The Righteous Gemstones’ second season begins with a heaping dose of conflict
John Goodman takes center stage in a literal one-two punch of a season premiere.
TV Reviews The Righteous Gemstones
It took a few episodes to hit its stride, but once The Righteous Gemstones found its footing, the series evolved into a real… gem. As the show began to incorporate larger arcs, drama, and larger-than-life characters (particularly Walton Goggins’ Uncle Baby Billy) the show revealed itself not just a dark comedy about televangelism, but as a wry satire of the prestige dramas that populate countless streaming services. In the process, it became just as engrossing and as addictive as the soapy television that it set out to parody.
Series creator Danny McBride explained to Polygon in August 2019 that he envisioned Gemstones as an “epic sprawling tale like the fucking Thorn Birds,” referring to the quintessential saga that become the second-highest-rated miniseries of all time in 1983. The HBO dark comedy also takes cues from Soap, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and FX’s Nip/Tuck and expertly balances the drama with the outlandish, pitch-black comedy and dialogue that McBride and partner David Gordon Green have become known for.
The crux of Gemstones is that threats come not only from outside the family but within. Season two is gearing up to showcase John Goodman’s Eli, opening up with a flashback to Memphis 1968 where the Gemstone patriarch is wrestling on a low-rent circuit under the name The Maniac Kid, described by the announcer as “all muscle, all attitude.” Upon payment from the promoter, Eli is recruited to pick up some bonus pay to help the promoter and his son Junior to muscle some money out of a welcher. As the trio cruise through the streets of Memphis and King Curtis’ “Memphis Soul Stew” plays, the stylish direction from David Gordon Green elevates Gemstones above your average comedy series.
While McBride’s whiplash blending of comedy, drama, and horror does not jibe in his and Green’s reboot of the Halloween franchise, when you’re dealing with subject matter as way-out as religion, out-of-touch rich people, and the family dynamic, it all feels right on. As Junior hollers “Get a job” at a group of Black protesters decrying Jim Crow, his father slaps him upside the head, asking “Did I raise you to be a piece of shit? They just want what everyone else wants: a piece of the fucking pie.” It’s a telling line as what we know about Eli Gemstone later in life, he got a piece himself—a big piece.
Junior and Eli break into the house, and we see Eli as we’ve never seen him before—a far cry from John Goodman’s peaceful but stern portrayal— breaking both of the deadbeat’s thumbs before returning home for family dinner and providing a half-assed blessing at a family dinner. This displeases his father, who slaps Eli in a moment not unlike what happened with Junior and his father earlier.
As the show catches up to the present day, we’re introduced to other members of the newly launched Gemstone streaming platform, G.O.D.D. (Gemstones On Digital Demand) notably, Makewon Butterfield who, in his words, is being painted as a “deviant sex doer” by the media, thanks to a leaked sex tape reported on by Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman). When he’s let go from the G.O.D.D, he attempts to kill himself by jumping from a second-story window. This results in a pair of very silly-looking broken legs, but not before Butterfield warns Gemstone and the brother and sister pastors to beware of Block as he is a “crusader” who is “all our problems,” as they all have their own secrets. This sequence feels very emblematic of the best parts of Gemstones: The drama is real, the dialogue is intentionally silly in McBride’S overtalking, over-explaining style, and the violence outlandish.
The end of the first season found the dysfunctional Gemstone clan reckoning with the fallout from the attempted blackmail of firstborn Jesse (Danny McBride) by his prodigal son Gideon (Skyler Gisondo). Gideon is back home and Jesse and Amber (Cassidy Freeman) are setting him up on the Gemstone compound in late Grandaddy Roy’s (M. Emmet Walsh) mansion. The couple appears to be on better terms than they were at the end of last season, when Amber shot Jesse in the ass, and are now sniffing around the successful Lissons, a gorgeous preaching couple from Texas portrayed by Eric Andre and Jessica Lowe.
The Lissons are sort of a mirror image of Jesse and Amber. As Tyler, Eric Andre goes full dork who thinks he’s cool, sporting a side part and wailing out a guitar solo during one of their sermons—and, like Jesse, having a very attractive, very stylish wife by his side in Lindy (Lowe). (Apparently, this is a tenet of televangelism.) Their church is decorated in gaudy, western-influenced golds and browns in contrast to the purples and whites of the Gemstone center. The Lissons are looking to get the Gemstones involved in Zion’s Landing, a Christian timeshare resort which Jesse sees as a sure thing, but needs to round up the cash from Eli, who Jesse thinks should be considering retirement.
