The Righteous Gemstones: You Shall Remember
April 7, 2025 7:19 PM - Season 4, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Baby Billy creates a new televisual opus, BJ finds a friend, and Jesse's animosity toward the Simkinses leads to trouble for Kelvin.
Fuck it: I need to go to bed, but the above is more glib than I intended. I feel like the Prism issue cuts right to the heart of the show; in the Prelude, when Elijah prays for the soldiers who are about to be killed, he's speaking from the heart, speaking to the God he hopes is there, although he really knows nothing about what's in the Bible he carries. It's his first real moment as an actual preacher. So, I mean, is a person's relationship to God about what they read in a book, or what they feel to be right? We know Simkins knows more about scripture than the Gemstone kids, but is he really any more sincere than they are? He seems like a complete bastard. But on the other hand, if you're preaching based just on what you feel in your heart, aren't you just kind of a megalomaniac, saying stuff is true just because you kinda feel like it is? It's a damn quandary!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:15 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:15 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
I thought the movie Eli and Lori were watching was Fatal Attraction.
posted by lizard music at 7:14 AM on April 8
posted by lizard music at 7:14 AM on April 8
My money is on Corey (Lori’s son) being the one disappearing and or killing all of Lori’s boyfriends.
It sucks that Kelvin got so eviscerated by Simkins, but everything about his acceptance of his own sexuality and his whole PRISM thing just seems super disingenuous. I think he found his way to stand out from his siblings and is milking it. He’s also taking for granted that the rest of Christianity in general is going to be as accepting of his progressivism as his audience.
I do hope Jesse has a moment where he realizes his bullshit has harmed Kelvin.
posted by kaiseki at 5:13 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]
It sucks that Kelvin got so eviscerated by Simkins, but everything about his acceptance of his own sexuality and his whole PRISM thing just seems super disingenuous. I think he found his way to stand out from his siblings and is milking it. He’s also taking for granted that the rest of Christianity in general is going to be as accepting of his progressivism as his audience.
I do hope Jesse has a moment where he realizes his bullshit has harmed Kelvin.
posted by kaiseki at 5:13 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]
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*Speaking of horror movies, Dr. Watson gave me an immediate Monkey Shines vibe, and the ominous music when he was watching BJ and Judy gives me a good idea of where this is going.
*I really don't want Lori to be evil, but something definitely seems to be up. (Of course, the torched truck could as easily be Simkins as Big Dick Mitch.) Corey seemed a little off, too, and frankly I just don't like him feeding his mom and her boyfriend edibles; it feels tacky and weird, and makes me wonder if maybe Lori really isn't a little sketchier than she comes across.
*I have Big Questions about the degree to which Kelvin is revising the Bible for Prism, however much I am onboard with his desire to make the church more LGBTQ friendly. I'm not sure whether Kelvin is dispelling confusion about scripture so much as he is just deciding what he would like it to say. I suspect I would also like it if scripture said what Kelvin wants it to say, but does it? Can this be resolved in a sesh of Bible Bonkers?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:06 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]