Peter Montgomery

Peter Montgomery

### Relatives

May-May Montgomery (wife), Chuck Montgomery (son), Karl Montgomery (son), Eli Gemstone (brother-in-law), Jesse Gemstone (nephew), Judy Gemstone (niece), Kelvin Gemstone (nephew)

## Physical description

### Height

5 foot 7

Peter Montgomery is a main antagonist in season 3 of the T.V. series, *The Righteous Gemstones*. He's the husband of May-May Montgomery and the father of Chuck and Karl Montgomery. He is portrayed by actor Steve Zahn.

## Background

Peter Montgomery was born sometime in 1958 or 1959 (he's 64 in Season 3) and married May-May, Eli Gemstone's sister, sometime before the year 2000. He is first shown chronologically in a flashback episode from this year, where he is a seemingly normal man who is happily married, albeit dominated by his wife May-May. In contrast to the Gemstones and their megachurch, Peter was a simple pastor with a small, rural congregation. During the Y2K scare, Peter spent the entirety of his family's savings on survival gear peddled by Eli, his brother-in-law. This is the start of his descent into madness. Although Eli is willing to buy it back, May-May is too stubborn to accept, and rejects the money. Desperate for cash and fearing he'll lose their house, Peter unsuccessfully attempted to rob a bank and killed a security guard in the process. He was also shot twice, once in the cheek and once in the hip, explaining his limp and iconic facial scar. Now, in the modern day, Peter has recently gotten out of prison and blames Eli for ruining his life. He has founded a militia called the "Brothers of Tomorrow's Fires", who are also doomsday preppers. He has recruited his two sons, Chuck and Karl, into the militia as his right-hand men, which is what leads May-May to contact Eli for the first time in decades.

## Plot

### Season 3

When we first hear of Peter Montgomery, it is by way of May-May informing Eli that he has gotten out of prison. He has taken the couple's sons with him to the militia group he has founded: "The Brothers of Tomorrow's Fires". May-May begs Eli to check on her sons, and finally he reluctantly agree. Peter now has tight control over the militia, and also serves as it's pastor. When Eli visits with Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin, he almost instantaneously humiliates them, shaming the family for being entertainers and charlatans, rather than the preachers they position themselves as.

Not long after the Gemstone's visit, the feds are called on Peter's militia. Their grounds are ravaged and a good number of their men are arrested or killed. Peter survives the raid, and blames it on Chuck and Karl, saying they ratted him out to May-May. It's clear that he detests his wife, and has done his best to convince his sons that she is an evil woman that they must never interact with. After a sadistic interrogation session, where he cuts off the ear of a random militiaman to try and get the sons to confess, Karl snaps, shoving Peter into a wall and escaping the compound with Chuck. an enraged Peter sends his men after his sons, and they are presumably later killed in a car chase after Chuck and Karl ally with the Gemstones.

Later, once Chuck and Karl seemingly have embraced life with their cousins and are eating at the family's favorite restaurant, Peter barges in, intending to apologize to the boys. He reveals that someone else called in the raid, and wishes that they return. After they refuse, he snaps, lashing out at them and everyone else at the table. Eli has had enough at this point, and threatens to shoot Peter. All the members of the Gemstones family then point their guns at Peter, one by one. He again makes a speech about the Gemstone's hypocrisy, and rather oddly leaves after honking BJ's nose. Despite their very public refusal to join Peter's side, the boys later return to him, having stolen several tons of explosives from the Gemstone's warehouse.

The next episode is a flashback episode, where we learn that Peter was once an entirely different person, and his relationship with May-May was the complete opposite. Unlike in the present day, where May-May is so scared of the deranged madman that is Peter she can barely even talk about him, 23 years ago, Peter was a very modest and meek man who was completely subservient to May-May. Eli Gemstone and his wife had taken advantage of the Y2K scare to shill off doomsday survival gear to their followers, and Peter was one of the many who bought into it. He spent his family's life savings on it, and was left with nothing in the end. After confiding to Eli, he offers to buy it back, but he is still nervous about May-May's reaction. After a passionate and heartfelt sermon about wealth and what it means to people, Peter has a tearful confession where he tells May-May what happened. Later, an enraged May-May lashes out at Eli, and stubbornly refuses the money. Even after Peter explains that they could lose their house, May-May will not take a penny from Eli, saying that she will not let money corrupt her family as it has Eli's. Peter, now more desperate than ever, makes the decision to rob a bank, which fails miserably. Within minutes he's been shot in the cheek and hip, and shoots at a security guard in the process, killing him. This is presumably the beginning of his madness, and he is locked away for ~20 years from this scene to the present day.

