!
FWI...
If you don't know what already know what Supernanny is, it's a reality TV-show based from Britain about a woman named Jo Frost, who specializes in helping broken families, struggling parents, and misbehaving kids. Most often or not it's portrayed as if she's fixing "bad children", when in reality she's fixing bad parents.
The episode we'll be discussing, "The Davis Family", is no different. It was the 14th episode of Season 5. You can learn more about the episode, it's reception, and etc. by visiting the Supernanny wiki: https://supernanny.fandom.com/wiki/The_Davis_Family_(Season_5)
You can also watch the full-episode (uncensored) here:
Already, looking at the thumbnail of a girl about to cry, and the title "Foul-mouthed father ruins all family relationships", you can tell this episode's going to be heavy.
Here's a drinking game (that applies to all parts). Take a shot anytime I say:
- toxic
- misogyny / misogynistic
- abuse / abusive
- wow / woah
- stop
- apathy / apathetic
- hell
- abuse / abusive
- parent / parentified
- sexualize
- shame
- poor
Stalling aside, let's begin, shall we?
PART 1: Meeting the Family
All Supernanny episodes begin with Jo riding a car and watching a Demo Reel of the family, submitted by the parents. Today's no different, as we meet the Davises from Florida.
Family Preview
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| Trust me, you're going to hate seeing these faces soon. Especially his. |
Let's introduce ourselves to the family. The parents are Debbie and Phil respectively, and they have 5 children:
- Morgan (14) - eldest daughter
- Phillip Jr. (9) - only son
- Madison (4)
- Tiffany (3)
- Tori (2)
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| The Davis Family (excluding Debbie) |
The younger 3 daughters, who are absolutely adorable by the way, Madison, Tiffany, and Tori, will frequently be grouped together as simply "the girls". Morgan will also have an important role in this story. And for Phillip Jr, we actually don't really get to meet him. Aside from seeing him on camera and him being mentioned occasionally, he doesn't even speak a single line the episode. Which could either be interpreted him as being shy or...scared. We'll talk about that later.
Anyway, Phil is a water-plant operator and Debbie is a commercial-insurance sales producer. Seems like an average American family household.
For at least 10 seconds, until the drama already begins. We immediately learn that Phil is actually Morgan's step-dad, not biological dad, which already gives you a hint their relationship might not be the strongest. This is quickly supported by the first of many infuriating scenes in the episode:
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| "Morgan was up here watching 'em and look what she let them do!" Uh...your referring to you. |
Phil is on the couch, and Debbie notices the girls' got their toys all over the floor, so she tells Phil to help clean up. However, he then says that's Morgan's responsibility, which- no, it's not? Your the DAD, you're the one supposed to be helping? Also, notice how on the right, it appears Morgan is doing her homework. She should be focusing on that, Phil.
Phil then hints at his misogyny by explaining what he thinks his wife should do:
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| "First thing a wife should do is she should have the house cleaned before she leaves, she should have the kids ready in a decent time, when she gets home from work, which, ey-, you sitting on your rear end all day." |
Yes. He actually says this about his own wife. Hey, Phil, what do you do? Your WIFE is the one who cleans, your WIFE is the one who gets the kids ready, but what do YOU do, other than...well..."sitting on your rear end all day"? You can tell this man has seriously outdated and kind of sexist opinions on what women are supposed to do. And look at Debbie, stuck in this awkward marriage.
They Debbie talks about how the mornings here are awful. It takes over an hour just to get a sleepy Morgan ready, and at the same time, she has to help get her sisters ready for daycare. No one cooperates, and it often means the family is late to everything.
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| "Morgan does help me do that, she complains about it, whines about it, but it's what we have to do." |
Wait...what do you mean WE?! Morgan's 14! While it's great for older siblings to help around the house, imagine Morgan having to do such work to get her sisters ready and under control when her parents should be doing most of that. She has to get to school herself, mind you.
