Previous: Episode 3.9: Baby Billy is bi, Peter plots revenge, and Kelvin and Keefe cuddle. With a Josh O'Connor bonus
A swarm of locusts!
Locusts are not unheard-of in South Carolina. In fact, every 13 years, a swarm of the similar cicadas emerges. Ecologists consider them beneficial, since many animals and birds eat them. And they do not sting or bite.
But these are not ordinary locusts. The swarm flies directly through the service entrance and into the tv studio, crashing and smashing everything. They may not sting or bite, but having dozens of buzzing, crawling things splat into your body, hitting your hair and face, must be disorienting and painful. People stumble in every direction, crashing into each other. Some are hit by falling lights and sound equipment. A round image of Baby Billy smashes someone's head.
Why locusts? In Exodus 10, God sends a plague of locusts to convince Pharaoh to let the Jews leave Egypt. The prophets Joel, Amos, and Nahum use them as symbols of Divine Judgement. They appear as one of the end time tribulations in the Book of Revelation, rising from the Abyss to torment unbelievers. None of those seem relevant here. Maybe God is trying to get everyone out of the church before it blows up?
You can tell who actually cares about their family by who runs away (the Simpkins) and who looks for them (the Gemstones). Jesse saves not only his family, but Eli and Dusty. The Montgomerys and BJ/Judy save each other.
Intimacy alert: Keefe holds on to Kelvin's hand and thigh.
Green is Kelvin's preferred color, but the Attico with the long green fringes was chosen deliberately to look like grass. The guys are dead and buried. Keefe has a symbolic death and resurrection in every season, but this is the first for Kelvin. Maybe this is his final expiation, burning away the last of his guilt and shame over being gay.
The family stumbles out onto the loading dock. Everyone else has scattered.
Femme alert: look at Keefe. Hour glass figure, large pearl necklace. past-shoulder length hair: with a different face, you would mistake him for a lady. This is the second time that he has dressed as a minister's wife. So, Mrs. Lincoln, other than that, how did you like the show?
Resolution 1: Uncle Peter. Uh-oh, one of the locusts has crashed into Peter's fitbit trigger, destroying it, so the van will blow up in one minute. Run away!
Intimacy alert: Keefe now has his arm around Kelvin, a parallel to BJ with his arm around Judy.
Left: Since some of the Gemstone kids are off to college in this episode, I'm including some college jock cocks.
More plot resolutions after the break