Title: "I Will Tell of All Your Deeds." Psalms 9.1, NIV: "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Hopefully we'll hear about some of the Lord's deeds.
The Thaniel Answer: A flashback: Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman), the snoopy reporter who was murdered in Episode 2.2, is yelling at Lyle Lissons, the megachurch pastor who wants Jesse to invest in his Christian resort! How do those two know each other?
Ulp, Thaniel is forcing Lyle to dig up dirt on the Gemstones, but all he has provided so far is satellite church pastor Butterfield having a three-way in the dance club restroom (See Episode 2.1)
Not good enough. Thaniel wants Eli Gemstone, the most famous televangelist and megachurch pastor in the world. Bringing down the Gemstones will win him a Pulitzer!
But Lyle needs their money for his resort. How about if he frames some of his own satellite church pastors for embezzlement?
No, Eli Gemstone, "Or I'll do a story on your strange relationship with some of the boys at your orphanage." Uh-oh, Lyle is a pe dophile!
Lyle goes out to his car, where the ministers he offered to betray are waiting. One is played by Chad Mountain, linked below.
They brought hand grenades to kill Thaniel with. But one of the idiots pulls the pin, and is exploded! Thaniel investigates the noise and shoots another, then runs back into his house, where he accidentally shoots himself!
Lyle and the two surviving ministers hide when a car approaches. It's the Gemstone siblings, coming to tell Thaniel to back off. So this is all happening during Episode 2.2. They see Thaniel's corpse and the other dead guys and run away. To avoid discovery, Lyle tells his ministers to burn down the house. Then, worried that the siblings may have seen them, he burns them to death, too. OMG, this guy makes Eli breaking thumbs look like a church ladies' tea. I'd call him a psycho, but I don't want to insult Freddy Krueger.
So now we know who killed Thaniel and the other men, and I'm guessing that Lyle sent the Cycle Ninjas, too. We just need the answer to the Keefe question.
Gideon jumps out a window: Cut to Gideon running through an office, chased by the police. He jumps through a window and falls three stories. He's dead!
Psych! It was a stunt job! Everyone loves it, including his visiting parents, who conclude that maybe doing stunt work in California isn't so bad after all. Don't worry, he'll be back with the Gemstones soon.
Toxic father, toxic son: Then back to the Psycho: Lyle and Lindsey Lissons are visiting his elderly Dad Roddy (John Amos), who is not happy to see him: "You took everything I cared about, locked me up in this....prison." "You mean an expensive care facility?" Whoa, Lindsey actually slaps him and threatens him. Murder and elder abuse!
They have come to give Roddy a permanent room at the Christian resort they are building -- with some of the money the've stolen from him. But since he's acting so snippy, they rescind the offer
Toxic father-son relationships this season: Roy Gemstone-Eli, Glendon Marsh-Junior, Lyle Lissons-Roddy, Baby Billy Freeman-Harmon, Eli-Kelvin, Jesse-Pontius.
Personal note: John Amos and I used to go to the same gym in West Hollywood. We never became friends, but we had a sort of nodding acquaintanceship. I did manage to see him in the shower.
The hand-holding fist bump: In a reprise of the first Sunday dinner in Episode 2.1, identical SUVs pull up, and the family walks in slow motion toward Jason's Steakhouse, reveling in their heteronormative nuclear family success: first Eli, then Jesse/Amber and their kids; then BJ/Judy and their "daughter" Tiffany; and finally --
Kelvin and Keefe?
Kelvin holds out his fist, a call-back to their “bro” fist-bump in their first scene together, but instead of returning the bump, Keefe cups his hand over Kelvin’s: a romantic gesture reminiscent of how married couples show affection in formal photographs. Jesse and Amber are holding hands the same way. Kelvin looks defiant, daring someone to comment; Keefe looks decidedly nervous. The romantic has superseded the friendly. No more hiding, no more dissimulation: they are “out” as romantic partners.
The song playing in the background is Daniel Boone’s “Beautiful Sunday”: “ When you said you loved me, oh my, it’s a beautiful day.”
The hand-holding fist-bump received a huge amount of attention from fans, with statements like "True love!" and "I wish I had a love like that." Tony Cavalero posted it on his Instagram with the caption "Hold on tight to the one you love the most for the Season finale."
Personal note: This is the first scene of The Righteous Gemstones that I watched. My partner was a fan, but I was worried that it would bring up painful memories of growing up Nazarene. That night I was crossing the living room on the way to the kitchen for a snack, and I glanced at the tv set: a gay couple walking toward Jason's Steakhouse with the rest of the conservative evangelical family! They were completely nonchalant about it: no angst, no hiding, no homophobia! I was instantly hooked.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Kelvin holds the door open for Keefe, and as he enters, slaps him on the butt, a “goose” that is commonly used to express a casual, playful sexual intent. In the first dinner scene, Kelvin’s homoerotic desire barred Keefe from entry. Now it pushes him in, and symbolically into the family.
Kelvin comes out: At the dinner, Kelvin can’t stop grinning. His joy is infectious, a welcome relief after his near-constant physical pain and emotional turmoil through the season, but perhaps unnecessary: everyone has been so thoroughly prepared that they could hardly have a reaction other than complete nonchalance.
Eli announces the groundbreaking party for Zion's Landing: “I think we should all attend this important event as a family.” Kelvin turns to Keefe, but not to ask him to come, since no separate invitation is necessary: all family members are invited. He is asking if it’s ok, giving Keefe the power to veto the idea (he might not want to spend several days with people who pretended that he didn’t exist before last week). Keefe nods his consent: they can go. He is no longer a kept boy, an assistant, or a good buddy: they are equal partners, both invited to the table.
More after the break
