'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4, Episode 8 recap: Deadly ending to penultimate episode of the show
We're so close to the end of The Righteous Gemstones and Sunday's episode certainly didn't disappoint. Coming off of last week's big win for Kelvin (Adam Devine), after being named Top Christ Following Man, our focus shift to some of the other Gemstone family members.
BJ (Tim Baltz) and Judy (Edi Patterson) are still navigating life with service animal Dr. Watson, while Baby Billy Freeman (Walton Goggins) dives deeper into his show "Teenjus." And Eli (John Goodman) and Lori Milsap (Megan Mullally) are still in a rough patch after their fight.
SPOILERS FOR THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES SEASON 4, EPISODE 8 INCLUDED BEYOND THIS POINT
The episode begins with BJ, who has a surprise for Judy that he's been working on with Dr. Watson. Moving his feet to the ground, BJ is able to stand up from his wheelchair and take a few steps.
"I am healed!" BJ declares.
Even though this means Dr. Watson's work is coming to an end, BJ wants to keep him, but Judy can't stand him. At a family lunch the rest of the Gemstone family think that if Dr. Watson can smoke on command then they have to keep him, and he does. But when the monkey starts masturbating at the family lunch, Judy really wants Dr. Watson gone.
However, it seems as though Dr. Watson has some thoughts about Judy as well. Later that night, when Judy is in the bathtub, Dr. Watson picks up a blowdryer, with Judy concerned he's trying to kill her, until he gets called downstairs by BJ.
When Judy and BJ find out that Dr. Watson's had attachment issues after the loss of his mother, Judy seems to connect with the animal. But ultimately, they say goodbye to Dr. Watson.
It's also Corey's birthday and despite what happened with his mom, he invited the Gemstones, who didn't show up. But Lori and his father Cobb (Michael Rooker) both attend.
After being gifted an expensive knife, Corey tells his dad he doesn't want to talk about Eli, but Cobb gets upset and slaps his son.
Then Cobb goes to confront Lori about her dating life, threatening to harm Eli.
That prompts Lori to see Judy, Jesse and Kelvin, saying that she needs to speak to their dad, but he won't answer her calls. Trying to get them on her side, she starts telling them stories about their mom Aimee-Leigh and all the songs they wrote together, which wins them over.
On to Baby Billy, "Teenjus" still seems to be his top priority, over spending time with his family, and doing a little cocaine throughout his days on set.
A particular highlight of the episode is a "Teenjus" musical number, which features Eli in the background. Another Righteous Gemstones song that will be stuck in your head.
But when Eli and Baby Billy lunch while on set for the show, they talk about how Eli is down in the dumps after his fight with Lori, which prompted him to (finally) cut his hair.
Just as they head to Baby Billy's car, Cobb fire blow darts at them, getting them back to his gator park and locking them in a soundproof room, where Cobb is already hold Big Ditch Mitch, Lori's ex.
When the police arrive to follow up on a call from Lori, Cobb takes them through the park without issue, until they're about to leave and Mitch, who managed to escape with Eli and Baby Billy, runs near the parking lot. Cobb ends up shooting the cops.
When a physical fight between Eli and Cobb begins, Baby Billy offers a funny moment where runs towards them southing "Cocaine!" after taking the drug.
But it's ultimately Corey who ends up stabbing his father in the back with knife he got for his birthday, pushing him into the water, and Eli uses the gator bell to call the animals over.
The episode ends with the Gemstone family and Lori coming to the gator park to make sure their loved one are OK, with hugs all around for everyone.
