‘Alaskan Bush People’: ‘Weight of the Wolfpack’ (RECAP)
On the Alaskan Bush People episode “Weight of the Wolfpack” (July 19), as Ami awaits treatment options, the kids prepare to join Matt in Alaska to begin packing up Browntown. However, after an accidental explosion that leaves Matt injured, Bear, Rain and Bird must begin the difficult work on the homestead shorthanded.
Matt is all by his lonesome in Brownton Abbey. He’s is the proverbial solitary man of whom Neil Diamond sang. He even dresses the part.
Back in California, Bear is hot, and he doesn’t want to frighten the neighbors by wearing a loincloth. It was once said that Bear wore nothing but a loincloth for an entire year, and he spent another year wearing just a tuxedo. Bear decides to rip his jeans and make some EXXXXTREME jorts. He has officially entered 1989. “I mean, you look at the thermostat, and it just says ‘heatstroke’ on it,” Bear says. Bear doesn’t seem to understand the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat, but you could fill the Grand Canyon with the simple stuff that Bear doesn’t understand.
Like what kind of gift to buy your mom who has late-stage cancer. “You think she might want a cool belt?” Bear asks his sisters. Bear, Birdy and Rainy are at Hidden Treasures vintage clothing shop in Topanga. After some screwing around, they settle for a blanket with polar bears on it, you know, for those chilly nights when Bear cranks the thermostat down to 40 degrees.
Finally, we get to see Kenny from the dump. Kenny visits Matt at Brownton Abbey to make sure he hasn’t blown himself up yet or been mauled by Lost Footage of bears. “Anytime that I want to go do something crazy, he’s the ultimate Bush neighbor and one of my best friends,” Matt says. After Kenny offers his heartfelt consolations about Ami’s illness, Matt tells Kenny that they’re abandoning Brownton Abbey and that Kenny has dibs on anything he wants.
That’s funny, since 90 percent of Matt’s stuff probably came from Kenny’s dump. It cameth from Kenny’s dump, and unto Kenny’s dump it shalt return. Flares? Oh, yeah, need those. Axes? Kenny will take two, one for each hand. Jesus spike? Um…sure, take it in the event of crucifixion.
While Matt has Kenny’s ear, he’s going to tell Kenny about all his fears and anxieties. “I might make it till about 10:00 at night, then this panic sets in,” he confesses. Hmmm. Maybe Kenny shouldn’t leave Matt alone tonight. Or maybe Kenny should just get the hell out of there ASAP.
We knew Matt would have to say goodbye to Kenny some day, and that day has come. And for us, the viewers, we will now have to suffer through this series without its only likable character. Words can’t really describe how this great Bush Bromance ends, so we’ll let this video tell the story:
https://www.facebook.com/alaskanfrauds/posts/1441284112621374
Farewell, Kenny. I’ll see you in the Lost Footage of my dreams.
And then, the Black Screen of Doom.
We finally get to the part where Matt blows himself up. They’ve been previewing it all season, so the only surprise was when they were going to get around to showing it. If you haven’t seen the clip, it’s here on Discovery Channel’s ABP site.
Let’s recount ABP‘s version of events as depicted onscreen before we present some alternate versions of the story. At around 9pm, there was an explosion in Brownton Abbey in which Matt was injured. The Discovery crew in Hoonah was notified of this explosion, and a boat with paramedics was sent to Brownton Abbey. Rescuers encounter Matt on the floor just inside the doorway to the cabin. He has his head wrapped in bloodied towels. The rescuers remove the towels to assess the injury.
Matt is presumably put on a boat and transported to Hoonah—they don’t actually show the boat en route to Hoonah—where he’s put in an ambulance.
We know that ABP is intentionally vague about real incidents, because it saves them from having to tell the truth. There are more than a few things that don’t add up, but let’s start with the big ones. Who notified the crew in Hoonah that there was an explosion? Matt’s all alone at Brownton Abbey, right? No, we’ve seen in past Lost Footage that there are crew members living and working in trailers near Brownton Abbey. One of them could have called the crew in Hoonah, but that’s not explicitly stated. Are we also to assume that there were no other boats docked near Brownton Abbey—not so much as a skiff—that could’ve transported Matt directly to Hoonah? Matt could’ve bled out in the time it took the boat to make that round trip from Hoonah. Why did they call the film crew and not some professional first responders who could’ve gotten him to the hospital much faster? It doesn’t add up. There’s more stuff that doesn’t add up coming later.