This all tells me how much Morgan is parentified in this house. Instead of being able to focus on what she needs to do, she's essentially parenting her sisters all the time. She has to pick up their toys, she has to help get them ready, she probably has to get them to bed as well. No wonder Morgan takes forever to wake up, she's probably always tired from helping his sisters all the time!
Not only is Morgan stressed out from essentially being her sister's 2nd mother, but her constantly being late, having trouble sleeping , and not being able to catch up with her schoolwork is even causing her to fail school.
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| "I'm a straight A student, but I'm failing my first period because I'm always late. |
How do you allow this?! Poor Morgan should be focusing on school, not her younger sisters!
A Sneek Peek at Phil's Abuse
We then get possibly the most concerning Demo Reel scene...
"My dad loses his temper so bad he'll call me and my little sisters bitches-"
WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH HE'LL CALL YOU WHAT??!
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| P: "When I get mad at my girls, I will say the B-word" D: "Yes." (!) P: "I'll be like, you little bitch, come here- and I shouldn't say that-" |
Bruh. Who calls their own children a "little bitch"? That's your own DAUGHTERS! You think your daughter is a little bitch? I understand being angry at your girls for misbehaving, but you don't need to talk to them like that. I wouldn't want my daughters thinking their "little bitches", especially at an age as young as that. Also interesting that:
1) Debbie seems to be aware of this yet let's it happen. Again. I want you to keep track of how many times Debbie is almost useless in all of this arguments.
2) He himself seems aware he shouldn't call his daughters bitches....WELL DON'T DO IT!!! HOW HARD WOULD IT BE NOT TO CALL YOUR OWN CHILD A SWEAR WORD?!
Things only get worse from here as we learn Phil likes to use the belt against his own daughters when they act up...oh god.
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| What the hell, man?! |
He and Debbie say they've "tried the time-out thing" and it "didn't really work" and it's for "the birds". Yeah...and you know what you do instead, Phil? YOU SPANK THEM! You slap and hit them with your bare hands and intimidate them. That's not a punishment that'll teach them what they did was wrong, It's...an assault, when you think of it. Instead of giving them the emotional space when they mess up, you drive them away from you.
I know spanking is kind of a controversial subject, and it's often been joked about, but seriously, spanking should not be normalized. What monster would hit their own child or spank them with a belt in the first place? That's just being a cruel bully!
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| This image is actually pretty representative of the family in general. Debbie handles a lot more than Phil, while Phil slouches around all day and does nothing but abuse. They're not even sitting together. |
Morgan admits that her parents have also separated multiple times in the past, which is quite concerning because it shows how shaky this household is. They can't seem to stay together yet stay apart at the same time. That's a very unstable marriage, and I feel like you either have to commit to either option if you want to keep this family healthy. (Preferably divorce).
Now, usually, by the end of the demo reel, the parents call for Supernanny to help their family. Guess who calls for her this time?
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| "Supernanny, please come help my family!" |
...Morgan, the daughter, called for help. I know it's probably staged, but I think it's pretty revealing that the one calling for help wasn't even the parents.
The Hectic Mornings
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| Jo Frost (Supernanny) makes her grand entrance! |
"I was really nervous about Jo coming in, wondering what I was thinking, what kind of person I was..."
You shouldn't have to be "really nervous" when Jo comes in. If you were a good parent, you should be confident. But he knows he's not a good parent, so it makes sense he's worried Jo is going to find out how truly awful he is.
The first red flag we see is when it's snack-time for the children, and while Debbie begins working on a meal, Phil just...watches by. Makes NO attempt to help his wife, just watches by, lazily.
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| You uh...you just gonna stand there? |
Jo is a bit confused by this, and asks them about their duties around the household, where the conversation gets more concerning from there.
D: "Anything to do with the kids is my responsibility...Anything to do with cleaning is my responsibility."