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Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
From ‘Hot Rod' to ‘Eastbound' to ‘Gemstones,' Danny McBride breaks down his most righteous roles: ‘It's been an absolute blast'
The Gold Standard is a Gold Derby series where we speak to legendary figures in Hollywood who take us through their award-worthy greatest hits. Below, Danny McBride revisits his greatest hits, up to the recently concluded, Emmy-contending, always side-splitting The Righteous Gemstones. There's been no shortage of Hollywood producers and filmmakers who have enlisted Danny McBride to bring his inimitable brand of coarse, Southern-drawled comedy to their projects. But whether it's The Foot Fist Way or Eastbound & Down or Vice Principals or The Righteous Gemstones, the most enduring, most McBride-ian works don't merely feature the onscreen talents of the 48-year-old Georgia native. He has played a formidable role in creating them. More from GoldDerby 'Forever' star Lovie Simone on traveling back to a 'nostalgic' time for Netflix's teenage romance show Tramell Tillman could make Emmy history as the first Black Best Drama Supporting Actor winner Kristen Kish dishes on Season 22 of 'Top Chef,' Emmys, and the show's global impact: 'It's all driven by the fans' 'I would definitely not make it as an actor if I had to rely on other people hiring me to sustain my career,' McBride tells Gold Derby. 'I don't think I could pull it off.' Here's a long look at what McBride has pulled off both behind and in front of the camera over the past 25 years. After graduating from University of North Carolina School of the Arts, McBride worked as a second unit director on his college friend David Gordon Green's acclaimed debut feature George Washington (2000) before playing a supporting role (as 'Bust-Ass') in Green's equally acclaimed follow-up, All the Real Girls (2003). I went to film school with David Green, and he was actually my next-door neighbor my freshman year of college. David graduated a year before me. We went to film school in North Carolina. It's a long way from New York City or Los Angeles, where people would typically go to film school at that time period. And it was like incredibly inspiring to see him graduate from school and a year later, come back to Winston-Salem and make a movie [George Washington]. When he was able to launch his career from that, it just sort of gave all of us, [myself and] my classmates, that inspiration that it can be done, you just have to figure out a way. But it's possible. Those two things really just sort of kickstarted my personal ambitions to push myself to do this. And once I got in All the Real Girls, when Jody Hill wanted to make the Foot Fist Way and we wrote that together. I was the only person that we knew that had been in a movie before. So that made me just slightly more qualified than our other friends to act in that. But [at film school], I didn't have any ambitions of being an actor at all. I just I felt like I could do it, and I just would do it when people needed me to. Written by McBride, Jody Hill, and Ben Best Best, and directed by Hill, The Foot Fist Way starred McBride as a foul-mouthed taekwondo instructor in a small southern town. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay made it their first acquisition for their newly formed banner Gary Sanchez Productions. We made it for 70 grand. We shot it on Super 16 [mm] and we had one camera to shoot it on, which is interesting because everything that we do now, we shoot multiple cameras [so] we can make sure that we get all the improv or any of that stuff that comes off the cuff. But with that, we didn't have that ability. We had one camera and we had no video playback. There was no way to see if what we just shot was in focus. We were just kind of running and gunning. I think we shot that whole thing in about two weeks, and it was just all hands on deck, just trying to make that dream a reality. I think it was everything [having Ferrell and McKay support it and produce it]. I owe so much to those two guys and for them to have faith to give our show that chance, to shine a light on what we were doing. The movie got one of the midnight screenings at Sundance. And so we were thrilled that it even just got to Sundance. It was going to have an audience. But then we left Sundance and the movie hadn't sold or anything. So it was kind of this moment of like, 'Well, that was fun making it.' And we feel proud, but we're not sure if anyone else will ever see this movie again. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay were just starting Gary Sanchez Productions at the time. And it came across their desk and they became champions of it. And then it started to kind of like float around the town, and next thing you know, living in Virginia, Jody's writing for reality TV shows, and then suddenly we're being invited to the set of Judd Apatow's Knocked Up and meeting Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] and all of these guys. Everything just kind of exploded from that point on. McBride's first major studio role came as the green tea-fueled Rico Brown in the Lonely Island comedy Hot Rod starring Andy Samberg as an accident-prone wannabe stuntman. It was awesome meeting the Lonely Island guys, Andy, Akiva [Schaffer], Jorma [Taccone]. Those were like some of the first guys I met that were in this industry that were doing it, and I met them and quickly