“I’m not going anywhere,” exclaims Eli at church dinner, suggesting a battle for control of the Gemstone empire is in the cards for the father and the son. One of the highlights of “I Speak In The Tongues Of Men And Angels,” the first episode of season two, is a typical Danny McBride rant, in which Jesse attempts to enlist brother Kelvin and sister Judy into his mission to usurp Eli, which climaxes in him referring to them as lesser siblings Stephen Baldwin and Frank Stallone respectively.
When Eli is first visited by a now-grown Junior (Eric Roberts), he is rightfully suspicious, assuming that Junior is interested in blackmailing him. It is an inspired bit of casting, bringing in Roberts, a great character actor who audiences have an immediate Pavlovian distrust of thanks to decades of portraying despicable, unsavory characters (much like casting Ray Wise in season five of 24). But it does feel like Junior simply wants to reconnect with an old friend—whom he sees as a brother—and the two go out for dinner but run afoul of a big ol’ construction worker, pawing at his scantily-clad lady friend on the bartop of the restaurant. When Eli suggests he stop, Junior insults him, telling him to “go back to the movie Cocoon,” which leads to a fight in the parking lot finding Eli unloading on his foe, using his old finishing move and breaking the meathead’s thumbs, looking like a man possessed.
Episode two, “After I Leave Save Wolves Will Come,” opens with Schwartzman’s Brooklyn jagoff Thanial Block setting his sights on Eli Gemstone, revealing headlines reporting on a past indictment. Block is the picture of New York journalist smugness, from his costuming to his beard. One of the most admirable parts of Gemstones is that the show rarely punches down on churchgoers, instead going after unscrupulous preachers and taking the piss out of coastal types. The episode really gets going when newlyweds Judy (Edi Patterson) and B.J. (Tim Baltz Contents) drop by Eli’s place to ask him to baptize B.J., where they meet Junior, who’s clad in not much more than a robe and his boxer shorts.
When Junior suggests that B.J. may be one of his girlfriends, B.J. offers a handshake which Judy slaps away exclaiming “he’s big dicking you,” an early contender for the funniest interaction of the season. This is topped only when Judy presumes that Eli and Junior are fucking and she just rattles off “hanging out here, being rough with each other like grizzly bears doing donkey punches, tussling each other, getting each other hard,” delivering the dialogue that has been a staple of this HBO series. Junior seems like he’s looking to find Jesus, but there is still something untrustworthy about him. In a stand-out moment, he compares starting a church to pro-wrestling which all tracks, Roberts chewing the scenery like dinner rolls every chance he gets. It’s a memorable performance and I look forward to what’s to come.
Meanwhile, after last season’s marital strife, Jesse and Amber have kickstarted a second chance prayer group to offer counseling to their friends and the Gemstones faithful, and in typical fashion, try and raise some capital for their timeshare with the Lissons. The couple put on their finest Western wear—Jesse channeling Marlon Brando in The Fugitive Kind or Nicolas Cage in Wild At Heart in a snakeskin blazer—and join Lyle and Lindy for a line dance led by Joe Jonas in a leopard print poncho. There is a magic hour shot as Amber and Jesse commiserate in a stable about how they deserve to part of the elite and conspire to get the investment money from Eli (utilizing a green dress that “pushes them titties up”) that makes you wonder why can’t more Hollywood comedies attempt to look beautiful, cinematic, and actually be funny.
At church dinner, Eli reveals that the reporter that brought down the Butterfields is now in the Gemstone’s backyard. Junior suggests that he and Eli take care of it like in the old days which perplexes Jesse, suggesting that he doesn’t know everything he thinks he knows about his father’s past.
When the Gemstone children decided to pay Thaniel Block a visit, a tense scene unfolds (including one particular shot that feels straight out of a horror film) revealing that somebody has already been to the house, leaving Thaniel Block and at least two others for dead. Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin return to the compound and are discovered trying to clean up in the fountain by Eli, who claims to have been out on “church business,” but is also covered in blood—a pretty great cliffhanger that elevates a very funny episode with some wild twists and turns.
