First comment on part 4: they don't have the lip syncing any better. People's lips move without making a sound and then words come out without their lips moving. It's driving me crazy. But I will endeavor to ignore it an comment on the movie.
The threatened suicide scene continues and perhaps gives a clue as to how to evangelize more effectively after the Rapture and (hint) it isn't Buck Williams' approach of trying to convince people they are sinners. First Rayford talks about how wonderful the world is as proof of God. (Problem: It's going to stop being wonderful real soon). Chris is unconvinced, asks there is a Heaven why aren't we there. "Because we weren't right with God," Rayford says. That pushes Chris over the edge and he points the gun at himself (his heart, incidentally, not his head). (Hint: Telling people who are distraught that they aren't right with God is unlikely to be helpful). But when the chips are really down, when Chris is one hair trigger from death, Rayford moves to the subject he really cares about -- if he kills himself, he loses all possibility of seeing his wife again. If he trades the gun for God, then he can rejoin her. Chris puts the gun down and starts to cry. (Hint: When someone is upset about his wife being "raptured," maybe you should stick to the topic he really cares about, his vanished wife, as the most effective way to get to him).* We are left with the impression that Chris has opened his mind to Rayford's RTC preaching, but it will probably take a few more sessions to actually convert him.
Meanwhile, back at the church, Buck, Bruce and Chloe are meeting in Bruce's office.** Buck has confirmed that there were two men preaching at the Wailing Wall when the others burned to death. He will go in on the pretext of reporting on the new one-world religion and broadcast them worldwide on live TV. Rayford walks in and says Chris just got saved. Interesting that we didn't get to see that. I can think of two reasons why not: (1) It just isn't plausible. Chris needs more time to calm down and think rationally before he can convert. (2) Talking him out of the suicide was the emotionally intense part. Actually seeing him convert afterward would be an anti-climax. Or, quite possibly, both. Anyhow, the experience has finally convinced Ray to go ahead and take the job for the Antichrist. Bruce, contrarian as ever, argues a little against it. Chloe is appalled and asks him what makes him think he could get the job. "I've got a connection," Ray says. Of course, we know who his connection is, and why Chloe may not want to be reminded of her. She storms off.
She goes to look at an album of family pictures. (Kept at the church?) Buck tries to talk, but she is hostile, doesn't want to talk about her family. She can't handle the thought of him and her father hanging out with the Devil and storms off.
Ray meets with Hattie (now dressed in a slinky black dress, pearls and stiletto heels, with her hair down) in Nicolae's airplane hangar. Hattie is (understandably) hostile. She is also distrustful of Ray because the last time they spoke he preached to her and tried to convert her. The "Bible thumpers" are saying that Nicolae is the Antichrist. She greatly admires Nicolae and doesn't want to associate with Ray if he believes that. He appeals to her past knowledge of his character (probably not a good idea). It's an awkward spot for Ray. He has to convince Hattie that he's not a Christian in order to get the job, but, after all, his ultimate mission is to convert her.
Meanwhile, back at the church (trash on the lawn, hobo with a bag picking it up), Chloe walks into to Bruce's office to ask about relationships in the time of Tribulation. She is being hostile to Buck because she is attracted to him and doesn't know how to deal with it. He says that in times like this, she may have to let Buck go. He also suggests that if she is interested, maybe she should tell him.
So Chloe goes to Buck's apartment in a lowish-cut sundress and nervously primps and preens in front of a mirror before knocking. Ivy answers, in a bathrobe and engagement ring, clearly living with Buck and very familiar with him. She is as protective/possessive as she was with Verna and shoos Chloe away. Back home, more modestly dressed, she hears the phone ring, Buck on the caller ID, and hangs up just as her father answers. We are about to have a father-daughter confrontation when the segment breaks off.
Fred Clark's take here.
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*The only problem here is the same one we have with everyone else who lost an adult family member. If Chris's wife, like Ray's, was a born again RTC, she must have been preaching at him constantly, just as Ray's wife was, so he, too, must recognize this as the Rapture.
**Fred complains that all those church people are gone now. I disagree. This is clearly Bruce's office, not the sanctuary. In fact, one might reconcile the first aid station and the sermon by saying that the first aid station is in the office, but the sanctuary is used only as a sanctuary. Except Bruce's office is just being used as an office. Maybe he has more than one office.
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