Soft Swinging.
A group of TikTok Mormon moms called “MomTok” is part of a scandal accusing them of “swinging” with each other’s partners sexually. Did this tear the group apart? Can “MomTok” survive this?
This group of Mormons had a lot of secrets to share–whether it was from their pasts, their scandals, or even their relationships. On September 6, 2024, Hulu released a new TV show, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” This has not been taken well by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which they were all a part.
Since they are Mormons, there are a lot of laws they have to follow: donate 10% of their income to charity, build up the kingdom of God, and dedicate their Sundays to God. Additionally: no alcohol, no drugs, no foul language, no coffee, no tea, and no gambling. They have to be perfect in the eyes of the church, or they will be excommunicated.
This did not matter to the group of Mormon moms who created MomTok. They go out partying on the weekends, drink alcohol, and more. “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” is made to show other women how empowered they truly are, defying traditional values that discourage women from becoming breadwinners in the relationship.
The series has eight episodes, each about 45 minutes, a very reasonable length of time. When I was watching the show, it didn’t feel like 45 minutes because of how entertaining it was.
During episode one, viewers are introduced to the main “MomTok” girls who are a part of every episode. But the group is split up between “sinners” and “saints.” The “sinners” are Taylor, Demi, Jessi, and Layla while the “saints” are Whitney, Jen, Mayci, and Mikayla.
However, episode one reveals the huge scandal that involved soft swinging in the group. Taylor was mostly affected by this and actually came out on the internet and told her side of the story. This broke up the group and caused Whitney and her whole family to move to Hawaii to stay away from the drama.
But doing this brought more drama to Whitney because her husband was brought to light on the internet, showing he was on the dating app Tinder, even though Whitney acts like her family is a perfect Mormon household.
Getting deeper into the season, viewers see a lot of broken friendships grow, like Taylor and all the girls who become much closer, especially when she opens up about being pregnant with her new boyfriend, Dakota. At the same time, Whitney’s friendships crumble to the point that she leaves the text group chat with all the girls.
All of the real drama starts during episodes six and seven when the girls, except Whitney, take a trip to Las Vegas. Since at the time Taylor was 8 months pregnant, Dakota came on the trip but decided to take Jen’s husband Zac. This didn’t sit well with any of the girls, and both Dakota and Zac ruined the vacation for their significant others during this trip.
I didn’t like that the other girls were upset about this. I thought it was caring for Dakota wanting to come to make sure that Taylor was okay, and that if she did go into labor he would be there for her. On the other hand, I didn’t love that Zac was going; he really controlled Jen and told her if she did anything wrong that he would divorce her. But then talked about how he’s going to gamble while in Vegas which is a big “no” in the Mormon community.
Towards the end of the first season, we hear a secret Dakota may be hiding from Taylor that may or may not be true. Though the season ends on a cliffhanger, viewers still find out very big details about the secret.
After watching “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” for the second time, I feel they did well portraying all of the girls’ personalities and the struggles they went through during the show. They also focused more on all of their fights, rather than how at the end of the day, they were all friends and planned to stay friends – except for Whitney.
However, I wish they would have talked more about Jessi, Layla, Mayci, and Mikayla because they had stories to share about their personal life experiences. I know it’s hard to talk about all eight of them in only an eight-episode season.
The only bad note I could give them is that it ended on a cliffhanger. Even though people will want to watch season two, I feel they didn’t need to tease viewers with a cliffhanger because of how interesting and exciting season one was.
But you won’t have to wait long. Hulu just announced that season two is coming out in spring of 2025.