Stray Observations
- Fans of The Pope Of Greenwich Village will appreciate seeing Eric Roberts gleefully watching John Goodman take someone’s thumbs.
- “Hey, that’s a nice dick, Eddie.”
- Having saved Keefe from a relapse into satanism, Kelvin is now head of the God Squad, a crew of muscle-bound bohunks in Macho Man sunglasses. Keefe requests to join Kelvin at family dinner, further suggesting that he wishes that he and Kelvin’s relationship could be something more than it is. It was hinted upon last year but the writers seem to be letting it unfold more methodically.
- When will we catch up with Mary Gemstone, Eli’s sister?
- And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
- “Go back to the movie Cocoon”: a classic McBride-penned insult.
- I can only imagine Uncle Baby Billy has not made an appearance yet because that would simply be too much of a great thing, but I can’t wait for Walton Goggins to go toe to toe with Eric Roberts, having not appeared together on Justified.
- “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.” Deuteronomy 32.7
- Abraham’s chronic masturbation problem in the premiere leads to a very funny Danny McBride speech about ghosts watching him masturbate and a line that could play into later in the season, “When people see you do something bad, it’s hard for them to see you any other way.”
- The Romancing The Gemstone poster in Jesse’s rec room.
- Is the sequence of the Gemstone children slipping around in the blood of Thaniel Block a reference to Halloween II (1981), which is no longer canon in the Halloween universe since McBride and Green took over?
47 Comments
You know you’re watching a Danny McBride vehicle when dongs are out. The slipping in blood also reminded me of Scorsese’s “Cape Fear”. I’m just waiting for Baby Billy. “Misbehaving” is my ringtone. It’s going to be fun to watch John Goodman get a turn at bat. If I can’t watch “Succession”, I’ll settle for hillbilly Succession.
I thought Eli possibly seemed subtly guilty/ashamed when Junior was talking about how his dad just skipped town. Maybe Eli is involved with the dad’s death, or at the very least it seems like he could know the truth of that situation.
I noticed that too, and now I wonder if Eric Roberts *knows* that Goodman knows and is messing with him. I like this subplot a lot in large part because the two actors seem to be having an absolute blast together, and also it doesn’t involve the obnoxious kids as much (although watching his daughter freak out because she thinks Goodman and Roberts are fucking around was pretty funny).
Interesting! I read a lot more into Junior’s next line, about how “people said I killed [my father],” which suggested to me that was exactly what had happened, and Eli didn’t necessarily know the truth but had worked closely enough with Junior to know that he was a killer… and was worried about having Junior back in his life as a result.
“When people see you do something bad, it’s hard for them to see you any other way.”
Thought this was a wise choice to have Gabriel in this scene considering their history.
I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I saw the first season as good, not great, but Season Two is off to a great start. Sorry to see Jason Schwartzman leave so soon, though.
that was extremely puzzling, to apparently get rid of such a name actor so fast. Why not have some rando play that part?
Most likely Schwartzman had other commitments, but as a friend of McBride still wanted to be a part of it 🙂
his interaction with the local at the beginning of episode 2 was hilarious and I could see agreeing to be on the show just for that little dialogue. Still, I was looking forward to seeing where that led.
Schwartzman most likely only accepted it because it was a limited role.
This is an old trick in the TV book! Get a high profile actor introduced early on, giving the audience the expectation of being major, and THEN KILL ‘EM OFF! This is what was originally going to happen on LOST when Michael Keaton was the original Jack Shepherd.
don’t count out flashbacks. or a twin brother!
It’s just a bit cameo, but there will be more according to pressers on the new season. 🙂
This show likes flashbacks. We will see more of him.
I’m just glad they got their hilariously unnecessary dick shot out of the way fast. “Nick dick Eddie” LOLOLOL. I missed this show but at the same time, the siblings are some of the most annoying characters on TV (I know, it’s by design), and the points about the rife hypocrisy of televangelism are directly on the nose (also by design); as with the Dexter finale, I just hope the end goal of this show is that they get what they all deserve.
I have a feeling they are making a statement about gratuitous female nudity, by instead having a bunch of gratuitous male nudity on this show.