saw that they had a lot in common with what my friends and I were trying to do, that they had been childhood friends and they were trying to make their specific brand of comedy. And so I put myself on tape for that. And I remember being so excited about getting it, not just for the opportunity, but I just wanted to get to know those guys. I just felt like they were so talented and so funny, and I was just really kind of hoping that I would get a chance to work with them. And on the set of that, I met Bill Hader. Then I became good buds with him. It really kind of stuck that that summer. Foot Fist Way went to Sundance in 2006. And the next year, my life was absolutely insane. I basically went from Hot Rod, shot that in Vancouver, left there, came back to L.A. to shoot this movie called Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson, and then left the set of that to go shoot Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller. And then met Ben on there, and he gave me the script for Tropic Thunder. And so then went home for Christmas, came back to L.A., shot Pineapple Express, left the set of that. Shot the pilot of Eastbound and Down, then left the set of that and went to Hawaii to go shoot Tropic Thunder. It was f--king crazy. all my heroes. I mean … I didn't have any training as an actor, so I didn't even know what the hell I was doing. And it was sort of that imposter syndrome of just [thinking] every day, this is too good to be true. Surely there'll be a moment where someone realizes that I shouldn't be here and sends me packing, but luckily it didn't happen. McBride was a major scene stealer opposite James Franco and Seth Rogen in this stoner comedy as the eccentric drug dealer Red. It also reteamed him with Green, who directed Rogen and Goldberg's script, and included a notorious, extended close confines fight scene against the two lead stars. It was really special. Seth and those, they were on a pretty incredible run then … coming off of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. They were shooting Superbad. And then they had this script for Pineapple Express and I was over the moon when they offered that to me. To be able to play with those guys and see what they're going to do, and then when they were looking for directors, I think they just were starting to kind of pay attention to what our crew was doing. And our guys and I had told them that David Green made some of the funniest movies that were at our school. At that point he had only made sort of these serious Indies. But I knew he had a very wicked sense of humor that was very distinct and mischievous. So those guys sat down with David, and then he was booked on it, and we were off to the races. [The fight scene] I think was my first week of filming. With Seth and Franco coming in, and I'm explaining to them that it was my cat's birthday. I mean, we were just riffing. All that stuff was just riff. We were just pulling it all out of our ass. And it was so much fun to play with those guys. And I mean, that was a long fight. Shoot. I remember everyone got hurt at some point. I got concussed, I got hit in the back of the head with a bong and that kind of laid me out for a few moments. I think Seth broke his hand or fractured his hand or something. Everybody was getting banged up, but it felt like you weren't really participating in the fight scene if you didn't have some scars by the end of it. McBride stole even more scenes as the trigger-happy explosives expert on the set of a Hollywood war movie in this hit comedy directed by Stiller, who costarred with Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Bill Hader, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, and more. That was that was such an insane shoot. I mean, it was like movie star camp … I was the new kid on the block. And suddenly I'm at a table reading with Tom Cruise and Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. I mean, I was just trying not to shit my pants the entire time. But I can remember that it took a while to shoot that first sequence in Tropic Thunder, where it's the war scene at the beginning. I think it was almost like three weeks of shooting. And every day there's so much going on there. And so every day everyone was called in and you had no idea if you were going to be on camera or not. And I was so nervous. I hadn't said a word in this movie yet. And every day I would go in with my stomach in knots, up in that tower, waiting to blow the whole scene up. And every day I would get ready for it. And then the day would move on and they're not going to get to me. They're still shooting stuff with Steve Coogan, or they're still shooting helicopters flying in. And so for three weeks, I was just like at the edge of my seat every day, like, 'F--k, I got to do this. And in front of all these people.' And they finally got to me, like on the last day of [shooting there]. They just came up into the tower and just let me rip it. And I was just pulling all these lines out of my ass and just trying to make Ben laugh. It was all just sort of improv and I remember as soon as it was done, everyone on the crew started clapping and I was so relieved. Basically, I could breathe, finally. And Ben was like, 'You know, you did it. That's that.' And so I felt like I had passed the first test, but it was definitely three weeks of just sitting on the edge of my seat of like, 'Am I going to get canned when I open my mouth in this