Also, Noah is with Matt at the hospital in Juneau because Noah lived in Juneau with Rhain for much of the winter and spring. Noah was not flying to California like he said he was a few episodes ago.
With Matt out of commission, the job of dismantling Brownton Abbey falls on Bear, Birdy and Rain. Bear is insufferable in this episode, so of course he gets most of the screen time.
Bear starts in with his EXXXXTREME B.S. before he’s even off the skiff. He runs around the woods like chimp on meth.
He climbs things. He punches things. He rips up grass by the roots. He chases away bears with his foul stank.
Bear notices the spent gun shells all around the fire pit, surmising that Matt had to repel a massive bear invasion, as thought it were like Custer’s last stand.
Bear feels the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. It will be up to him to clean up this sty they’ve been befouling for the last three years. At least he has his sisters to help him whenever they can tear themselves away from their all-important seaweed duties.
Birdy wants to bring a bunch of seaweed back to California to give to their mom. Ami can make candles, molds or shower curtains with the seaweed. Or she can use the time she has left to do something that isn’t so lame.
[DIGRESSION! I hate shower curtains. They are evil. My wife has some kind of shower curtain obsession. Whether it’s buying new decorative fabric curtains, fighting the scum that forms on the plastic curtains or replacing the rings that attach them to the curtain rod, she is constantly tinkering with the shower curtain. Plastic shower curtains start getting gross after about a week of use, and they are damn near impossible to clean. My wife asks me why I am not bothered by a disgusting shower curtain. My answer? I am very nearsighted, and I wear glasses. Because I do not wear my glasses in the shower, I do not see that the shower curtain is a biohazard. Because I do not see it, it does not exist and is therefore not a problem. I could totally go for a seaweed shower curtain, because it’s disgusting right out of the box and you’d just accept that it’s gross and not worry about it. You wouldn’t have to clean it, and you could just toss it back into the sea when you go to pick up new seaweed to make a replacement shower curtain. I am moving to the Bush just for the shower curtains!]
Jeez. Sorry. This whole show is nothing but the Browns wasting time. Bear thinks that the most important job for them to waste time on is bringing down the precious wind turbine. Get this: He wants to take the turbine down so it can be transported to Brownton Abbey 2.0. “It’s literally bringing the heart of Browntown with us,” Bear says. You mean that stupid contraption that you just got last fall, haven’t even used once and doesn’t work anyway is the heart of Brownton Abbey? It’s fitting that the center of the Browns’ universe is just a useless TV prop.
Bear destroyed the first turbine they attempted to put up, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how he ruins this one while trying to take it down.
We’ve barely had any Billy in this episode, and I am grateful for that. In California, Billy takes Ami to UCLA Medical Center for some more consultation on her cancer treatment options. They come back, and the news is not good. Billy asks the show’s executive producer, Sheila McCormack, to explain the prognosis to Bam, Gabe and the audience.
Ami has stage 3B cancer, and it’s spread beyond her lung. She will undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Ami’s also down to 94 pounds, and she’ll need a feeding tube if she loses another five pounds. Her situation is not good. Billy asks for the cameras to leave them alone for a bit. Then Billy has to remind us that the Browns always get through because of faith and family. Unfortunately, the Alaskan Bush People producers can’t change the script and make this challenge magically disappear like so many Boat Malfunctions.
Bear has a terrible plan for taking the wind turbine down. It involves him climbing to the top of the turbine with a rope secured tightly around his neck. I say go for it! Alas, Rainy and Birdy convince him to try a different, less EXXXXTREME approach.
Bear starts playing with the ropes and cables supporting the turbine structure, and he hooks up the electric winch and has his sisters grab some ropes. Unnecessary Drama unfolds, and the turbine crashes to the ground. That should surprise no one. What is surprising is that the turbine somehow survives this fall, at least as far as Bear can tell just by looking at it. Again, Bear is not a smart man, so don’t trust his assessment.
