Title: "To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope," 1 Thessalonians 4.13. Paul is telling his followers not to grieve "like men who have no hope," since they will see their loved ones again in heaven.
Kelvin Screams: 2002. During a thunderstorm, an intruder breaks into the house, smashes a photo of Eli and Aimee-Leigh and some other memorabilia, and takes the gold-plated Bible from the Civil War. Close up of a destroyed framed magazine cover promising "Hot Gossip" and featuring Brendan Fraser.
The intruder continues into the playroom and smashes a photo of the siblings and Kelvin's army men. There's a muscle man in skimpy underwear, denoting that Kelvin is gay.He lifts up the bed to find a hiding 12-year old Kelvin, who screams. Notice the enclosed space. They will appear often in the episode, giving the viewer a sense of disquiet. The family is trapped.
Night Sweats: Kelvin awakens screaming from a nightmare. Keefe notes that his nocturnal terrors and night sweats are getting worse, and uses a towel to daub him, but Kelvin insists that it was just a nightmare, and goes back to sleep. I'm worried about the night sweats -- when I was living in West Hollywood, it was the first sign that you were HIV positive -- but surely they don't mean that Kelvin is sick.
Doing Stuff with the Devil, Part 1: Kelvin hates storms; it's like the Devil is peeing on you. Keefe agrees, with a amazing monologue about the Devil pouring down his piss on people, who think it's a wine cooler or kombucha, and drink it. He looks out into the storm and says "Your hot sorcery piss can't hurt us in here. Begone, Devil" but the Dark Lord is already inside: Keefe has a no-hands orgasm.
Doing Stuff with the Devil, Part 2: Looks like that devil is Lori. She finishes having sex with Eli in the bathroom -- another enclosed space -- and tells him "You're so bad!" She is tempting him to evil, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Then they go out to a family picnic. We meet Lori's son Corey (Seann William Scott, top photo), who used to spend time with the siblings and thinks that their squabbling is hilarious, and his ditzy wife Jana (Arden Myrin).
Left: a parody Sean Playdude cover.
The scene seems to be mostly ad-libbed cinéma vérité, allowing us to see the Gemstones in a moments of joy before things go very wrong. Some takeaways:
1. No airport or shopping mall wanted to buy the Prayer Pods, so Jesse is humiliated.
2. Keefe says that on Gay Reddit, they're called "squirt yurts." This is the first time he has said "gay."
3. They make fun of Eli for being too old and uncool to attract women, but Lori defends him: "Looks pretty cool to me."
Later, the siblings and Corey see Eli and Lori together, and laugh at the idea that they could be involved.
Left: Michael Rooker, who appears in the cast list of the episode. We don't know who he is playing. Yet.
Left: the Groundskeeper's butt. Or at least the butt you get when you search for "Brian Sides" and "nude."
Bad news: Vance Simkins, one of the antagonists from Season 3, is back, opening a new church in a mini-mall right next to a Gemstone satellite church.
Chad suggests burning Vance's church down, but Jesse is trying to be a role model for Gideon, so he takes Martin's suggestion: the siblings could perform at the satellite church, to ensure that members don't defect.
BJ Falls from the Sky: The male pole-dancing competitition. Nice bulge on the first performer.
In the locker room, Judy gives BJ a pep talk: "Eye of a tiger, dick of a horse." A guy with a horse dick walks by (below).
BJ begins his routine, but then falls on his head. Judy screams for an ambulance. This happened much too fast. We needed a number of scenes of BJ preparing and competing.
Is BJ Dead?: The family gathers at the hospital. Everyone wonders why Eli and Lori arrived at the same time, suspecting that the two are having s*x. Maybe focus on the crisis?
A doctor appears and tells Judy "I'm very sorry." Ulp.
No, BJ isn't dead, but he's paralyzed, and will have to use a wheelchair. Judy cries. "What are we going to do?"
Tim Baltz's stunt double Ryan Mooney and his little friend.
More after the break
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