Is the sequence of the Gemstone children slipping around in the blood of Thaniel Block a reference to Halloween II (1981) I’m virtually certain it’s a nod to Cape Fear when Nolte and his family started slipping around in Joe Don Baker’s blood. I never thought you could play a scenario like that for laughs but I guess you can LOL.
Keefe requests to join Kelvin at family dinner, further suggesting that he wishes that he and Kelvin’s relationship could be something more than it is definitely my favorite anticipated subplot of this season. When all those bros came piling out of the car my first thought was “so I guess Kelvin finally came out since last season?” The part last season where Kelvin found Keefe in that gimp suit with just his dick hanging out was one of THE LOL moments of the last few years, next to the Baron being flung around by his own vomit after eating pizza on What We Do in the Shadows.
lol yes I love how his denial about his gayness is manifesting in him literally having vans of muscle men.
also why aren’t McBride and his sister absolutely hammering him for this stuff? Instead it’s a weak “why don’t you go pump some iron” nonsense. (maybe that’s part of the joke, that McBride’s character can’t fathom that he could be gay LOL)
Ikr? It doesn’t make any sense. I keep expecting them to rip him apart over his behavior, but its like there is some kinda unspoken rule that they dont.
Wait…The Righteous Gemstones isn’t a funk band?!
Did I miss something? Is Baby Billy not going to be in this season?
I know he didn’t show up at the very beginning of last season, so maybe its a similar situation.
That being said…..GIMME MY GOGGINS YOU LOSERS
Seems like they wanted this time to mostly introduce all the new characters and he’ll turn up sometime later. Just be patient.
He showed up in the “This Season on the Righteous Gemstones” segment at the end of the episode (at least on the HBO Max website), so I think he’ll come back in the next few weeks.
I think it’s a supremely confident move to hold off on the Goggins in the first two episodes, for a raft of new excellent characters.
1. For some reason, what really killed me was the slideshow during the first service at the Gemstone church. Going by the photos, it looks like they played either both sides of the pandemic divisions (Jesse and Judy at an anti-mask, anti-lockdown protest; Kelvin posing with an essential worker), or Kelvin had to do some quick PR to make up for Jesse and Judy at the protest.2. One of my favorite things about these episodes is how they’re set up like a Lion in Winter/Succession-style story, with Jesse barrelling into full-on Kendall Roy territory in suggesting that Eli step down, but then the dead reporter seemingly derails that. (I do think Jesse could use this to keep prodding Eli about stepping down, though, or even blackmail him.) It cracked me up.3. Kelvin’s God Squad mystifies me. I hope they’re being paid well.
I need Danny McBride to make a show about Memphis wrestling. He could play a mean Jerry “the King” Lawlor.
I need a Memphis wrestling show from Danny McBride. He could play a mean Jerry “The King” Lawlor.
I like to think of this show as “Religious Succession.” Really missed it in the long break between seasons.
Ha! I was thinking the same thing with the way they started off this season.Comedy Succession.
But Succession is already a comedy…a dark one, but a comedy. So Comedy Comedy Succession?
‘Silly’ Succession?
I would not call Succession a comedy.
been saying this for years! 😆💯
Its good, but no way does Connor match up to awesome Baby Billy.
I can’t wait for Walton Goggins to go toe to toe with Eric Roberts everyone within 100 feet of the scene will have to wear those sunglasses you wear when looking at eclipses just being around those 2 sets of veneers, wow
The “You’re Felicia!” exchange was a killer. I love this show’s dialogue so much, it just sticks with you.“What the lifestyle calls a ‘snacc’!”
Judy Gemstone is quickly rising up the rankings of All Time Great Comedic Characters.
“being rough with each other like grizzly bears doing donkey punches,”
That cued my first embarrassingly loud snort of the season.
“Gettin’ Hep C…” I too, laughed embarrassingly out loud all by myself at those lines. Brilliant.
I always felt this show pales in comparison to either Eastbound and Down or Vice-Principals, but goddamn, if I was laughing uncontrollably during the dinner scene in the second episode. My wife had to come check on me.
watching Tim Baltz treat the milk in his wine glass like actual wine while Judy talks in the first episode is one of the funniest background moments I’ve ever seen.
Same!
These people are so irredeemably awful. Griftin’ for GOD.
I think I laughed harder at these two episodes than the entire first season. What an incredible season opener.
Wait, was young Junior Jamie Taco from I Think You Should Leave?