Also, don’t trust Bear’s ability to consume a whole stick of butter. Birdy comes out of the cabin with three sticks of butter, which I assume are old and rancid because they were churned sometime last fall when they still had the cow around. Birdy challenges Bear and Rain to some competitive butter eating, and it’s incredibly revolting. Bear and Rainy nearly retch, and I feel kinda queasy just watching them.
Birdy declares herself the winner, though everybody who participated in or witnessed this game has lost part of their humanity.
The episode wraps up with the uncomfortable post-explosion reunion of Matt with his family in California. Matt first encounters his younger brother and old nemesis Bam, who seems pretty chill these days, having grown accustomed to the sensual delights of the Lower 48.
I like how Bam gets right down to brass tacks with Matt.
Matt says he got nine staples in his head. So what in the hell was he thinking or doing when he went kablooey? He says it was a combination of the solitude, the pressure and the bears.
Dude, tell me about it. The Bears are terrible. They’re my favorite team, yet I hate them so much. Every September, I feel like blowing myself up, too.
Our Dear Narrator says that Matt’s injury was the result of “unintentionally detonating an improvised bear deterrent made of black powder.” Bam says that Matt just got “a little overzealous with the gunpowder.” Yeah, maybe just a little.
Which brings us to the alternate versions of the story. Matt’s incident occurred in late May, and TMZ had an early report stating that some explosives that Matt was keeping in a mason jar in the refrigerator blew up.
https://www.facebook.com/alaskanfrauds/posts/1377827718967014
I reached out to my media relations contact at Discovery Channel, but she had no comment. There were rumblings on Alaskan Bush People Exposed that TMZ’s story was not completely accurate and it may have been leaked by someone involved in the show’s production as a smokescreen. I contacted a source in Alaska and was told that Matt was “in the bathroom ‘playing’ with powder” and that Matt “was f***ing with the stuff at the time it exploded.” Matt was not the victim of an accident while heroically trying to deter bears so much as he was the victim of his own careless stupidity. Matt’s head injury was reportedly caused by an object that fell from the refrigerator, not by a blast from inside it.
I seriously thought this would be the last we’d see of Matt, since he was supposedly deemed uninsurable and couldn’t film any more. I guess that restriction has been lifted, but we won’t see Matt playing with guns, flares, powder, sharp sticks or anything else that isn’t childproof. So Matt is back.
Can we have Kenny back instead?
Conversation38 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
O
After reading your review, all I have to say is this, Ryan; I think that you have improved your writing technique, especially in the investigative reporting/reviewing, because of your genuine interest in this controversial show! Discovery, Park Slope Productions, and the Brown family have inadvertently given you the opportunity to show-off your writing skills. Job well done!
4
-
G
Thanks, Tim! You guys always help raise the game!
1
-
-
P
It is no wonder that Birdbrain is seemingly packing on some pounds. She's lucky her arteries don't just blow up with eating sticks of butter. I felt pretty bad for Kenny.
3
-
O
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's noticed she's been putting on the pounds! Between eating sticks of butter, her animal calls, and seeing how much cheap, gaudy jewelry she can cram on her body she's shaping up to a bush old maid.
2
-
G
The mumu is not a flattering wardrobe choice.
-
O
Ugh I hate all that jewelry!
1
-
-
O
So does this show pickup Aug 9th with the Browns moving to Colorado? How can it be called Alaskan Bush People? Will they be called Colorado Bush People? With marijuana being legal in Colorado will Matt indulge or over indulge? I just don't see how much longer this show can continue with the condition Ami Brown is in. If she does weight just 94 pounds and going into treatment which is sure to be rough her weight is dangerously low already. Billy Brown should show some respect for his wife and stop filming and let her face these treatments without cameras in her face. I could see where Ami would need medical marijuana to try and keep her weight from dropping any lower. Enough is enough for ABP let this poor women continue her fight for her life without all this nonsense surrounding her now.