movie? Is that what everyone's going to realize I don't belong here?' McBride created Eastbound & Down with Foot Fist Way collaborators Hill and Best shortly after their indie film breakout scored a release from Paramount Vantage. It starred McBride as the very politically incorrect Kenny Powers, a disgraced ex-pro baseball player forced to return to his small hometown, and became a cultishly adored hit for HBO. After we got [Foot Fist Way] set up, Will and Adam were curious of what we wanted to do next. I just had a vision of just moving into television, and they were kind of surprised about that because most people were trying to get out of TV to make movies. This was in 2006, so TV wasn't quite what it is right now. But there was something about the format of storytelling, about breaking a comedy and having like three or four hours to tell a story as opposed to just an hour and a half. It just felt like we could be a little bit more outside the box and maybe take some more risks and chances and maybe create something a little bit more unexpected. I would just sort of make choices and decisions based on what I wanted to see. I don't think it was really until maybe a season or two into Eastbound, where I started to kind of feel confident in what we were doing. Jodi and I were very lucky on Eastbound because I think if we would have made that as a film, I think it would have probably done nothing. And at that time period, a lot of these comedies were really going through the test screening process, where you put the movie up in front of a test audience and people would give their opinions. Like Foot Fist Way, they put that to a test. I mean, it was fucking abysmal. I think [the score] was in the 30s or something, and it was because it was unexpected and it was strange and it wasn't like other stuff that was out there. And I just kind of knew that our tone and our style wouldn't survive that process. It takes a little bit for people to get their heads around what we were doing, especially with the kind of characters we were choosing to tell stories about. So I don't think at the beginning our stuff was made for a mass audience. But I think the more we created stuff, I think the audience caught up to what we were doing and started to understand our style more. Kenny is so, so special. They are all my children. I've had a good time inhabiting all of these sickos. But, yeah, Kenny was just something really special. Even just [with] the making of every season of that, we were going through so many different things in our lives. And it was with just all my friends from film school. And then suddenly… Adam McKay's there, and Will Ferrell was there. And the next season we're all down in Puerto Rico shooting another season, and every season someone else would get married or someone else would have kids. I don't go back and watch things again. But every now and then people will send me clips from the show and instantly be transported in time to what that felt like and how exciting that was and how much fun we were all having. I get that question a lot, [if we're surprised we got away with being so politically incorrect]. But it wasn't like people were asking for that even then. We definitely would get hounded by critics for some of the stuff that was in there. I think that Kenny's wrongheadedness always was an extension of his character. So for us, it felt like you could get away with that stuff as much as you could get away with a character murdering someone. None of it is admirable. I think ultimately, there's obviously risky, crazy shit in there, but I think all of it was an extension of that character. And I think when you're showing a character, there's latitude there to explore things that are uncomfortable or that sometimes hit those third rails if it's in service of a story and not necessarily in service of just insulting people or just trying to be provocative. For us, as provocative as some of that shit was, it always to us felt like it served a larger purpose. McBride's status as a major contemporary comedy force was even further solidified when he was cast as 'himself' alongside other self-satirizing stars Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Jay Baurchel in this apocalyptic comedy directed by Rogen and Goldberg. It was honestly so much fun. I mean, what Seth and Evan built over those several years for R-rated comedies, it was sort of like unprecedented for our generation at that time. I always would look back at groups of people who made things I loved. Like growing up, watching all the old John Hughes movies or knowing that George Lucas and [Steven] Spielberg and [Francis Ford] Coppola and those guys all knew each other, or even just like watching the old cast from SNL, and seeing this group of people having fun, being around each other, creating, there's something about it and that's always what I love the most about comedies. Things like Ghostbusters and just seeing all these different talents working on something together. And I think with what Seth and Evan and Judd created for those several years, it was fun to see those familiar faces. It was fun to see everyone in something together. And that one especially was just an absolute blast because everybody was friends on there. And the fact that Seth and Evan were directing and there was nobody else calling the shots. It was these guys who were in the trenches with us making it, and man, we would have these 