Previous: Episode 2.9, Continued: A perfect Christian, the Lion King, naked twinks, and lovers in old photographs
The series finales on The Righteous Gemstones are meant to tie up any remaining loose ends and say goodbye to the characters, so we should expect little or no plot development, just a lot of hugging: everyone who has had lost, frayed, or troubled relationships during the season, lovers, friends, parents and children, siblings, will be reconciled.
Hold on tight to the one you love the most: A blackened stage. Suddenly a spotlight on Jesse. He begins the country-western song "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend," by Don Williams. Then Kelvin, lying on a platform, raising a finger to Heaven. Then Judy and the choir, as she walks up stage. Then all three siblings together.
Coffee black, cigarettes. Start the day like all the rest.
First thing every moning that I do, is start missing you.
Some broken hearts never mend. Some memories never end.
Some tears will never dry. My love for you will never die.
Except this song is not about lost love, it's about mended hearts. You're supposed to look at or point to a loved one. Kelvin starts out by pointing at audience stage left, obviously at Keefe, who points to himself and then back. My love for you will never die,
BJ waves, presumably at Judy. Cut to Amber and the kids; then Baby Billy, Tiffany, and the baby; he looks back at Harmon, his no-longer estranged son; and finally Eli looks out at the audience.
In the middle of love's embrace: Flashback to the Alaska Commercial Company, a grocery store chain with 33 locations in Alaska, mostly in rural areas. The Lissons, in hiding after their murders and attempts, are buying -- coffee to go? Martin has them under surveillance
Back in church, Eli looks at the band as the siblings sing the second verse together. Then Jesse and Kelvin, looking up to heaven.
Rendezvous in the night.
In the middle of love's embrace, I see your face
Wait -- they see God while their partners Amber and Keefe are going downtown? Makes sense.
Cut to the Lissons in their cabin, watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the gay-subtext bank robbers, played by Robert Redford, top photo, and Paul Newman, left, are trapped, with no escape, so they go out shooting.
Some broken hearts never mend. Some memories never end.
Some tears will never dry. My love for you will never die.
The Cycle Ninjas: Cycle Ninjas on glittering metallic snowmobiles zoom through the woods.
The First Chorus: The congregation rises to sing the chorus.
We see Chad and his wife, who have been having marital problems since Season 1; Martin and his often seen, never-named wife; Judy and BJ; Junior and Tan Man, Baby Billy and Tiffany, Amber and the kids. Then the siblings again. Wait, I thought the Tan Man was just Junior's assistant. Is there a gay relationship going on back in Memphis?
In the flashback, the Lissons get out their guns and tell each other that God believes in them: "God will see us through, for we are the Chosen." Where on Earth did Lyle get that idea?
More broken hearts after the break
The Second Chorus: Imitating a scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Lyle throws a chest from the second floor. It contains Lindsey, who opens fire. The Cycle Ninjas shoot her.
Panicking, Lyle runs from the cabin in his underwear. The Cycle Ninjas aim at him, but then think, why waste bullets? He'll freeze to death if the wolves don't get him first. Eli grins at the camera.
Some broken hearts never mend. Some memories never end.
Some tears will never dry. My love for you will never die.
Kelvin points off camera at Keefe again.
Who killed the Lissons? It looks like Eli hired the Cycle Ninjas to kill the Lissons, but that would go against his entire plot arc of the season: rejecting the violence in his past and trying to be a better person. Earlier he was suspected of murdering Thaniel, the other men at his house, and Glendon. He was innocent.
So who hired them? The Cycle Ninjas wanted revenge on Lyle for not paying them for their assassination attempt. Does it make more sense that Martin told them where the Lissons were and bankrolled their new snowmobiles?
Maybe not. This scene is an homage to a scene in The Godfather (1972) where Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the new head of the Corleone crime family, orders the murders of his rivals while he is attending the baptism of his sister's kid. Shots of the baptism and the murders are juxtaposed, like shots of the Lissons' murders and the church service are juxtaposed here.
Next question: The Big Bads of the other seasons are redeemed; why aren't the Lissons? Because their sins are greater? Threatening Eli's children is an unforgiveable sin -- until next season. Or maybe it is related to what Minister Mike told Lyle at the orphanage: you get mean when no one loves you.
The Third Chorus: Another run-through of the congregation, except this time Junior and the Tan Man grin at each other, Chad puts his arm around his wife, BJ's parents warm up to the service, and Keefe points to himself and then to Kelvin. They get two opportunities to sing "My love for you will never die."
Zion's Landing will now be a Gemstone resort. The siblings hug. Eli sings. Lyle has frozen to death as wolves approach. The end.
McBride didn't know, at this point, if the series would be renewed for a third season, so he wrote as if this was the last we would ever see of the Gemstones. And he wrote of relationships being mended and affirmations of love. The end.
Whoops, I accidentally posted a photo of Kelvin and Keefe from Season 3. Oh, well, now you know what's coming up.
A random naked guy to tide you over.
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