Season 3 - 9 episodes (2023)
Rent The Righteous Gemstones on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Danny McBride
Starring: John Goodman, Danny McBride, Adam Devine, Edi Patterson, Walton Goggins, Cassidy Freeman, Gregory Alan Williams, Tim Baltz, Tony Cavalero
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
Follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work.
Verdict
This is funny in a crass way. It doesn't delve deep into the premise of religion and the contradictions inherent in that setting. It's just used as a set for characters that are spoiled and immature. The show's humor derives from how mean and crude they can be to each other. I wish the show went deep enough to explore the humor and truth that can be extracted from a televangelist family, but McBride's comedies are never about depth. This is a dysfunctional family, their jobs don't really matter.
It depends.
Review
The second season had a lot of drama and family history that managed to neatly wrap up by the end of the season, providing a mostly clean slate for this season.
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| Adam Devine, Edi Patterson, Danny McBride play Kelvin, Judy, Jesse |
The Gemstone siblings Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine) are fighting over who the leader of the church will be since their father Eli (John Goodman) has retired. The sibling's disdain for each other seems poised to bring down the entire ministry. They're not religious, this is the business they're born into and they're taking advantage of it. Their goal is power. This doesn't explore the dichotomy of religion as a business as much as it delights in characters insulting each other as hurtfully as they can muster. They're selfish and spoiled. It's beyond any shred of what could be believable, and this show always goes for over the top.
Eli's past comes back this season, and it feels like the show is mining very similar ground from season two. Gemstone family we've never heard nor seen appear this season to stir up tension, create drama, and provide another way for the siblings to prove how abhorrent they can be. Eli has ruined another side of the family.
Since the cousins are poor, the Gemstones treat them terribly. This season delves into the past to show had terrible the Gemstones were, but a big part of that is Eli failing as a parent. The show doesn't spend much time to ruminate on that thought as it must jump to the next insult fest.
Eli watches his empire crumble under the ignorance of his children, but he doesn't seem to care. I'd guess the reason for that is that it makes the writing for the show easier. I wish the show wanted to go deeper than crude insults. The siblings hate each other most of the time. The conflict this season is who will take the lead and whether they can maintain the ministry without Eli. The cousins also rekindle drama from way back with how their family and the Gemstones were opposed.
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| Walton Goggins plays "Baby" Billy |
"Baby" Billy Freeman (Walton Goggins) returns pitching a Family Feud ripoff. He's a heartless performer always looking to take advantage, but Goggins does such a great job with the role. He unsuccessfully pushes his show throughout the season.
The show is entertaining, but I wish it went deeper. The setting and premise really don't matter for this show. It's core is family infighting. I want this to use the setting to some advantage. Instead we get siblings trying to one up insult each other.
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