3
-
G
Yes, we'll see the Browns try to move to Colorado. But getting treatment for Ami proved too difficult there. They're now back in California.
It was an awful decision to rush this season to the screen. This show shouldn't go on, but I said the same thing two years ago.3
-
O
I'll bet a Betamax copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special that this isn't the last we see of the Browns. Billy, Pork Slop, & Discovery will spin her sickness and probable passing into more seasons or at least a special or two on how they're coping.
2
-
G
There are an awful large number of people who are of the opinion that Ami's cancer diagnosis is fake and is being done for ratings. (Especially since the review of the x-rays showed a possible bacterial infection). Now, those of us who have been committed (and really probably SHOULD be committed for a short stay...) to this fiasco since the beginning would argue that although this family has lied and grifted their way through life, there could be NO POSSIBLE WAY they would stoop to the level of lying about cancer. (They wouldn't...would they...?)...Could that be why they're galavanting all over the place instead of spending time with Ami...? Damn...I shouldn't have read all those facebook posts...
2
-
O
I actually just read an Inquisitr article about that. One reason they gave is because there hasn't been any doctors on the show talking about her condition. The executive producer and not a doctor explained her treatment for crying out loud. Unfortunately I won't be 100% convinced until she passes from it. Sad but as many lies and fakery this show has had I honestly can't feel otherwise.
1
-
G
Your feelings are absolutely understandable and mirror that of many. Like you said, unfortunately, until she passes from it, what else can anyone think? Of course, there's the possibility she'll be miraculously cured, too. You know...just like with Billy's seizure disorder (because after all...he'd have to be cured of that type of affliction to be able to legally drive an RV...).
3
-
O
And that's what I'm expecting to happen, the miracle cure. Billy's deadly seizures were cured so why not cancer amiright? It's just strange how secretive her current condition is being kept. You'd think with as many fans this show has they would be more open. And every time you see Billy now he's by her side like her gate keeper. A pic of the family was posted on Bam Bam's fb page on July 20th and she looks a little thinner but still the same. I'm assuming it's a current pic. It just doesn't add up. Rhain was in the pic and either we didn't get a good look at her on the show, the anti-christ will be born in less than 9 months, or she's been having butter stick eating contests with Bird bc she's chunkier than I thought. And finally, is the only shirt Bear owns a red wife-beater because that's what he's wearing in the pic just like on the show?
2
-
C
The new show will be called... "Colorado Carney Clan"
-
G
I couldn't blow up the pic large enough to see details (it sucks to get old...everything starts to go at once, it seems!). However, I've heard that Gabe is absent from the photo, and I've come to understand that he has refused to film further episodes. Now...there could be many reasons for his decision. I'm wondering if this whole thing is indeed a farce and he has become unwilling to go so far as to be a part of it on the show (he's kinda stuck with them off screen...up to a point). It certainly will be interesting to see the outcome. I certainly hope she doesn't have cancer (no one should EVER have to suffer that horrible disease), but on the flip side, if this is all a ruse, they should be held accountable somehow. As far as "Rhain" goes...I could've sworn I saw an Adam's Apple...(could just be my eyes playing tricks on me!!!). I'm going to try & study the photo again. If I have to, I'll break out the magnifying glass!!! This show brings to mind a saying my Mother was quite fond of: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive".
2
-
G
I don't think the cancer is fakery. But I won't blame anyone for thinking that it might be. The Browns have earned that distrust.
1
-
G
Inquisitr's ABP articles are just clickbait garbage. They have zero credibility. If you're interested in real ABP news, check out the ABP Exposed Facebook page. They know their stuff!
1
-
O
Although they are more credible than Radar Online I'll give you that. Sometimes their articles give you food for thought. They show up in my Google news feed so I peruse them. I'm not on Facebook but I do think I can access their page. This is the only social media in which I partake. I guess you could say I'm like the ABP of the interwebs minus the lies, deceit, and general batshit craziness!
1
-
-
G
Hey, Ryan! Enjoyed your recap (as I always do!). I always thought there was something not quite right about Bear, and this last episode proved that I wasn't just TRYING to find fault with him...it's actually there. He's going to be single forever. I know it's said there's an a** for every seat, but I honestly can't picture there being a female counterpart for Bear...
