The first season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives became a massive hit in Sept. 2024 and received an Emmy in 2025 for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program. The show released its third season on Friday.
The franchise itself is centered around a group of Mormon moms who came together during the Covid pandemic, creating a TikTok group, MomTok, where they posted videos together to showcase their lifestyles.
The show dives into areas of reflection and growth for the women, going into their backstories and successes while providing a deeper look into the behind-the-scenes aspect of being a modern Mormon mother and wife.
The third season opens addressing the cliffhanger at the end of season two—an alleged affair between Jessi Ngatikaura, founder of the hair empire JZ Styles, and Maricano Brunette, reality TV persona from Vanderpump Villa. The messy scandal takes up a large chunk of the first half of the season as Ngatikaura battles rumors surrounding the affair. The whole scandal was a mess of “he-said-she-said,” causing many fights and several lie-detector tests. While this whole scandal garners a lot of fighting, it seems a bit overdone and, in my opinion, consumes a lot of screentime that could’ve gone to other storylines.
One of the more heartwarming stories during the season is when MomTok planned a pride event, breaking the homophobic stereotype. Mayci Neely even shared a story from her gay family member and put up a pride flag on her lawn at the end to show her support.
While the season is chaotic with friendship drama, the last episode concludes with a circle of forgiveness where each woman apologizes for her behavior. The last touching moment when they each break a glowstick references the quote, “a glowstick needs to break before it can glow,” showing their growth from conflict throughout the season.
While some disputes were left unresolved, other characters show significant development. Taylor Frankie Paul especially seems much more levelheaded and rational than last season, using her power as the leader of MomTok to bring the girls together instead of apart, and Layla Taylor, seeming to have found her voice this season, is able to show her personality and hair journey as a woman of color in predominantly white Utah.
Though they are drawn to drama like flies to honey, the women show their vulnerable moments and how they grow and learn from them, as well as inspiring other moms to step into their power as they navigate exciting opportunities, leading to an exciting watch with mouth-dropping drama and heartwarming narratives.
