Previous: Episode 2.2: Kelvin clenches,Keefe dances, and everybody flirts with Eli.
Junior Threatens Brock: We cut to Eli at home, putting his bloody pants from last night into the hamper and watching a news report about the murders. Security guard Brock calls to tell him that Junior wants in. "Tell him I'm not here." Was Junior his partner in the murders, or did he do the job on his own?
Junior blusters and threatens him, but finally he drives away. You may recall that in Season 1, Scotty flirted with Brock to gain access to the Gemstone compound. But Junior has moved away from his gay-subtext flirting; he is pure threat.
The Human Pyramid: We see the God Squad perform before an audience of teens. Kelvin introduces the strongest member, Torsten, who dated a "female" in high school before she tried to seduce him, and he had to decide on "his celibacy or his soul." It is clear that by "celibacy," Kelvin means much more than avoiding sex with women. You must reject the entire heterosexist trajectory of job, house, wife, and kids, the nuclear family myth, the domestication and civilization threatened by the "female." The way to salvation lies in the beauty of male bodies, in homoerotic desire unhindered by emotional connection.
But when they move on to a human pyramid, with Kelvin on top, it topples. The House of Cards collapses. Maybe it can't be all about the penis after all. Keefe behaves like a concerned boyfriend, rushing onto the stage and embracing Kelvin -- to protect him from plummeting musclemen?.
Kelvin Wants to Spoon: After a scene with Jesse and his family discussing whether Eli is a murderer, we cut to Kelvin in his dressing room. What follows is very difficult to read. Fans are likely to shake their heads and say WTF? during their first, second, and third viewing. The showrunners want us to be unsure whether the guys are in fact gay, but that's obvious to anyone who pays the slightest attention to queer codes. The real question: is Keefe Kelvin's assistant and acolyte or his romantic partner? Are they friends with benefits, or are they in love?
On the surface, it seems easy enough. Kelvin, in underwear, is looking out the window at the God Squad below. Keefe enters, having drawn him a bath, and tells him that both Liam and Titus were injured in the human pyramid debacle. Kelvin thinks that it's their own fault for being soft on the fundamentals and skipping leg day. "Something might have to be done about Titus," he says menacingly, an action-adventure movie villain.
Keefe: "I completely agree." Note that he is not an assistant, or his opinion would be irrelevant. They are equal partners in the God Squad Cult. "But some of the others have been questioning their place here as well. That's the downside of assembling an entire group of alpha males. As they grow stronger, they grow more defiant." The men are not content with being mere objects of desire; they want autonomy and control.
Kelvin slips off his underwear and hands them to Keefe, who helps him put on his bathrobe -- from behind. He has to press his body against Kelvin, crotch to butt. Then he caresses Kelvin's thighs instead of breaking away. It would be much easier from the front. Why does he go in from the rear?
We see here Keefe struggling with his desire to move the relationship from "erotic partners" to "boyfriends," struggling with his urge to kiss Kelvin. Notice that he says "Are we in trouble?", not "Are you in trouble." Again we discover that he is not an employee, who could just find another job if the church went down. They are romantic partners; they are in this together.
Eli lays down the law: In the next scene, Eli notes that Liam (Peter Kaasa), who was injured during the human pyramid stunt, is suing the Gemstones. They don't need another scandal right now.
.jpg)
