It's the last episode, time for answers to the big questions of the season: Who killed Thaniel? Who is trying to kill Eli? Will Keefe ever be admitted to that family dinner?
Title: "I Will Tell of All Your Deeds." Psalms 9.1, NIV: "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Hopefully we'll hear about some of the Lord's deeds.
The Thaniel Answer: A flashback: Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman), the snoopy reporter who was murdered in Episode 2.2, is yelling at Lyle Lissons, the megachurch pastor who wants Jesse to invest in his Christian resort! How do those two know each other?
Ulp, Thaniel is forcing Lyle to dig up dirt on the Gemstones, but all he has provided so far is satellite church pastor Butterfield having a three-way in the dance club restroom (See Episode 2.1)
Not good enough. Thaniel wants Eli Gemstone, the most famous televangelist and megachurch pastor in the world. Bringing down the Gemstones will win him a Pulitzer!
But Lyle needs their money for his resort. How about if he frames some of his own satellite church pastors for embezzlement?
No, Eli Gemstone, "Or I'll do a story on your strange relationship with some of the boys at your orphanage." Uh-oh, Lyle is a pe dophile!
Lyle goes out to his car, where the ministers he offered to betray are waiting. One is played by Chad Mountain, linked below.
They brought hand grenades to kill Thaniel with. But one of the idiots pulls the pin, and is exploded! Thaniel investigates the noise and shoots another, then runs back into his house, where he accidentally shoots himself!
Lyle and the two surviving ministers hide when a car approaches. It's the Gemstone siblings, coming to tell Thaniel to back off. So this is all happening during Episode 2.2. They see Thaniel's corpse and the other dead guys and run away. To avoid discovery, Lyle tells his ministers to burn down the house. Then, worried that the siblings may have seen them, he burns them to death, too.
So now we know who killed Thaniel and the other men, and I'm guessing that Lyle sent the Cycle Ninjas, too. We just need the answer to the Keefe question.
Toxic father, toxic son: Lyle and Lindsey Lissons are visiting his elderly Dad Roddy (John Amos), who is not happy to see him: "You took everything I cared about, locked me up in this....prison." "You mean an expensive care facility?" Whoa, Lindsey actually slaps him and threatens him.
Murder and elder abuse!
They have come to give Roddy a permanent room at the Christian resort they are building -- with some of the money the've stolen from him. But since he's acting so snippy, they rescind the offer
Toxic father-son relationships this season: Roy Gemstone-Eli, Glendon Marsh-Junior, Lyle Lissons-Roddy, Baby Billy Freeman-Harmon, Eli-Kelvin, Jesse-Pontius.
Personal note: John Amos and I used to go to the same gym in West Hollywood. We never became friends, but we had a sort of nodding acquaintanceship. I did manage to see him in the shower.
The hand-holding fist bump: In a reprise of the first Sunday dinner in Episode 2.1, identical SUVs pull up, and the family walks in slow motion toward Jason's Steakhouse, reveling in their heteronormative nuclear family success: first Eli, then Jesse/Amber and their kids; then BJ/Judy and their "daughter" Tiffany; and finally --
Kelvin and Keefe?
Kelvin holds out his fist, a call-back to their “bro” fist-bump in their first scene together, but insted, Keefe cups his hand over his, then moves away. They're walking side by side, so they couldn't fist-bump anyway; Kelvin wants to hold hands, imitating what Jesse and Amber are doing, but Keefe doesn't follow through.
Kelvin looks defiant, daring someone to comment; Keefe looks decidedly nervous. The romantic has superseded the friendly. No more hiding, no more dissimulation: they are “out” as romantic partners.
The song playing in the background is Daniel Boone’s “Beautiful Sunday”: “ When you said you loved me, oh my, it’s a beautiful day.”
The hand-holding fist-bump received a huge amount of attention from fans, with statements like "True love!" and "I wish I had a love like that." Tony Cavalero posted it on his Instagram with the caption "Hold on tight to the one you love the most for the Season finale."
Personal note: This is the first scene of The Righteous Gemstones that I watched. My partner was a fan, but I was worried that it would bring up painful memories of growing up Nazarene. That night I was crossing the living room on the way to the kitchen for a snack, and I glanced at the tv set: a gay couple walking toward Jason's Steakhouse with the rest of the conservative evangelical family! They were completely nonchalant about it: no angst, no hiding, no homophobia! I was instantly hooked.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Kelvin holds the door open for Keefe, and as he enters, slaps him on the butt, a “goose” that is commonly used to express a casual, playful sexual intent. In the first dinner scene, Kelvin’s homoerotic desire barred Keefe from entry. Now it pushes him in, and symbolically into the family.
Kevin Comes Out: At the dinner, Kelvin can’t stop grinning. His joy is infectious, a welcome relief after his near-constant physical pain and emotional turmoil through the season, but perhaps unnecessary: everyone has been so thoroughly prepared that they could hardly have a reaction other than complete nonchalance.
Eli announces the groundbreaking party for Zion's Landing: “I think we should all attend this important event as a family.” Kelvin turns to Keefe, but not to ask him to come, since no separate invitation is necessary: all family members are invited. He is asking if it’s ok, giving Keefe the power to veto the idea (he might not want to spend several days with people who pretended that he didn’t exist before last week). Keefe nods his consent: they can go. He is no longer a kept boy, an assistant, or a good buddy: they are equal partners, both invited to the table.
The Kiddo Ranch: At the Lissons' Kiddo Ranch, the orphanage Thaniel mentioned, Lyle walks through roomsful of little kids, tousing boys' hair.
Uh-oh, does he have a "special relationship" with them?
His manager, Minister Mike, tells him that "They're back. Some of them are pretty banged up."
Whoa, teenage or young adult motorcyclists doing crazy stunts. Big reveal: Lyle sent the Cycle Ninjas to kill Eli! So the "strange relationship" was a misdirection. He isn't a pedophile, he's training professional assassins.
"Some of them can be pretty nasty," Minister Mike adds. "That's what happens when nobody loves you."
The Cycle Ninjas want the $100,000 Lyle promised them to kill Eli, but he notes that they failed, so they get nothing. They draw guns on him, and he changes his mind, but they have to wait until after this weekend. He has some money coming in at the Ground-breaking Party.
A bonus cyclist dick.
Whew, the big questions have been answered. But we still need some reconciliations to finish the season (after the break).