45-minute long takes. We would have takes that we would have to stop because the cameras overheated. They were running for so long and you would just go into a time warp. [They] would yell 'Action!' and then it was almost like the Holy Spirit was speaking through you. You just start speaking in tongues, just saying the most awful shit and just going at one another. And it was a complete joy. Vice Principals, created by McBride and Hill and starring McBride and Walton Goggins as two co-administrators vying for their high school's top post, only lasted two seasons on HBO. But it begot a fruitful relationship for McBride and his future Righteous Gemstones costar Goggins. The first time I met Walton, he actually had come in to audition for the third season of Eastbound. He was auditioning the role that ultimately went to Jason Sudeikis. And we were already kind of down the road with Sudeikis when Walton read, and so I was already going with [Sudeikis], but I was just so struck by Walton. I instantly felt pulled towards him and liked him and was just like, 'Oh man, I want to know more about this dude.' He's such a live wire. And so he was on my radar ever since then. And actually when we were shooting This Is the End down in New Orleans, he was down there for Django [Unchained]. So sometimes at the bars down in New Orleans, our two crews would end up at the same place every now and then, and I ran into Walton a few times down there. Though longtime creators Jody Hill and David Gordon Green are executive producers, McBride created HBO's The Righteous Gemstones — which follows a family of wealthy televangelists – by himself. Like Eastbound, McBride (who lives in Charleston, S.C.) filmed Gemstones in and around Wilmington, N.C. [Creating these stories and characters] is kind of what drives me more than anything. I just love telling stories, and I like creating stories, and it's honestly part of why I'm closing the chapter on Gemstones, as much fun as I've had making the show. As much as I love the entire cast and I've loved making it, I just want to tell more stories. And I see how quick time's moving on and I've been on Gemstones since I wrote the pilot in 2017. And it's been an absolute blast, but my brain is just firing and wanting to tell other stories as well. For me, that's kind of my driving force. What inspires me the most is just trying to find a new world and new characters to explore. I've never had a negative reaction to [the religious aspects]. I mean, it's not to say that maybe people haven't had a negative response, but it's been surprisingly positive. I think if you're a religious person, you might be turned off by, like, the profanity. And Walton Goggins's d--k hanging out. But ultimately, you also kind of despise these false prophets as well. This is a type of ministry that I don't think anyone who's religious really is trying to defend. And being from this region and even growing up in a religious house, I don't think the M.O. of the show was ever to be like a takedown of religion by any means. I really wanted us to walk a fine line that the butt of the joke was never someone's faith or was never belief. The butt of the joke was hypocrisy. And that's where we would find our humor. We wouldn't find it in mocking what people believe ultimately at the end of the day. And so I feel good about how we rode that line. And I think when you do that, I think you invite more people to come and enjoy the show. The [guest stars] have all been so awesome. I mean, any time we can convince anyone to come down here and play with us, we've never been disappointed, which is great. Everybody from Bradley Cooper to Sturgill Simpson to Joe Jonas and Steve Zahn and Lukas Haas and Eric Roberts, it's been absolutely nuts. The people that we've been able to talk into coming out here this season, Seann [William Scott] and Megan [Mullally] and last season, Kristen [Johnston], it's been a lot of fun. That's the thing I kind of enjoyed the most about my career in general. Just growing up watching movies, watching TV, being addicted to that stuff, with my career I've been able to use it as a way to service my fandom for all these different actors and different filmmakers. Whether it's showing up on Ridley Scott set for [Alien: Covenant] and getting to meet him and see what he's all about to casting people [like] Lukas Haas in the third season. Growing up, Witness and Lady in White were two of my favorite movies. And I wasn't bashful about telling him that. So sometimes when we cast these people, it's just an excuse for me to get to meet people I've always admired. I will miss [Gemstones], and I miss all of them. I have good, fond memories of Eastbound and VPs. And I have so many great memories about Gemstones. But I'll keep working on something new, and if I wouldn't have stopped those shows, then I wouldn't have had Gemstones. So I just think about what's next? And what's the next world? And who are the next people I'll be able to talk into coming down here and f--king around with me. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Best of GoldDerby Stephen King movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best The Making of 'The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day': PBS variety special 'comes from the heart' 'The Life of Chuck' cast reveal their favorite Stephen King works, including Mark Hamill's love of the 'terrifying' 'Pet Sematary' Click here to read the full article.
