It's all flashbacks and family affairs on this week's outstanding The Righteous Gemstones
TV Reviews Recap
Flashbacks aren’t exactly the most inventive way to fill in character backstories, and when this episode promised to take place fully in the past, I was worried that it’d be an unnecessary filler episode in a season currently riding high. Luckily, “Interlude” is remarkable. It’s a funny, sweet, emotionally-probing 40 minutes that gives us a peak at how the Gemstones came to be, and the contrast with who they were and what they are now is some of the season’s best work so far.
“Interlude” begins in simpler times. Eli and Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles) have a studio where they air a weekly religious show, and their kids are certainly brats, but not quite the monsters they’ll be as adults. Aimee-Leigh drops the news that she’s pregnant right before they’re set to go on air, and that’s the event that sets the entire Gemstone drama in motion.
Aimee-Leigh’s pregnancy sends ripples throughout the family. Not only does Jesse despise the idea of his parents having another kid, Baby Billy, Aimee-Leigh’s brother, is upset that she’s cancelling their reunion tour to have the baby. These are the seeds of the current Gemstone dysfunction, from Jesse’s selfishness to the never ending feud between Eli and Baby Billy.
“Interlude” is a great use of flashback because it informs the present-day storylines in a meaningful way. The flashback isn’t just a vehicle for jokes and nostalgia, but rather a surprisingly emotional dive into the dynamic of this family. There’s a lot of layers here, both in the personal relationships and how the Gemstones have risen from their more humble beginnings, perhaps losing sight of their mission along the way.
At the heart of all this change and turmoil is Eli, and it can’t be overstated just how terrific John Goodman is. He seems to understand Eli on a level that gives The Righteous Gemstones some emotional heft, never really playing him as the outsized, greedy pastor you’d expect from a Danny McBride show about a family that runs a wildly successful megachurch. Goodman’s performance is more grounded than the necessarily amplified ones of Danny McBride and Edi Patterson, and “Interlude” is the best showcase for what Goodman brings to the show so far.
In essence, Goodman is able to capture how much Eli has changed over the years, but in very subtle ways. If current day Eli is an imposing figure, the Eli of the past is much more demure. He’s kind, and he believes in family and serving God. Goodman’s smile is a force, softening Eli in ways that would seem impossible after the first few episodes of the season. But what Goodman also understands is that Eli doesn’t become who he is overnight. Part of that character—his ruthlessness, his cunning, his ability to get what he wants—has always been there. It’s in the way he tells Aimee-Leigh to do whatever she wants when it comes to the tour, but then immediately sets about attacking Baby Billy’s intentions. Most importantly, it’s in the way he acts around his father, those harsher qualities a byproduct of him slowly turning into his old man as he ages.
Danny McBride’s shows love to both indulge in and critique the toxic behaviors of abysmal men—you could certainly criticize Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals for having its cake and eating it too when it comes to the actions of its main characters—but largely there’s a root cause that’s eventually exposed. Eli and Jesse come from a line of men who dole out tough love. Eli’s father criticizes the outlandish, lavish birthday party his son throws for Judy; Eli maybe got out of chores on his birthday, which was the only gift he could expect. The lineage of toxicity continues, with Baby Billy giving Jesse beer and encouraging him to publicly humiliate his father. Jesse does, saying he’s going to make the new baby’s life “dumb” and pee in its face whenever he gets the chance.
Outside of the moments with young Jesse though, this isn’t a juvenile, joke-heavy episode. Instead, it’s a look at the shifting nature of families and how that can create conflict. Baby Billy feels like he’s losing his sister, which is a genuine emotion, but he’s also lying to her and being selfish. Eli wants to project an open-minded vibe when it comes to Aimee-Leigh maybe going on tour, but he also just wants her to stay home, raise the kids, and build “their dynasty.”
