Galileo908 March 10 Share March 10 Quote 1862. A young scoundrel named Gemstone joins ranks with the Confederates as a preacher, but a case of divine intervention changes the sinner's past for good. Airs 3/9/25 It's back! Praise be! Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/
Galileo908 March 10 Author Share March 10 Man, had no idea this great show had a thread here. Been watching since day 1, and will be happy to spend the last season with you guys. Oh shit Bradley Cooper as the OG Gemstone?! And his name was Elijah? Hmm. They did not hide how bloody and period accurate this was. Elijah is a mood. Being made to preach but I wasn't prepared for it. It's the story of how the grifter became the saint and established the Gemstone legacy. "Quit competing against God and just do your best." Judging by that preview, someone steals that golden bible. I'm hyped for what's to come. 3 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603071
thuganomics85 March 10 Share March 10 The Righteous Gemstones is back for one final sermon and.... Holy Shit, it's BRADLEY COOPER!! The show definitely isn't afraid to shake things up a bit, but I was still surprised that the premiere was actually another interlude that takes place way back during the Civil War, and doesn't feature any of the lead performers. I can see that not working for everyone, but I kind of dug it. It basically shows that since the beginning, the Gemstone bloodline has always been involved in nefarious acts and even their introduction into the church/faith industry starts from a place of lies, misdeeds, and even actual murder. The Gemstones might believe there faith is real and can even be likable at times (at least by this show's standards), but in the end, greed, money and power will likely always triumph over what their actual beliefs might be. Granted, it was certainly helped by the surprise Bradley Cooper performance. I feel like he's gotten a little bit of a backlash due to some of his movie role choices and maybe some classic overexposure, but I always liked him and I think he has shown that he can really, truly go when the time calls for it (hell, he made a CGI raccoon become one of my favorite MCU characters out there.) I thought he did an excellent job as Elijah, and makes me believe that he is a descendant of the Gemstone clan that we know now. Also enjoyed seeing Josh McDermitt as the preacher Elijah kills in the beginning, and recognized a few other faces as the various soldiers and whatnot. Danny McBride's directing was great. Kind of want to see his take on an actual Civil War film now. While more serious than the norm, it still got a few solid laughs out of me. Don't want to dive too much into the season's previews, but I'm interested in seeing how the golden bible comes back into play. Either way, I'm glad for one final ride with the Gemstones! Praise them!! 5 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603128
Sailorgirl26 March 10 Share March 10 (edited) Praise be to He -- the Gemstones have returned!! That was an entirely unexpected but completely on brand season premiere episode -- and yes, those Gemstone "morals" sure do run deep . . . the dark humor of multiple soldiers dying just as Elijah finally figures out some sort of prayer was great. I was completely looking forward to a Goggins two-fer (White Lotus right before), but I'll take Bradley Cooper any day, all day, and he really did a phenomenal job of establishing the family legacy of amoral morality. . . I can't decide if I just really missed this show or if this episode was a brilliant way to start the season . . . I'm choosing to go with both things are true. Edited March 10 by Sailorgirl26 6 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603138
aghst March 10 Share March 10 Wasn’t sure that was Cooper until the credits. Guess he’s a fan of the show and McBride. Elijah had a true conversion when his life was spared — he did pray to survive the battle, even though he hadn’t been a believer. So the founding of the Gemstone empire was somewhat legit, as the forefather became a true believer, after grifting and pretending to be a man of god. Maybe McBride wants to put these characters on a redemption path in the final season, as the Patriarch Gemstone found his redemption. Maybe they overcome their greed and venality and find true faith. Or at least become slightly less awful human beings. Last season, Eli regretted not raising his children better, not being a better parent, given how misguided and terrible his children had become. But do they need to have near-death experiences? 1 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603158