Axios
14 hours ago
- Axios
"Who knew?" campaign casts Walmart in fresh light
Man-of-the-moment Walton Goggins is stepping up as Walmart's new hype man in fresh ads featuring an earworm track from The Who. The company revealed the image campaign featuring the on-trend actor at its annual associates pep rally in Fayetteville on Friday. "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon emceed the event. The big picture: The world's largest retailer, long known as a low-price leader, now also wants to be known for its near-limitless selection and ability to deliver items — fast. Goggins — known most recently for " The White Lotus," " The Righteous Gemstones" and " Fallout" — made an appearance at the campaign reveal. "[I may] change my last name to Walton, so I'll be the only Walton Walton here," he joked. State of play: Goggins is the nonchalant hero-in-the-know throughout one ad showing off some of the half a billion products available through the retail giant. A home sauna? Yes. Bear spray? You bet. Dancing shoes? Of course. The Who's 1978 rock anthem " Who Are You" plays prominently in the background, and supporting actors declare, "Who knew?" "Who-knew, who-knew," one sings. Spanish-language ads will feature comedic actress Stephanie Beatriz. What they're saying: "The role of this campaign is to really change perceptions that people have of the Walmart they think they know … to a [multichannel] retailer that has a broad assortment and can deliver to you as fast as an hour," chief marketing officer William White told Axios. The "Who knew?" concept will reach into the world of Reddit with "approved hacks" from Redditors and will get time on TikTok TopView, White said. Paris Hilton and Russell Westbrook teased the campaign earlier this week with posts featuring the company's yellow shopping bag imprinted with "I knew." Stunning stat: Through its brick-and-mortar stores, online shopping, and marketplace where third parties sell goods to Walmart customers, the company can sell more than half a billion items. The rollout follows news this week that the retailer will be expanding its drone delivery operations in five Southern cities.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
How ‘The Studio,' ‘Yellowjackets,' ‘Monsters' and ‘White Lotus' Make Bad Behavior Appealing
If you analyze the list of reprehensible acts committed by Shauna on 'Yellowjackets' – from everyday betrayals of those closest to her (e.g., sleeping with her best friend's boyfriend in the series' first episode) to serious crimes – you can safely say that she is an objectively horrible person who should be serving a long stretch in prison. But not if you're Melanie Lynskey, the actor who's played the character on the Showtime series for the past three seasons. More from Variety Emmy Voters Don't Forget: The Powerful Women of 'The Righteous Gemstones' 'Handmaid's Tale' and 'Day of the Jackal' Producers on Rewriting Literary Worlds With TV Adaptations 'The White Lotus': How Editing and Sound Helped Make Thailand a Character in the Story 'I feel so the opposite of that,' says Lynskey when confronted with the idea that Shauna is a horrible person. 'It's so easy for me to find the humanity in her.' Finding the humanity in a character, no matter how morally objectionable, is a core task of an actor's job. And since Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) bada-binged his way on to TV screens in 'The Sopranos' in 1999, that task has become increasingly more daunting for both actors and audiences as they've been confronted by a growing horde of emotionally toxic and downright dangerous anti-heroes, from Walter White in 'Breaking Bad' to virtually every character in 'Succession.'In comedy, that's the case too. It's not easy to craft a character who both causes audiences to yell at the screen and root for at the same time. Yet 'The Studio' does just that with Seth Rogen's Matt Remick, who after getting a major promotion seems to make every wrong decision he can. Still, it's impossible not to hope he finds a way to succeed. Often, actors can't help but feel protective of their characters. Lynskey says she's been bewildered by the fans who've directed online vitriol at Shauna this season, while seemingly forgiving the sins of Shauna's husband Jeff (Warren Cole) and the heinous crimes committed by Misty (Christina Ricci). It's suggested to Lynskey that the difference is that Misty's brand is cuckoo, while Shauna is effectively the eyes and the ears of the viewer. 