Ultimately, “Interlude” is an ode to the late Aimee-Leigh. This is her first appearance in the show, but it’s an impactful one. She’s the force of good in this family, and her absence, as Baby Billy notes, leaves everything crumbling. As the episode comes to a close, back in the present day, Baby Billy sits in his car listening to an old tape of his and Aimee’s, one from their days as a childhood success. Eli stands in his backyard, his dynasty bigger than ever, and stares lovingly at the bust commemorating his late wife. “Interlude” is hardly a pause between acts: rather, it’s an insightful, grounded, necessary bit of storytelling from The Righteous Gemstones.
Stray observations
- Young Judy saying that watching Jesse get in trouble “makes her bird twitch” left me pausing my screener because I couldn’t stop laughing. Goodman’s follow-up about it being “her privates” only added to it all. Judy: “It is my privates!”
- Interesting that Eli criticizes Baby Billy’s shameless attempts at earning money. How the times change.
- Judy has never been more relatable than when she starts grabbing dinner rolls from the table before leaving the restaurant.
- Young Jesse has some big plans: “Run away, join the WWF, become a bad guy.”
- I love that the climactic fight between Baby Billy and Aimee-Leigh leans heavily into the melodrama. There’s a score of string swells as the two shout over each other. It’s beautifully over-the-top.
72 Comments
Jennifer Nettles is so fantastic in this it makes me sad that she’ll only be a bit part. She 100% nails the mannerisms, the charisma, the unaffected cheesiness of a ho-down pastor. Plus, she can really sing. This is quickly becoming my favorite show of the year
my prediction? …she’s not really dead.
In a just world, Goggins’ delivery of “That’s a ninja star with a booger on it” would win him a Emmy.
I loved the ambiguity of following that up with ‘love you so much, son.’Can’t tell if it was what he said;out of habit,out of confusion,out of panic to reassure his son he’s normal,or because that’s genuinely what he felt in that moment.
I really think Walton is getting his Emmy this year.
“Peek.”- Stannis Baratheon
McBride & Co. just plain get the best guest-stars. I mean…. M. Fucking Emmet Walsh as the patriarch?!? It was g.d. perfect.Also whoever found young Jesse and Judy deserves a bonus. Those kid actors really nailed the personalities.
And the actor who played little Jesse had McBride’s gestures and inflections down perfectly. I think we may see more of this kid soon.
I got a kick out of his McBride mannerisms. The word choice and inflection…”strategies” “join the wff and become a bad guy”” his angry nonsensical make his life dumb pee on his face”…..nailed Danny McBride to a T
I had to take a second to remember that they hadn’t actually gone back in time and brought young McBride to the present — A+ casting!Along with Succession, I’ve been loving Sundays & I’ll be seriously sad when both seasons end this year
OMG that kid playing Jesse was amazing! Daniel Day Lewis couldn’t have inhabited Jesse as a kid better. Every time he spoke I chuckled, picturing McBride and all the particular ways he phrases things. So good!
Seriously. What perfect casting.
Agreed with this episode providing emotional depth to the series and characters. Though, it’s left me with one question: we’re introduced to Baby Billy’s son but… have I missed what’s happened to him? Who is he in the present story? hmmm….an origami ninja star…
He better not end up being Scotty .
That was my thought too.
… with a booger
He’s either someone we’ve seen already (like Scotty) or something terrible happened to him at some point. Baby Billy did make a point of saying how much he loved him, so I know we’re being set up for some kind of a reveal.
It’s possible he stayed with his mother when she divorced Billy.
I had to watch the way the child actor playing Jesse eat mac n cheese a few times- I’ve never seen anyone eat like that before 😀
That child actor was really amazing at capturing Danny McBride’s mannerisms, too.
I have “Misbehavin’” stuck in my head now. Just when you think Goggins and Goodman are kind of tossing off these easy characters, boom, they bring it. Nettles’ Aimee-Leigh, wow, I was like, “No shit you have a statue and an eternal-flame for this woman, I would too!”
Right? She’s loving, talented, messy and utterly perfect.
It was perfect. Given how the kids turned out (except Kelvin, for the most part) and her brother I thought Aimee-Leigh would be a narcissistic monster whom Eli was delusional about (which would have been cheap). Instead she was everything Eli saw her as (warm, kind, funny, charismatic) and you can see how her over-indulgence of her baby brother, her kids, and maybe eventually her husband helped shape them into jerks (not that it’s her fault but you see the dynamics in play.)