J: "Right...then, sorry, your's (Phil) is...? Let's try to define here..."
D: "We haven't figured that one out yet."
P: "No, mine is to go to work, come home..."
D: "Play video games."
P: "-to..play with Phillip, relax, so he has quality time" (?!)
D: "He has like no responsibilities! He comes home he gets to relax I don't get to do that!"
J: "Seriously, are you kidding me?"
You took the words out of my mouth. What a bad husband! Shoves all the responsibility on his wife and has the nerve to say she's laying on her rear end all day? It's very clear he has outdated ideas of how wife and husbands are meant to share responsibilities in a home. You see, in a healthy marriage, both people do their own jobs. This is likely not a healthy marriage.
Also, I love how Phil tries to excuse the fact he slacks off all day playing video games as "spending quality time" with his son. Right, right...
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| What a healthy household... |
The conservation only derails from there when Morgan gets involved and everyone starts to argue, talking over each other, while the girls begin loudly crying. From what we could discern from the fight, Morgan says "Nobody, nobody eats in the morning, nobody eats in the morning!" and "Phillip eats at school and the girls eat at daycare, they don't eat here!"
Wait, so these kids don't even get proper breakfast? They go hungry to school and daycare? How is Phil allowing this?
Jo then stops the argument for the second to ask a basic question: do they do this all the time?
Phil says they do this all the time.
They should NOT be doing this ALL the time!
Debbie proceeds to leave the room and go outside to calm down, which is actually a pretty good exercise. Maybe you could practice that, Phil.
Supernanny finds on the balcony and decides to talk to her about their marriage, to which we get more signs of how damaged it actually is. She proceeds to say-
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| "I love Phil, more than anything in the world" |
You...love this man who emotionally neglects you and violently abuses your own children? What? She opens about how on the many occasions she and Phil broke up but got back together, he said he would "step up", but he never has, and that if doesn't, it will end their marriage. Like I said, this marriage is clearly shaky and I'm not sure how much love there is it in.
Phil's Verbal Abuse
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| Phil may look like the bigger man, but he's actually the smallest brain here. |
As Debbie leaves to buy groceries, Morgan decides to stand up to the camera and share how her dad verbally abuses and swears at everyone in the house.
She says Phil will call anyone the B-word if they look at him the wrong way, which is disgusting, because like- first of all, who talks like that to anyone in general, and secondly, who talks like that around their children under FIVE?!
Something interesting during the whole argument is that when Morgan talks about the language Phil uses, she actually censors the words. She says "You little BEEP you can walk your little BUTT upstairs" which shows how she actually cares for the daughters, not wanting to expose them to such awful language. Meanwhile, Phil is completely fine with swearing up a storm like a sailor. In front of his young daughters, nonetheless. Nice way to traumatize them.
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| This is just evil. I don't know what else to describe it. It's sad and evil. |
I'm also worried how Phillip grows up in this environment. As mentioned earlier, he surprisingly never speaks once in this episode. I feel Phillip has been reclused in his own home environment and is scared to speak up. Not only that, but with the influence of his prejudiced, violent father, he might get the idea the best way to solve his conflicts is to- unsurprisingly, be domineering, when it's just not.
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| This nine-year-old shouldn't have to see this! |
Morgan gets mad at her step-dad, and Phil victim blames her for getting mad at HIS language, and that she "doesn't tell me (him) anything"! Hmm...maybe she would tell you stuff if you made yourself emotionally available instead of cursing out your children?
Phil continues to bully Morgan until she walks away to her room, and she says "That's your problem, you're just like your mother, you run all the time!" What's this dude problem? It's like he loves nobody in his family. As Supernanny puts it, this man wants so much respect from others, but disrespects everyone in his own family.
Jo is appauled by Phil's lack of shame and talks to him about his verbal abuse, to which he says he feels like a bad father for. I- Wha- We-...WELL STOP DOING IT! If you feel this guilty, why do you keep doing it? He's aware he's a terrible father but he keeps being a terrible father! Hm...is knowing your a dick better than not knowing your a dick at all?