'Yeah, I guess there is a difference,' concedes Lynskey, who plays the character as an adult, while Sophie Nélisse plays her as a teen. 'I think that that the reason why people feel so upset and betrayed is because [Shauna] is like the audience surrogate who we all relate to. She seems like moms that I know. She seems like my mom. She thinks like me and then she's actually somebody who's capable of doing very crazy and really vicious things.' As Lyle Menendez in Netflix's 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,' Nicholas Alexander Chavez is that arrogant, spoiled rich kid we've all known – right up until the moment he and his brother Erik (Cooper Koch) kill their parents Jose and Kitty (Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny). But unlike Shauna in 'Yellowjackets,' if you take away the cold-blooded murder, Lyle is still, well … a privileged douche. Right? 'I would have a really tough time calling him that, only because it's impossible for me to put that kind of judgment on him,' insists Chavez. 'I see him more so as a wounded boy whose emotional and psychological development was probably stunted around the age of 8 or 9 or 10, but who ultimately felt like he had to behave like his dad. And I think that if you asked any 10-year-old to act like a 40-year-old record label executive, they would have a lot of anger and feel a lot of inadequacy because they don't have the means by which to actually do that job.' For Season 3 of HBO Max's 'The White Lotus,' Michelle Monaghan looked deep into the soul of not a murderer, but a famous actress like herself – specifically, a fictitious TV star named Jaclyn who manipulates and betrays her two childhood friends (Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon) while on girls' trip to a luxury resort in Thailand – a process she admits she felt 'confronted' by. '[As actors], 'a lot of our self-worth is dependent on external validation,' observes Monaghan. 'I think because that's the way in which [Jaclyn] lives her life and that that's where she places her value, when she's not getting that validation or that stimulation that she needs, she goes looking for it in all the wrong places. And at the end of the day, what I hope we see is someone who probably really needs authentic connection. And I don't think she's malicious; I don't think she's manipulative, I think she's naughty.' Monaghan believes that, instead of turning viewers off, a character's bad behavior can actually draw them in. 'I think it allows for audiences to be seen in a way, because maybe [the character's] moral compass is a little off in a way that can oftentimes mirror their own,' she says. 'I like that feeling of being able to kind of take the audience on a ride that feels maybe a little confronting for them and one that they're emotionally invested in.' Getting inside the head of Menendez and staying there was a less pleasant experience for Chavez at times, particularly when he had to shoot a scene where he was was locked in a closet, naked and covered in simulated feces. 'When I'm working on a role, it'll work on me in almost a subconscious way,' says Chavez. 'There will be subtle drifts in my personality towards a certain behavior pattern over the course of two or three or four months. I do this almost unknowingly, which makes a lot of sense because you're filming five days a week for anywhere between eight to 14 hours a day. Now, it's not to the point where I'm out to dinner with my friends after a day of shooting and I'm introducing myself as Lyle. I think that that sort of stuff is a bit ridiculous. But I'd say I was about four months out, like late January of this year, is when I started to actually let go [of Lyle] and feel like myself again.' But, just as often, it's good for an actor to be bad. Lynskey points to her stunt-filled fight scene from Season 3 of 'Yellowjackets' where she bites off a piece of Melissa's (Hillary Swank) arm and forces her to eat it as being particularly enjoyable. 'It's very fun when the stakes are high and there's a really dangerous element to it,' says Lynskey. 'And it's fun to play someone who's unpredictable. Honestly, I don't know what the scripts are going to give me.' 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