Quote:
Originally Posted by PackerinMo
Now this song is stuck in my head too. They just keep finding perfect songs on this show.
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I fervently hope it's totally purposeful, but whether it is or isn't it is genius to connect the story of the Gemstones to the peace and love hippy spiritual movement.
It's such a delicious twist on the likeable villain trope of our recent televised drama experience. The Gemstones are largely flagrantly unlikeable, but instead of balancing charisma against horrible acts, they are balancing petty and doofy and stupid against intrinsically benign impulses in there somewhere buried deep.
I encourage people to think about the story they AREN'T telling when watching this show. It's not 24/7 scheming to outright defraud and steal and accumulate power. They seek power, but they have lines they won't cross, they curse and **** around and are entitled, but they don't despise their supporters. Aimee-Lee is a spectre of Christian example hovering over them, lovable and beloved and always vigilant for the proper Christian thing to do, whether it comes to charitability, forgiveness, manners, openness, etc., and you constantly see glimpses of people trying [though often failing spectacularly] to live up to her example.
And what you DON'T see is followers suffering from their association, aside from occasional cake throwing and bad fashion choices. People flock to them for that feel-good redemption story and largely they receive it.
This isn't so much a story about how awful televangelists are, as it is how easy it is for the best of intentions to be worn down by life and human nature.
At its heart the Gemstone story is the story of the entire Boomer evolution, the long slow slog from free-love generosity and positivity to entitlement and materialism.