These are the kind of episodes that elevate DGG/McBride shows from “just” hilarious to some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. Nettles, Goggins, and Goodman were fantastic. The Misbehaving performance scene is a fucking masterpiece.
Walton Goggins is gonna fuck around and win hisself an Emmy if he keeps this up. The boy good!Jennifer Nettles and Walton absolutely CRUSHED this. I swear I’ve walked into my grandmother’s bedroom as a child and watched this song being performed on TV. It’s absolutely letter perfect. I love the quick cutaway to the girl in the chorus who says ‘Wow!’ when Baby Billy starts dancing.The whole cast has spent the last four episodes cracking long home runs out into the parking lot, but this was the best by far.
Damn, if that song isn’t catchy as hell. I think it’s an original song too, because I googled it and couldn’t find anything about it.
‘Runnin’ through the house with a pickle in my mouth’ makes me lol.
Glad I’m not the only one. They got to that part and I was like “wtf? that’s a thing?” Guess I wasn’t misbehavin enough as a youngster
I kinda like ‘And I got caught shavin’!’ as well. I’m not sure why that would be a bad thing that someone would get caught doing, but alright.
That actually made sense to me. Remember, the kid would likely be using Dad’s razor, an actual blade, and not an electric. I cut myself often enough as an adult that I don’t want my kid fooling around with it. (Plus, blades are expensive, I don’t want him dulling them up shaving the fuzz off of tennis balls or some dumb shit like that).
I sang it to my dogs for at least a half hour afterwards.
I read an interview with David Gordon Green (the director of the episode) and he said the song was written by Danny McBride, Edi Patterson, and the guy who writes the music for the show. Super impressive. They couldn’t have nailed it harder.
My wife and I were both singing that all night.
I’m utterly convinced that Roger Miller’s ‘Arkansas’ from Big River was in their minds when they wrote thisArkansas, Arkansas, I just love ol Arkansas.Love my ma, love my pa, but I just love ol Arkansas.
Jennifer Nettles is the real Emmy winner here.Goggins is good, don’t get me wrong. This show looks awesome.
Goggins is the best!
The best thing about the show is the cast. The writing consistently lets the characters and actors down.Godawful episode with few redeeming qualities…just like the rest of the series.The fights between sister and brother over the home (and duet in between) were great though.
Damn. Better keep watching though, right? These hot takes don’t generate themselves.
yeah man it’s important that you said that.
Terrible toupee aside, I can’t believe how young John Goodman looked when he played 1980s Eli. Make up or special effects?
I’m thinking it was both, he kind of had that same look to him that “Young Anthony Hopkins” did on Westworld.
Too shiny for it to just be practical. He was a scary CGI creation.
Young Eli should have had a mustache too.
i think it’s just makeup, soft lighting and a man who’s very good at acting.
It was both.
To be fair to the wig, he’s a televangelist in the 80s. That’s just what their hair looked like.
Every week, Danny McBride and team both blow my mind and keep me in stitches. I believe this show is Danny’s best work to date. The character development on TRG is second to none. Danny McBride (and team) are pack of fucking geniuses. I truly cannot wait for each episode. I go crazy each week wondering what’s going to happen next. #dazzledByTheGemstones
Did anybody else notice Harmon started picking his nose again when Baby Billy was examining his ninja star?
Man I thought this was going to be a dumb fun show about greedy pastors, I wasn’t emotionally prepared for the Goggins Acting Masterclass when he breaks down and convinces Aimee-Lee to do the tour. Phenomenal, heartbreaking work from both him and Nettles.
This all looks like just an excuse to 80s/early 90s cosplay.I’m just not getting any depth here. It’s all a long joke about dressing “funny” and having “funny” hair.
I am IN LOVE in Walton Goggins. He can act, dance, sing and CLOG!! The song is original. Danny McBride exceeds my expectations! Here is an article about it. https://www.fastcompany.com/90404022/how-misbehaving-catchy-righteous-gemstones-earworm-came-together
And the kid playing his son was perfect.