Jo then walks upstairs to check on Morgan, and she's crying her eyes out, which is so sad to see. It goes to show much damage Phil is having upon her. She has no mature father figure in her life.
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| Aw, that's nice, Jo was emotionally available for Morgan when her own parents weren't!...wait, no, that's even sadder! |
Phil's Physical Abuse
WARNING: This section in specific contains possibly triggering depictions and images of corporal punishment.
...or physical child abuse, let's just call it physical child abuse, because that's what it is.
Remember earlier where Phil explained he would hit his children and spank them? ...yeah, we're at this point now.
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| Again, what the hell man?! |
Phil explains to Supernanny how he "disciplines" his younger daughters when they misbehaves. He takes out a random baby doll (?) and shows in uncomfortable detail how he spanks them with his belt. Garbage. And he still tries to downplay how bad it is actually by lightly tapping his belt. Morgan then calls him out, saying he hits them much harder. Absolute garbage.
He even tries to demonstrate with his real child, which- NO! Jesus Christ dude, NO!
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| God...what the hell man?! |
Phil then briefly opens up and shares this, discussing why he spanks his kids:
"I'm trying to do them the way my mom- my mom raised all of us; I mean I talked back, but I also got spanked and stuff, and I understood that..."
OHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Oh...oh, things are starting to make more sense. Just from that single line of dialogue, I'm going to guess Phil grew up in a rather destructive household himself. He's trying to justify his girls by saying "mY mOm diD iT and LoOk hOw i TuRnED ouT!" Yeah, this is how you turned out: abusive, toxic, misogynistic, and constantly on the verge of a divorce. How did YOU like it to be spanked by your mom? Did you feel scared? Broken? Awful? Yeah, you probably did. So why are you keeping up the cycle of abuse with your OWN DAUGHTERS?!
After that, one of the girls then begins biting him and he smacks her in the face, which he says "You don't bite!". Yeah. You don't bite. AND YOU DON'T SMACK EITHER! Hm...I wonder where your daughters learned to be so cutthroat...again, we should be stopping this generational trauma, not keeping it up!
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| What the hell, ma-...you know what, your NOT a man! You're a man-child! |
After being smacked, the poor girl runs to her sister for emotional support. Not her mom... her SISTER. This just tells me how parentified Morgan has become. None of these children can even go to their own parents for emotional support. And just look at Supernanny in back, just horrified by what the hell is happening in this household.
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| Morgan shouldn't have to babysit her poor sisters! WHERE IS THE MOM?! |
Could things get any worse from here?
...well, yeah. Seriously, every scene in the episode just gets WORSE and WORSE! We're actually about to get possibly the most vile scene in the episode (at least...for now...), so...buckle in.
The Walk
WARNING: This section in specific contains misogyny, slut shaming, and sexualizing minors.
So the family decides to go on a walk, which SHOULD have gone normally. You can't screw up a basic family outing as simple as walking. In fact, walking is actually a great way of relieving stress. So...how exactly do things go so bad? Hold your horses.
Morgan's Boyfriend
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| Why is Morgan yanking her chain like that? |
Phil points to a chain Morgan is wearing, which was given to her by a 17-year-old boy she's apparently dating named Chris, which is actually a nice gesture. Of course though, the mom says she thinks she's a too young to be dating, and I actually agree. 3 years isn't too big of an age gap, but keep in mind their teenagers.
While I won't assume the worst, Chris could be an senior or junior while Morgan could still be a freshman. Someone that close to adulthood is kind of weird for dating someone still that young.
At the same time, we shouldn't be too surprised Morgan is seeking out people who are more likely to prey on her considering she's so used to men in her life mistreating her anyway...huh Phil, huh? Victims of abuse are more likely to fall into dangerous relationships because they're so used to being mistreated, and it's very unfortunate. So to me, I think we should address the kind of young relationship.
