Gemstones Episode 3.2: Kelvin's buddies, gay Percy, two toxic families, and some n*de soldiers

Link to the NSFW version

Episode 3.2 introduces Eli's estranged brother-in-law Peter Montgomery, his sons, and a disturbing super-macho mirror of Kelvin's God Squad.

Title: "But Esau Ran to Meet Him," from Genesis 33.4.  Jacob has tricked his father Isaac into giving him the inheritance.  Esau is furious and vows to kill him, so he flees.  When he returns after 20 years, Esau behaves as if he is happy to see him, but....

Stephen's abusive wife:  Stephen, who was fired as Judy's guitarist after her brothers discovered their affair, is trying to tell his wife Kristy that he was "laid off," not fired.  She doesn't buy it.  It's a highly abusive relationship: she calls him "an unemployed, cokehead piece of sh*twho sulks all day."  He screams "Fuck you!", and she hits him with a glass blender.  Shattered glass all over his face and head, in front of the kids!  Whoa, scary.  The Gemstones and their partners argue, but they never use abusive language or physical violence.  Except for the time that Amber shot Jesse in the backside 

Later, Judy meets Stephen at Spanky's Cafe, a real restaurant in North Charleston, and offers him $10,000 to leave her alone: "I don't want to see you no' mo'."  But he still wants her.  Judy points out that he's married, but it doesn't matter: "I'd leave my family in a second if I could have you.  I'd murder them." Say what?  This guy is a psycho. Of course, he should leave his abusive wife, but murder her...and the kids?

Kelvin's Buddies:  Jesse and Amber's adult son Gideon, who moved to California to become a stuntman, is back, lying on the veranda in a bathrobe, smoking a cigarette, holding a box of Lucky Charms cereal, and sulking.  The background song by Buddy Knox tells us: "I think I'm going to kill myself."  He injured his neck, and may never do stunt work, tumbling, or martial arts again.  At least he's displaying a nice chest.

Background alert: Skyler Gisondo injured his neck in real life in 2022, when his hair stylist gave him a "little neck massage."  They wrote his injury into the script.

In a much, much nicer parallel to the Stephen-Mandy confrontation, Gideon's parents order him to stop feeling sorry for himself, get off his backside, and go to work for the church.  But he doesn't want to preach.  Ok, so he can become Eli's driver. Remember that the long-term driver, Walker, was fired.

We cut to Gideon on his first assignment, driving Eli and the siblings to see if May-May's kids are ok.  They are living with her estranged husband, Peter Montgomery, and his militia, the Brotherhood of Tomorrow's Fires: they expect end of civilization, like Eli's Y2K scare back in 1999.   Eli calles them preppers: "They want to make sure they don't run out of toilet paper."

Usually Evangelicals believe in the Rapture, when Jesus zaps everyone who is saved to Heaven, leaving the unsaved to suffer through seven years of the dystopian Tribulation before being sent to hell.  To this day, I will not let anyone stamp my hand for re-entry into an event, because  the Mark of the Beast was drummed into my head.  But Eli and Peter apparently have a different belief system.

On the way to the compound, at the defunct Boy Scout Camp Wooden Feather, the siblings discuss their cousins, Karl and Chuck.  Kelvin says that he always found them "kind of dumb and strange."  But you haven't seen them since 2000, when you were ten or eleven.  How much do you remember?

Judy: "That's why I'm surprised you weren't b utt buddies with them."  

He gets annoyed, not because she alludes to him being gay but because she implied that he's also "dumb and strange," and therefore perfect for the Montgomerys.

Not the God Squad:  Bizarre signs like "Now we will see" greet the family, along with multiple armed guards.  They pass Jacob (Stephen Louis Grush) cutting up a deer.  Kelvin smiles at him -- think he's hot, buddy?.  Then a military-style obstacle course;  guys practicing martial arts; a guy taking a shower outdoors (no beefcake); and finally the mess hall, where about thirty militia men are having lunch.

Wait -- no women and children?  The actual far-right militia movement has many female participants, but this is a male-only space, like Kelvin's God Squad in Season 2, but with scruffy guys in military fatigues instead of flexing musclemen.  It is dedicated to phileo instead of eros, buddy-bonding instead of homoerotic desire. An article on Doomsday Preppers notes that these male-only groups "cultivate a dangerous vision of apocalyptic manhood that consummates a fantasy of national virility in the demise of feminine society."  Women are weak and fragile, their civilization doomed. Only the "manly love of comrades" can survive the Apocalypse. 

May-May's son Chuck ushers Eli and the siblings in. They are greeted by Cousin Karl (Robert Oberst), who is delighted to see them; and Uncle Peter (Steve Zahn, below), who is not.  It's time for church, so get out!  No, the siblings offer to help lead the service: Jesse will preach, Judy will sing, and Kelvin will  perform some "feats of strength" for the kids -- the only time he references his muscles during the season.  No kids around, but maybe the militia guys would like to see some masculine beauty.   

Uncle Peter rejects the siblings' offer.  They are "phony fakers," entertainers, interested in making money rather than saving souls. 

More military guys after the break

Aaron Altaras: Drag boy, gay soccer player, lots of Jewish teenagers, spy. With his backside, his boyfriend's d*ck, and the Musee d'Orsay

  

Link to the n*de photos

Aaron Antares drew my attention because I keep wanting to say Antares, the giant star about to go supernova, and because of this photo of a muscular swimmer.

And this photo where the boy is wearing a red bra (surprisingly, just his size).

Aaron was born in Berlin in 1995, to a show biz family.  Of Croatian Jewish ancestry, he first achieved recognition in Nicht alle waren Mörder (Not All Were Murderers, 2006), about a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany.  

