Benjamin Jason "BJ" Barnes is one of the main characters in the T.V. series, The Righteous Gemstones. He is portrayed by Tim Baltz.
Background[]
He is Judy’s husband, having married between seasons 1 and 2. He is routinely mocked by his adopted family, but shows his true loyalty and dedication to both Judy and the Gemstone family on a regular basis, earning their begrudging respect. He is known for his monotone, dead-pan delivery of awkward lines or phrases and is a major fan-favorite for some of his non sequiturs.
Season 1[]
BJ is Judy's fiancé. They became engaged prior to the events of season one. Judy frequently stays the night at BJ's house, much to her father Eli's chagrin. BJ is the frequent target of abuse from Kelvin and Jesse Gemstone, berating him often at family meals. BJ often makes unrelated or irrelevant remarks to the conversation at hand, most of the time resulting in an insult from Jesse. BJ is largely a supportive fiancé to Judy, however Judy can be emotionally and physically abusive to BJ. BJ once attempted to assist Judy in preparing for her role as the lead cantor for Gemstones' new Locust Grove location, however Judy demanded sex acts from BJ which made him uncomfortable. BJ and Judy split due to Judy's mental and emotional instability, and opting to change in favor of a less passive and more aggressive personality. BJ gets his ear pierced as a result of his new life changes. Judy later confronts him at work, where he is an assistant optician at a local supermarket. BJ rejects Judy's attempts at reconciling, and she destroys the optical center where BJ works in a fit of rage. She also tries to destroy his coworker, Denim's, car by repeatedly smashing shopping carts into it. When security comes to apprehend her she runs at them with a shopping cart while BJ watches from the door of the store. All of this is captured on live video with a bystander's phone, Judy grabs the phone and smashes it. This temper tantrum and its negative publicity leads Eli Gemstone to fire Judy from Gemstone ministries.
BJ and Judy meet at an Outback Steakhouse in Episode 9 and Judy hands him the remaining of his belongings. It is later revealed that one of the reasons why BJ fell for Judy was Judy's promiscuity. However, Judy reveals at this meet-up that instead of having "sucked a thousand cocks", her only real sexual experience before BJ had been nearly raping a married college professor. BJ listens aghast as she also describes kidnapping the professor's son. He leaves with his things.
When BJ can't get in the compound later to see Judy he sneaks in through the amusement park with a mini speaker and wearing a "Say Anything" outfit and is tasered by guards. BJ and Judy reconcile in the security office as he tells her he would have done things differently than her professor and appreciated the things she did.
Season 2[]
BJ roller blading to stay swole
In between seasons 1 and 2, it is revealed that Judy and BJ get married at Walt Disney World, much to their family's chagrin. With BJ now being an official member of the Gemstones, he constantly tries to do what's right by his adopted family. He tells Judy and Jesse that he likes to roller blade in the Gemstones' amusement park to "stay swole". During one of these sessions, BJ spots Eli in the park. He fails to get Eli's attention, whom BJ later sees riding the roller coaster, Exodus, over and over. This bizarre behavior was noticed by Judy, Jesse, and Kelvin, whom try to figure out what's going on with Eli - between figures from his past resurfacing, and the journalist/journalist's death.
BJ later agrees to be baptized and "saved" by Eli, becoming an official member of the Gemstones' church. BJ had been raised in a non-religious family, hailing from the liberal city, Asheville, North Carolina. Judy would have an elaborate and decadent ceremony and reception planned for BJ, wherein BJ's nonreligious parents and sister would attend as well. Judy's first meeting BJ's parents went rocky, as Judy did not allow for them to stay with her and BJ at their house, simultaneously while Baby Billy Freeman and Tiffany stay at their house. This forces BJ's family to rent a room at a nearby hotel, which did not go over well with them. BJ's outspoken sister, KJ, would be antagonized by Judy the entire evening, even stating, "They're from Asheville, [Eli], they hate God."
