Season 4 - 9 episodes (2025)
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 tries to be funny by being crass. It's humor lies in how terrible characters can be and what horrendous insults they can manage. It's juvenile, and I've never cared for that. What keeps me returning to this show is Walton Goggins's portrayal of Uncle Baby Billy. The character is crass, but he's the right amount of ridiculous to keep my interest. Aside from that, the plot this season seems tired with the show just trying to coast to the end. It's so scattered, it doesn't even have a main plot point. It's a collection of sub-plots with a conclusion that's forced to be shocking.
Skip it.
Review
It's the final season. In season three the siblings fought over who should lead the church when patriarch Eli stepped back from the family business. With season four the family deals with their father's new love interest. Their reactions are immature and silly, but that's to be expected with this show. Uncle Baby Billy is developing a new show, Teenjus, about Jesus as a teenager. The rest of the season is composed of various sub-plots that don't really matter.
The first episode is a departure, set during the Civil War as we see how the original Gemstone started his ministry. It's a much different tone for this show, but the connection to present day is a gold bible that's stolen. The original Gemstone didn't start out as a preacher. He was just trying to get out of the war. I thought this might mirror the main plot, but the only relevance is the gold bible. I expected it to be more important since it gets a specific episode.
The core of this show is three siblings that trade crude insults when they're not completely self-absorbed. They can't process their emotions when Eli (John Goodman) starts dating and that unfolds in the most immature way as they try to sabotage the relationship. There's not much plot. This show likes to be gross.
I'd prefer this show spin-off Uncle Baby Billy. He's the reason to watch this. He's absolutely ridiculous and abhorrent, but he manages to make that entertaining. He's working on a teen drama after last season's failed bible game show. I thought his conclusion this season would have a bigger impact. It was completely underwhelming. I expected something shocking since it's Uncle Baby Billy, but he basically just walks off.
The conclusion this season is underwhelming for a season finale, much less a series conclusion. Jesse's disagreement with another pastor ends in a dual, but that's not as exciting as it sounds. The big finale is wild because it's unexpected. It's nearly senseless. The show wants a big finish and pushes for that even if there isn't a solid foundation for it. A good conclusion could have helped this season, but it didn't.
A great conclusion would have made this season almost worth it but still short. The conclusion we get doesn't tie the plot points of the season together very well. It seems like the basis for the final episode is the thought that they need to assemble something crazy based on the available parts. I always wanted more from this show. Religion and it's hypocrisy has an inherent comedy, but this show never cared to explore that.
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