...and..they do. Just...not in an appropriate manner. Trust me, the next scene will rile you so bad.
Phil Turns Into a PDF
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| Things get weird here...real weird. |
Now, as you can see, she is wearing a necklace, red shirt, and jeans. One of the most basic outfit descriptions. Anyone could wear that. No matter their age or gender. Keep that in mind as we explore what Phil has to say about Morgan's clothing and her boyfriend.
"You see that chain that she wearing? [...] What she doing wearing a chain?"
It's...it's just a chain, man. It's not that bad.
"He ain't looking for a relationship to marry her, and she's...naive."
Uh...what?
"I mean you look at her she don't look 14."
No, she...does?
"She gets her make-up on...I mean, she's-...shirt's a little too low for me to, I think."
Hold up.
"(Morgan) Do you want me to wear a turtle-neck every day?"
"Well I don't think at 14 you have to show cleavage."
Ok, STOP! What are we doing Phil? She's wearing a necklace, a normal red shirt and blue jeans. That's ALL. There's NO cleavage in the room! Why the hell do you even care about the size of her shirt or her chest? Why are you looking at that, and sexualizing your FOURTEEN year old daughter, you gross creep? I know that's technically his step-daughter but this is just as weird, regardless if their bonded by blood or not. Instead of shaming her, why not allow her to wear what she wants?
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| Also, when Phil starts talking about her chest, notice how her smile drops. GREAT FATHER HERE! |
Could this get anymore insulti-
Phil: "You don't have to look like...what I think."
Jo: "What do you think she looks like?"
Phil: "When you dress like that,...you look...I was gonna say she looks like-"
Jo: "I wanna know-"
"-a slut."
Wow. I-...I actually have no words.
IT WAS JUST A SHIRT PHIL
You just called...you're...14-year-old daughter...a slut. OVER THAT OUTFIT! SHE'S WEARING A BASIC SHIRT AND JEANS! That is most BASIC outfit! ANYONE would WEAR that outfit Phil. If your wife wore that outfit, would you call her a slut? Phil...WHAT IS GOING ON PHIL?! What the HELL is wrong with you?! This is just creepy at this point!
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| You know it's bad when even Supernanny is this distraught. |
Morgan, absolutely insulted, starts to argue with Phil, in which his objectification just gets worse, as Jo watches by, completely horrified.
P: "You can dress like a decent woman. Boys are going to look at her- (!)"
M: "Are my pants too short?! Are they too short?"
P: "They're too tight." (!!!)
M "Do these flip flops show too much of my feet?"
P: "No don't be a smart aleck." (?!?)
M: "You're sounding stupid when you say that-!"
P: "No, that's the problem with her." (!!!!!)
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| Poor Morgan...how can Phil say this about his own teen daughter?! |
My blood is not just boiling, it's starting a FIRE. Once again...it's just a shirt and jeans. Why are you saying this? You have no right to comment on how your daughter should dress. This shouldn't be happening! What's worse is the way he's trying to justify his actions by implying this is to protect her daughters from predators.
All while being predatory himself. HE'S the one sexualizing her daughter over these things that he doesn't want OTHER boys to be obsessing over. Almost as if this is more about toxic control rather than actually caring...
Mother of the Year
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| This is not the face you should be having as your husband slut-shames your daughter. |
By the way, let's not forget, DEBBIE is also present here. Guess what she does?...Absolutely nothing. The only thing she says is "Morgan, that's enough" when Morgan starts getting mad at Phil for commenting on her clothing. I'm sorry...
MORGAN, that's enough?! Your weirdass husband just called your daughter a SLUT, but when she rightfully gets upset, you shut her down? My-...god...does she not care? She's doing NOTHING to stop the bullying. Not even flinching.