As far as the butter eating "contest". I worked in the medical field for years & I've seen some pretty gross things...blood, guts & gore...the whole nine...however, none of that grossed me out as much as those 3 eating butter. I had to leave the room. Noah should patent his butter churn...I've never seen home churned butter formed into such perfect blocks, complete with measured wrapper...he must have a printing press somewhere as well.
Something's fishy about Matt & his "accident". I've heard that his stint in rehab was less than successful, so what's a person to think? Some day, the truth will come out & most of us will be proven correct in our assumptions.
I find it a bit unnerving that these miscreants are traipsing around like life is business as usual, when Ami is in the fight of her life. The prognosis for stage 3B cancer isn't good...even with treatment. They should be spending as much time as they can with her.
Not quite sure what the future holds for this "show", but as long as you keep re-capping, I'll keep watching!3
-
G
Bear's act was already tired in Season 2. Now the producers have to use even more of his slapstick comic relief to make this show less depressing.
The sticks of butter looked nastier than your typical store-bought stuff. Just imagine if it was really churned from raw milk last fall. Barf!
I won't say that alcohol was a factor in Matt's incident, but I won't dismiss the idea either. If that makes sense...2
-
O
I did some research and people with stage 3b lung cancer live an average of 13 months with treatment and the 5 year survival rate is only like 5%. Not looking good at all so yes they need to spending as much time with her as they can. Truly is sad.
2
-
-
G
Stellar recap as per usual, Ryan. 👍🏻👍🏻
Jesus, where to start with this shitshow? Oh well, here goes:
-matt knows, there's work that needs doing, but he's "overwhelmed"
But just untill Kenny comes, and work can commence with many a "HAHAAA!"
First hammerhit from Matt and "Ouch!!! My eye!!!!"
He is a walking hazard to all mankind. Not least himself.
As soon as Kenny har been sent off with tears to spare, Matts back to being "overwhelmed"
He apparently did hunt and gather a fine steak though. 😂-Matt apparently dragged 197 tires home. Impressive!
- three cruds go to join Matt, yet we never see them together with him. Its almost like they said "ok, we'll go back to that dump, but not while that moron is still there!"
Hehe. I know he, in storyline, is in the hospital, where Noah has joined him. Never see that either of course.-Matt calling himself "a pirate king marooned on his own island" Come now...😑
-first loud explosion (at least recently), the town hears from Browntown, and they immediately send medics and cameracrew. Lucky he wasn't just blasting rock away for a turbine. They would have looked quite the fools haha.
And for such a large gathering around matt, it's amazing, we largely can't see shit even with at least five camera angles.
(From outside the house. Close up of matt. Close up of crew. Close up of crews back. Close up of crews shoe.)I did enjoy that extremely awesome Bear-ly Human back in his element, punching nature, climbing trees and running and then tripping over grass haha. 😂
Oh well. Shit show. Funny recaps. And remember : everything any Brown ever does, makes the rest of us look even better. 👍🏻😎🍺 peace
2
-
G
Oh, man. That steak! Where did that come from? Probably from the same place they found the butter.
3
-
G
The butter!! God damn I can't even begin to imagine, how disgusting that would be. A stick of butter! That's something Homer Simpson would do, not human beings! 🤢🤢
1
-
G
2
-
G
Hehehe I seem to remember him making some nasty waffles, when he skips church one sunday. He wraps the waffle around an ol' stick of butter.
Never knew Homer was so bush! 😂🤓2
-
-
P
Every time the Browns show up at Brown Town the place goes from messy to messier. Exactly nothing was accomplished re. packing up, cleaning up, or closing up. If I ever move from my present home, I am going to dismantle the roof and take it with me---maybe I will take the deck, too---and the gazebo in the backyard----oh, and I will uproot some of the 25 -foot evergreens and put those in the overhead bins of whatever airline I decide to fly. There's no place like home...
