Finished the rewatch last night. All ready for new mother fcking Gemstones

Well, Bradley Cooper and a Civil War origin story was not what I was expecting tonight…

Was looking forward to uncle baby Billy but it's nice that he comes out in lotus.

That was fantastic

oragator said:

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Well, Bradley Cooper and a Civil War origin story was not what I was expecting tonight…

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Damn, he was great.

That was an incredible episode

Very unexpected for Gemstones, but loved it!

Danny McBride flexing!

From USA Today

"Bradley said OK, but he had never seen 'Gemstones,' and he didn't want to, so as not to be influenced by it," says McBride, who wraps a trilogy of pompous-protagonist series that include insufferable pitcher Kenny Powers in "Eastbound & Down" and his "Vice Principals" co-lead-buffoon (opposite Walton Goggins), Neal Gamby.

"What was amazing to me watching it after was just how much Bradley's character seems like a Gemstone," he says. "He's in line with how our Gemstone brethren act."

McBride says he loved being only a director on Episode 1, perhaps a hint of things to come. Despite the power of that gory kickoff Goggins, who in "Gemstones" plays preacher Baby Billy Freeman, said "the script alone blew me away, it could be published as prose" there is no return to the 1800s in the remaining eight episodes.

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Article says McBride didn't announce it was the final season until they had finished the last shot of the last episode.

Loved the episode, but am I the only one who thought the names should have been switched? Would it not have been more poignant if the real preacher in the opening had the last name Gemstone, only for a crook/criminal to kill him, take his name, and pretend to be him? Wouldn't the Gemstone origin story have more irony that way? Otherwise, at some point after the events of the pilot, Bradley Cooper's character is eventually going to have to drop the "Grieves" last name and go back to Gemstone, which doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Again, incredible episode overall, and maybe I'm missing something, but the name thing stuck out to me, that's all.

I at first had the same thought, but I interpreted the end scene as him wanting to become a man of God after being pardoned from execution rather than learning the Bible just o he can keep the con going. So in my mind he's going legit despite starting off as a con-man/criminal, much like the other Gemstones we know.

Right.

By episode's end he's definitely a new man, on the straight and narrow, etc.

That's the big takeaway, which I get.

I'm just saying, what if the original preacher was a lowly, normal, virtuous preacher with the last name Gemstone, who is then killed by a money-obsessed criminal drifter, who takes on the Gemstone last name, pretending to be the preacher? And then the irony is that the Gemstone name would have never become the empire it is today, if not for Bradley Cooper's character taking the name for himself all those decades ago?

I just think the whole, money-obsessed, prosperity-preaching aspect of the family in today's world would have been better-served, in ironic fashion, if it was due, in part, to the "original sin" of their family name; that even though Cooper's character ends up on the straight and narrow, his money-grubbing ways are still part of the family DNA, so to speak.

That, and logistically speaking, Cooper wouldn't have to change his name back to Gemstone, from Grieves, after he's already pretended to be Grieves.

TCTTS said:

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Right.

By episode's end he's definitely a new man, on the straight and narrow, etc.

That's the big takeaway, which I get.

I'm just saying, what if the original preacher was a lowly, normal, virtuous preacher with the last name Gemstone, who is then killed by a money-obsessed criminal drifter, who takes on the Gemstone last name, pretending to be the preacher? And then the irony is that the Gemstone name would have never become the empire it is today, if not for Bradley Cooper's character taking the name for himself all those decades ago?

I just think the whole, money-obsessed, prosperity-preaching aspect of the family in today's world would have been better-served, in ironic fashion, if it was due, in part, to the "original sin" of their family name; that even though Cooper's character ends up on the straight and narrow, his money-grubbing ways are still part of the family DNA, so to speak.

That, and logistically speaking, Cooper wouldn't have to change his name back to Gemstone, from Grieves, after he's already pretended to be Grieves.

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My guess is McBride wants the series to end with the viewer knowing that this generation of Gemstones have put their grifting ways behind them, just like their great-great-great-great granddaddy. Or I could be way wrong.

I thought it was weird he knew how to read but I looked it up and apparently the literacy rate for confederate soldiers was roughly 80%. Much higher than I expected!

Good show glad it is back.

This just dropped today:

Anyone else catch the Adams Atoms cap behind Eli?

Sometimes I wonder "would anyone follow a church like this?" Then I imagine jet packs used for angels in the Prestonwood Christmas show and think, "yeah boi!"

And RIP Luke Perry

Also, there is an APB out for Walt Goggins' balls

This series loves to show dudes' weiners