Now in the present day, Chuck and Karl have stolen "The Redeemer", the esteemed monster truck owned by Jesse Gemstone. Peter uses it for rallies as a form of entertainment for his militia. They keep it under an old tarp in the farther reaches of their new compound. Eventually, Peter executes the next part of his plan. He abducts Eli's children, and holds them for a ransom of $15 million dollars. Eli refuses to pay the ransom, saying he knows there's still a good man within Peter, and he throws a tantrum upon hearing this. Peter is then advised to kill one of them, which he at first is reluctant to consider, but decides to in the end, telling them so in the silo he's held them captive in. Amazingly, Karl and May-May manage to help the kids escape, which leads to a standoff between Peter and May-May. Peter seems intent to shoot his wife if she tries to leave with them, but it becomes increasingly obvious that he still doesn't have it in him to do so. He orders Chuck to, who also hesitates, and before he can they are saved by the Redeemer, which had been hijacked by Jesse's son.

Now that the Gemstones have escaped and the militia is left without their $15 million dollars or their compound, Peter hides them out under an overpass, seemingly in broad daylight. He also seems to take his religious rhetoric to the next level, even saying he is the keeper of the lord's word, and anyone who stands against him stands against Jesus himself. The militia becomes increasingly upset with Peter, considering him incompetent and unable to accomplish their goals. It is then revealed that most of the militiamen aren't even interested in Peter's mostly personal plan to get revenge on the Gemstones, and have goals in mind that the consider more important. Peter tells them that the devil has them salivating for cash, and that they simply haven't accomplished their goals *yet.* Eventually the militia ousts Peter, and allows him to take the explosives. Peter leaves with Chuck in a fit of rage, and rats the militia out to the feds as his parting 'gift' to them.

Peter then tells Chuck that his new plan is to simply drive to the Gemstone church, and blow it up with their explosives. He makes the fatal mistake of stopping at a gas station first, where an increasingly hesitant Chuck sets off the bomb in the parking lot and escapes, apparently attempting to fake his death. He defects to the Gemstone family but Peter genuinely believes he died in the blast. Now despondent and with nothing to live for, Peter is next seen sitting in front of a different convenience store, crying and begging for the lord to send him a sign. He notices Keefe, who happened to stop for gas in a Gemstone van, and while he's inside, Peter steals the van, apparently setting up a makeshift bomb inside. The following day, he drives to the Gemstone Megachurch, unknowingly being followed by Eli and May-May. They have a standoff in the parking lot, where Peter holds the two up at gun point and explains that he has wired his FitBit to the bomb, and if the watch fails to detect a heartbeat, the van will explode. As he confesses that this is his last stand, and the hope of getting revenge on Eli is all he has left after Chuck's 'death', they are interrupted by a locust swarm of biblical proportions, sending them all inside as everyone descends into madness and terror. During the swarm, Peter is seen looking for May-May and their kids, and the family appears to hide out together under bleachers inside the church.

Once the locusts subside, Peter and May-May, who both believe they have seen an act of god, seem to feel immense guilt for the various problems they've caused their families, and the couple finally apologize to each other and their children. After a heartfelt reconciliation, Peter says he feels like he finally has his family back. Unfortunately, a locust lands on his wrist and he swats it off, knocking off his FitBit and setting off the bomb's timer. He decides the only thing he can do is drive the van as far away as possible and sacrifice himself. Despite them begging him not to, he drives away, finally at peace with his life with a final chant of "To tomorrow's fires!". However, he apparently jumps out of the car at the last second or survives the blast, as he is seen in the final scene looking like a changed man, having cleaned himself up and now with an artificial leg. The Gemstone family gets their happy ending, and Peter is welcomed back. They all participate in a makeshift monster truck rally with Jesse letting everyone have a turn in the Redeemer.