The Righteous Gemstones: Interlude II
January 31, 2022 12:18 PM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Christmas, 1993. While Eli considers a tempting offer from an old friend, Baby Billy crashes the Gemstones’ celebrations.
It's a flashback to 1993 (the Roseanne episode "White Trash Christmas" premiered on December 17, 1993; IMDB has a picture from the episode, showing how Goodman looked at the time).
Jesse ponders the perfect Christmas gift for Kelvin. Eli denounces Jim Henson. Uncle Baby Billy joins the family after his wife and son left him. Grandpa Roy (M. Emmet Walsh) wants to go hunting. Martin takes a seat. Glendon Marsh (Wayne Duvall) and Eli enjoy the Fancy Nancy's non-smoking section. Eli ponders money, but does he launder money? The Gemstones forget to give Uncle Baby Billy a gift. Uncle Baby Billy tells the truth. Aimee-Leigh sets them up while Uncle Baby Billy knocks 'em down. Eli shares his vision with his flock. Glendon Marsh plays one heck of a good car prank. Martin and Eli cement their friendship.
It's a flashback to 1993 (the Roseanne episode "White Trash Christmas" premiered on December 17, 1993; IMDB has a picture from the episode, showing how Goodman looked at the time).
Jesse ponders the perfect Christmas gift for Kelvin. Eli denounces Jim Henson. Uncle Baby Billy joins the family after his wife and son left him. Grandpa Roy (M. Emmet Walsh) wants to go hunting. Martin takes a seat. Glendon Marsh (Wayne Duvall) and Eli enjoy the Fancy Nancy's non-smoking section. Eli ponders money, but does he launder money? The Gemstones forget to give Uncle Baby Billy a gift. Uncle Baby Billy tells the truth. Aimee-Leigh sets them up while Uncle Baby Billy knocks 'em down. Eli shares his vision with his flock. Glendon Marsh plays one heck of a good car prank. Martin and Eli cement their friendship.
I was so offended when Martin showed up and Eli was mean to him. Also, imagine using Jim Henson comparisons as an insult!
I liked this episode but my boyfriend was impatient to get back to the present day and the status of Kelvin's thumbs.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:12 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I liked this episode but my boyfriend was impatient to get back to the present day and the status of Kelvin's thumbs.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:12 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
my boyfriend was impatient to get back to the present day and the status of Kelvin's thumbs
I bet he isn’t playing any piano.
posted by snofoam at 7:23 AM on February 1, 2022
I bet he isn’t playing any piano.
posted by snofoam at 7:23 AM on February 1, 2022
I'm only ten minutes in but -- M. Emmet Walsh is still alive???
posted by Catblack at 9:29 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 9:29 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The young actor that played young Jesse totally had Danny McBride's act down.
I'm a little surprised that Martin went along with covering up the accidental death so easily. Perhaps he was offended by Glendon Marsh's penchant for evil? And, did they they confiscate the three million in cash?
posted by Ber at 7:55 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm a little surprised that Martin went along with covering up the accidental death so easily. Perhaps he was offended by Glendon Marsh's penchant for evil? And, did they they confiscate the three million in cash?
posted by Ber at 7:55 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
1. The child actors are so fucking good.
2. M. Emmet Walsh is even better.
3. Baby Billy is a piece of shit, but it felt like he was expressing a lot of more genuine and complex feelings in this one than he did in the first interlude, where he was conspicuously bullshitting the whole time. I liked that. And I like, in general, that this show is so good at expressing people's complex interiorities without taking the cowardly/lazy route of going "therefore, nobody is a piece of shit, ever." (Mike Schur Watch Any Danny McBride Show 2022 Challenge)
4. I realized, watching this episode, something about why my first watch of season 1/my watch of this season so far both have felt less engaging or satisfying than my subsequent rewatches. A lot of shows build in a lot of intense suspense early, but the payoffs almost invalidate the whole of the build-up. TRG feels like it does the opposite: while it mixes in some tense moments early on, it's perfectly willing to meander away from them or take them lightly, but then it throws in some REAL hairpin turns and twists and pivots that abruptly lend meaning to the earlier stuff. Sort of like how the Scotty plot last season started off as a bit of a shaggy dog, but abruptly turned unbearably gripping when he actually executed his heist, which in turn transformed so quickly into the car crash and his getting shot and killed that now I go back, watch the early Scotty stuff, and go: "Man, what an excellent fucking story."
I strongly suspect that I'm going to feel the same way about everything in this season, because it's already happening, with the reveal of the murdered father. Already things which seemed like chess pieces early now feel like essential pieces of a well-wrought story, whose shape I don't wholly understand just because the story itself isn't finished being told.
5. Martin forever 💕💕💕💕💕💕
posted by rorgy at 5:11 AM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
2. M. Emmet Walsh is even better.
3. Baby Billy is a piece of shit, but it felt like he was expressing a lot of more genuine and complex feelings in this one than he did in the first interlude, where he was conspicuously bullshitting the whole time. I liked that. And I like, in general, that this show is so good at expressing people's complex interiorities without taking the cowardly/lazy route of going "therefore, nobody is a piece of shit, ever." (Mike Schur Watch Any Danny McBride Show 2022 Challenge)
4. I realized, watching this episode, something about why my first watch of season 1/my watch of this season so far both have felt less engaging or satisfying than my subsequent rewatches. A lot of shows build in a lot of intense suspense early, but the payoffs almost invalidate the whole of the build-up. TRG feels like it does the opposite: while it mixes in some tense moments early on, it's perfectly willing to meander away from them or take them lightly, but then it throws in some REAL hairpin turns and twists and pivots that abruptly lend meaning to the earlier stuff. Sort of like how the Scotty plot last season started off as a bit of a shaggy dog, but abruptly turned unbearably gripping when he actually executed his heist, which in turn transformed so quickly into the car crash and his getting shot and killed that now I go back, watch the early Scotty stuff, and go: "Man, what an excellent fucking story."
I strongly suspect that I'm going to feel the same way about everything in this season, because it's already happening, with the reveal of the murdered father. Already things which seemed like chess pieces early now feel like essential pieces of a well-wrought story, whose shape I don't wholly understand just because the story itself isn't finished being told.
5. Martin forever 💕💕💕💕💕💕
posted by rorgy at 5:11 AM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by yonega at 6:22 PM on January 31, 2022 [3 favorites]