I don't even think I want to call this woman a mother. She's not anything. Keep in mind- I do sympathize with her situation, and I imagine she's been under his control for years. However, these are your own CHILDREN. She's doing nothing for them and letting this man destroy the household. Just complete apathy as she allows her husband to humilate her daughter. The arguing continues, and:
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| "You know I should let you run with the dogs and get fleas or act like a little hoe, I shouldn't even worry about your ass. I shouldn't even worry about your ass! Let you do what you want to do! |
*sigh* What even is this? Bear in mind, once again- all this nonsense began because Morgan wore a normal shirt and jeans. That's all. A shirt and jeans warranted this reaction?! The fuck? What a weirdo! I'm losing my mind. And again, mother of the year does NOTHING!
Speaking of which, I want to remind you there are camera-men in this situation. Just filming and witnessing the most horrific child abuse I have ever seen. I wonder how much they have to restrain themselves to not intervene. Jo is oddly strong for not intervening as well. She then summarizes what we're all thinking:
"I can't believe- I can't believe what I just heard!"
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| Someone needs to give this girl another hug. And no, not the mom. Someone who loves her. |
Phil then walks off and Morgan has a complete mental breakdown in tears, which is genuinely heartbreaking to watch. And the mom does the BARE minimum to try and "comfort" her. She's probably only doing this 'cuz the camera's here. Completely pathetic parenting from both of them. Supernanny is absolutely destroyed seeing how much Morgan was failed by both of her parents just then, as she continues crying.
"Morgan was so humiliated...mortified...I mean, the man in her life, talks to her like this! Yet mom TOLERATES this behavior!" - Jo
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| How are you this chill?! This is abhorrent! This is depressing! This is...this is your FAMILY! |
It's ASTONISHING Phil could say such disgraceful things about his TEEN daughter, but the fact the mom didn't even try and defend her is even more astonishing. Supernanny has had enough, and ends her observation, preparing to go home.
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| Yeah, let's get out of here, Jo... |
Within only about the first fourth of the episode (Yes, FOURTH of the episode), It's been made very clear this household is insanely destructive, and every relationship is toxic. Morgan feels completely isolated, parentified, and embarrassed to live in her OWN HOUSE! She can't pass school, she can't wear what she wants, she can't even get emotional support from the people that are meant to love her.
Meanwhile, all the young girls witness and are subjected to continuous abuse, which will damage them for years to come when it comes to relationships and self-esteem. And Phillip? ...Phillip's practically not even here! I don't even think the marriage in itself is salvageable!
THIS. MUST. STOP.
And Supernanny is aware of that, as the next day...she's preparing a whole lot for this troubled couple.
Before we see Jo call the hell out of these failures of parental figures, what do these failures of parental figures have to say for themselves?
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| "I am scared to death to meet with Jo tomorrow. It's going to be rough...maybe that's what we need." |
Hey, um, reality TV is not what you need. What you need is a DIVORCE. And therapy. And a divorce. And likely CPS. And a divorce. And a LOT actually.
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| "I'm very nervous about it, and I believe she's going to put me in my place." |
You think?! I really feel uncomfortable by the fact Phil is blatantly aware his behavior is bad, but he won't stop doing it. There is...something wired in his brain to react like this. I really do wonder what his childhood was like to be giving these children the same type of childhood.
So, what will Supernanny have to do to repair this insanely dysfunctional family? How will she convince Phil to stop his misogynistic and abusive ways? How will she help Debbie stand up for this? How will she save Morgan from being parentified and sexualized by her own parents? And will she be able to make sure the younger girls (and Phillip) grow up in a healthier home environment?
We're about to find out...tomorrow.
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| G'night, Jo. |
I can't fit discussion of this episode into one single post, so I'll make a Part 2 to this post soon! Stay tuned, as it'll be coming soon. Thanks for reading!
- ninesevenpotatoes, 2025
PART 2: TBA
PART 3: TBA
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