The Righteous Gemstones: But the Righteous Will See Their Fall
October 7, 2019 1:05 AM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe

Jesse deals with the fallout of the dramatic events of Easter Sunday. Judy attempts to win back BJ after receiving some harsh words from Baby Billy. Kelvin has a crisis of faith.
posted by JimBennett (11 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
i feel like literally anything can happen at any moment on the show. it's exhilarating.
posted by JimBennett at 1:15 AM on October 7, 2019 [4 favorites]


I honestly wouldn't have been that surprised if Amber had killed Jesse.
posted by Etrigan at 10:26 AM on October 7, 2019 [3 favorites]


i feel like literally anything can happen at any moment on the show. it's exhilarating.

The teaser provided some hints, but they were so vague as to open things to more options, not less.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:01 PM on October 7, 2019


I think Judy might be a grown-up Louise from Bob's Burgers...
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:15 PM on October 7, 2019 [1 favorite]


Kelvin's dismissal of Keefe had a real Shoo The Dog vibe to it.

"Get on! Go! It's for your own good!" *throws rock*
posted by fiercecupcake at 3:02 PM on October 7, 2019


Jesse and Gideon's reconciliation combined with Jesse watching Gideon hug his brothers goodbye, plus Eli bailing out Judy, I don't know how they did it, but this show actually wrung genuine emotion out of me for this dysfunctional horror show of a family.

i feel like literally anything can happen at any moment on the show. it's exhilarating.

I don't even know what I want to happen at the end. I just want to watch it.
posted by gladly at 6:09 PM on October 7, 2019 [2 favorites]


I had genuine actual tears during Gideon and Jesse’s reconciliation. And then Jesse went and fucked it all up again by needing to be the center of attention. He should have privately shared his transgressions with Amber and/or his father. I think Amber was angry in part about being humiliated in front of the other pastors and wives.
posted by jeoc at 9:02 AM on October 8, 2019 [6 favorites]


Jesse made it into a spectacle for others to forgive him, in part by making Chad the worst among his peers.

General observation: I read into the use of water as a prop as a comment on holy water and being washed clean of sins (like in the malfunctioning wave pool in the first episode). Jesse walked through the fountain, not on top of water, but into it. The van was supposed to sink into the sands, but instead the partial submersion was as good as they got (only partially absolved of their sins?), and when the sun came out, it was a crime scene.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:27 AM on October 8, 2019 [6 favorites]


I think Amber was angry in part about being humiliated in front of the other pastors and wives.

I have a slightly different take on it: She was angry about being humiliated without getting enough time to sort out her reaction.

Amber knows the deal. Jesse has never gotten one over on her ever. She knows that any time he is out of her sight (up to and including, as we've seen, when he's in the bathroom and she's in the bedroom), there's a pretty decent chance he's doing something shady -- if not illegal, then at least embarrassing to The Gemstone Image.

She accepts that she's performing a public role just like he is, even to their "close friends", just like Jesse is performing Elder Scion. Amber could have accepted a shift from Wife And Mother to Forgiving Wife, but she needed time to process that and be ready to perform it.
posted by Etrigan at 9:31 AM on October 8, 2019 [7 favorites]


I feel like the signature Danny McBride character move is: narcissistic man has a shockingly genuine moment of contrition, tries to make amends, but is so unable to move past his own narcissism that his would-be mature gesture instead shows everyone in his life how convinced he is that he's the hero of his own story.

It's brilliant, imo: it lets his shows be a heck of a lot less adolescent than they would be otherwise, while simultaneously denying us the ability to look past the fact that, on some level, his characters are absolute pieces of shit. We root for em on one level, and are viciously satisfied by their comeuppance on another.
posted by rorgy at 12:59 PM on October 9, 2019 [5 favorites]


i feel like literally anything can happen at any moment on the show. it's exhilarating.

A show about family and fame and surprise murders? This is what Game of Thrones used to be.

We root for em on one level, and are viciously satisfied by their comeuppance on another.

Are Danny McBride characters like the post-Judd Apatow manchild characters?
posted by Apocryphon at 9:51 AM on November 20, 2019


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