Gemstones Episode 1.9 Review, Continued: Kelvin goes dark, Keefe goes down, and Captain America saves the day

This is a continuation of Gemstones Episode 1.9 Review: Jesse is racist, Judy is a rapist, and Kelvin is the Devil

He's not my boyfriend:  Earlier in the episode, Kelvin reveals that "he's coming apart," certain that his lack of interest in women and recent forays into "darkness" signify that he is the Devil.  The siblings tried to comfort him, but apparently it didn't help: he shows up at the teen group wearing a Goth teddy boy outfit, mascara, pale lipstick, dark glasses, and shiny vinyl pants, and announces "I have transformed myself into something Dark."  He's not Jesus, but a vile creature of sin, he must leave them.  

 Link to NSFW version

But his replacement, Ronald Meyers (Josh Warren), is "pure": chubby, greasy-haired, an assistant manager at the GameStop.  One can't help but conclude that "pure" means "never had sex," a contrast with Kelvin, who obvioulsy has. 

Kelvin makes a dramatic exit.  Dot Nancy, whom he rescued from Club Sinister, scoffs, as if to say "What an idiot!", and follows. "Is this about your boyfriend?"  Notice that she is not being pejorative; she honestly believes that they are a gay couple.  

Kelvin corrects her:  "Ok, no, he's not my boyfriend. We're just a couple dudes who like to hang out. Why?"  He's being awfully nonchalant -- compare Season 3, where "rumors swirling around" drive him into a panic.  He's already the Dark Lord, a being infused by homoerotic desire, so why get upset over a simple mistake?

Fans who insist that "Kelvin is straight!" often point to this statement, but maybe they're not "boyfriends," partners in a caring, emotionally-fulfilling relationship.  Kelvin believes that Satan is all about sex, not love, so whatever he feels for Keefe -- whatever he does with Keefe -- must be driven solely by lust.   

That will all change in a moment, when Dot shows him Keefe's instagram page. He has returned to his old job as Baby Queef, a performance artist at Club Sinister: "The baby is back!"  and "Haven't I fallen far enough?"  

Responses from fans: "I'm psyched!  I can't wait!"  "We're off to never-never land!" 

Yelling "No, no, no," Kelvin rushes off. Why is he fine with turning into the Dark Lord, but upset when Keefe becomes one of his followers?  Maybe because his transformation was all about wallowing in self-pity, while Keefe's is for real. He is about to be destroyed, spiritually, psychologically, and maybe even physically.

Gideon in Haiti: Before we can find out what happens next with Kelvin and Keefe, we cut to Gideon in Haiti: colorful "third world" shots of goats, a taverna, Gideon  meeting a group of kids, and so on.  The Water 2 Haiti ministry reflects the real Water for Life, which has been sponsoring well digging and irrigation since 1983. 

Jesse tracks Gideon down and asks him to come home. He refuses: he's doing missionary work to expiate his sins, so he can find peace.   Jesse will have to find anothe way to reconcile with Amber.

BJ is Shocked:  Back to the Gemstone Compound, night.  BJ wants to do a grand gesture to get Judy back (you dumped her, remember?), but Brock the Security Guard makes fun of his name and won't let him in (he lived there before the breakup -- wouldn't Brock know him and let him by default?).  

Rejected at the gate, BJ says "It's time to be a man" and finds an isolated place with a fence he can climb over.  We get a good view of the amusement park as he sneaks through, trying to abandon "childish things," as St. Paul suggested.   But the stealth plan doesn't work:  he is surrounded by security guards and tazed.

The Isolation Tank: Meanwhie, Kelvin is trying a grand gesture of his own (you dumped him, remember?). He arrives at Club Sinister with yet another party going on (or is there always a party in the Satanic realm?)  He pushes through the crowd (and, significantly, shrinks back with audible “Ewww!” at the sight of a naked lady), and finds Keefe's old friend Daedalus.  "Keefe is discovering some things about himself," he says. What does Keefe not know about himself?  Surely he knew that he was gay.  

Then: "I transformed him back into the earliest state of his being. He's sinking beneath his reality as we speak.  He's regressing to a transitive state."  I couldn't find an exact meaning for this phrase, but it probably means a state where you can be transformed into a different person.  

Kelvin threatens him: “Take me to him right now! I will beat your f*ng ass!”   

Daedalus immediately backs down and leads Kelvin to a private room.  Keefe is floating in a milky liquid like amniotic fluid, wearing a gimp outfit with his genitals exposed.  This is performance art: party guests are watching him descend past the womb into oblivion. Some are inhaling or drinking his life force.

Kelvin thinks that Satan offers strength and power; you become a Dark Lord.  But he is wrong.  You become nothing, absorbed and obliterated by the Sadness.

He pushes away the "hissinig demons,"  ignores Keefe's semi-erect penis, jumps in, and starts tearing off the tubes and wires. Um...dude, he gets oxygen from those.  The mask comes off: it is Satan, not God, who forces us to live in masks, hide who we are from the world.

Kelvin kisses Keefe's  forehead and presses their faces together, crying and yelling "Fuck the Sadness."  This is a call-back to Atreyu yelling "Fight the Sadness" in The Neverending Story earlier.   Finally Keefe returns, gasping and sputtering, to the world of the living.  He explains:  “I was so lost without you…then the Beast came for me, and I let it in.  Hold me.” Kelvin responds: “Shh.  I’m here now.”  

"I'm still really high.": a kicker to add some levity to a critical scene.

Tony Cavalero states that he and Adam were going to play it for laughs.  Then director Jody Hill told them that this scene was an "affirmation of their love."  So they played it with real emotional intensity, and ended up in tears. This is not a spiritual leader saving his disciple, or a good buddy saving a friend; Keefe is the damsel in distress in a 1940s movie serial or superhero comic book, rescued from certain doom, whispering "if it weren't for you, I'd be...." before the fade out kiss. (Captain America saves Bucky below).

Why don't they kiss?  (Spoiler alert: there is no on-screen kiss until the penultimate episode of Season 3.   From the showrunners' point of view, there are lots of reasons: fear of offending conservative viewers, interest in sparking fan discussion; reluctance to commit to Kelvin being "really" gay.  But for analysis of a naturalistic program, we must pretend that we are looking through a window at real people, whose reactions are consistent what what came before: for Kelvin, kissing means love.  It means a  permanent, exclusive, emotionally intimate relationship. It means getting party invitations as a couple, sitting together at the family dinners, celebrating anniversaries, growing old together.  Kelvin isn't sure that what he feels for Keefe is love, or if romantic love between men is even possible.  He won't be sure until near the end of Season 2.

Or maybe he just doesn't want to kiss a guy who is sputtering a noxious, milky liquid. Would you?

A full-grown adult man:  To complete the parallel Kelvin/Keefe and Judy/BJ stories, Judy retrieves BJ from the compound's security office.  He explains that he is now "a full-grown adult man," so he wants romance, not just a sexual thing. Are you listening, Kelvin?  "Let me teach you about relationships."  She agrees.

The siblings just have to reconcile with their Dad and retrieve the offering money from Baby Billy (who incidentally, dies from a lightning strike and is resurrected by a bee sting).  One more naked guy, and we're ready for the season finale.

Two naked guys and a lot of nick-of-time rescues on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends