Title: "To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope," 1 Thessalonians 4.13. Paul is telling his followers not to grieve "like men who have no hope," since they will see their loved ones again in heaven.
The Intruder: 2002. During a thunderstorm, an intruder breaks into the house, smashes a photo of Eli and Aimee-Leigh and some other memorabilia, and takes the gold-plated Bible from the Civil War. Close up of a destroyed framed magazine cover promising "Hot Gossip" and featuring Brendan Fraser.
The intruder continues into the playroom and smashes a photo of the siblings and Kelvin's army men. There's a muscle man in skimpy underwear, denoting that Kelvin is gay.
He lifts up the bed to find a hiding 12-year old Kelvin, who screams. Notice the enclosed space. They will appear often in the episode, giving the viewer a sense of disquiet. The family is trapped.
Night Sweats: Kelvin awakens screaming from a nightmare. Keefe notes that his nocturnal terrors and night sweats are getting worse, and uses a towel to daub him, but Kelvin insists that it was just a nightmare, and goes back to sleep.
I'm worried about the night sweats -- when I was living in West Hollywood in the 1980s, they were the first sign that you were HIV positive. But surely they don't mean that Kelvin is sick.
Doing Stuff with the Devil, Part 1: Kelvin hates storms; it's like the Devil is doing his business on you. Keefe agrees, with a amazing monologue about the Devil pouring down his TT on people, who think it's a wine cooler or kombucha, and drink it. He looks out into the storm and says "Your hot sorcery p* can't hurt us in here. Begone, Devil" but the Dark Lord is already inside: Keefe has a no-hands adult thing.
There are several takeaways here.
1. Keefe now has a nipple ring.
2. He is into water sports.
3. He has just, in effect, did it with the Devil.
4. The Gemstones aren't safe. There's a devil among them.
Doing Stuff with the Devil, Part 2: Looks like that devil is Lori. She finishes doing stuff with Eli in the bathroom -- another enclosed space -- and tells him "You're so bad!" She is tempting him to evil, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Then they go out to a family picnic. We meet Lori's son Corey (Seann William Scott, top photo), who used to spend time with the siblings and thinks that their squabbling is hilarious, and his ditzy wife Jana (Arden Myrin).
The scene seems to be mostly ad-libbed cinéma vérité, allowing us to see the Gemstones in a moments of joy before things go very wrong. Some takeaways:
1. No airport or shopping mall wanted to buy the Prayer Pods, so Jesse is humiliated.
2. Keefe says that on Gay Reddit, they're called "squirt yurts." This is the first time he has said "gay."
3. They make fun of Eli for being too old and uncool to attract women, but Lori defends him: "Looks pretty cool to me."
Later, the siblings and Corey see Eli and Lori together, and laugh at the idea that they could be involved.
The Last Safe Space: On the way home, Keefe images that Kelvin has won the Top Christian Man award by default, with all of the other nominees dead. Weird.
Then they see that Kelvin's childhood treehouse is being demolished. The Groundskeeper (Brian Sides) says that it was damaged heavily in the storm, and is unstable, but Kelvin insists that they don't touch it. Another safe space gone.
Left: Michael Rooker, who is credited on the IMDB for the episode, but we don't know who he is playing. Yet.
The Groundskeeper's backside is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.
Burning Down the House: In the board room, Jesse is mentoring Gideon by demonstrating church management. His Leadership Team enters: the usual crew (Gregory, Levi, Chad, Matthew), plus Martin.
Bad news: Vance Simkins, one of the antagonists from Season 3, is back, opening a new church in a mini-mall right next to a Gemstone satellite church.
Chad suggests burning Vance's church down, but Jesse is trying to be a role model for Gideon, so he takes Martin's suggestion: the siblings could perform at the satellite church, to ensure that members don't defect.
BJ Falls from the Sky: The male pole-dancing competitition.
In the locker room, Judy gives BJ a pep talk: "Eye of a tiger, d*ick of a horse." A guy with a horse d*ck walks by (on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).
BJ begins his routine, but then falls on his head. Judy screams for an ambulance. This was much too soon. We needed several more scenes of BJ practicing and performing.
BJ's stunt double and his c*ck are on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.
More after the break
6.-7. J-Roc (Jonathan Torrens), a wannabe rapper who thinks that he's black and ends every sentence with "you know what I'm sayin'?" In later seasons, he and his partner T (Tyrone Parsons) raise two children together.
8.-9. Cory (Cory Bowles), a muscular young hood, and his partner Trevor (Michael Jackson), sometimes work for Ricky. They display an interest in girls, but they are also portrayed as a gay-subtext couple, and they occasionally engage in same-sex acts as part of one of Ricky's wild schemes.
