‘Alaskan Bush People’ Season 12 Finale: ‘Faith and Fury’ (RECAP)
On Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People Season 12 finale episode, “Faith and Fury” (October 11), a wildfire rages on Palmer Mountain, threatening the Browns’ livelihoods.
It was fairly quiet on the behind-the-scenes Alaskan Bush People news front this week. Maybe the biggest thing worth discussing is how the Palmer Fire — which the show has been hyping since the season began — barely nudged the ratings needle last week.
Granted, there was a lot of competition that night, what with TV networks covering the president being hospitalized and all. But still, those are some sad numbers for an episode that featured the biggest real disaster spectacle in the show’s history. I’m pleased that the attempt to turn a catastrophe into a ratings stunt flopped.
Seems like 1.5 million total viewers and a 0.2 in the 18-49 demo rating is the new ceiling for ABP (and these numbers don’t include time-shifted or on demand viewing). Still, I have no doubt that ABP remains a valuable content asset for Discovery. It’s cheap to produce and they can chop up the episodes to air as “new” reruns to delight cat ladies all over the world for years to come.
But enough boring you with ratings numbers. Time to bore you with a recap of the Season 12-ish finale, “Faith and Fury.” Take it away, Krusty!
Half of this episode is a top-line recap of the entire series and a rundown of the Browns’ trials and tribulations — both real and fake — since 2012. (None of these things involved Matt. Matt does not exist, nor did he ever exist.)
If you’d like to know more about these times that the Browns lost everything and still could not be stopped, please visit these links here.
The Palmer Fire rages on. With the Browns all safely off the mountain, there’s nothing they can do but watch. And there’s nothing we can do but watch footage of them watching.
Bam and Bear are driving around making sure you’re fully aware that their entire lives are up on the mountain and not in rented houses somewhere in the Loomis-Oroville area.
All the Browns really have up on the mountain is a bunch of junk and structures built for their TV show. So I suppose that is the entirety of their lives.
There wasn’t time to evacuate all the livestock, so they were set free and left to fend for themselves. Birdy’s deeply concerned about one particular horse, North, who was the first colt born on Brown Star Ranch, even though it was clearly not born on Brown Star Ranch.
No one really knows what’s been destroyed and what still might be standing. Bear’s confident his metal conex house will be fine, but everything inside it, including his precious “bammock,” has been incinerated. That’s a shame.
There’s a 30-minute window of opportunity for the crew to drive up the mountain and rescue as many horses as they can. Using a borrowed trailer, they manage to wrangle all but two of them and get them off the mountain before time expires. Of course, one of the horses remaining on the mountain is North. Fake Drama? Probably.
Remember Noah’s Brown Star Ark bus that was going to transport people and animals to safety in the event of a wildfire? This was supposed to be its moment to shine. Instead, it sits in a smoldering heap somewhere.
Since his other inventions worked so well, Noah’s got another one in mind. He’s going to attach a winch to the horse trailer so they can simply reel the two uncooperative horses in like fish.
All of Noah’s tools are on fire up on the mountain, so he’s stuck using a pocket multi-tool, a hammer and a nail to affix the thing to the trailer’s fender. We never see the thing assembled, nor do we see it used. The whole mountain’s on fire, yet the producers felt the need to show us this bit of useless Noah B.S.
The fire continues to spread, and now it’s moving southwest down the mountain toward the town of Loomis.
That EXXXXTREME enough for ya, Bear? Evacuation orders are issued for Loomis, and the ABP production crew packs up their gear (and the really important paperwork!) from their base’s office and hightails it out of there.
The Browns spend the interstitial segment praising the firefighters and first responders who’ve risked their lives battling the blaze and ensuring public safety. Bam, the man who respects the danger, offers these heroes the respect they’re due.
The Black Screen of Doom offers viewers the opportunity to help.
It was an absolutely brutal wildfire season across the Western U.S. Weather patterns are partly to blame, but human negligence or incompetence have also been factors in igniting several of them. Officials have said that the cause of the Palmer Fire was human, but they’ve not released any additional details.
Another chance to rescue animals presents itself, and Bear takes advantage by helping some guys herd geese, ducks and chickens.
One of the horses has been rescued, and Birdy’s anxiously awaiting to find out of it’s North or the other nameless, unimportant one that doesn’t symbolize anything and therefore doesn’t matter. Guess which horse gets saved?
It’s spiel time, and Billy is nowhere to be seen or heard. He’s really checked out on his own show. You mean that producers couldn’t get Father Billy or Mother Ami on camera for five minutes to blow hot air about the single biggest We Lost Everything Again event ever seen on ABP?
