On Welcome to Plathville season 4, Kim Plath is now the proud owner of a dance studio, but fans of the show find Kim's latest business venture more embarrassing than exciting. The Plath family matriarch Kim has been criticized by viewers since the show debuted in 2019. Considered to be more controlling and strict than her husband Barry Plath, Kim's parenting has routinely been called hypocritical and manipulative. From banning 24-year-old Ethan Plath from seeing his younger siblings, to denying her children modern-day pleasures like Coca-Cola, Kim's consistent behavior has changed drastically so far in season 4.
One of Kim's biggest Welcome to Plathville storylines is her 25-year marriage to Barry, and while the two had a good relationship on seasons 1 through 3, season 4 shows Kim doubting her feelings towards the 54-year-old. Now that their daughter Lydia Plath has reached adulthood, Kim is set on reinventing herself with a new look, attitude, and life goal. In March, Kim opened Grady Central Dance Studio in Cairo, Georgia. Numerous classes are advertised, including ballet, belly dancing, contra dancing, and wine and waltzing during each Full Moon, and each class is $10. A membership fee is $50 a month, while children under the age of 8 get in free with a paying adult.
While Kim's Grady Central Dance Studio is taking center stage on Welcome to Plathville, fans are surprised that Kim seems so inexperienced, despite once being a professional ballet dancer. Redditors have been laughing and cringing over Kim's dance lessons in a thread started by u/realityhofosho. Several people have called Kim's outfit inappropriate for teaching ballet, with viewers particularly questioning Kim's choice to wear flip flops while using the barre. A few current and former professional dancers on Reddit find it equally embarrassing that although she owns a dance studio, Kim seems to lack technical knowledge. "There was a decided lack of terminology, technique, and correction that just isn’t sitting well with me," u/realityhofosho wrote in another comment, while another person criticized Kim for calling bourrées "tiny steps."
Kim seems to lack proper technique while teaching, and fans are becoming increasingly skeptical of her dance background. Based on Kim's dancing lessons in season 4, several Redditors doubt the mother-of-nine's claimed professional background. One retired ballerina, u/sourcherry11, guessed that Kim eventually quit dancing because she couldn't join a professional company out of college. Another wrote that Kim may have taken dance electives in college, and has embellished her past to advertise her dance studio. Kim's dancing isn't the only aspect of her new personality that has Welcome to Plathville fans cringing either, as season 4 recently featured Kim inviting her friend Nigel from the gym over for a very awkward family dinner.
Since Kim's Grady Central Dance Studio has only been open for a few months, it's hard to tell how much success the Plath family will reap from the business venture. After years of controlling what her family can and can't do, however, fans are less than enthused by Kim's latest life changes. Between Barry accusing Kim of undergoing a midlife crisis and 19-year-old Moriah Plath's breakup with Max Kallschmidt currently playing out, Welcome to Plathville season 4 has much more in store for viewers.
Welcome to Plathville airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on TLC.
Sources: Grady Central Dance Studio, u/realityhofosho/Reddit, u/sourcherry11/Reddit