Prelude

Bradley Cooper delivers an absolutely stellar performance in this episode, making it one of the most compelling and emotionally engaging installments of the entire series. His acting is nuanced, drawing viewers into every moment with a level of depth and authenticity that elevates the storytelling. This might just be the best episode yet, setting an incredibly high bar for what comes next. However, that also presents a challenge-where does the show go from here? If they immediately jump back to the present day without addressing the weight of this episode properly, it could feel jarring or even underwhelming. The writers now have the difficult task of maintaining the momentum and ensuring that whatever comes next doesn't feel like a step down in quality or impact. Hopefully, they find a way to transition smoothly and keep delivering at this level.

Naturally, you watch Gemstones to get a laugh. However, it always provides its best when it goes back in time to understand why things are the way they are. In that sense, this episode is a true gemstone. Somehow, McBride is able to get some humor about the tragedy of the civil war, while making you feel the tragedy that it was and how tragedy can create faith. In that sense, we can understand faith and how powerful and sticky it is. This episode makes me hope that some day McBride would work on the subject of war and human nature.

In sum, just excellent work. Maybe McBride's best episode across all of his series.

This episode was so good and so far removed from the present life shenanigans of the Gemstones that if I wasn't the one to actually press play on it I would've sworn it's a different series.

In this "Prelude" you see a man go from a malfeasant and a swindler to someone that's still holds the same attributes honestly, but with a newfound will for self discovery and a curiosity to actually step into the shoes of the man he was impersonating. All set during de civil war era, which was surprising considering we never got that far back with none of the previous flashbacks.

Is this still a comedy; the answer is yes, gallows humor if you will.

I hope for more of this from the writers.

One of the things i've always loved about The Righteous Gemstones is their flashback episodes. They don't always make sense at the time but with time they will show you why it's important. A lot went on in this one. We see, what i can assume is, the origin of the Gemstones and their involvement in religion. We also get a few glimpses of this gold bible. I think we're going to see a lot about how these origins and family heirlooms play a role in our modern day Gemstones' lives. While a serious episode, it really sets the tone that this season is going to be bigger and better than the rest. The Gemstones are going out with a bang.

Although an engaging 19th century American period piece, I found it a total waste of time. Civil War reenactments are misguided and unhelpful in understanding the serious divisive political climate of that era. You don't need an entire episode to explain the extreme and total insincerity of the Gemstones religious scam. We all knew it was a joke from the first scene of E1S1. The episode, however brilliantly and skillfully portrayed, was more focused on the graphic brutality of the Civil War rather than the absurdity of religion. The whole premise was quite unbelievable. I hope the rest of their final season gets back to the intense and senseless sibling squabbles that made this show must see!