Finally, we get to see some of what remains and what doesn’t remain on Brown Star Ranch. If we wanted to see anything from this episode, it would be all the fake things the Browns pretended to build over the past three or four seasons completely reduced to ash. So it makes total sense that ABP would give us 30 seconds of it as the credits roll.
Here’s Birdy’s house. I hope the rat-fur slippers escaped unharmed.
This looks like what’s left of Noah and She Who Will Not Be Named’s tent.
Noah’s diaper launcher will not be passed down for generations.
And then there’s this.
The barn? I really can’t tell. It doesn’t seem to match most of the other aerial shots I’ve seen of the barn. It doesn’t look like the area of the Bush Abode, either. [Update: It is the barn.]
#AlaskanBushPeople barn before and after the fire. (Before shot from 2019, taken at higher altitude.) pic.twitter.com/xy4P6EyI0y
— Ryan Berenz (@RyanBerenz) October 13, 2020
And that’ll do it for Season 12-ish. There’s a season review/Lost Footage special next week called “Back to the Future.” (How original!) I’m skipping that. I’m guessing you will, too.
I finish every ABP season hoping that we’ve seen the last of the Browns. Every season, I’ve been disappointed. I sense that I’ll be disappointed again.
Conversation42 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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O
I have watched the show for years and find it not only entertaining but Pulling fo them. Carry on Bush FAMILY..
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G
I love this show. My family and I watch it every week.
10 3
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B
why does the girls never date
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O
Why be so harsh? Who cares that it's fake. Or mostly fake. Its on TV so of course it's fake. Get over it.
8 3
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O
So then why do you care what I think about a bad fake TV show? 🤔
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C
A little rough on the review. But it’s not without its merits. Fires are bad, that said I’m glad that they all made it out alive. It maybe a blessing for extreme guy Bear to have those shipping containers destroyed. That super bad idea is right up there with his boozing oldest brother Matt’s decision to make a fort/home out of used tires in the Alaskan wilderness . Wanna talk about a giant fire hazard? Let that sight sink in for a minute. This show is looking like the end is near. The one thing to take from this show is the love in that family from people to their animals.
7 3
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R
Billy sure loved 15 year old Ami after lying to her parents that he was not a divorced dad.
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B
If you people don't like to show then don't watch it, haven't you ever been taught if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all?. I happened to really think the world of all those Browns sometimes y'all make out like they're stupid but look at all the s*** they built even when they were in Alaska, God I hope they come back. That's my favorite family that I love to watch it's better than all that stupid ass political s*** they put on there so sick and tired of hearing that crap, get over it people I'm glad that no one got hurt maybe some of the animals got out of there in time. And who are you to judge?? No one is perfect. STOP THE HATE, make this world a better one.
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O
So if you don't have anything nice to say then you shouldn't say anything at all? Then you go on to rip people who don't care for the show, on a site dedicated to make fun of the show for only 6 years now, and continue on to rip people who produce and air political ads. A tad bit hypocritical?
The people you think the world of at one point faced multiple felonies in Alaska for theft and fraud (and admitted it in court) and only got out of facing decades in prison by having their lawyer plead a sweet deal for them. You are believing what you see on TV and not reality. That is fine and have a ball with it. But don't go lecturing other people because you believe the pile of bull that is portrayed on ABP. EVERYTHING on the show is just made up for TV.
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O
You know, I agree that ABP is better than all that political s* * * they put on there.
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B
When is season 63 returning in 2021?
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O
you and your family need help
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O
Ryan, I don't read your articles often enough, but sure do enjoy reading your thoughts on ABP. I will miss them. Hope you are well.
Rick aka Mercenary Brother #1
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R
I meet one of the browns and I will say they are the sweetest people around. I hope they rebuild.
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P
Fire is a common occurrence with these guys. They got burned out of their first place, their house boat burned down, now this. Hmmm. They are the coonskin Kardashians. They are famous for being famous for doing nothing but cycling through the same story line over and over again. It's a storyline. I have to give them that.
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B
I loved watching Alaskan Bush People I want yo know what happens next! Are they going to leave us hanging? I hope not!
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R
Real lives of the Beverly Hillbillies...I smell "reality" gold up in them thar hills!
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B
The mom is not dead! it was her niece
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G
Lost there mom, and no one knew. This show is crap. Rip momma brown
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O
What? Who lost who now?
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R
I hope it comes back but less show that we have $ now.... your not without any more.
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O
These vagabonds are as fake as RuPaul's boobs. They have money, homes, cars, livestock, land, boats, and more. Do they really believe the viewers don't know this is all BS? They are there for the money and hoping for fame.
