Yellow Curry with Tofu
S1 E7: But the Righteous Will See Their Fall
The Righteous Gemstones, HBO (Home Box Office), 2019.
In “But the Righteous Will See Their Fall,” the Gemstones arrive at the phase of crisis where no one is pretending things are under control anymore.
Secrets are surfacing, loyalties are shifting, and every attempt at doing the right thing somehow makes the situation worse, louder, or more expensive.
The episode opens in the emotional aftermath of multiple disasters. Gideon takes the blame for the vault robbery, choosing exile over exposing the larger truth, and Amber responds by pushing him out of the house with a clarity that suggests forgiveness is not currently scheduled. Jesse, rattled by the loss of his son and the slow realization that most of the chaos traces back to his own decisions, attempts something radical for a Gemstone: accountability.
He gathers his friends and their wives for what he frames as a moment of honesty and spiritual growth. Instead, he screens the now-infamous sex-and-drugs tape from the Prayer Power convention, turning confession into a group trauma event. The wives react with horror. Amber reacts with property destruction, followed by a rifle, followed by shooting Jesse in the backside as he runs across the yard shouting for calm, understanding, and possibly medical attention.
Elsewhere, the family continues to fracture along quieter fault lines. Kelvin, convinced that the mounting disasters are divine punishment, spirals into a crisis of worthiness and dismisses Keefe, the only person who actually believes in him. Eli moves from problem to problem with the exhausted focus of a man realizing that leadership now consists mostly of damage control and bail money.
And Judy, freshly abandoned by Uncle Baby Billy, who has informed her she lacks both star power and talent, decides to repair the one relationship she might still be able to save.
Her strategy is both specific and sincere: a heartfelt apology, a declaration that she chose love over fame, and a takeout container of yellow curry with tofu, BJ’s favorite, with sticky rice on the side. No more questions.
It is, by any reasonable standard, a thoughtful gesture.
She delivers the meal to BJ at his pharmacy, launches into a speech about how the pursuit of stardom changed her, and explains that she quit the show for him. The curry sits between them like evidence of effort, growth, and the possibility of a calmer future.
BJ, who has spent their time apart developing boundaries and a slightly tougher sense of self, informs her that he doesn’t eat Thai anymore. It gives him the shits.
He is also, he explains, focusing on himself right now.
This is the emotional pivot where a reconciliation story might slow down, breathe, and move toward maturity. Instead, a coworker arrives with BJ’s daily lunch (extra ketchup, delivered with routine familiarity) and Judy interprets the situation as betrayal, competition, and a personal attack all at once.
Within minutes, the conversation has escalated from curry to accusations to a parking-lot incident involving a shopping cart, a car, and an arrest.
The yellow curry never gets opened.
Food in The Righteous Gemstones rarely functions as comfort. It’s fuel for the temple, a bargaining chip, or a last-minute offering meant to stabilize something already collapsing. Judy’s curry fits perfectly into that pattern: warm, well-intentioned, and carrying far more emotional weight than any container of tofu should reasonably be expected to hold.
By the end of the episode, nearly every Gemstone is more isolated than when it began. Gideon leaves town. BJ pulls further away. Kelvin pushes away the one person loyal to him. Jesse bleeds, confesses, and still doesn’t fully understand himself. Eli keeps moving through the wreckage, steady but visibly tired.
And back on that pharmacy counter is a perfectly good yellow curry with tofu, cooling slowly, an ordinary meal that briefly tried to solve problems far larger than lunch, offered with urgency, rejected with restraint, and left behind like most of the family’s attempts at grace: late, messy, and not quite enough.