Judy and BJ together on BJ's big day
For the reception following the ceremony, BJ picked out a velvet romper with a matching cummerbund. His family thought he was joking or wearing it ironically, before realizing it was serious on BJ's part. Calling it a "onesie", KJ is corrected by BJ as to the correct name of his outfit, which upsets both him and Judy. Judy continues to make fun of the family, having sung a song during the previous ceremony indirectly making fun of BJ's family. KJ confronts BJ and Judy about their standoffish behavior, which leads BJ to losing his temper at his sister. He grabs a handful of a life-sized cake resembling himself, and throws it at KJ, who ducks. The cake then hits Eli Gemstone, who also loses his temper and screams at BJ on his big day. All of this is interrupted, however, when Kelvin Gemstone confronts Eli with his God Squad in tow. Kelvin pushes his father into a stack of balloons, which escalates into a full on fight. Eli gets the upper hand, wherein he pulls off his thumb-breaking (wrestling) finishing move, sending Kelvin to the hospital. This would be yet another embarrassment and shame for the Gemstones, all due to the siblings' infighting.
"It's not a onesie, it's a romper with a cummerbund."
BJ would eventually have a heart-to-heart with Eli, with both admitting their faults and coming to an understanding with each other. Eli finally comes to respect BJ, due to his unfailing devotion to Judy, whom Eli knows is a difficult woman to love and take care of.
Later, BJ would assist Jesse in his attempts to foil the Cycle Ninjas' attempts to assassinate Eli. Having created a diversion to the hospital where Eli was originally recovering, Jesse was hoping to draw the Ninjas to the hospital where he had a private security force ready to ambush them. The security force would abandon Jesse, and left only him, BJ, Gideon Gemstone, and Martin Imari to pull off the switcheroo. BJ was to be the spotter, having been dressed in a lab coat and watching the outside. He was to activate a restaurant patron beacon, wired to communicate back to Jesse when the Ninjas arrived. BJ would spot the ninjas, but Jesse would take too long to recognize the beacon going off. Although the plan went haywire, BJ was astute enough to sense that Jesse was not at the ready and used the hospital's intercom to make a coded announcement when the assailants were inside the building, finally alerting Jesse and the others.
Later, when the family agrees to invest in the Zion's Landing project, BJ literally giggles with glee when they state that Joe Jonas is an investor in the project. After the resort has a soft opening of sorts, BJ accompanies Judy and her siblings to the beach in Florida. After Jesse and Lyle Lissons get into a fistfight, Jesse knocks Lyle out and believes Lyle to be dead. He enlists his siblings and BJ to help him dispose of Lyle's body, and much to their surprise Lyle awakens. The fight escalates until Lyle's wife, Lindy Lissons, shows up with a gun and begins negotiating with it. She threatens the Gemstone siblings, and even shoots BJ in the kneecap. She forces them all into the ocean, where they make their getaway. It is later revealed that the Gemstones acquired total control over Zion's Landing.
Season 3[]
At the beginning of season 3, BJ is living with Judy and at first, everything seems normal. Judy and BJ have an interestingly decorated house, featuring artwork of them doing nude poses of famous other works of art. However, it is revealed in the first episode that Judy had been cheating on BJ while doing a Christian music tour, having engaged in some form of physical and emotional cheating with her guitarist, Stephen. Judy is walked in on by Jesse and Kelvin while making out with Stephen. Jesse then shares this news with his wife Amber, who is running a support group for couples and women struggling in their Christian relationships. Amber, who created an entire self-help/relationship advice program dubbed "The System", meets with BJ and gives him a box with the items "The System" uses to help couples navigate their relationship issues. BJ is at first confused by this, believing his relationship with Judy to be secure and loving. He watches the system with a good degree of skepticism, eventually showing it to Judy. Judy is offended by this, who then confronts Amber at the end of one of her program sessions, throwing the box that Amber gave her at Amber herself.