What about Billy's Inheritance? He comes from money.
I still wonder, did Billy and Ami really want to portray there family as uneducated and backwards? If yes, why. I gave up on these wannabes years ago. Adios Browns
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O
Bob! Hey! Season 63 just started. Billy's dead and Brown Star Ranch burned down, but the stupidity marches on. It will march on without me. I know it will be a disappointment to some, but I'm done watching/recapping this show. It's just too awful. I don't want to give it any publicity. The Browns crave attention, and I'm done giving it to them. At this point, hate-watching the show does more harm than good. I can't stomach all the tributes to Billy, but it would be in very poor taste to make fun of them. I want to see the show canceled and the Browns disappear, and the best way to achieve that is to ignore them.
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Ryan. Been a blast over the last 22 years. Can't say I dont blame you for giving up on the Brownclowns but will always feel you were just one recap away from winning your Pulitzer. Best of luck to you and Wisconsins football team.
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O
Thanks, Bob! Appreciate all your support. I hope I can do a celebratory ABP IS CANCELED! post some day soon.
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O
it was only a week later the episode aired that had the recount of the year that had the Browns yucking it up and having some great laughs.....after their whole world supposedly burned to the ground barely a week or two earlier
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C
These "bush people" have screwed everyone in the areas they have lived and have been kicked out of many. They are dirtbags and deserve every bad thing that happens to them!
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R
If the people who watched this show and are "pulling" for them even realized half the things these people did (some of it they have been convicted in a court of law and are well documented) if would make them sick. It is fine to watch the show and enjoy it if that is what you like. Although I personally think it is the worst show in television history when you factor in the the fakeness, the lies, breaking the law and most importantly... literally nothing happens, unless you count stuff like smelling each others feet to see whos is worst. GRIPPING TV!
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you just can not live it your selk
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P
They're ACTORS !!! ..'.. And there's No Way That 'Young' Girl is Only 12 Years Ild !!! ..... PHHTTT !!!
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R
Good points in your recap. These grifters have made up crap since season 1 and shots rang out on how they lost everything. Then they finally have a real event, that they might even be responsible for, and they kind of seem like they glaze over it. I would think they would be filming right in the middle of the burnt barn and getting the most of it. The best they can do is show a long aerial shot in the closing credits? What the heck are they doing? Browns don't care, Park Slope doesn't care, Discovery doesn't care and 1.5 million AARP women don't care. Domestic violence allegations, theft, fraud, lies... it just doesn't matter. They might as well club baby seals as nobody cares what they do.
I see zero reason why ABP won't be back on. This thing seems really profitable for the Browns, Park Slop and Discovery. The ratings aren't great, but they aren't horrific either. And while they have certainly dipped, they have been near these lows for a while now and they keep trotting the Browns back out there. Billy and Ami don't even have to show up anymore. What is their time commitment here... a day or two of taping? The Browns significant others rarely ever show up. I don't see how an entire season is more then a couple of weeks of filming. If it is taking longer then that then Park Slope is really bad at time management. This show has to be a cash cow. I would be stunned if there is even a writer on staff at this point. The cash keeps rolling in for no effort really. Congrats!
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O
My guilty pleasure watching this show knowing how fake it is, and how stupid these people are but then again who's the stupid one there the millionaire's lol
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O
They do not have nearly the wealth that the Google results say they do.
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R
I think whom ever wrote this does live there on this mountain therefore has no idea what really goes on with this family as they don’t know the truth about what really goes on in your life so shut you pie hole!
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Can you verify that the person who wrote this doesn't live on the mountain? The Browns in 12 season have not a single time lived in the place they said they did. And that is verified and well well published.
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I can verify that I do not live on the mountain.
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O
Well, way to kill that theory
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G
Why all the negative comments? It WAS a fire, they lost a lot, guess they just didn’t lose enough for YOU!
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They lost practically zero. They don't live there and there was a few building they used for a TV set. In 12 seasons the Browns have NEVER lived where they have claimed to live. Not one single time. They film the show then go stay at a local hotel. This show is the biggest pile of BS to ever flash across a TV screen. Problem is people tune in and buy there line of bull hook line and sinker.
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O
They lost only set pieces from their TV show. They all live off the mountain. Feel bad for the people that really lost their homes, ranches, livestock, etc. Don't feel bad for the Browns. They're just fine.
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G
I think this is bull. They own a mansion in California, they all live there. Everytime someone watches the show, they get money. There richer then all of us. There mother past away. They turn the machine off. Do they show that, noooooooo. This is all drama.
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B
oh stop it
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