Even for a scripted show, this one has gone beyond the ridiculous to the silly----a polar bear wall hanging for Mom (because nothing says "get well" like a useless tapestry---or smelly seaweed), a butter-eating contest instead of cleaning and packing, running and digging up tufts of grass, tearing down the unused wind turbine, looking for bears but not carrying a gun---shall I go on?
Ryan, if Matt was supposedly in the bathroom fooling around with the explosives (according to your source), then how could something from the refrigerator fall and hit him on the back of his head? First, there has never been any evidence of a bathroom in the main house; Second, even if there is a bathroom, is the refrigerator IN the bathroom? Hello?; and, Third, In any of the scenarios presented, how did he get injured on the BACK of his head? The whole story and various explanations make no sense.
2
-
G
There are a few parts of the story that I probably should've included more details on, but I wasn't completely clear on them. First, I never heard definitively what structure the explosion occurred in. It may not have been the main cabin. It may have been in the production crew's trailer park. Also, my source says "he was IN the bathroom 'playing' with powder. The explosion was so big it busted the thin wall and something on the fridge fell and then hit him in the head." From this, it sounds like Matt was blasted through the bathroom wall and into the kitchen, where he was struck by the thing that fell off the fridge. This sounds a little outlandish, too. We may never know all the details of what really happened.
2
-
O
Thanks for the update, Ryan. Still, if the explosion was that powerful I keep wondering why it didn't appear to do any damage to his face or neck or chest from the little we've been able to see....just the back of his head. Bam was very circumspect in his conversation with Matt so one can only surmise there is a lot more to this story---that we will probably never know.
I think I have a stick of butter in my refrigerator......
3
-
G
You are correct. When I first heard about it, I figured Matt would have burns or lost digits or something. There's a lot that doesn't make sense. There are only two people who know what really happened -- Matt and someone else who was also injured -- and they're not going to talk. And there appears to have been no police report.
Salted or unsalted butter?
1
-
B
Salted....while it was tempting to engage in a butter-eating contest with my spouse, commonsense prevailed and I ate raspberries instead. In a further note, as I keep no explosives in my refrigerator, my kitchen is still intact, as is my head.
So, I was flipping channels last night and saw the repeat of the first episode---I think it was the first episode---of this "season" and, to me, the little snippet clearly showed Matt being tended to on the front deck/porch of the main cabin. It is all very mysterious.
2
-
G
Yep, though the explosion may not have happened in the cabin. He may have been moved there so the film crew could provide the illusion that it happened there.
1
-
R
...that would be most disturbing, Ryan....moving someone seriously injured to get a better camera angle...hopefully, that was not the case...
1
-
-
B
Recap; excellent. TV show; really? Nuff said.
Glad you picked up on the Topanga hideaway in the Santa Monica mountains. I had them in Indio, CA., but Topanga makes a lot more sense as it relates to Ami. I also got Topanga's weather and it has been in the mid 80s during the day and nightly lows in the mid 60s. A real heat wave. 20 degrees cooler in Hoonah during the day but about the same at night.
Back to the desert 🌵 for me.2
-
G
Being that EXXXXTREME all the time generates a lot of excess body heat. If he just mellowed out a little, he'd cool himself down. Enjoy the desert, where there ain't no one for to give you no pain.
1
-
O
Yeah Bear come on down to the Alabama Gulf Coast where the THERMOMETER may only say 85 but it actually feels like 110 because the humidity is so EXXXXTREME. Highs in mid 80s and lows in the 60s with low humidity is like March for us. I'll take that any day. So quit being such an EXXXXTREME whiner Solomon!
3
-
-
O
I've just read this is ABP's last season. I hope this is true the Brown boys could not last a week living truly off the grid. Matt didn't last long nearly blowing his head off. The others would not be far behind Bear brown would be eaten by a grizzly for sure. No true outdoors man or women would challenge a grizzly like they show on tv. My hope is Discovery does not spin off a show based on one of the Brown boys. I still am waiting for Discovery to bring in Matt Raney and family of Homestead Rescue to film an episode to save this (Browntown) Homestead.
-
G
Terrible clickbait sites like Inquisitr have been calling it the last ABP season. There is nothing to substantiate that, and I believe there will be another season.
-
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services