Whoever that kid is, he’s a very eerie young Danny McBride. I legit wondered if that kid was somehow related to him. He also got that huffy sort of wounded arrogance dead on.
Same! I have loved him for so long….. I love that he takes chances with his acting. He does different things. Way back on The Shield I would have thought he was mostly a dramatic actor. He’s obviously proven me wrong – over and over.
No minus necessary. That was a solid A episode. Used the flashback perfectly and it was hilarious. I’m only vaguely familiar with Jennifer Nettles as a singer but I had no idea she was that good as an actress. And the children were perfect as well, already showing the personality traits of Jesse and Judy.
That episode was so good I might even start believing in Jesus.
So impressed how the child versions of Jesse and Judy embody the personalities of their elder selves.
Oh holy shit the entire “makes my bird twitch” exchange put us on the floor; I can’t remember laughing so hard in quite some time.I really hope this show gets the recognition and award noms it deserves. BTW, we went straight from watching Ken Burns’ “Country Music” doc on PBS to this and the juxtaposition is damn near perfect. The intersection of country music, Christianity, and their roots in American culture (particularly the south) is, well, fascinating and illuminating. Highly recommended.
I’m envious: I completely forgot about the Ken Burns doc until late and I missed the first part. I came onto Willie Nelson talking about pushing a piano up on a flat bed or something and FUCK if I didn’t want to watch everything.
If you’ve got On Demand with your service provider, they have all the episodes of the Burns doc already up.
Thanks for the heads up. I absolutely have On Demand with my provider, and I can’t wait to get home and stream this.
I’m not a big fan of Goodman’s Eli here….the character is just too dour with not enough there to interest me. Aimee-Leigh, on the other hand, was phenomenal. She just felt 100% like a real, *good* person, and that scene where she finally broke and went off on Baby Billy for selling the Freeman land genuinely moved me.
Daddy Baby Billy was almost touching. His interaction with his son, a child with some unnamed disability, in the restaurant was lovely, and gave the character who was just a one note con artist more layers.
“That is a ninja star with a booger on it. That’s beautiful, son. I love you.”
what was up with Baby Billy not having a reflection in the pond during the beer drinking scene? I rewinded just to make sure I saw it right. The way he leaned into “satan juice” right before that shot makes me wonder if there’s some kind of foreshadowing that he’s the anti-christ or something?
I’m glad everyone seems to enjoy the show as much as I do. Now I don’t have to worry as much about it being canceled soon.
Good news. HBO picked it up for a 2nd season. Announced last week
The cut to the ecstatic crowd when Billy says “Guess what! I wore my cloggin shoes!”(chef’s kiss)
Just curious, why no review of Wicked Lips?
Refugee from Jalopnik chiming in here: but a note about just how different Eli and Billy’s lives turned out. In the last scene with Eli, he is in his garden, in the compound on the land that he and Aimee-Leigh were talking about buying, and blows a kiss at her bronze statue. Billy is sitting in his car in front of the mall church outpost he’s being given by Eli. He’s in a Chrysler Town & Country convertible. It’s the same car that’s in front of the house when his sister visits, and this car could not be newer than 1988. And Billy knows this. He’s gonna do something.
Walton Goggins is an American treasure. That is all.
At first I thought the Misbehavin song was going on too long and then I couldn’t get it out of my head for days -this show is consistently perfect
I’m almost finished with my post-season binge watch of this show, and my God was this episode amazing. In a just world both Goggins and Nettles will be winning Emmys for this next year.There are so many great character moments here, but the absolute best is how when Baby Billy and Aimee-Leigh start performing Eli is scowling in the corner, but as he watching his wife perform he slowly transforms, smiling and clapping, and he just can’t take his eyes off this woman he loves so much.
And I don’t see a mention of the best line in “Misbehavin’” – ‘Daddy please listen, don’t go missin’. I’m behavin’’ – indicating that the daddy will just leave his family if the kids keep acting up. So perfectly dark in the middle of this super catchy upbeat affirmation song.