What I’m Watching: The Righteous Gemstones

The Righteous Gemstones: Season 1, Episode 8 “But the Righteous Will See Their Fall” (B+)

Nothing ever seems to go all that right on this show, and the consequences can be very intense. I knew something bad would come of Baby Billy’s desire for some excitement while he was behind the wheel, and naturally he’d end up crashing into Scotty’s van before killing him and taking all of the money that he knew had come straight out of the Gemstone vault. He did a very poor job of hiding the evidence, and it seems unlikely that anyone would believe that Scotty took his own life. He also managed to alienate Judy completely, and she had one hell of a breakdown after she went to go see BJ in his new ear-pierced life, going to town on that cart and the cell phone she just smacked right down onto the ground. Gideon deciding not to cite his father’s deplorable behavior as a reason for his actions was noble when he was getting all the flak for what he had done, and somehow Jesse was so moved by his son’s honesty that he decided coming clean on behalf of all his co-conspirators was the right thing to do. The video viewing party did not go well at all, with kids present and Jesse trying to explain away some of the more regrettable things they were clearly shown doing. I most appreciated this episode as a showcase for Cassidy Freeman as we saw Amber go full-throttle in her rage against her husband, complete with a carefully-calculated and executed gun grab and shot as her hapless spouse tried in vain to flee.