The Righteous Gemstones Recap: Love Isn’t Always On Time
Throughout its four-season run, the “Interlude” episodes of The Righteous Gemstones have filled in crucial pieces of Gemstone history that tell the family backstory in neat chronology — the first one is set in 1989, and this week’s brings us up to 2002 — and clarify the conflicts of a particular season. These episodes have tended to be among the best in the series, and they’re a much more elegant way of handling important character and plot details than conventional flashbacks, which often grind the action to a halt or hammer home some big revelation the writers have been dancing around forever. The show wants us to track the full rise (and potential fall) of the Gemstone empire, but it has wisely refused to clutter up seasons by parsing out the past. It’s much more invigorating to put a pause on the current dust-ups and tell these stories in full.
If you recall, last season’s “Interlude III” took place at the turn of the current century, when Eli and Aimee-Leigh took some heat for capitalizing on the Y2K panic by selling survival buckets through the church. The backlash was pretty severe, leading to protests and declining attendance, as well as a hostile response from Eli’s brother-in-law Peter (Steve Zahn), who lost thousands investing in the buckets and would establish a militia full of doomsday preppers. There was a lot to unpack in that episode about Eli and Aimee-Leigh, who never actually believed that Y2K was a threat, just another opportunity to soak their gullible parishioners for money. Peter may have been the “villain” of the third season, but he definitely qualifies as one of those villains with a point. His corruption was directly related to theirs.
This season had an unofficial “Interlude”-type episode for its premiere, which went all the way back to the Civil War to show how Elijah Gemstone was a thief and a killer who stole the identity of a local minister, faked his way through a stint as a Confederate chaplain, and learned it was a pretty good hustle. (Not to mention a genuine spiritual pursuit, which is a contradiction baked into the Gemstone mission.) The gold Bible that Elijah stole from poor Abel Grieves is such a foundational piece of family lore that it’s kept under glass in a prominent place in the Gemstone mansion — or at least it was until a burglar snatched it away. “Interlude IV” reveals the thief’s identity and sets up the possibility of this big family secret finally coming back to haunt them. Then again, the Gemstones have been known to find their way out of pretty big pickles.
Opening in 2002, the episode makes it clear that the community hasn’t entirely forgiven Eli and Aimee-Leigh for the Y2k buckets or other related scams, but they can’t necessarily do anything about it. (It’s hard not to think about the town halls that have been breaking out in these first few months of Trump’s second term, where citizens have vented at representatives who have no intention of defying the president.) As the Gemstones propose a new salvation center they argue will boost local commerce, one county board member objects to the “10-acre parking lot” they intend to build and criticizes Eli for “buying out desperate people,” but the community backlash falls on deaf ears. The Gemstones have greased enough pockets — and supplied enough store-bought mini powdered donuts — to get what they want. They just have to take a couple of cream pies to the face for it.
They also get to retreat to Galilee Gulch, which helps clarify the relationship between the Gemstones and Milsaps while telling a few minor origin stories in the process, like young Kelvin’s nascent sexuality and the sinful beginnings of Jesse and Amber’s union. It introduces the great character actor Michael Rooker as Cobb Milsap, who blames the Gemstones for his crumbling marriage despite the turmoil his drinking and temper have wrought on their own. Aimee-Leigh and Lori are best friends, and young Corey seems to get along well with the Gemstone kids, but Eli’s low-key hostility toward Cobb is evident as he speeds him around the lake on water skis and cackles as he screams. Eli has a habit of seeing men like Cobb as pathetic rubes, but he winds up underestimating him.
The show has been hinting at the present-day Corey’s discomfort all season, and “Interlude IV” has his teenage self caught in the rift between his parents, trying not to take sides. For Lori, Eli and Aimee-Leigh are an emotional and financial lifeline at the time when her “cheap” husband, the proprietor of a gator farm, has them living like paupers. The opportunity to record another album with Aimee-Leigh hints at a possible off-ramp for Lori, and it’s an early indicator of the dodgy financial straits that have brought her back to the Gemstones in the present day — first with the Aimee-Leigh telethon performance and then with her romance with Eli. Lori’s deteriorating relationship with Cobb takes an ugly turn, too, when he turns up drunk and belligerent at the Gemstone estate, and Eli clocks him squarely in the face.
It’s pretty plain that Lori doesn’t have a great history with men, but there’s a certain amount of integrity to Cobb, who stands out for wanting nothing from the Gemstones. When Eli turns up at the gator farm to extend the olive branch to Cobb, he doesn’t want any part of it. “I work hard,” he says. “I provide for my family. But that ain’t what Lori likes. She likes fancy, and that ain’t never gonna be me.” He also tells Eli that he’d rather jump in with the gators than pray with him. None of this justifies his decision to ransack the Gemstone place, but it’s notable that he doesn’t take anything beyond that gold Bible. He’s not greedy. He’s angry. And who can blame him?
Uncut Gemstones
• Great to see J. Gaven Wilde and Emma Shannon return as young Jesse and Judy Gemstone, who are so uncanny in the roles that Hershal Pandya interviewed them for us last season. A particularly funny moment: Shannon bobbing her head back and forth with a sinister smile after Judy taunts her brother about the likelihood of his future divorce.
• The stars of Tiger Beat magazine, circa 2002: Ryan Gosling, Josh Hartnett, Brendan Fraser. A golden era for young Kelvin.
“Watch the language, for God’s sake! We’re at Jason’s!”
• It is unfortunate that Eli talked Jesse out of naming his first son Stallone, though he does look more like a Gideon. Judy gets a nice burn in on Jesse, though: “I wonder if y’all will get divorced. I bet you will, probably right after you give birth to Tony Danza or whatever the fuck y’all are calling the baby today.”
• One way to keep your child from drinking is to wait to tell him that someone pissed in the bourbon he’s poured for himself.
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