No, It’s Not On Khloé To “Save” Her Family After All Of Tristan’s Cheating Scandals

Season 4 of The Kardashians has seen a really bizarre shift in perspective for Tristan Thompson. There appears to be a real concerted effort to rehabilitate the NBA player’s image, spearheaded in large part by Kris Jenner. This is the man who, let’s never forget, not only cheated on Khloé Kardashian more than once (the first time when she was pregnant with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter True) but also got another woman pregnant and tried to keep it hidden, all while the two were expecting their now 1-year-old son Tatum via surrogate. Somehow, even after all of that, Kris has been putting a lot of energy into trying to convince her daughter to reconcile with him for the sake of their family.

So far, this entire season of The Kardashians has seen an unexpected narrative about Tristan as a perfect father, a loving partner, a great friend, while conveniently dismissing the turmoil he has consistently caused in Khloé’s life when she was at her most vulnerable. And Thursday’s episode was no exception, opening with Kris, once again, asking Khloé about her relationship with Tristan. The mom of two had been letting the NBA player stay at her house after his home had flooded and his mother died suddenly of a heart attack, which seems to have prompted the belief that the two might become romantically involved again. While Khloé could not have made it any clearer that she was simply doing her best to co-parent and be a good friend to Tristan, Kris Jenner did not let up.

“I see the way he looks at you, I see the effort he puts into you and the kids,” the momager said. Khloé then explained as diplomatically as possible that, “No one ever thought about me. So what I’m doing right now is, I’m thinking about me.”

The conversation then turned to Kris’ own experience cheating on Robert Kardashian Sr. when they were together. She told her daughter that at the time, “I thought the grass was greener somewhere else and I made a huge mistake. That’s my life’s biggest regret.” The connection between Kris’ regret over her own cheating and her devotion to bringing Tristan back into Khloé’s life was not lost on fans.

Eventually, Kris finally appeared to give up, especially when Khloé told her, “I already have my happily ever after with my kids. When I have a partner, I put them first. And I don’t want to put anyone first except my kids.”

Kris was not the only one in her daughter’s life who was clearly pushing for a reunion. Tristan himself would not leave her alone at their daughter’s fifth birthday party, while Kris’ partner Corey Gamble called him “Daddy of the year” because he was holding his son.

Perhaps worst of all was later on in the episode when her longtime best friend Malika Haqq met her for lunch to discuss, you guessed it, Tristan. And when Khloé explained that “I genuinely don’t have those feelings right now,” Malika told her, “Maybe you might want to try and save your family. Maybe you might want to give this a shot despite…” Considering what comes after that “despite,” that’s a pretty unreasonable ask.

This was the moment when the audience really got to see how Khloé felt about her mom’s decision to forgive Tristan. And really, where any future discussion about them being reunited might lead. “Being a mom,” Khloé told Malika, “if someone did what Tristan did to my daughter, I would probably castrate them. And smile doing it.”

Both Kris and Malika seem to be pushing this narrative that only Khloé can “save” her family by being with Tristan. That the family she has created with her children and with a positive co-parenting “modern family” dynamic, as she called it, is somehow invalidated by her status as a single mother. What’s more, this idea that Khloé can only find her happily ever after with a man... well, it’s offensive.