The bra scene is from the short Höllenritt (Rollercoaster, 2008).  My German has gotten very rusty, but I gather that Jakob's parents are divorced, and Dad and his new girlfriend don't want anything to do with him except for pushing him into football (socccer), which he hates. So he and his friends  start the "Dad is an Arsehole" club and think of mean pranks to play.  He gets a bra somehow, sleeps with it, and in the morning tries it on.  Dad catches him and looks surprised, but then says "Ok."  

In the next scene, Jacob and dad's girlfriend are standing on a rooftop, both wearing red bras, when superman Dad swoops down, and chooses her!  He wakes up screaming.

I'm not sure if the bra is one of the pranks, which would be homophobic or transphobic, or if the boy is really exploring his gender identity,  He wears Superman underwear (censored), and there are stars hanging over his bed, if that helps you figure it out.

After movies about Jewish teenagers in Nazi Germany and an Orthodox Jewish woman in contemporary Berlin, Aaron starred in Mario (2018): two football players (Aaron, Max Hubacher) fall in love, which is completely forbidden, so they have to keep it a secret.  According to OutSports, 29 male soccer players have come out, but most long after 2018. 

Sounds like that hockey player series from 2026, but not as steamy. At least we see Aaron's backside.  Or is it Max's?

Also Max's d*ck, on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends

Since Mario, Aaron has starred in several tv series:

A juvenile delinquent sent on a team-building expedition to the Alps in Wild Republic (2021). 

An intern in Legal Affairs (2021), about a lawyer who doesn't play by the rules.

The son of a Jewish family in contemporary Germany in Die Zweiflers (2024).  He falls in love with a non-Jewish woman, which causes tension, especially when she doesn't want their son circumcized.

More after the break

Ruben Reuter: The wacky drug dealer of "Pushers," "Lord of the Flies" Percy, Channel 4 Journalist, Short Guy with a d*ck

Link to the n*de dudes

I was researching Ryan McParland, the Irish actor who plays the younger brother on How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, and I found a cast photo from Pushers (2025), a Channel 4 comedy. With two short guys.

Two short guys?  I'm definitely watching this show!

Turns out that Pushers is not available to stream in the U.S., but I watched some clips on Youtube.  

It stars Rosie Jones  as Emily Dawkins, a woman with cerebral palsy who loses her benefits and needs some way to make money -- and impress her crush (a lady). Enter lovable doofus Ewen (Ryan McParland), who wants to "make money fast" in the amateur drug-dealing game.  He notices that Emily is invisible; people are disturbed by her disability, and pretend not to see her.  A perfect drug runner!

Emily suggests using her charity, Wee CU (providing accessible toilets), as a cover for the drug business.  And she recruits some other disabled people for the crew:

Hope (Libby Mae) handles the money-laundering, and pushes to expand the business into spice (an artificial cannabinoid).

Sam (Jon Furlong, in the back) became aggressive during her first drug sale, so she hired him as the muscle. He's garrulous and rather a tipster.

Harry (Ruben Reuter, hugging Ryan) wanted to make a documentary about the experience, but they reject the idea.  He handles the website and  the social media.

Trevor Dwyer-Lynch of Coronation Street (right) plays Masir, who provides the minivan.

Harry is an actor, dancer, and filmmaker (his dream is to direct Hollyoakes).  

In the first clip I watched, Harry and Ewan are hiding from a real drug lord - the kind that cuts your d*ck off -- and he suggests disguising themselves with drag.  He's an expert on hairstyling and makeup.   

Ewan: "F*cking hell, I look like me nan."

Harry: "No, you're attractive."

Ewan "Are you saying me nan ain't attractive?"

In another clip, the gang interviews for their jobs. Harry says that he's working at a pub with his Dad, but he wants to make enough money to ask his boyfriend Kevin to marry him.

A gay character!  They already had a lesbian character, so there's really no reason to make Harry gay -- unless the actor is gay in real life.

Ruben Reuter was born in 2000 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.  He has eight previous on-screen acting credits, most significantly the teen soap The Dumping Ground (2015-2024).  His character, Finn, was hetero, but he also may have a gay-subtext buddy-bond with Harry (Philip Graham Scott).

A n*de Yorkshire guy to tide you over on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends

More after the break.  

Mason Cook: The "Speechless" kid grows up, turns bohemian-hipster, builds biceps, and bares it all

  

Link to the n*de photos

You're probably most familiar with Mason Cook as Ray DiMeo, sarcastic younger brother of focus character JJ (Micah Fowler) on Speechless (2015-18).  JJ has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal, "speechless."

Ray gets a lot of gay subtext plotlines, at least in Season 1.  In Season 2, he becomes annoyingly hetero-horny, and eventually gets a serious girlfriend. 

Ray's sudden movement into hetero-horniness was disturbing not only because the gay teases were overturned, but because of the "discovering girls" rhetoric. Mason is over 18 at the time, but his character is 15.  When I was 15, all I ever heard was "You'll discover girls any moment now, and everything you love will become meaningless. You'll join clubs, take classes, choose your college solely in order to see or meet girls. Your buddies will become mere strategists, helping you find, impress, and win girls. You..."

Sorry for the rant, but I really felt betrayed by Ray DiMeo in the second season.  

So you may wonder why I'm posting a profile on Mason Cook

Not because of his gay or gay-subtext performances.

Born in 2000

Guest star in teencoms like Zeke and Luther

Son of the focus charater in the crime drama Legends

Classmate of the focus character on The Middle

 An "eccentric, devout Christian" who has sex with the focus girl, sending her rushing for a "morning after pill," in Plan B.  This was nominated for a GLAAD award because a major character is trans, but Mason is straight.

Not because of his physique.  

The few shirtless photos on Mason's social media suggest that he doesn't spend a lot of time at the gym.

Although he has developed some biceps recently.

More after the break