Meanwhile, Judy confronts Stephen and fires him from their touring musical act. However, Stephen has been having issues with his wife at home, who believes Stephen's whole aesthetic is an attempt to try and seem younger and hipper than he really is, given he looks like a walking Buckle advertisement with a frosted tips hairstyle. After a particularly vicious fight where Stephen's wife attacks him with a coffee pot, Stephen would later approach Judy at a restaurant, where Judy offers Stephen hush money to keep their affair secret. Stephen surprises Judy by stating he would prefer to leave his wife and date Judy full time, something Judy is taken aback by and ultimately rejects. Stephen then resolves to confront and attack BJ physically.
At the end of the fourth episode, Stephen is seen approaching BJ, leaving the audience in a cliffhanger. The episode that follows is Interlude III, and BJ finding out about his wife's infidelity does not occur until Episode 6. Meanwhile, Stephen eventually comes clean with his wife, where they then approach Judy together to demand hush money, essentially blackmailing Judy. Judy attempts to get the funds to pay Stephen from Eli, who lambastes Judy and laments his children all having awful personal lives that they seemingly can't get control of. Judy later approaches Amber to potentially attend her group therapy sessions (if one could call them that).
When BJ learns of the affair between Stephen and Judy, he stonewalls Judy at first. Judy pleads with BJ to try and move on, but BJ ultimately stands up for himself and puts Judy in his place, stating it is his decision to make, not Judy's. BJ then proceeds to go roller blading to clear his head, blasting songs by Yanni while he displays his emotional turmoil during his blade session. Later, BJ is discovered by Jesse and his friends having suffering from an emotional breakdown while leading a tour of the Gemstone sanctuary. Jesse and his friends then encourage BJ to go and confront Stephen in a physical manner. At first, BJ is awkward and weak when punching the boxing bag, and Jesse and his friends do their best to help BJ be more street confident and less awkward. BJ thereafter feels confident enough to track Stephen down at his house. Upon entering, BJ sneaks up on a masturbating Stephen, and a fight ensues with Stephen completely nude. As Stephen begins to gain the upper hand on BJ, BJ then attacks Stephen by grabbing his testicles, eventually turning the tide of the fight and beating the bejesus out of Stephen victoriously. Upon returning home, BJ curtly says to Judy, "I hope you like me now..." while showing the cuts and bruises he suffered at Stephen's hand. Eventually Judy would feature in one of Amber's program sessions, coming to the realization that she would have to "eat shit" because she was unfaithful and ultimately BJ would get to decide how long Judy would have to endure that.
Independently of his marital issues, BJ is present with Judy at church and their post-service brunches. When Peter Montgomery appears at one of the brunches after finding out his sons (Karl and Chuck Montgomery) and estranged wife May-May Montgomery have been staying with the Gemstones and bonding with their extended family, BJ is one of many present that pulls out a pistol and threatens to shoot Peter. BJ's weapon of choice is a Walther PPK, on which he displays incredibly solid trigger discipline, with his finger not actively on the trigger when he muzzle flashes Peter. This is in contrast to Judy, who has her finger on the trigger, displaying poor firearm discipline. This suggests BJ likely has some experience or training with firearms.
Later in the season when the three Gemstone siblings are abducted by their cousins and uncle, BJ gets together with Amber, Gideon, and eventually Keefe to determine what happened with the ransom abduction. BJ, Amber, and Gideon all had little interaction with Keefe and were unsure what his actual name was, stating various monikers such as Chief, Quiche, Queef, and Heath. They would all band together to try and figure out what happened to their loved ones, with Gideon eventually resolving to try and sneak into the militia compound where the three were being held hostage by Peter. After being rescued, Judy seems to have a new lease on life, where she then pledges to love BJ and be a better partner to him. BJ and Judy agree to stay together and support each other after both enduring significant trauma in a short amount of time. BJ and Judy are eventually rescued from the plague of locusts that attacked the filming of Baby Billy's Bible Bonkers between the Gemstones and the Simkins. They are seen sitting together and driving the Redeemer monster truck in the final scene of the season.
Quotes[]
I know I shouldn’t feel self-conscious about my nose, but I am.
Photos[]
References[]
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