cardigirl March 10 Share March 10 (edited) Wow! Helluva way to start a dynasty. Enjoyed the episode, and I'm looking forward to the season. HBO believes in this show because the production values were off the charts in this episode. It is one I will watch again. From Vulture's recap of the episode: • I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to sound off about the level of craft on this show, but The Righteous Gemstones remains the rare series where a word like cinematic is a proper descriptor. The evocation of the period here is far above what would be required of a TV comedy, but there are specific sequences that stand out here, too, like a dynamic tracking shot that faces the Confederate side exclusively as they’re ripped apart by enemy fire. And that’s followed by a montage, set to Waylon Jennings’s “Goin’ Down Rockin’,” that frames blood-and-mud-caked soldiers dead center as if they were sitting for a portrait. Powerful stuff. Edited March 10 by cardigirl 5 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603216
Popples March 10 Share March 10 I have face blindness, so I spent the entire episode convincing myself that Elijah wasn't Bradley Cooper. Then, the credits rolled, proving my first instincts were correct. I loved that episode and saw so much of Jesse's demeanor in Elijah. Now, I'm just so full of questions that I'm afraid they might not answer since this is the final season. 2 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603271
tennisgurl March 10 Share March 10 I was not at all expecting a Gemstone origin story going back to the Civil War, especially seeing Bradley Cooper as the founder of the Gemstone legacy of faith, fraud, and murder. The Gemstones getting their start as preachers with a guy who murdered a preacher and pretended to be him for the money is very on brand, as is him using his new position to continue robbing and killing, as is, weirdly enough, his moment of real sincerity when he led the soon to be killed soldiers in prayer. The Gemstones, for all of their many flaws, hypocrisy, and performative gestures of faith, they do have those rare moments of sincerity that makes you keep rooting for them. I love Bradley Cooper and would be happy to have some more flashbacks with him. The show really went all out with those flashbacks, it felt like a much more serious show, which makes sense considering we were in the trenches of such a bloody war. I am really impressed by Danny McBride's directing, it felt like we were watching a serious period piece, and a really affecting one. They clearly through a lot of budget into this one to really highlight the brutal battle scenes and their horrifying aftermath. 3 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603507
Clawdette March 10 Share March 10 Color me delighted! Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603566
Galileo908 March 11 Author Share March 11 22 hours ago, Galileo908 said: They did not hide how bloody and period accurate this was. No idea why I said it was period accurate. All the mishmash of uniforms stuck out to me, and I'm not even that vested in Civil War history. Hell, we saw prisoners executed by gatling gun, that's a few things that did NOT happen back then, either. You can tell that Danny and co just wanted to tell a good story, historical accuracy be damned. Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603835
Sailorgirl26 March 11 Share March 11 okay, I've ready about 4-5 reviews and recaps of this episode, and they are all in agreement that this was a really well done episode and speaks to both McBride's talent as a director and Cooper as an actor. I was also glad to see, both here and in these reviews, that there was quite a bit of "Is that Bradley Cooper?" "No." "Wait, is it?" "Yeah, I think it is." "No, its not, there's no way." "Oh my god,' that's Bradley Cooper! This is awesome!" because that was pretty much my entire thought process! https://www.vulture.com/article/bradley-cooper-righteous-gemstones-character-elijah-gemstone-performance.html https://www.vulture.com/article/the-righteous-gemstones-recap-season-4-episode-1-prelude.html https://www.avclub.com/the-righteous-gemstones-season-4-premiere-recap-prelude 1 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8603958
tearsandhysteria March 16 Share March 16 I know it didn't have the main characters and was unexpected, but i think it might have been one of my favorite episodes. I laughed so much. It was a bleak situation, but the people in that family are just so bad. They are so over the top with ridiculousness. When he rebuked that soldier for questioning him, that made my night. They are terrible. I've missed it and glad it's back. This is one of the few shows where I can enjoy the characters even when I dont like them. 1 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8608872
Natalie25 Thursday at 02:08 AM Share Thursday at 02:08 AM On 3/11/2025 at 12:47 AM, Sailorgirl26 said: I was also glad to see, both here and in these reviews, that there was quite a bit of "Is that Bradley Cooper?" "No." "Wait, is it?" "Yeah, I think it is." "No, its not, there's no way." "Oh my god,' that's Bradley Cooper! This is awesome!" because that was pretty much my entire thought process! This was me exactly haha, I had to pause the episode half way through to check it was him. 1 1 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/152306-s04e01-prelude/#findComment-8611968
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